Page 79 of Cookie: Part One
“Alik isjustan old friend. Nothing more, nothing less,” I coldly dismiss him, and I see out of the corner of my eye that he flinches while I glance at Pyper. “Pyper is like a sister to me… I would never do such a thing with her.”
Veronica slams her fist on the podium, gritting her teeth.
“Zhen explain Misha! You’ve clearly been sleeping vit my fiancé!”
“Oh,that?” I turn to Misha and see he’s mean mugging the fuck out of her. I use my finger and turn his head over to me. His face changes in an instant to one that has my heart popping like firecrackers on the fourth of July.FOCUS!
“Well, you see THAT is different… when it comes to him, I say if anybody here thinks I’m sneaking around to ‘break up homes…’” I crook my finger at him and he stand, slamming his hands down on the table, caging me in.
I give him gentle peck on the lips, making him fist the table cloth in his hands and growl so loud that many in the room shudder in fear. I turn to her with a snort, lifting a shoulder. “…then maybe they should start asking the people in those homes why their doors were open in the first place.
Now, unless there’s more bad photoshop that paints an innocent couple in a heinous light on their engagement day, I’d like to,” I pause and gently push Misha back into his seat before I sit back down on his lap, cross my legs, and smile at Veronica. “Express my sincerest congratulations to thehappycouple. May your marriage be fruitful and filled with endless bliss.” I grin with all my teeth, a calm, razor-sharp smile that saysyour move, bitch!
“YOU SLUT!” Veronica screeches, grabbing a knife and running over to me. All too quickly, Nadya, Dimitri, Pyper, and Alik are standing in front of me, almost crouching while Misha picks me up. “SEE?! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU SHE’S A LIAR! SHE’S POISON! SHE’S A ZHREAT TO ZE BLOODLINES!”
She’s really swinging a knife at me in front of her whole family. Certified lunatic. This bitch has lost it.
“I’LL KILL YOU, YOU BITCH! YOU’RE RUINING EVERYZHING!” Veronica screeches, knife flashing, and before I can even think about ducking?—
The air cracks like thunder and lightning… like literal fucking blue lightning crackles in the ground in between her and I, causing all the glasses to shatter and the room to shake.
Smoke pilfers through the room and I cough, trying to see, waving my hand when I notice I’m in someone’s arms. I finally wave the smoke out of my face I see Misha’s the one holding me, crouched low, growling. The rumble in his chest so deep it shakes through me, vibrating against my bones like a goddamn earthquake.
Wh-what’s happening?I frown, wanting to ask if he’s okay since the vicious look on his face has my heart in my throat. His teeth are sharp and long… his hair long and white, his eyes red.Wha—But the question dies in my head when I see he’s the not the only one like that… Nadya moves first, too fast, a blur that makes my brain stutter trying to keep up. One second, she’s seated, the next she’s crouched low, a sound ripping from her throat, guttural and inhuman.
Next to her, Dimitri’s pupils grow wide until his eyes look like pits of black, and when his lips peel back, I swear I see fangs.
Pyper’s arm shoot out across me, protective, her knuckles popping, her painted nails turning into claws and just when I think it’s over, another growl cuts through the tension… lower, rougher, and I’m shaken when I see it comes from Alik.
He’s standing on the opposite side of Misha and I, his face pale, eyes wild,not fully red… but damn close.
His chest heaves like it hurts, and the veins in his neck bulge like he’s trying to hold something in. His hands shake at his sides, his knuckles cracking like Pyper’s, but his fingers bleed as if clawstriedto come out but didn’t quite make it.
I turn slightly, eyes wide, but he won’t look at me. His stare is locked on Veronica, jaw clenched, teeth bared like he’s about topounce, snarling.
“Not again…” someone whispers, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand.
For a heartbeat, all of them, Misha, Alik, Nadya, Dimitri, even Pyper, stand taut like they will,and I mean this literally, rip someone to shreds if they so much as move.
My head hurts, my chest feels tight…I can’t breathe.I claw at my throat, brain screaming to run, but my instincts… my body keeps me in place and clinging to Misha. Unconsciously, I also grasp onto Alik….
“ENOUGH!” Grandpa Viktor’s slams his cane down onto the floor before he stands, cracking it, making me duck my head in Misha’s chest. Alik blocks any splinters from coming my way as Grandpa Viktor’s thunderous demand crackles across the room.
When I finally look back up, I skip over Grandpa Viktor, feeling a slimy gaze on me when I see Helena standing next to Veronica, seething, glaring me and Alik, who’s still next to me and in my grasp.
“Get your act togezher.” Grandpa Viktor snaps his eyes at his grandchildren, and right before my eyes, I can’t even compute what the fuck I’m seeing when they all go back to normal, leaving me to feel like I was fucking tripping and it never happened in the first place. Or I so I would think if Alik and Misha weren’t still looking like savages. “I said stop,” he warns, but Misha glares.
“She threatens our mate, and you vant us to?—”
“Misha! Alik,doNOTmake me repeat myself a zhird time.” Grandpa Viktor’s eyes flash red. They look at me and just likePyper, Dimitri, and Nadya, they go back to the people I know, leaving me sweating and unable to fully comprehend all of this shit.Like what?!“Now Veronica, explain yourself.”
“Pakhan! You question me vhen she has made light of zhis sacred ceremony!” Veronica grits out, snatching my focus “She s?—”
“She isaguestin my home!” Grandpa Viktor slams his cane down. “Zhis is disrespect!”
“NO, I VOULD N?—”
“Shut your mouzh,” he warns Veronica.
