Page 29 of Rurik
“So do we get to try the local vodka?” Jason asked as they walked toward the four Mercedes SUVs waiting forthem.
“Sure, between fighting dragons and saving your sister, vodka tastings are top priority,” Nicholas joked. Everybody laughed except Damien; his mind was firmly on the mission. Humor was good for morale, and Jason could always be counted on to make wisecracks. They all knew the danger of what they would be facing—it was part of thejob.
Except this time his sister wasinvolved.
Damien vowed that once he got her safely back to Detroit, he was locking her in her apartment for a month until she understood just how foolish she’dbeen.
Yeah, that will prove Meg wrong,his inner voice said sarcastically. She’d mostly kept quiet during the trip, but the way she’d looked at him… He couldn’t help but worry she was angry with him over what had happened withCharlotte.
They loaded their gear into the vehicles. Just as Damien opened the driver’s-side door, his cell phone vibrated. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen. The number was blocked. He was used to getting unknown calls in his line of work. “Hello?”
“MacQueen.” A Russian man spoke his name with a familiarity that put Damien on guard. It wasn’t a voice he recognized, and he knew every hunter on the Saint Petersburgteam.
“Who isthis?”
“A concerned citizen. I thought you should know that your sister is being held hostage by Rurik Barinov. I trust you understand how dangerous thatis?”
Hostage?Charlotte was a prisoner of the Barinovs already? He clutched the phone tight and tried to remain calm. She’d only received minimal self-defense training, nothing compared to what Brotherhood hunters wentthrough.
“How do you know this?” Damien demanded. Jason and the rest of the team were watching him closely. If someone had figured out how to contact him on his secure cell line, it couldn’t be a good thing. If they had his number, they could know a number of other top secret things that could put his hunters injeopardy.
“How I know doesn’t matter. I thoughtyouneeded to know. The Barinovs go too far and must be stopped. Check your phone if you don’t believe me. I’ll send you a picture. Make them pay for what they’ve done to your sister.” The call disconnected. His phone suddenly buzzed with a text message. A picture downloaded, and his heart leapt into histhroat.
It was a photo of Charlotte being dragged to the ground by Rurik Barinov. Glass from a window behind them was shattered, and a look of terror was splashed over his little sister’sface.
“Who was that?” Jasonasked.
Damien stared at his phone for several long seconds before he spoke. There was no way he was showing them the photo, especially not Jason. His brother’s temper was legendary. Jason was the shoot-first-ask-questions-later-maybe type, and the last thing Damien needed was to give him a reason to be trigger-happy.
“The Barinov family has taken Charlotte as a hostage. I assume they will use her to get information about us and then eventually contact us for some kind ofexchange.”
Damien forced himself not to let panic take over. This was not the first hostage situation he’d handled, but this was different. This was his baby sister. The promises he had made his parents burned deep inside his chest, reminding him that he could not afford to fail. He’d already lost one woman he loved to this job; he wouldn’t lose his little sister aswell.
“Damien?” Nicholas’s voice broke through the rush of his panicked thoughts. “What are ourorders?”
Orders—right. Get your head in the game,MacQueen.
He pocketed the cell phone. “We continue as planned. Converge on Charlotte’s last known location and secure the area. If she isn’t there, gain access to every camera and video recording in the surrounding area to track herdown.”
Damien took his seat in the SUV. The rest of his team spread out across three vehicles and left the base. The distant lights of Moscow acted as a beacon, calling him toCharlotte.
I will find you, little sis. Just hangon.
* * *
Madelyn saton the couch in her and Grigori’s Saint Petersburg apartment. “I think he really likesher.”
Grigori poured himself a glass of wine and his wife a glass of water. “I think so too.” He joined her on the couch, giving her a kiss before he handed her the glass ofwater.
Madelyn stared at the glass with contempt. “I misswine.”
Grigori chuckled. He adored his stubborn little wife, but she had to be careful during her pregnancy. He was nervous, as was she. They were treading unknown waters, not knowing if a dragon shifter and a thunderbird could have children, or how it would develop. So far, the baby seemed healthy, but would it possess a dragon’s spirit or that of a thunderbird? Was it possible to have some kind of chimera, possessing qualities of both? No one knew. He’d hired the best doctors money could buy, those who knew shifter biology and could be trusted to keep the nature of Madelyn’s child and any unnatural test results secret. Even within their world, this was dangerousinformation.
“Is Rurik afraid of taking a mate?” Madelynasked.
Grigori stared into the burgundy depths of his wine. “Our father was rigid in his ways, though he was a good man—mostly.” He amended the last bit quickly. Grigori’s father had killed Madelyn’s parents out of fear and the need for revenge. Thunderbirds had killed Grigori’s grandfather, because he had killed a number of thunderbirds in retaliation for the death ofhisgrandfather…and so the cycle had gone for uncounted centuries. Now the thunderbirds had become all but extinct. It was a sobering thought, that Madelyn might be the last of her kind, and he prayed deep down that it wasn’ttrue.
“He gave us roles—one to lead the family, one to collect jewels, and one to defend us. Battle dragons are formidable at what they do, so most houses would kill them by killing their mates. Even the strongest dragon can’t survive a broken heart. My father convinced Rurik that he couldn’t take a mate. You remember Nikita, the human woman Ruslan Drakor killed a few monthsago?”
