by R. J. Blain
“Oh, he already knows. I used that line on him this morning. He laughed, and then he kicked me halfway into next week. I deserved it.”
“Anything else you’d like to add to that, Cleo?” my aunt asked.
“Yeah, actually. There is. You can’t change her nature, and she was named Runs Against Wind for good reason. Love her for what she is, and stop hoping for what she isn’t. Give her a good sword, and not another shady metal toothpick someone probably got out of an alley. That thing is an insult to katanas. I know you want to baby her because she’s never been babied a day in her life until now, but she is what she is, and you shouldn’t change that. Anatoly loves her because of what she is, not because of what she could have been. She’s a Siberian. All caging her will do is make her destroy the cage violently. Now that she’s recovered, it’s time to stop babying her and start letting her be herself. Let her fly, Madam President. More importantly, let her fall. This time around, she knows we’re around to catch her. She’s not stupid. She never was. She just didn’t know what it meant to have a family, and she’s figuring it out. You don’t have to cling.” Cleo’s expression tightened, and then he laughed. “Now I get why those cowards fled. They didn’t want to be the one to set you straight. You’re going to take me out on a mat and beat me, aren’t you?”
My aunt scowled, but then she relaxed, and a smile made an appearance. “That’s a fair assessment. And yes, I probably will, but I’ll let you off the hook for tonight. All right, Silverston. I’ll permit you to move your crap into my house and invade my niece’s quarters, but you better take damned good care of her, or I’ll remind you why people are wise to fear grizzlies.”
Anatoly grunted and covered his head with my blanket.
I raised a brow and poked his shoulder. “You’re a pathetic tiger.”
“I’m a tired tiger, and I don’t want to get beaten up by a damned grizzly today. I got tenderized by one yesterday and this morning.”
I growled. “Which one?”
“Gentry,” my aunt said. “Some mat time and sparring would do you good, Jesse, so you can take your nerves out on him tomorrow. We’ll get out of your hair, and we’ll keep your detail outside of the suite tonight. Try not to trash all the furniture if you decide to get violent with him. Better yet, if you absolutely feel a need to go destroy something, have your agents take you to your tiger’s home. You can destroy that, and he won’t peep a complaint about it.”
“Is that true, Ana?”
“To my eternal dismay and shame, it is,” he grumbled. “I’d probably like it.”
Of course he would. I grabbed the comforter, gave a yank, and wrapped it around my shoulders before staggering to my feet and heading for the warm, soft comfort of my bed. “I’m going back to bed. If you disturb me and your name isn’t Anatoly, I may very well kill you.”
Anatoly hopped to his feet with zero evidence of being tired and followed me into my room. To make it clear none of the interlopers were invited, I kicked the door closed. “Get out, and stay out!”
We listened until the main door of the suite closed. I couldn’t tell if anyone remained within the sitting room, but I didn’t care. I sighed and shook my head at their bizarre behavior.
“You’re confused, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am.”
“They’re confused because we’ve been snapping our teeth at each other for weeks, we haven’t mated, and they know it. Unfortunately for us, sex has a distinct smell, and it tends to linger. And don’t tell me you haven’t noticed when your aunt and uncle have been going at it. The first time you figured out what you were smelling, you stared at them in utter horror.”
I groaned at the reminder. “He laughed at me, and he wouldn’t stop laughing, and then I tried to decapitate my uncle with a dessert spoon for despoiling my aunt. And I said that. To his face.”
Anatoly wrapped his arms around me, blanket and all, and hugged me close before kissing the top of my head. “You were magnificent.”
“I was an idiot.”
“You were that, too, but you were a most magnificent idiot. I can’t look at the First Gentlemen now without cracking a grin. It’s one of my few joys in life right now. He comes into a meeting, and I sniff. And depending on what I smell, I either cluck my tongue and display disappointment, or I smirk.”
“I better tell him if he kills you, I will kill him.”
“Good idea. Can I watch?”
