Nadia looked from him to Karina and then to Ivan. The Kartal watched her with that beady expression, waiting for her to crumble. Well, she’d had plenty of blood tests over the years. A little pinch, a little sting, all done. With an air of rebelliousness, she lifted her arm and set it in Davit’s hand. The moment her flesh hit his, he clamped his fingers down like a vise.
Nadia wanted to struggle but fought the impulse. This would be all over in but a moment.
That was her plan. Hang in there. Breathe.
Until he reached over and slipped the cheesecloth from the bowl and she noticed long black things swirling around inside it.
He grabbed the chopsticks, which now that she looked more closely seemed to be actual tongs. In a quick motion, Davit caught one of those wiggling creatures, withdrawing it from the water.
The wormlike thing wriggled and stretched, its thin body was long, about six inches in length. As he brought it closer, she saw the yellowish stripes that spanned its body from top to tail. What had her bolting from her seat and fighting Davit’s cruel hold was the mouth on that thing. It had teeth. Hundreds of them. And its mouth was opened wide. Ready.
To bite her.
“Let go!” She demanded, dread coiling inside her, chilling her to the bone. Jerking and pulling, she tried to wrench her arm from his grasp.
“Please, sit, kiz,” Dalia pleaded with a hoarse entreaty.
“You didn’t tell me there’d be…” She looked at the worm thing and almost vomited. It was skinny and slick, undulating between the tongs. “What is that thing?” Her voice had gone from total control to absolute hysterics. And, hadn’t Ivan warned her about that?
That smug son of a bitch.
“We employ the use of Tiger Leeches to assist us in the matching process.” Davit offered calmly, like he’d seen this reaction in females a hundred times before Nadia.
“Why don’t you just use a blood test and microscope?” She didn’t understanding the barbaric and antiquated procedure one bit.
Davit’s thumb tracked across her pulse point, slow and steady. Soothing. So soothing. Way, too, soothing. Her eyes were getting heavy. Her body languid. She slipped into the chair, just needing to sit.
“There is much to the process.” His thumb tracked back and forth over her flesh. “This is the first step.” Still caressing her, Nadia watched as he brought the tongs closer hovering it over the inner flesh of her arm. “It must feed from you.”
“Will it hurt?” she managed to ask, even though her mind seemed jumbled as if she’d been given a shot of morphine.
“There is pain,” Dalia whispered. “Be brave, daughter. We all must endure it.”
No one had ever warned her. Not her friends who’d gone through this before her. Not even her mother. “Why is this a secret?” Her brain wanted to work, it thought hard even through the haze, even though she was seriously compromised, Davit’s magical stroking forced her into some altered state.
“You will give a blood oath not to divulge our procedures. The consequences are far reaching. No one wants to bring egregious punishments upon themselves for sharing these details. Most are afraid of my híbe skill and I am not averse to using it, if I must.” Ivan’s ominous warning filled Nadia with loathing and dread.
Still, she couldn’t believe not one of her girlfriends who’d been mated over the years had ever said a thing about leeches.
All thoughts of this secret tradition fled as the tail of the leech slid along her skin. The sensation caused gooseflesh to crop up and she started trembling. “It’s going to hurt, isn’t it?”
She shook her head, no. She’d seen Stand by Me. They hadn’t even known there were leeches on them. Granted they were screaming about getting them off their bodies, but who wouldn’t?
A scorching burn like hot needles puncturing her skin seared the nerves of her flesh and she jolted. Okay, she could deal with…
She screamed. Pain stabbed into her arm and careened up her limb to her shoulder. The thing latched on and nearly stood on its head as it sucked and pulled, filling up with her blood. Tears filled her eyes, streamed down her cheeks as the burning increased, razing across her nerve endings. She was trapped there with some gross leech attached to her, held in place by Doctor Crazy with the híbe touch like an opiate and all she wanted was to run screaming from the place like her hair was on fire.
“Is it done?” she implored. The thing was fat, undulating as it drew more of her blood into its engorged body.
