by Jacey Conrad
“I’m so looking forward to it,” Irina said, in a cool, sweet tone that would have made Julie Andrews green with envy. “Konstantin will see you out.”
Kon nodded at the agent and the pair disappeared into her hallway. Irina sank into her chair, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans. She pressed her forehead against the cool, smooth surface of the table and took a deep breath. She would not fall apart, she told herself. She had survived the interview without cracking once. She wouldn’t cry because the only known picture of her with Viktor was catalogued as evidence, in the possession of a federal agent. Fuck that. Fuck him. Fuck tears.
“That was awesome,” Kon told her as he came back into the kitchen. “I don’t think your sister could have pulled that off without losing her cool. I never would have expected it out of you.”
Irina lifted her head and stared at him. “What do you mean by that?”
Kon shrugged. “You know, everybody has their role in the family. Alexei’s clearly crazy. Nik’s stable and awesome, the problem solver. Galina’s the badass. And you’re…” Kon stumbled for the right words when Irina’s eyes narrowed at him. “Sensitive, uh, delicate. Human…I’m going to stop talking now.”
Irina pursed her lips. “Probably for the best.”
Irina’s cell phone rang, interrupting Kon’s apology and Irina swore she saw him wipe his forehead as she ran out to her bedroom to pick it up on the second ring. “Galya? Is the meeting over?”
“Nope. You need to grab Konstantin and get your butt over to Papa’s house right away. Alexei’s just called off your engagement. Andrey’s just challenged him over the insult.”
“Challenged? As in ‘outdoor werewolf gladiator’ challenged? Wait, don’t we want the engagement canceled? I thought that was the whole point of finding his shipment of Bullet. I’m confused.” Irina asked, tucking her phone under her chin and jerking her dresser open to find a sweater. She was not about to dress up for what boiled down to a werewolf fistfight.
“Yes, we want to end the engagement, but not like this. Alexei basically whipped it out and wanted to measure. Andrey can’t just walk away from that. So you need to hustle since you’re the bone of contention—so to speak.”
“Gee, thanks.” Irina said as she dug a pair of comfortable hiking boots out of the back of her closet.
“Sorry, sis. Now get a move on.”
Despite the situation, Irina was surprised by the number of people gathered in the forest behind her father’s house for the challenge. The press of bodies, the ululating howls against the backdrop of moonlight, made her edgy and nervous. Konstantin put his hand on her shoulder to lead her through the crowd, and she felt comfortable enough to lean into him.
She was glad that this was taking place so deep within the forest behind the house, far beyond the long-focus lens of whatever surveillance detail might have followed her from her place. She could only imagine what the FBI would do with pictures of her brother and Andrey wolfing out. She’d already decided not to talk to her siblings about her “coffee talk” with Agent Gregory until it became absolutely necessary. Or until Kon ratted her out. Clearly, Nik and Galina had more pressing matters to worry about.
Irina saw Galya across the clearing, next to the tall, thin figure of Uncle Petyr. Rakish as he seemed, with her father gone, Petyr was the last of Papa’s old guard, and would be the most trusted to officiate a dispute like this one. Galina looked more annoyed than worried, which gave Irina hope.
Before she could greet her sister or Nik, Alexei rushed past to enfold Irina in a suffocating hug. His hot, damp hands lingered on Rina’s back, stroking up and down in a way that made Irina throw her arms out, breaking his hold. She would not let him touch her like this. She didn’t care if it agitated him. She should have stopped humoring him a long time ago.
“I’m going to end this farce of an engagement,” Alexei was murmuring into Irina’s ear, his arms tightening around her as she pushed him away. “You deserve better than a thieving mongrel.”
“Shouldn’t you focus on the task at hand?” Nik reminded him, gently drawing Irina out of Alexei’s grip.
Alexei pouted slightly, absently petting Irina’s hair. He barely noticed when she ducked her head out of the way. “Hardly. This won’t take any time at all.”
