Hunted By The Bratva Beast: A Bratva Stalker/Captive Romance - Jagger Cole (the ebook reader .TXT) 📗

me again before I pull back again.

“Shit, my phone is back at—”

“I took it with us.”

Kostya stretches, turning to reach into the bedside table drawer. He turns back and pass me my phone.

“But,” he growls with a warning tone in his voice. “I don’t think you should.”

My brow knits. “What? Why not?”

Kostya’s jaw clenches. “Because someone is after you. A wolf. A hunter.”

I smirk. “Yeah, and he just got me.”

A smile flashes over his lips. But then it fades with a shadow.

“Not me, little one,” he says quietly. “There is another who hunts you.”

I shiver, my body tightening against his. “The shooting at the party.”

“And the car crash, and the hospital.”

“Someone’s after Viktor,” I say thinly.

Kostya frowns. “Someone is after you, Nina.”

I nod. “Yeah, because of who I am within the Kashenko organization, and my connection to Vik—”

“No, angel,” he growls quietly, shaking his head. “No, someone is after you. Someone besides me has been watching you, following you…” he scowls darkly. “Lusting after you.”

I shiver, suddenly cold. “What?”

Kostya’s jaw clenches, and I feel his hands tighten possessively on me. “Someone was in your apartment.”

I frown. “Yeah, you...”

He shakes his head, and my stomach clenches.

“The day I was in the shower, you were there. You saw me, and you wrote—”

“That wasn’t me.”

I blanche. I feel instantly sick to my stomach and also utterly horrified. My skin crawls as his words sink in.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“They’ve been in there since, as well,” he snarls. “Somehow, they know when I’ve been watching you, and when I’ve been unable to.” His hands tighten even more on me, pulling me close to him. “There is another wolf hunting you, little one,” he hisses. “And now I am hunting for them. My caution in calling your brother…”

“Is wondering who else is listening,” I say quietly.

Kostya nods. “I understand your bother inspires loyally. But the Kashenko organization is large. There are many ears. Many pockets that would be happy to be padded.”

I nod and reach for my phone. I’m still numb and sick from the knowledge that it was someone else that day who wrote on my bathroom mirror. But I do need to let Viktor know I’m okay.

I skip calling and text instead.

Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t reached out sooner. I’m okay. I can’t call right now, but I’m safe. I’m not hurt.

Viktor replies instantly.

You scared the fuck out of me, Nina. Where the hell are you?

I wince.

I’m safe. But until we know what happened at the hospital…

Can you get to the house? I have everyone on lockdown. Our people are combing the city shaking down anyone they can for information. We’re going to find out who’s after us, Nina. And I’m going to hurt them twice as much.

I smile. My brother is nothing short of zealous in his protectiveness of his family and loved ones. But so am I. It makes sense that we’re related.

I can’t just now, but I really am safe. I’m out of harm’s way.

You’re sure?

Positive. Please don’t worry about me.

No promises.

I grin.

Love you. Everyone else safe?

They are. And I love you too, Nina. Do you have protection?

I smile. He means a gun. But when I look up at Kostya, lying back on the bed like some kind of huge, muscled Viking warrior, I blush. Yeah, I sure do.

Yes. I’ll reach out soon.

Be safe, Nina. We’ll find out who did this, and I will destroy them.

I put the phone down and snuggle back against Kostya.

“Your brother cares for you deeply.”

“He’s protective of his family. Zealously.”

“Good,” Kostya growls. “I admire that in him.”

My lips twist. The question I’ve had in the back of my mind for weeks is hovering by the surface. But I’m scared to ask it, because I’m scared of what the answer might be.

“Kostya…”

“You want to know why I was after you to begin with.”

I nod.

“Nina, before the party, when I grabbed you…” he grunts and shakes his head. “I didn’t know who you… I mean…”

“You didn’t know I was the girl from the Moscow tenements.”

“No,” he growls. “You were a child then. And now, you’ve…” he shifts, a low growl rumbling in his chest. “You’ve grown up.”

I grin. “Noticed that, did you?”

His hand slides over my back to cup my ass tightly. He pulls me tight to his body, and I whimper as I feel his cock thicken slightly against me.

“Yes, angel,” he groans. “I have.”

I turn my head, craning up to kiss him slowly. His hands slide over me, but I giggle and pull away.

“Uh-uh, I want to hear this.”

He frowns. “Are you sure?”

I swallow, nodding. “Yes.”

“I was going to take you that night as vengeance. Retribution. Your family took someone from me. You were the reciprocation.”

My brows knit. “Who—”

“Fyodor Kuznetsov.”

I stiffen. My heart lurches as my mouth thins. “How did you—”

“He raised me.”

I pull away. I sit up on the bed, turning to hug my knees to my chest. I stare at Kostya. I can see the worry on his face—he knows what this means to me to hear. But he also knows it has to be said.

“He what?”

“In Moscow, I was also in the system, like you. My parents left me at a police station, and I was brought to a home for unwanted boys.” His face darkens. “It was… not a good place. But then one day, a man came.”

“Fyodor.”

He nods. “He was a hard man. Cruel, at times. Vicious. But he gave me and another boy a new life; a home, a roof, food. He gave us opportunity.”

“To do what?”

“Become soldiers for him. To fight and to take from this world what we needed.”

I nod. My hand slips into his. “Moscow was a hard life.”

“Da,” he growls quietly. “Yes, it was.”

“So he took you from the orphanage and…” I frown. “Made you soldiers?”

He nods. When I frown and say nothing, his brow furrows. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just…”

“Speak.”

“Seems a little manipulative. A little cruel?”

He frowns. “Cruel would have been leaving me and Dimitri in the group home, to be turned out on the streets as meat