Chapter 5 5

Chapter 5 – Friend

Two days had passed, and Alina was still giving us the silent treatment. Kazimir had opted to use a long ankle shackle to secure her to the bed. It wasn’t long enough to reach the bathroom, so Kazimir had to check on her every few hours.

We had tried questioning her a few times and she gave nothing up. Kazimir allowed her to take a shower in his bathroom and to our surprise, she did not attempt to climb out of the window. Of course, Ninos waited in the garden for her attempted escape which never came. She sat in silence throughout the day and whimpered in her dreams at night.

To my surprise, Kazimir didn’t attempt to sleep in the same bed as her, though he spent a great deal of time watching her sleep. She seemed to sleep better with him in the room. The energy in the house continued to grow tense as Kuzma felt more desperate with each passing day. Alina had refused to come downstairs and eat her meals with us, so Kazimir took her meals to the room.

“Kazimir, I’m going into the city this afternoon, you should ask her if there’s anything she needs,” Ninos offered as he finished eating his sandwich.

“She doesn’t need anything, if she does, I’ll get it for her,” Kazimir retorted with irritation.

“She might need clothes, shoes, maybe even girly things, or I don’t know… tampons,” Ninos suggested just as I was taking a long drink of water and nearly spit it out all over him. We didn’t have women around long enough to establish girlfriend status, so this was uncharted territory for us. Kazimir only had four older brothers and both Ninos and I had no siblings.

“Shit,” Kazimir shook his head in disbelief.

“Let me know. I’m going this afternoon to do some shopping and plan to stay in the city for a dinner date with Aarti.”

“The chef at Curry Express?” I asked.

“She owns the restaurant. We got lost in a conversation about naan versus pita bread and tandoori roti versus lavash. One thing led to another and she’s cooking for me tonight.”

“Leave it to the kid to find a date over an obsession with food,” Kazimir chuckled.

“Ninos has a point, she can’t live in your shirts for the rest of her life.” “She doesn’t have to wear my shirts, she can be naked too.”

“You wish,” Ninos laughed. “She hasn’t let you near her!”

“Considering everything that’s happened to her, would you expect her to?” I asked Ninos.

“I don’t know man, but Kazimir can’t last much longer. Celibacy isn’t in his nature,” Ninos shrugged.

“I’m not going to live like a monk while the human decides if she wants me. I haven’t claimed her, and we haven’t mated,” Kazimir scoffed as he stormed out of the kitchen.

“Blue balls must be getting to him.” Ninos gave me a wicked smile. “I’m going to take a shower before I leave. Text me if you want me to pick up anything from the city.”

“Be home tomorrow by noon, we have that phone conference with Aleksei,” I reminded him.

Kazimir’s brother had also invested in the same Russian oil company like us. It was a strategic move in hopes we would be able to corner enough

shares to have significant influence as board members. SiberianOil was a fast-rising company, and the value of our investments over the last year had more than quadrupled. Our fifty million was now worth nearly a quarter of a billion.

I stepped into the office to review the research folders Ninos and Kazimir put together for the jobs we had planned this week. We typically plan half a dozen targeted hacks each week, sometimes more if an election was nearing or heavy fundraising was occurring. Money moved at an incredible rate, and we capitalized on it.

I finished my work and left the office. Kazimir was nowhere to be found. When he was stressed, he could usually be found taking it out on a punching bag or running. He was either running on the beach, with his shirt off to impress the ladies or he was downstairs in the basement gym working it off. I decided to check on Alina and made my way to his wing.

I stopped just outside the door and listened for a brief moment. She made no sound, but I could feel her presence on the other side. I reached for the door handle before it occurred to me to knock first, but it was too late. Ugh, Hades, you don’t have to remind her what a savage you are, I mentally scolded myself.

“Alina,” I called out as I entered, not wanting to surprise her.

She was looking out the window, standing with her arms crossed over her chest. Kazimir’s t-shirt reached just over the top of her knee, and her long hair was pulled into a ponytail. She turned to face me before she finally spoke.

“What are you doing in here?” She asked.

“I came to see if you needed to use the restroom,” I replied, trying not to sound intimidating.

“If you’re going to keep me leashed like a dog, maybe you can take me outside to relieve myself. Then at least I’ll be able to get some fresh air. This entire room smells like him.”

I hadn’t realized that humans could decipher our scents. Perhaps it was just his body wash or the manly scent of his human side she was smelling. She wanted to go outside, and I wanted to keep her talking. I considered it for a moment, what could possibly go wrong? She couldn’t outrun me, she had no shoes, no money, and some Russian criminal was probably looking to kill her.

“Fresh air sounds good. I’m willing to take you outside in the garden if you promise to be good.”

She nodded her head and I reached into my pocket for the cuff key to unlock her.

“Don’t make me regret this. You’re Kazimir’s ma—, captive. If you run, I will catch you and I’m not as gentle as he is.”

She walked beside me, and I could hear her even breaths. She wasn’t anxious as someone might be who was plotting an escape. Had she resigned herself to staying here? I didn’t get the sense that she had much to return to in Russia. We moved through the kitchen, and I pushed the door open for her to step outside. This was the moment of truth, would she run or scream?

I watched her as she hesitantly stepped into the sunlight. Turning her face up and closing her eyes, she allowed the sun to wash over her as she took a deep breath. She reminded me of a prisoner who was finally tasting freedom for the first time in years. She may have only been locked up in Kazimir’s room for a few days, but I suspected she may have escaped some other kind of prison. And though I really wanted to know, I also didn’t want to push her too fast.