A hush fell over the wolves and Irina turned to see that Andrey had come into the circle, an enormous black wolf with silvery blue eyes. He stood in the center, waiting. He nodded toward Galina, letting his tongue roll out of his mouth in a big, wolfy grin. Galina rolled her eyes. Irina laughed, despite herself, and fought her way through the crowd to join her sister.
Alexei stripped down, ready to change. He had no problem dropping into wolf form in front of people. Irina took her hand and squeezed as their brother dropped to all fours, now a massive gray wolf with sickly yellow eyes. Galina squeezed back.
“What’s going to happen?” Irina asked softly.
“Alexei and Andrey will fight to disable, not to kill,” Galina explained. “Andrey’s the offended party here since Alexei broke the agreement Papa made with him. If he wins, the engagement stands. If Alexei wins, Andrey loses power and face and you don’t have to marry him anymore.”
Irina had never been to a challenge before. Since she wasn’t a werewolf, Papa tried to keep her out of the bloodier sides of the culture. Even without the proper understanding of the process, she had a horrible, sinking feeling that her life was about to be rearranged for her again. How had things spun out of control so quickly? Why had she allowed herself to be put in this position again? When would she be allowed to live her own damn life?
“Do you think Alexei will win?” Irina’s eyes didn’t leave the two wolves circling each other. As she watched, the black wolf snarled and attacked, bowling the gray wolf over with his greater mass. The two wolves locked together, a blur of black and gray.
“We just have to watch and see,” Galina told her, wincing from the strength of Irina’s grip.
From Irina’s vantage point, it was difficult to tell who was winning the confrontation. Where Alexei used brute strength and dirty tactics, Andrey was all controlled violence and grace. Alexei’s strategy seemed to be snapping at Andrey’s throat over and over, backing him into the boundary of the circle. But then Andrey lunged upward, jaws snapping closed around the gray wolf’s throat.
A high-pitched whine echoed across the clearing, cut off as Andrey clamped down harder. The gray wolf struggled, but breaking away by force risked tearing out his own throat. He pawed at the ground, tossing up clumps of dirt, but Andrey kept his hold. Alexei struggled uselessly, yelping and whining like a chihuahua denied his favorite sparkly collar.
Either from fear or embarrassment, Uncle Petyr stepped forward and called, “Lupesco. You won. Let him go.”
Irina let loose the death grip on Galina’s hand with a sigh. “Looks like you’re still engaged,” Galina whispered to her with a smile.
“Not funny, Galya.”
Andrey changed back to his bloodied human state. He stood in front of the assembled families, clearly unashamed of his nakedness. From what Irina could see, he had very little to be ashamed of. Irina clapped her hands over her eyes. “I should not be seeing this.”
“As the victor…” Andrey growled and Irina flinched. Galina put her arm around her sister. “I am altering the terms of the contract, as is my right.”
Alexei who had changed back into human form and lay at Andrey’s feet, curled into a ball of defeated, naked werewolf.
“There’s nothing homoerotic about this at all,” Galina whispered to her sister, trying to tease a smile from her. But Irina simply stared at the grotesque display.
“I hereby dissolve my engagement to Irina Sudenko and choose instead Ilya Sudenko’s other daughter, Galina, as my future wife.”
Irina’s mouth dropped open. What fresh hell was this? Andrey was dumping her, publically? Shaming her? Irina hadn’t even wanted to marry Andrey. And she was obviously in deep mourning for
the secret love of her life, but she certainly didn’t appreciate him returning her to her family like she was damaged goods. Fuck him and their burgeoning friendship.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Galina gasped, as Andrey’s gaze locked on hers.
“No. If he was kidding, he would yell, ‘Haha!’” Irina said, shaking her head. “There is a distinct lack of ‘Haha!’ in this situation.”
12
And Yet Somehow…Even Worse
NIK HAD BEEN ASSIGNED to dodge Alexei’s belligerent ass and drag a thoroughly confused Irina to Galya’s apartment. For the record, she was getting really tired of being dragged places. Galya had changed into comfy clothes by the time she opened her door for her siblings, and offered Irina a glass of vodka before she could even fully walk through the door.
