Page 38 of Captive Union
“I’m sorry.” Kira knows how to put the right amount of warmth into her voice to make you feel better. I’m starting to become obsessed with her presence. I never want to let her go.
“It’s life. It’s unfortunate sometimes.”
She glances at me. “Except when something bad is done to you. Then you take revenge for it.”
“Are you still mad at me for taking you captive? I thought things were going well between us.” I lower my voice to remind her about the other night.
She flushes. “They are. I’m still wrapping my brain around us and our marriage. What that means for me, for my family.”
“Your family doesn’t have anything to do with our marriage.”
Kira raises an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Ok,” I say, chuckling, “so maybe in some regard. But I married you because I wanted to, not just to get back at your brothers. So what we do in our marriage is just between us, not them.”
“Yes, but it does affect them. Their sister married the enemy. There’s no way they’ll ever be all right with that.”
“Seeing as you’re now my family, I don’t think their opinions matter.”
Kira shakes her head. “No, you wouldn’t think that, would you? Erik, my brothers and sister and mom are still my family and always will be. That’s something we need to consider going forward. You can’t just act like they don’t exist. At some point, you’ll have to let me out of this house. And we’ll have to figure out how to coexist with them.”
I walk around the table and grab Kira around the waist, saying, “I don’t have to let you out.” I kiss her neck, nuzzling her skin.
She giggles softly before pushing me back gently. “You’re not going to charm your way out of this. You need to trust me, and that includes trusting me to leave and to return.”
“It’s your brothers I don’t trust. If they got their hands on you, they’re never letting you come back to me, and you know it.”
The look in her eyes agrees with me. “True. But maybe I could convince them to drop this war between you. You’re my husband, and I take that seriously. Life would be easier for all of us if you guys stopped fighting.”
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“For me, then.” Kira gazes up at me with so much hope in her eyes.
“I don’t think I can give you the answer you want. But it’s good we’re talking about this. It makes me happy that you’re taking our marriage seriously.”
She smiles and turns back to planting more seeds.
So, yes, things are going better between us, but there’s still a lot to be figured out. Now that Kira is mine and I’m starting to develop strong feelings for her, I wish I didn’t take her captive to begin with. That we’d met out in the world and fallen for each other. Life would be so much easier that way. But by taking her captive, the threat of Maxim will always loom over us, threatening to ruin what we have.
After we go inside, I get a call from Scott, informing me that Maxim was seen in the area. I motion for Kira to go ahead of me, then walk away, speaking to Scott in private. “Does he know where I live?”
“No, it doesn’t appear so. One of our guys reported he’s been driving around, desperate, searching for Kira. You’re still safe, boss.”
“Good.” I hang up, feeling more uneasy than I’ve been in weeks. If Maxim is snooping around the area, I can’t risk him finding where I live and finding Kira. I need to handle this.
I tell Kira that I’m going out for a bit.
“For work?” She sounds so disappointed that I want to wrap her in my arms.
“There’s something unexpected I need to deal with. I’ll be back later.” As I kiss her on the head, Kira leans into me, imploring with her eyes for me not to go.
I force myself to leave the house and get into my car. It’s a risk to leave Kira behind. She could quite easily escape if she wanted to. This is part of the trust she was talking about. I need to show her that I trust her not to leave.
I call Scott to tell him to meet me at my warehouse close to the city. Once I get there, I call Maxim’s number.
“Miss me?” I taunt once he answers.
“Erik,” he growls. “Unless you’re telling me that you have my sister to hand over, there’s no point in calling me.”
