Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Nina glanced over at the simple black flats she’d discarded inside the cubicle. “Next time, go for heels if you’re comfortable in them. Tonight? No one will notice your shoes after they get hit with those eyes.” An approving nod. “Blue fire, bright and hazardous to the body and heart.”
Picking up a black tote bag emblazoned with the Club Moscow logo—a bold black letter M lit up from behind in neon pink, so that it was a shadow emerging from a wild night—she said, “You can put your clothes in here, and I’ll leave it at coat check for you to pick up at the end of the night.”
“Would you like me to transfer the credits for the dress now?”
“Dress is on the house. Have fun. Tell all your Psy friends.”
“I don’t have any friends.” Theo wouldn’t lie to Nina about the return on her investment.
The other woman leaned one hip against the doorjamb. “If you’re keeping company with bears, you’ll soon have more friends than you know what to do with—the bears absorb people. Like giant voracious amoebas.” A scowl. “Charming assholes, one and all.”
Theo couldn’t tell if Nina liked bears or not. But she liked Nina. “I believe I understand now how you won the respect of the bears and the wolves.”
“Oh?” A single pointed word.
“They know you won’t bend, even at risk of death or injury,” she said. “If they push you too hard, you’ll just take the laser weapon hidden in your ankle boot and stun them with a beam to the face. No regrets. No hesitation.”
Nina went motionless for a heartbeat before breaking into laughter open and husky that transformed her from sultry to flat-out breathtaking. “Oh, I like you, Theochka,” she said with a new openness to her expression. “I’m going to put my card in the bag with your clothes. Hit me up for a coffee and you can tell me how you spotted a weapon I’m certain only the most senior members of both packs have ever noticed.”
Eyes yet alive with laughter, the club owner picked up a small cylindrical tube from the basket near the door. “Gloss sample,” she said, peeling off the seal. “Your lips are incredible. Play them up.”
Theo dutifully slicked on the clear gloss.
To Nina’s slow smile. “Oh yes, your bear is going to swallow his tongue.”
* * *
* * *
HAVING caught Theo’s scent, Yakov entered the club and looked to the left, in the direction she’d gone with Nina. It was a narrow corridor that led to the staff offices, all of which were walled off from the public areas.
He didn’t know what he’d been expecting—but it definitely wasn’t a blond bombshell with eyes of blue flame that held his with brilliant intensity, flowing hair of wavy gold, lips plush and so soft he wanted to beg her to do naughty dirty things with her mouth, and legs that went on forever.
He’d been attracted to Theo from the first, but now.
O Bozhe!
Punch to the solar plexus.
And if he was any judge of the look in those stunning eyes, she was obviously in no mood to play it safe tonight.
Striding to meet her halfway, he tugged on a loose lock of wavy hair. “Hot enough to burn, pchelka.”
He crooked his arm.
If he’d considered it, he might’ve expected hesitation. But this wasn’t the Theo who wore a skin that made her blend in. This was the woman of his fucking dreams. She curled her fingers possessively around his biceps, her skin a little cool to the touch and her scent an enticing blend of woman and that barely tamed fury within.
His bear rumbled to the surface of his skin.
Yasha, you’re in trouble, said his inner voice.
Hell, yes he was. And he was fine with it. As he was fine with being claimed.
He just wasn’t certain she was thinking straight after the shocks of the past couple of days. “You sure you want to do this?” he murmured against her ear, shielding her with his body when a group of laughing dancers flowed out of the dance floor in a wave of perfume and fresh sweat.
The eyes of a dangerous goddess held his. “I know who I am, Yasha, and I know what I want. Tonight, it’s to live life to the limit.”
His cock pulsed, the primal heart of his nature emerging to have him nuzzling her lightly at the temple. Putting his scent on her. Not much, but enough to warn off any other changelings—better that than he rip off their stupid heads if they tried to hit on her. “Let’s go play, then.”
Knowing he’d react aggressively if some drunken clubber banged into her—because while Yakov was generally even-tempered, he was still a dominant bear with violently protective instincts—he didn’t push through to the center of the dance floor. Instead, taking her hand in his, he went left along the relatively open wall, near the part of the accordion door that was partially open—at which point he turned right and looked for an open high-top table.