CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

El

DANTE WANTED TO drive us to school.

I didn’t have the strength to argue, I was still exhausted even though I’d somehow had the best sleep I’d ever had in my entire life. I had dreams of Dante putting a blanket over me when I got cold, and the dream shifted into something more heated that had me tangled in my sheets and sweaty. And most of all confused about what it meant.

“I have somewhere to be this morning,” Dante said in his usual indifferent yet always chilly tone. “I’ll meet you after class.”

I gulped and looked out the window. “Are you meeting them? The guys from last night?”

Silence.

I tried again. “What if it’s four against one? What if they want to hurt you?”

“Then I’ll hurt them right back.” He oozed confidence as he maneuvered the car through the open iron gates.

I should have expected that sort of answer.

“Okay,” I said once we parked.

I reached for my messenger bag just as Dante cursed under his breath.

The guys were waiting for us.

I kept my expression blank.

“They touch you, you let me handle it. Everything I’m about to say is going to be a lie, understand?”

“How will I know when you’re telling the truth,” I fired back before grabbing the handle to the door.

He shoved the keys in his pocket and grabbed my arm, twisting me back in my seat until I was pressed against the soft leather, his face inches from mine.

“I will never lie to your face.” He blinked slowly, his cool blue eyes assessing. “My only tell, is that if I lie to you, I look below your eyes, above your eyes, near your eyes,” he touched one side of my face. “And I might even look through your eyes, but I will never look at the soul behind them. You’ll know I’m lying because I won’t be speaking to your soul, El.”

He jerked away and opened the car door.

I let out a rough exhale and followed.

All four guys stood with an equal distance of space between them. The Eagle Elite uniforms looked foreign on them.

Black pants.

White button-down shirts with an eagle insignia on the pocket, with sleeves rolled up past their elbows and no jackets.

I wondered if the reason they made us wear white was so the staff could see blood easier.

I kept my head high as Andrei, gave me a once over and winked.

“Do that again,” Dante said in a low voice. “And you won’t like the results.”

One of the guys to Andrei’s right snickered only to get smacked in the chest by Andrei.

“We didn’t get a chance to speak last night,” Andrei said, his eyes roamed over me as if he had every right to look. He was attractive, some may even way hot, but his eyes were cold, and I knew what it was like to share a bed with someone who had no soul.

They screwed you in order to steal yours.

They were men who liked to have woman beneath them.

Men who found their power in making others feel weak.

They weren’t men at all. They were monsters.

Dante reached out and gripped my hand in his, it was so unexpected I sucked in a sharp breath then squeezed back.

“Didn’t know we actually needed introductions.” Dante spoke with deceptive calm. “I kicked your friend’s ass, then sent him to Hell right along with—” he stopped himself. “Never mind, I’m sure it’s still a very sensitive subject.”

Andrei’s jaw flexed. “You think you can say such things to me?”

His accent came through, just enough for me to want to run in the other direction.

“How does it feel…” Dante smirked. “To have a target on your back?”

“Ask your father,” he spat. “Oh, wait.”

Dante squeezed the life out of my fingers.

“It seems…” Andrei tiled his head. “…that we both have reasons for wanting revenge, hmm?”

I mentally willed Dante to calm the hell down. His other tell was silence, and it was more terrifying than his words.

Silence meant he was thinking of all of the ways he could manipulate you — hurt you. I knew his silence well, not because it had ever been directed toward me, but because I watched him direct it toward Ike last night.

And that hadn’t ended well.

“Yes,” Dante hissed. “It looks like we both have the same reason to hate…”

“The only question is; are you my enemy or my friend?”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” He shrugged. “Or so it should appear, right?”

Andrei’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going to have to spell it out for me, Nicolasi. Where do you stand?”

“Right in front of you.” Dante finally grinned. “You think I’d be here? You think I’d kill someone in cold blood for you, then turn on you?”

Andrei seemed to relax at that, he held out his hand. Dante shook it with his free hand and released his grip on mine.

Andrei nodded to the other guys. “This is Klaus.” He had an almost completely shaved head and a tattoo peeking out of his shirt near his right ear. I shivered.

“Maksim,” Another guy nodded at us, he looked like he’d rather be shopping, his shirt was so tight it looked uncomfortable, and he was wearing sunglasses like he was a movie star in hiding.

“And finally, little Ivan.”

Ivan wasn’t little.

Ivan was… stocky.

Around five ten and packing enough muscle to probably disarm someone by sitting on their chest.

“Now you know our names.” Andrei shrugged. “That’s how friendship works, right?”

“Absolutely.”

Andrei turned his attention to me. I took a step toward Dante, he didn’t put a protective arm around me, instead he stood as still as a statue while Andrei took one step, then two until he was in my personal space.

“And your name?”

I assumed he already knew.

He’d seen my tattoo.

He saw who owned me.

But that was the thing about the Russian mafia. My husband was killed in cold blood, which meant I was nobody’s.

Because nobody had claimed me.