“This one, yes.” Davit responded and it took a moment for his words to sink in.
“This one?” Panic tinged her words. She glanced at the bowl with the cheesecloth lid and noticed another leech nearly crawling out of the top. The anxiety slithered into her veins; she didn’t want to feel such pain, again. “I’m good with this one, seriously.” No way she’d sit through another leeching by choice.
Davit set the tongs aside and picked up the vial of white crystals.
“What’s that?” God, please don’t let it be something acidic that would burn her, too.
“Sea salt. It’ll force the leech to detach.” He sprinkled the salt on the creature and waited a moment. It flopped to the side, bloated with her blood. He scooped it up with one end of the tong and dropped it into the cylinder.
Before she could launch out of her chair, run across the space and get the hell out of there, Davit caught her other arm, dragged it in place and held tight. His híbe skill had begun to wear off and she couldn’t control the reactions spearing into her mind.
“Bayan,” Davit waited and her mother responded to the cue, picking up a tea bag and settling it on the bleeding wound left by the leech. She paused as she retreated and smiled encouragingly to Nadia. “It will help with the itching.”
Itching? Hell.
It all happened again. More pain. More burning.
More screaming and tears.
Finally, Davit took the second leech and dropped it into the water with the other one. He secured the lid and stood. Nadia watched, exhausted from the experience as he turned and bowed his obeisance to the Kartal before exiting the room, leeches with him.
“Now, what happens?” she managed to ask, morbid curiosity getting the best of her.
“We will test it with the top candidates for your match. If the leech dies, that candidate is eliminated.”
Nadia stared at Ivan, dumbfounded. “What if both die?”
“We bring you in for more samples.” Ivan retorted with a superior grin. “More hysterics and tears.”
Nadia vowed that she’d never do this again.
Dalia slipped into the chair beside her and withdrew two long strips of cloth. She went to work binding each of the bite wounds, keeping the tea bag in place. It was then that Nadia noticed the faint y shaped marks on her mother’s forearms. They were so faded, barely noticeable, but there, nonetheless.
“Will I have scars?” she asked, hating that this whole mating business was full of subterfuge and pain.
“Minimal,” Karina chimed in, cheerful and upbeat as if she’d been on a commercial for some cheesy QVC product.
“How long do I have to wear these tourniquets?” Worry bloomed in her gut. Did Gunnar know about this leech thing? Would he recognize the marks? Oh no. It was a secret, right? He wouldn’t know.
“It will bleed for a few hours. Leave the tea bags on them to staunch the flow and help with any latent bruising. Should you continue to bleed for several hours, feel faint at all, or have any adverse reactions, please go to the hospital and have Dominic check the wounds.” Karina had the speech practiced to a perfect mix between cheery and sweet. Nadia had said something similar many times, too. She promised herself to make sure she meant it next time. Hopefully her patients never felt brushed aside like she felt right now.
“Can we go?” Nadia’s stomach roiled, her head pounded, and she suddenly wanted to go home and take a long, hot shower.
“You have some papers to sign, non-disclosure agreements and suc
h,” Ivan reminded her in his cold, aloof manner.
“Fine, let’s do it.” Nadia faced the Kartal and waited for him to move. Yeah, it was gutsy and completely improper but she’d just had leeches sucking her blood. Ivan Komar could cut her some slack.
Soon, she’d be with Gunnar.
And, he’d make her forget everything that happened here tonight.
Because, she didn’t want to remember it.
At all.
Chapter Seventeen
Gunnar set another trio of candles into the holder. When lit, each little flame would give off a romantic glow. He wanted to see Nadia in that ambient light, stretched out on his bed, bathed in the golden hue of the dozens of candles he’d placed all around his room.
She’d be here soon and he’d done everything he could to make this moment perfect.
Tonight, he claimed his mate.
He was nervous, too. Worried she wouldn’t like the food he’d ordered in. Or, she might find his home less than satisfactory. Or maybe she’d change her mind, hold out for a Council mating.