Anatoly enjoyed watching me get my ass handed to me on the mat for one reason alone: sometimes, I won. Ever since my rabbit of an uncle had gotten his ass handed to him, he’d forgotten how to hold back, unleashing his mystic powers and his martial arts on me. When I won, Anatoly savored every moment of my victory, which made me work even harder to win. “All right. What was that nonsense about? I mean, okay. We were passed out on the floor taking a nap, so it makes sense they were worried. But that whole thing with Henry, Todd, and Gentry leaving like they did? What is that about?”
“They smelled blood, which they assume is from a bite, but there was no evidence either one of us had staged a successful seduction. They are aware Siberians mate for life, and they’re also aware our bites are how we bond, except we’ve skipped straight to behaving like a bonded pair without any evidence of having mated.”
Right. I was surrounded by idiots. I’d already said I owned the damned tiger. Granted, I’d been delirious at the time, but I’d meant it. “It’s so much fun watching them try to convince me you’re my boyfriend. I just play dumb, and they drive themselves crazy.”
“And the entire time, you’re perfectly aware and content I’m yours to do with as you please. You told them I was yours, anyway. It’s not my fault they blame your illness and forgot how damned honest you are. And I am yours, of course. You’re also mine to do with as I please, and you display only just enough protest to satisfy our instinctual need to be as difficult as possible. As do I, of course.”
“Of course.”
“In short, Henry figured out we’ve been dancing around bonding for weeks, and we’ve done all the appropriate steps except actually mate. I have no intentions of ruining our fun and ending the chase early. It will be that much more satisfying for us both. But, you’ve been nibbling at me, bit by bit staking your claim without leaving any actual marks for weeks. I, as I’m a wise tiger who does not mind breaking tradition as needed to win, have been doing the same. We’ve actively been seeking out a bond and a staking of claims, so it makes a great deal of sense. I’m quite pleased you will be stuck with me for the rest of our lives. I’ve gotten the better end of this deal, I’m afraid.” Anatoly stalked closer, looking me over with a hungry expression. “I’m enjoying the chase, and will be rather unhappy if any interlopers try to end it early.”
Sometimes—no, most times—I questioned the tiger’s sanity. “And what does that mean for me?”
“It means you may hunt me at your earliest pleasure. I’m no fool, Jesse. Perhaps I’m a virgin, which is true enough, as I honor my agreements, but I’m no fool. You’re no virgin, that much I’ve figured out on my own, but that doesn’t change anything. You’re not ready for us to take that step. Yet. I’m in this for the long haul. I know you are. You don’t need to tell me that. You’re not the kind to quit once you decide to do something, and I knew the instant you started sneaking nibbles that you wanted to make sure no one else would claim what you rightfully believe is yours. Of course, I’m going to work very hard to earn my proper bite, which should be brutal enough to leave a permanent scar.”
“I have cream for that.”
He laughed. “Simple problem, simple solution?”
“Precisely. I also have tattooing needles, and I’m happy to add to my collection of ownership marks to your person.”
Anatoly smiled. “As far as I’m concerned, you’d bitten and marked me that day, and I do not care what anyone else says. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but I’m grateful.”
At first, I’d feared and regretted
tattooing my mark on Anatoly, but time had changed me. What had once been a shame had grown into one of the best choices I’d made in my life. Everything I had become had started with that one short meeting in a bar with Steel Heart as a witness. I still cursed the stone for making a mess of my life with its strong will and determination to roll wherever it pleased.
I grinned. “You’re demented.”
“I’m that, too.”
“You were you. Smug, handsome, and egotistical.”
He’d been dark, confident, and interesting, too. He still was.
He smiled but said nothing.
In addition to learning it was all right for someone to show affection for me, I’d begun doing the same for others, even when I found admitting it to be disconcerting bordering on embarrassing. “I like all of those things about you.”
