Page 14 of The Darkness is Calling

Only the Devil knows which direction I leaned toward that night, but one thing is certain: none of my preferences should ever be fulfilled.

Not fucking her.

Not strangling her with the strand of pearls that decorated her throat and back.

Especially since she is Mikhail’s sister.

Fate is determined to fuck me in every way if I make the smallest mistake.

Even though that night I jerked off twice, imagining how I would take her while stealing the air from her lungs, I have only thought about her a few times since then. And fortunately, my body seemed to react less and less as time passed.

That is why I am curious now, to see whether I still have that same dangerous response I had that night.

My attention is pulled to the bodyguard straightening his back, and this time, the tsarina princess seems to decide to step out, but she refuses to accept the guard’s extended hand.

When he moves aside to give her space, I take a deep breath and forget to let the air out of my chest.

Not until a woman appears, with long brown hair, styled perfectly straight.

I thought she was blonde at Christmas...

I need to see her eyes, but she is wearing a pair of large black sunglasses.

I need to confirm my condition.

She is wearing a thin cream blouse and a pair of navy tailored trousers, paired with stilettos. But it isn’t the clothes that catch my attention. It is the long, bare throat I see when she pushes her hair behind her shoulder.

An almost royal elegance radiates from every inch of this woman, like a delicate perfume surrounding her.

It makes it impossible not to be hypnotized by her.

As she walks toward the large front door, I lose myself in the elegance of her stride, but the angle from where I am standing doesn’t give me the chance to notice any other details. Which reminds me that I am supposed to play the welcoming host and greet the guest I should be treating like a princess.

Fuck. I hate this.

I straighten my shoulders and tug lightly at the edge of my jacket to smooth out any crease, then start toward the entrance hall. It seems my two brothers and Dimitri, somewhere behind them, are already there, welcoming the woman who is currently shaking their hands and introducing herself.

“We’re happy to have you here,” Sasha tells her brightly, as he always does, a huge smile on his face.

Fucking liar.

Compared to him, the girl still has her back to me.

For a moment, my mind goes back to that night four months ago, when I could not see her face but waited for her to turn around.

And she does it right now, when she hears my footsteps approaching her.

A year ago, I was shot in the chest, very close to the heart. There was a fraction of a second when I thought my heart had been pierced, because the vibration from the bullet tearing through my flesh had reached it.

That is the same sensation I experience now, when the girl turns fully toward me and I am pierced by a blue gaze, clear as the waters of Greece.

Fuck…

My body locks up as if hit by that same fatal impact.

My steps slow for a second, but I regain control of myself before I reach her and extend a firm hand.

It is worse than that night, because now she is so close, and the voices in my head are shouting, clawing, screaming for release.