If he kept this up, he’d have himself in such a bind, he’d be worthless when she arrived.
Reflexively, he smoothed an invisible wrinkle on his navy-blue Tommy Bahama button up and checked the time on his phone. The food would be arriving any moment. Then, Nadia.
Nerves rushed through him and all those negatives regarding his status, his family, his bank account all collided making him feel…less than.
Less than the kraliyet.
Less than his boss.
Less than, hell, he even felt a little bit less than that pussy sentinel, Izak, and that was digging really damned deep.
He shook his head, needing to clear his mind. Positive thoughts would be better. Wasn’t that something Dr. Phil would say? Never in his life did he care about what someone thought about him. He accepted the circumstances of his life and made due. This time, he wanted to be perfect for Nadia.
Because, if she truly did want to become his, then he’d have to be enough. Because, if the shit hit the fan, they could be banished, torn apart from their community, their family, and culture.
She was enough for him. Absolutely. When she walked into the room, he felt light.
Energized.
Captivated.
Lucky for him, the doorbell rang signaling the food delivery and that interrupted his sappy thoughts.
For the next few minutes, he threw himself into setting up the food just right. He lit the candles at his pub table and straightened the black placemats he’d bought this afternoon to add a little kick instead of the mismatched bachelor pad décor that had graced the table since he’d bought it.
He tugged Nadia’s chair a bit closer to his and straightened the forks one last time.
Light footsteps in the hallway outside his apartment were his first warning she’d arrived. With a deep breath, he moved to the door and grabbed the handle. Curbing his eagerness, he waited for her to knock. The soft rapping on the wood was loud as a gong to his nerves, but he still counted to five before opening the door.
The sight before him knocked the breath from his lungs. Nadia stood on the threshold of his home, a picture in creamy white and soft pink. Long hair draped down her back, held in place by a thin band. There was only a hint of makeup on her face confirming that he preferred the natural look. It gave her a vibrancy of youth and an allure he couldn’t resist.
“Kjaere, you’re here.” Great, stating the obvious made him look like a moron. He swallowed and tried again, “Nadia, come on in.” His lips tipped up, trying for a welcoming grin.
She ducked her chin, a blush tinging her cheeks pink. “I am here, aren’t I?” Her lips parted as she smiled. A few tentative steps brought her into the room and he closed the door behind her. He grabbed her hand, needing to form a connection as he showed her around his place. “It isn’t a penthouse or anything, but it isn’t the projects, either.” He gave her a quick tour leading her down the hallway while pointing out each room, including the small entertainment room with the popcorn machine. After showing her his master bedroom, he led her back to the living room. “Would you like something to drink, water, tea, wine?” Me.
The tip of her tongue slid out, moistened her bottom lip. “Is it sparkling wine? Something sweet?”
He nodded. Wasn’t like he was a wine connoisseur or anything but he’d been given his fair share of wine bottles as gifts over the years from the Komar family and he’d rarely imbibed. He preferred the stronger stuff, like anything labeled Jim Beam. “Be right back.”
She nodded and brushed hair off her shoulder. Her loose white cardigan hid a silkier, pink shirt with faint polka dots, but even though the room felt fine to him, maybe she was cold. Before he went to the kitchen, he wanted to make sure she was comfortable. “Do you need me to warm the place up? Are you cold?”
She plucked at the cuff of her sleeve and bit into her lower lip, shaking her head. “No, I’m fine, thanks.”
With a quick nod, he pivoted on his heel and made his way to the kitchen. As he poured the wine, he wondered why she seemed so reticent.
Because you’re going to take her to your bed and do wicked things to her virgin body, dumbass. He sighed, forgetting the awkwardness she must be experiencing. Maybe they both needed some wine. He grabbed another glass and filled it for himself. Tucking the bottle under his arm, he took the full glasses and headed back to where he’d left her.
She’d settled at the edge of his leather sofa, perched like a little bird ready to fly away. “Everything okay?” He couldn’t resist asking. He wanted to make her feel comfortable and the worry on her brow was like a fist to his gut. If she was afraid of him now, things would not go well later.
