Vladimir (Russian Dragon Heat #1) - Carole Mortimer Page 0,43
voices.
The question was, were their unexpected visitors friend or foe? From the way Vladimir, who had enhanced hearing and sight, had moved so as not to alert them to his presence and their swearing just now, Tanya had every reason to think they might be foe.
Opportunists, perhaps, who had seen the dacha and, not realizing anyone was staying here, had decided to rob the place?
Or, remembering the man Tanya had seen amongst the trees earlier today, something more ominous?
She was inclined to think the latter, making her doubly as determined not to simply skulk about upstairs when Vladimir could be in danger. She crept closer to the top of the stairs, but was only able to see the tops of the heads of the three men confronting Vladimir.
Besides, she was more concerned with the fact that Vladimir looked completely unconcerned by the fact each of the men was pointing a gun at him!
They couldn’t kill Vladimir with bullets alone, of course, but it would certainly disable him for a time if all three shot at him and continued to shoot until their guns were empty. They would then be able to behead Vladimir before he recovered, which would kill him.
“Now that you’ve decided to show yourself—”
“To which you all reacted by screaming like girls,” Vladimir taunted.
“Ublyudok!”
“No, I am very sure my parents were mated for several decades before I and later my brothers were born.” Again Vladimir mocked.
“Unnatural bastards, all of you,” another man snarled.
“Do not allow him to distract you.” The first man voiced his impatience with his accomplice. “Tell us what you’ve done with Tanya Petrova.” The sneer could now be heard in that unfamiliar male voice.
“That is absolutely none of your business,” Vladimir answered calmly.
It was a misleading calmness, considering they had invaded one of the Romanov brothers’ homes.
“Hopefully, you’ve done us all a favor and she’s already dead,” the second man taunted.
“She was still alive when I saw her standing at one of the windows earlier,” the third man stated.
It was a voice Tanya recognized but couldn’t quite believe she was hearing.
Because it belonged to her brother, Pyotr.
Half of her wished to run down the stairs to see if it really was him and, if it was, to express her joy at seeing him still alive.
But another, warier part of her, the part that whispered of Pyotr’s failure to look for and free her after his own escape, warned her to be cautious. Besides, she had no idea who the two men were with Pyotr or what their purpose was in being here.
Although she could perhaps take a guess…
She and Pyotr had heard rumors of other dragon hunters, both in Russia and Europe, but they’d never met any of them. Perhaps Pyotr had now been successful in meeting some of them after his escape from the Romanov brothers two months ago? Either here or in Europe.
“Your point being?” Vladimir challenged.
“Unless you’ve killed her since then so as to keep her quiet,” Pyotr scorned.
“She still lives,” Vladimir assured calmly. “But not because of anything you did. You escaped months ago and yet made no attempt to free Tanya. The rumor was you had gone to Europe.”
“A rumor I started,” Pyotr told him scornfully. “And I didn’t look for Tanya because I thought she must already be dead.”
“But you did not bother to confirm or deny that assumption.”
Pyotr snorted. “Because I knew you would have made her one of your human slaves by then. Subservient and obedient to you and your brothers’ whims and fancies,” he sneered.
“Tanya is not, nor will she ever be, subservient to anyone. Least of all me.” The low and dangerous growl in Vladimir’s voice was a warning Pyotr would do well to take note of.
Those guns might be pointed at Vladimir, but if he shifted into his dragon, the bullets wouldn’t even pierce the toughness of his leathery skin.
“Is that because you’ve made her your sex slave instead?” Pyotr’s taunting tone showed he was still as hotheaded as he’d always been, daring to poke the equivalent of a stick into a dragon. “Admittedly, it is a role she’s highly qualified for, but I would have thought even she would have drawn the line at fucking a dragon shifter!”
Pain ripped through Tanya before she was overcome with a cold numbness as all the blood drained from her head down to her feet. She slowly slid down the wall until she landed on her bottom.
Was this what Pyotr really thought of her? That she was