Page 93 of Silent Heart

He didn’t miss a beat. “My family’s home.”

The interior was cozy and beckoning. Completely at odds with the exterior, the rich wood, polished and shiny, and the warm paint colors spoke of superior interior decorating taste.

Once I stepped inside, I could never go back.

But if that was true, it was already too late for me. Kolya was there. The change in my life happened the day he walked into the Landing Bar & Grill. This was only one more step into the madness.

I’ve never been normal.This was the inevitable conclusion.

“Are you guys Russian royalty in hiding?” I joked lamely as I stepped inside.

“You could say that. Wouldn’t it be awesome if people actually bowed to us? They could call me prince, just like in War and Peace!” Luka wiped his boots on the mat.

I was spared answering by a sharp burst of Russian. The male who stepped into the foyer was the same giant from the lake, but his redhead wife was nowhere to be seen. Without her, Dimitri was downright scary. Especially the way he spoke to Luka.

I wanted to inch closer to Luka if only to put a barrier between myself and the shouting giant.

This cousin might be Kolya’s doppelganger, but Kolya never raged this way. Dimitri was loud, explosive, and commanding. But it was Kolya’s silence that was a far more terrifying thing to behold. Not that I could ever be frightened of my gargoyle.

A burst of raw longing shot through my chest.

“You’ve helped my cousin before?” The lumberjack’s volatile attention was suddenly turned on me.

I winced. “I have.”

“How?” the giant demanded.

Thinking back to the summer nights curled by his side, the intimate way we’d held one another, it sent an overwhelming rush of heartache. “Do you spend a lot of time around injured animals, sir?”

The cold look he gave me was meant to freeze me into submission.

I tipped my head up, staring back at him steadily. In this moment, Dimitri looked less and less like Kolya, for which I was grateful.

“Dimitri has a hound dog he’s trained from a pup,” Luka inserted helpfully.

“Marena,” I said with a nod. “I met her at the lake. She and Pepper are friends, but Marena wants to be the pack alpha.”

Surprise flashed through the giant’s face.

“She’s never been feral,” Dimitris said tightly.

“Well, I bet Matvei would beg to differ,” Luka started to say with a laugh, but the look his cousin gave him shut him up—an impressive feat.

“It doesn’t matter.” I cut my hand through the air. “Kolya will not hurt me. I can’t explain how, but he hasn’t done it yet, and he won’t.”

“He threw two of my best men down the stairs when we tried to put him back in his room earlier tonight. He’s been hammering on the door for the past hour. Tell me why I should let you in there?” Dimitri crossed his arms over his chest.

“Because clearly you’re an idiot,” I snapped, and in a burst of determination, I bolted, taking the stairs two at a time. Kolya was up there; he was hurting. As if I pounded a Red Bull and grew wings, I sailed past the idiotic cousin and flew to the second level.

Luka bounded after me, Dimitri hot on his heels.

“Harley, wait,” Luka panted.

At the top, I turned and turned again. “Which way?” I demanded through clenched teeth.

“My brother has a room in the attic. We have a protocol.” Luka sprang after me, but I was already running.

What I said downstairs was a lie. Kolya had hurt me. But even how things ended, I couldn’t stand there, this close, and not go to him. They were treating him like a wild animal, and he didn’t deserve it.

---