With a nod, she dragged her hand through her hair and tugged the headband off. She stared at it for a beat before setting it aside on the coffee table. Her shoulders rose and fell and she drew in another breath before looking at him. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to act.”
He opened his mouth to reassure her but she waved her hand indicating she had more to say, so he nodded for her to continue.
“It’s like all I can think about is your bedroom and that king-sized bed with the fluffy gray comforter. I keep thinking that’s where we are going to go. That’s where you are going to…well, you know.” The pink flush across her cheeks reddened with heat.
“I know,” he said, feeling eager for the moment she spoke of, hungry for it.
Hell, he wanted her so bad.
“And, I wonder how I’m going to get through sitting there eating dinner like it would be any other date and not the night where I do it for the first time.”
He moved close, kneeling on the ground in front of her. He set the wine bottle and glasses aside so he could touch her. Sliding his fingers through hers, he squeezed gently, reassuringly. “Let’s just do dinner, watch a movie, and see what happens. No strings. No thoughts about that bed and the fluffy comforter.”
She laughed and took the wine glass, sipping it. “Okay. Except, I want to, Gunnar. It’s all I thought about today, becoming yours.”
Same. “Let’s eat then, before it gets cold. And, maybe afterward…” He didn’t say anymore, but his body vibrated with the growing need to claim her, even the sensitive gums above his fangs throbbed a warning that, biologically, he wanted to take her in every way possible making it irrevocable. Shackling those perilous thoughts, he stood and tugged her to stand. “I guessed you’d enjoy some native food. I’ve ordered us a feast from Chimera.”
Living in Los Angeles had its perks, like twenty-four-hour catering. Fortunately, at this hour, a Kan Asma favorite restaurant not only stayed open, it delivered so their dinner would be steaming hot and fresh. “So, do you like it?” He bit into the flesh of his cheek to keep from showing his apprehension. In this he wanted to please her.
She nodded. “Well, only if you have shish twook or Kibbeh, otherwise…” One of her brows arched and her lips trembled, holding a smile at
bay.
“Only Kibbeh?” he murmured, I suppose I can just slip the tadeeg into the fridge and shelve the ghormeh Sabzi beside it.” Her eyes narrowed and she bit into her cheek. She’d been toying with him! He played along, shaking his head in feigned dejection. “Perhaps, I should just order pizza. I think there’s a twenty-four-hour place on Sunset.”
She didn’t let him continue and instead tilted her head back and laughed. It reminded him of the moments they’d shared in the hospital, when her genuine happiness was strong enough to make him forget his pain. And, that smile, it warmed through the icy numb layers around his heart, melting it away bit by bit.
“Pizza is not funny.” He glared at her with a mock seriousness.
Shaking her head, she pressed her fingers to her mouth and her lips trembled as she kept her giggle at bay. “No, it’s not.”
He remained still, waiting her out.
She plucked at the napkin. “I can’t recall the last time I’ve indulged on crispy saffron rice and marinated lamb. It is way out of our budget, I’m afraid. Way, way out of it.” She took a long breath, twirling a strand of her hair around a finger. “That you honor me with such a meal, something so expensive and delicious, something meant for those of a different class, it humbles me, Gunnar.”
Humbled her? He was staggered by her confession. It was she who humbled him.
“Come. Let me honor you in truth. Sit by me and indulge. Then, we can enjoy it together the way it was meant to be served.”
He led her around the table and tugged the chair out for her. In a few moments, he had the food on the table, one large platter with all the various items spread out before her like she was a princess. He served her, too, eager to show that he could take care of her needs. All of them.
They ate in companionable silence, indulging in the delicacies. On impulse, Gunnar tore off a piece of his naan bread and scooped up a bit of meat. He leaned close and offered her the bite. Her lips parted and she accepted the piece tentatively her lips brushing the sensitive pad of his fingertip and he braced against the resultant shudder quaking within him.
Mated in Treason Page 20