Yet.

I gulped.

“You know exactly who I am, Andrei Petrov.”

I said his full name on purpose.

I’d met him once.

My eyes had been swollen nearly shut from a beating.

And he’d laughed and told my husband at the time to do whatever he could to keep me silent. Loyal. Heartless.

Maybe that was why it had taken me a while to recognize him.

Because my brain refused to acknowledge that this man, this very dangerous man with even more dangerous connections was in the same city as me.

Same University.

“You do not belong to the Italians.” His voice was threatening.

Dante snorted out a laugh. “Yeah well neither do I, looks like we’re both trapped, why else would I be screwing her under their roof? The spoils of war, Andrei.” His eyes locked on me. “She’s mine.”

“Pity, I would have liked to take her back where she belongs.”

I tried not to puke.

To react.

Where I belonged in his mind was chained to a bed.

Ivan spoke up. “Andrei,” He pointed to his watch.

Andrei gave Dante one last once over before he put on his sunglasses. “You’ll eat with us.”

“We’ll see,” Dante said.

Klaus looked between them like he was waiting for Andrei to pull a gun or punch Dante, instead Andrei smiled and put an arm around Dante. “I like you.”

“Most people do,” Dante said in an amused voice.

“You don’t take shit,” Andrei added.

“I’m better at giving it.”

Andrei barked out a laugh one more time and slapped him on the back. “Eh, eat with us, don’t eat with us, just come back tonight.”

“Another fight?”

“Fighting. Food. Fucking.” Andrei shrugged. “It’s all the same to us—” His jerked his attention to me again. “You can bring your girl if you want, just remember, if another member wants her — you have to at least let them look — even if they can’t touch.”

“I’ll think about it.” Dante smiled blandly, while Andrei and the rest of the guys walked off.

I was still shaking from the exchange when Dante grabbed my hand again and led me toward my first class. When my legs wouldn’t cooperate, he pulled me behind a large oak tree and pressed me against it.

“Hold yourself together, El, you’re stronger than this shit.” His blue eyes searched mine. “All right?”

I sucked in a large breath and gave him a jerky nod. “He…he,” I could barely get the words out. “He saw me one night after Xavier beat me, he laughed.”

Dante slammed his hand into the tree, his jaw popped as he gritted his teeth together and then calm washed over him as he whispered near my ear, “Want me to kill him?”

A few people walked by and stared at us, it looked like he was kissing my neck, like we were normal college students sharing a moment.

Nope. Wrong story, kiddos.

He just offered to kill someone for offending me, run along, nothing to see here.

“After,” I said. “Kill him after he stops being useful to you, to the bosses.” I couldn’t believe what was coming out of my mouth, what I was agreeing to. “Yes.”

Dante pulled back, his face broke out into a smile. “How messed up is it that I’m actually looking forward to that moment?”

I gulped. “It’s in your blood.”

“I wish it wasn’t,” he said gruffly. “I wish I didn’t crave it — dream about it — almost as much as I wish I didn’t feel guilt every day because of it.”

I sighed and put my hands on his chest, then ran them up around his neck, he didn’t move, or flinch, so maybe we were having a moment as our mouths almost touched. “The only shame in life, is not being who you were truly born to be. If that means you kill the bad guys — kill the bad, guys Dante. Just don’t lose your soul in the process.”

“And if it’s already gone?” He croaked his eyes darkening as he slowly leaned in until his forehead touched mine.

Days ago I would have been terrified that his body was this close.

Days ago, I would have shoved him away and run.

Days ago, I would have shuddered that his bloodstained hands were running up and down my skin.

But today.

Today was different.

Today I closed my eyes and drank in the wicked scent of Dante Nicolasi, the cologne mixed with soap. I inhaled.

And opened my eyes again.

Yesterday I was angry. I was afraid.

Today. Against the tree.

Pinned by Dante’s arms.

I was safe.

“I’ll help you find it,” I whispered.

“Just don’t damn yourself in the process, El.” He cupped my face with his right hand, his eyes fell to my mouth, his half-lidded seductive look could stop a girl dead in her tracks.

The wives always talked about how attractive his father was, even at an older age.

Almost like he’d aged backward.

Dante was no different.

If it was possible for a human to get more attractive by the day — he’d be the one to prove you right.

“Are you going to kiss me again?” I asked hopefully.

“No.” He pulled away.

My heart sank into my stomach.

“Because I don’t want to start something I have no intention of stopping.”

My head jerked, our eyes locked, and I saw it. The honesty.

“Told you I’d never lie to you, El.” His voice had a warning edge to it, like I shouldn’t push him, push whatever invisible boundaries he’d mentally set up between us. His eyes never left mine.

And I knew, this was what he looked like when he was telling the truth.

His eyes pierced through my defenses in an unapologetic search for my heart, my soul.

And I let them.

“We should get to class.” I finally found my voice and started walking, he fell into step beside me.

And I spent the rest of the day thinking about the non-kiss.

And the promise that came with it.