“Well, conveniently, there’s a lot of things I like about you, too. I would go as far as to say I love them about you, for that matter. I’ve figured out I’ll have to ease you into this, as a beautiful Blade Clan warrior queen such as yourself will have a difficult time handling this. You weren’t taught how to be affectionate or show love. It’s a part of the clan culture. Like brothers, but still distant.”
“Death is our true and constant companion,” I recited, the memories of my childhood still lingering despite my efforts to cast them aside. “The only one we were to be one with was our blade and our bride.”
“You got a groom instead.”
“I got a groom instead,” I conceded.
“I’m quite pleased I’m your groom. I’m even more pleased that you’re my bride. I still have that document. I’ve held onto it despite all the whiners complaining about how I should get rid of it. That precious sheet of paper protects you most of all.”
I raised a brow at that. “It does?”
“The Blade Clan will want you back, but you’re my bride, and I am not giving you back. That will put them in a difficult position. They won’t kill a man or his bride to take one or the other. That’s not the Blade Clan way. I’ve had long talks with Gentry about this. I’ve also endured many a beating from Gentry, too. I’ll endure many more in the coming days, too.”
I tensed. “Why is he beating you?”
“The groom has to wage the wars by their customs. I was not born of the Blade Clan. I don’t have a Blade Clan warrior’s skills. I need them to prove I’m worthy of you.”
“No, you don’t. I’ll fight them all.”
And I would win. They waged wars and fought bloody battles, but I had faced the real world, and I had survived through it with my wit and my blade. Not only would I prove my worth, I would do so with an inferior blade.
No. Actually, I wouldn’t. A better idea flitted through my head. I could borrow Gentry’s sword and use the weapon that had purchased my life to secure my future. “I have an idea, Ana.”
“Should I be concerned? I often become concerned when you have ideas.”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I need a new sword, and I know the perfect place to get one.”
“You do?”
“I do.”
“From where?”
“Gentry, of course. I will use the shorter blade, and you will take the longer one. We will crush the clan with the swords that had been my mother’s bride price.” I allowed myself to smile. “We won’t defend our future. We’ll aggressively claim it from them. And when we are finished with them, there will be no doubt of my choice at all.”
I was a woman, and they would hear me roar.
No longer would I be ashamed of what I had become.
I had chosen wisely from the start.
Chapter Three
I kicked Anatoly out of my bedroom long enough to dress in my Cheyenne tribal leathers. To get my way with my grizzly of an uncle, I’d need every weapon I could get my hands on. He wouldn’t give up his swords without a fight, and for my fledgling plan to work, I’d need to put up a damned good fight.
I either needed to take his swords or get one that could hold up to a Blade Clan warrior’s ruthless strength.
Then again, after seeing what the Hope Diamond had done to Matt’s bat, I might be able to make one of my own—if the stone cooperated with me.
As far as I was concerned, if the stone interfered with my claim over Anatoly, we would have words. And I’d come armed with a hammer.
I didn’t care how much trouble I’d get into with my aunt and her governmental goonies.
When I emerged, Anatoly had straightened his clothes and had made himself look as presentable as possible despite having taken a nap in his suit. As I’d been taught how to tie a tie by a mixture of uncles, Todd, and anyone male with a tie nearby, I slapped his hands away and took over the task.
Every time I tied one for someone, I got a little better at it, and I adjusted it to my satisfaction. “I like this on you,” I announced.
“The red is similar to my blood after you land a good bite, isn’t it?”
I considered it, and I realized he was right. “I keep wanting to bite you. Obsessively. And drag you off.”
“Well, yes. We are Siberians, and that is what we do. It’s a constant battle, isn’t it?”
“We should go beat on Gentry. We’ll feel better.”
“I agree with you.”
I marched to the main door of my suite, opened it, and poked my head outside, startling Randal and Simmons. “Is my asshole uncle still here?”
Randal raised a brow. “Which one?”
“The grizzly one, not that heathen that keeps violating my aunt.”
Both agents cracked grins at that and Randal nodded. “He is. He’s with Madam President right now. They went to her office right after she left here.”