“Sip this,” Galina ordered. “You’re going to need it.” She returned to the kitchen to fetch more drinks. The doorbell rang. “Nik, can you get that? It’ll be your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Nik barked.
“Okay, it’ll be your lover.” Galina wriggled her eyebrows at her brother. “That better?”
“You’re impossible!”
“Hello, all.” Kon sauntered into the living room and flopped on the couch next to Irina. “So did you tell them about your visitors this afternoon?”
Irina shook her head and whispered. “No, and I’m not going to. They have enough to worry about right now.”
“They need to know, Irina.”
“And I will decide when to tell them.” Irina whispered as Andrey bolted through Galya’s door and wrapped himself around her sister. And while the blissful expression on her sister’s face warmed her heart, she kind of wanted to smack Andrey for his social machinations at her expense.
Nikolai sat in the wingback chair, Konstantin rising to stand guard behind him. Irina sat on the couch, glass clutched in her hands, knuckles going white. She watched Andrey and Galina snuggle into the couch together, and she’d never felt so alone in all of her life. Her partner was gone. She was the uneven side in this constellation, the fifth wheel. Was this how it going to be for the rest of her life? Watching her siblings nestled in the loving relationships they richly deserved and trying not to die inside from loneliness and secret, shameful envy?
She sat back in her chair and downed her vodka like it was water. She would never be “allowed” to live her own damn life, she realized, because rational, adult women didn’t wait to be “allowed” to do anything. They didn’t ask. They simply did. Hell, Galina did it every day. But she had deferred to Papa. She’d let herself get backed into this corner by being the good girl, by being agreeable. It was no wonder that Gregory, Marty, and every other predator in the greater Seattle area saw her as the weak link in her family. She was weak, and now she was paying the price.
Through her gloomy thoughts, Irina heard her sister asking, “How are you doing?”
“Besides being humiliated and confused and mourning the only man I’ve ever loved? Motherfucking peachy, darling, thanks.” Irina gave her a bitter smile.
“Drink up, Rina,” Galina warned, giving her hand a squeeze. “The evening is just getting started.”
“There’s more?” Irina asked. “You know, you don’t have to sugarcoat things for me, Galina. I can handle it. Just tell me. You didn’t find a dead hooker in Alexei’s Dumpster or anything, did you?”
“Actually, this is the one instance where a dead hooker might have been preferable,” Galina sighed. “It’s worse than we thought.” She gave Nikolai a pointed look. “We’ve always known that Alexei is…unhealthily interested in Irina.”
“We did not always know this,” Irina said, shaking her head.
“Those of us who are not Irina have always known this,” Galina amended. “But now, his obsession is to the point that he’s turned the guesthouse at the back of Papa’s property into stalker central.”
“What are you talking about?” Irina looked at Galina, trying to understand.
“Alexei has a wall of you, Rina. Pictures—some old, some as recent as Sergei’s funeral—all over the place. And he’s got quite the little, ah, collection.” Galina met Nik’s gaze, holding it with her own. “He had Irina’s old teddy bear—the one that Papa won her at the carnival, that she slept with until she went away to college. And the garter she wore on her wedding day.”
Irina tipped the glass back and drained it. “I was wrong. I think I’d like to go back to sugarcoating.”
“You’re going to want another.” Galina gestured for Nik to refill her sister’s glass, then continued. “Andrey saw it too.”
Andrey nodded. “I think it’s safe to say that Alexei is not just a passenger on the crazy train, he’s the conductor.”
“So we have to figure out what to do next. While I’m sure we all appreciate the fact that Irina is once again a free agent, it does present us with the problem of what to do about Alexei,” Galina said.
“It’s only a matter of time before he makes a move on Irina,” Andrey said, dropping a hand to Galina’s shoulder. “Had I known that he was this obsessed, I would not have called off the engagement.”
“I don’t think any of us knew he was this bad,” Irina said, polishing off another glass. “A lot of his ramblings at my house that day he destroyed all of my clothes makes sense now.” She waved the empty at Nik. “Another.”