“I can smell the salty seawater in the gentle breeze,” she said and kept her eyes closed. “The sun feels so good. So warm.”

“Much warmer than Moscow,” I replied. “Is this your home?” She asked.

“For right now,” I wasn’t sure what to say to her. If she was a friend or foe. She may be Kazimir’s mate, but she knows nothing about it. “It’s safe here. You don’t have to worry about Russian criminals finding you.”

“I’ve been sleeping in the bed of a Russian criminal already, haven’t I?” “It’s different,” I tried but couldn’t find the words.

“Meow,” a soft little sound rang up at us. It was the stray cat. Probably looking for Ninos to feed him. He quickly entwined himself through her legs, brushing himself up against Alina’s calves.

“Ninos mentioned it was a boy? Do you know how rare that is?” “How rare a male cat is?”

“No,” she laughed and reached down to pet it. “How especially rare a male Tortoiseshell cat is. We’re talking one out of three thousand.” He meowed again, demanding her attention, and she scratched behind his ear.

“One of three thousand, I bet that makes him the king of his pride,” I chuckled. “The leader of his pack.”

“If he was a leader he would be the Alpha of the pack,” she laughed. She continued to give the cat her attention and he continued to soak it up. “Are you a little Alpha, hmmm? Oh, you’re so sweet,” she cooed.

“Alpha?” Haze huffed in my mind.

“He’s not an Alpha, he’s all alone. None of the other stray cats on this island visit our villa. He’s more of a rogue than the leader of any pack.”

“Awe, a rogue. Like a little lone wolf. Oww owww owwwww,” she mock howled, and the cat stared up at her with dazzling interest.

“He certainly stinks like a rogue,” I joked. For a stray cat, he smelled pretty good. Much better than a rogue any day.

“Ow!” Alina let out a pained moan and wrapped her arms around her stomach. She hunched over and her breathing became ragged.

“Alina?” I questioned. Sensing something was wrong with Alina, the cat let out a high-pitched meow.

“It’s…” her hand moved over her chest, and I could see beads of sweat forming on her face. She wasn’t faking it, something was wrong with her. “It burns. Oh, God!” She dropped to her knees.

“Is it in your stomach or chest?” I had forgotten how fragile humans could be. She might need a doctor.

“Ugh, both. Stabbing pain,” she rolled to her side, arms wrapped around herself.

“What’s going on?” Ninos stepped outside and took in Alina’s shuddering body.

“I don’t know, she might need a doctor. Get Kazimir!” I kneeled beside Alina, debating on moving her inside or rushing her to the nearest hospital.

“Kazimir’s in the basement with Madonna,” Ninos said. “Madonna?” I questioned as Alina let out a howling cry.

“He’s giving her self-defense lessons,” Ninos said and dashed for the basement.

“Self-defense my tail,” Haze scoffed, and I realized what he implied.

I consider it for a moment and wondered if a human could feel cheating pains because if I know Kazimir, he was not teaching self-defense. Alina stopped trembling and her breathing steadied. The cat let out a low whine as he sniffed her face, worried about his new friend. I made a hissing sound to try and shoo him away, but he was insistent, refusing to leave.

“What is she doing out here?” Kazimir rushed out half-naked and gave me an accusatory look. “What did you do to her?”

Fighting the urge to punch him, “I didn’t do anything. It was all you,” I bit out.

“Get that flea bag away from her,” he barked at the cat.

“Who’s that?” We turn our heads simultaneously and found Madonna in the doorway. Lipstick smeared all over her face.

I gave Kazimir a piercing look, “you should go take care of your guest and we’ll get Alina settled back in her room.” Alina moaned, looking exhausted and unfocused.

“Nothing to see here,” Ninos stepped closer to Madonna and motioned for her to move into the kitchen. “I’ll walk you to your car. I’m sure Kazimir will call you later.”

“Is she okay?” Madonna asked.

“She’s fine. Hades is never gentle with his pets,” Ninos told her as they walked through the kitchen.

Kazimir scooped up her wearied body and made his way back to the room with her. I waited in the kitchen for him to return.

“What the hell was that?” Kazimir asked.

“Since I don’t see her smeared lipstick all over your face or neck, I’m going to guess she had her mouth around your cock?”

“And? I’m not a mated male,” he said defensively. “Tell me something, did you fuck her?”

“How could I with Ninos interrupting.”

“Cheating pains. It’s safe to say your mate felt the pains of a cheating mate.”

“That’s not possible,” he gave me a look of betrayal.

“Then maybe you should go upstairs and ask her what the pain felt like. She said it was burning and stabbing in her chest and stomach. And while you’re there, ask her why it stopped the moment Ninos interrupted your blowjob.”

“She’s human. How could she possibly feel it without a wolf?”

“The Moon Goddess paired you with her, it could be part of the mate bond and not a wolf thing. Now that you’ve found her, the bond is in place.” Human and wolf mating’s are not as common, so I didn’t know for sure either.

Kazimir paced the room. “Are you sure?”

“You want to test it out again? Call Madonna back,” I said sarcastically. “Look, I know what I saw, Haze also recognized it.”

“You took her outside!”

“Yes, she wanted fresh air and promised not to run.” “She talked to you?” He snarled.

I couldn’t believe his possessive accusatory tone. “The only competition you might have is with that cat. She loved him the moment she saw him,” I grinned as Kazimir let out a growl.