“I need to see him, and I intend on beating him and stealing his Blade Clan swords. Both of them. I’m giving the one to Anatoly, I’m selfishly keeping the other, and we’re going to beat up the Blade Clan.”
According to Randal’s expression, I had lost my mind.
I probably had.
“Let me see if I understand this. You want your uncle’s Blade Clan weapons, which he received as your mother’s bride price, so you can beat up the entirety of the Blade Clan?”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
I pointed at Anatoly. “He’s the groom. I’m the bride. They’ll try to initiate him, my groom. He is not Blade Clan trained. I am. I figure with him as a handicap, I can give them a fair fight.”
Simmons closed his eyes as though the weight of the entire world crashed down on his shoulders.
“Do you need a few minutes, Simmons?”
“How did you go from catching up on sleep to wanting to beat up the Blade Clan?”
“Well, it’s their fault I’m in this mess to begin with, they’ll beat my tiger if I don’t, and they’re a threat to my tiger. Mostly, they’re a threat to my tiger.”
Anatoly chuckled and he gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Relax, Jesse. I’m not helpless. Gentry has been teaching me. You can ask them. They’ve been helping.”
Both of my agents grimaced.
“They’ve been beating you up, too?”
“Ruthlessly, really. It’s been necessary, Jesse. I’m aware of how the Blade Clan operates, and I’m aware of how the contracts work. I’ve known ever since I was young. I became very familiar with the contract terms when it became apparent you’d become the bride and I’d become the groom. I’m not trained to the level someone from the Blade Clan is, but I’m almost to the point where I can hold my own. I’ve been run around for at least an hour a day, usually when you’re asleep. Your aunt’s detail keeps an eye on you while I’ve been working with your agents.”
I breathed until the urge to beat my agents subsided. “I want to see what you’ve been doing to my tiger.”
“Well, you’re handling this better than I thought,” Randal said, his expression easing. “Madam President has been worried, and with your illness, she didn’t want to strain you with the amount
of training we’re putting him through. You’re still rebuilding your muscle and endurance, and there has been some concern you shoulder won’t handle the strain of weapon training.”
However much I hated it, he spoke the truth. “I’ll just be rebuilding it more rigorously starting now. If we’re going to take on that damned clan, we need to be able to fight together. That means we need to train together. I don’t care if you beat me black and blue. And if I break my shoulder again, Henry and Cleo will fix it. Let me repeat myself: I don’t care if you beat me black and blue.”
“You may not care if you’re beaten black and blue, but your tiger does. Your tiger is very jealous and protective.”
“And I will beat my tiger into submission if necessary. One round with the sword should put the bastard in his place and remind him I’m not a delicate little flower.”
Anatoly grinned. “I look forward to you putting me in my place. I expect you to keep doing so until I knock you flat on your pretty ass.”
“Pretty?”
“I think you’re very pretty.”
I stared at him.
My agents cracked up laughing, and Randal lifted his hand to his ear. “Stiletto to Oval Office,” he announced.
Well, that made sure I got a move on, and I stepped out from beneath Anatoly’s hold on my shoulder, slid behind him, and pushed him in the direction of my aunt’s office. “We have demands we must make of her.”
“We do?”
“She has to fetch your clothing and whatever else you need from your house. Also, we need to establish an escape route so we can go hide in your house when this becomes unbearable. I haven’t even seen your house yet.”
“You will soon enough,” Anatoly promised. “We’ll sneak over after dinner tomorrow night. I’ll make certain there are no meetings even if I have to start mauling people.”
“Okay. I can work with that. I will help you with the mauling. It will be a joint venture.”
“What happened to getting some sleep?” Randal asked.
“I can’t sleep when I’m worried. Right now, I’m worried. I have a toothpick of a sword that would break if a Blade Clan warrior looked at it wrong. For my peace of mind, I require a real weapon. One that isn’t a toothpick someone fetched out of an alley.”