“I think you’ve had enough,” Nik said, looking at Galina.
Irina shook her head vehemently. “Nope, I still have functioning brain cells, so I haven’t had nearly enough.”
Galina nodded. “Go ahead. She’s staying with me tonight anyway. She can get as drunk as she likes.”
“Yay for me.” Irina waved her empty tumbler at Kon.
“What’s the next move?” Konstantin asked, taking the bottle and refilling both Nik and Irina’s glasses. “After we have a lengthy discussion of Irina’s interview with the FBI this morning, while you morons were ‘too busy’ to answer your phones.”
“Oh, you…козел ебарь,” Irina spat through the explosions of “What!” from Galina.
“Did she just call you a ‘goat fucker’?” Andrey asked Kon.
Kon scratched the back of his head, frowning. “Yes, she did.”
“I am starting to like her more and more,” Andrey told Galina.
Galina smacked Andrey’s chest and pointed a finger in Irina’s face. “We are talking about this, in detail. We need to know what was asked, what was said, and how much you cried.”
“Fine,” Irina grunted. “And for the record, I didn’t cry. Jerk.”
“Now that that’s settled,” Nik sighed. “We get Irina as far away from Alexei as we can, at least for the moment. Give us time to plan, time to look for some evidence that he was involved in the bombing.”
“Wait, what?” Irina sat up, nearly dropping her glass. “You think Alexei had Papa and Viktor killed?”
Nik threaded his fingers through hers. “Think about it, Irina, Papa doesn’t have any active feuds going. He was on the cusp of making a strong connection with Andrey’s operation, which would make him someone to do business with, not murder. Who had the most to gain from getting Papa out of the way? Alexei. He’s been itching to take over the family for years and it was pretty clear how he felt about Papa’s plans to marry you to Andrey. I think he got tired of waiting.”
Irina tried to process the very idea that her brother had murdered her father and her lover in cold blood. She tried to dredge up some feeling of shock or horror or disgust, but she felt completely hollowed out, unable to feel anything but numb. “So, you’re sending me away?”
Nik nodded. “And in that, I think I can help. I’ve got a cabin a few hours from here. Irina and I can go there for a little while—I can say we’re taking some time to grieve away from the constant reminders of Pop. No one will think to question that, not even Alexei.”
“That will give me time to figure out a way to counter him.”
“And then what, Galina? You find evidence of Alexei’s involvement in Papa’s death and turn it over to the cops?” Irina asked, thinking of how happy that would make Agent Gregory.
“Tempting, but no,” Galina said. “He’d end up wolfing out in front of the cops and revealing werewolves to the world. As much as I would love to see him in inmate orange, I don’t think breaking thousands of years of werewolf secrecy is worth it.”
Galina sighed. “I may as well tell you this, Nik. I want more than just a seat at the table.”
“Let me guess, you want to be the table.” Nik gave her a tired smile.
Andrey barked out a laugh. “Close!”
“I want to run the table.” Galina gave her brother a small smile. “But I need to prove that I’d be better at it than Alexei.”
“That shouldn’t be too difficult,” Konstantin offered, sitting on the arm of Nikolai’s chair. Nik smiled and leaned into him.
Konstantin continued, wrapping an arm absently around Nik’s shoulders. “I listened to the others at the challenge. The old guard wasn’t impressed with Alexei’s decision to preempt the engagement without cause. And they were less impressed with his performance in the challenge itself. They may not be ready for a woman at the head of the table, but they’re unlikely to support Alexei for much longer.”
Irina raised her glass and said, “Then we need to make them ready because nothing is going to stop Galina.” She drained the vodka in one swallow. “She’s like the unholy child of ambition and a steamroller.”
“That I can drink to,” Andrey said, also raising his glass to Galina.
“It’s not my line,” Irina said, shaking her head. “Vitya said it once.”
Irina tried not to let the tears well up in her eyes, really. But it seemed that speaking his name had broken some sort of damn inside her and she couldn’t stop the steady slide of water down her face.