Page 50 of Rurik
“Damien?” Charlotte gasped. One of the masked men pulled off his balaclava, and she stared at him inhorror.
“Thank God you’re okay.” Damien pulled her into a tight embrace, but Charlotte didn’t hug him back. She shoved him hard enough that he stumbled. The others in the room took their coverings off as the situationstabilized.
“Hey, sis,” Jason said with agrin.
Meg came over and clasped Charlotte’s shoulders. “Thank God. You scared the shit out ofus.”
Jason nudged Rurik in the back with his boot. They had already bound his hands behind his back and his ankles together with iron cuffs. Seeing Rurik lying there tore at her. It was because he cared about her that he was on the ground unconscious, because he’d dared to shield her from whatever danger they faced. The entire scene was so sickening,so…
Charlotte rushed to the bathroom, shoving Meg aside. Her palms slapped against the counter, and she dry-heaved into the sink and splashed cold water on her face. It helped, but only a little. When she stopped for air, she saw Damien watching her from the bathroomdoor.
“Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, didhe?”
“Hurt me?” Charlotte wiped her face with a fluffy white towel, wanting to hit her brother. “He didn’thurtme. He’s done nothing tome.”
Damien relaxed. He stopped standing in that alert-soldier way he always did when he wasworried.
“Thank God. Then we got here intime.”
“In time?” She threw the towel to the ground. “What the hell are you talkingabout?”
Damien bristled, like a dog with its hackles raised. “We found out what you were up to. Youliedto me, Charlotte. That’s never happenedbefore.”
“Yes. I lied. I wanted to do something important for once. I thought if I could do what none of you could do, you’d finally respect me, let me work with you.Imade that serum, but if I came to you with that, you’d have thanked me and shut me out all over again. So I came here, and now…”And now I’m mated to the most wonderful man in the world, who my brothers just subdued like some commoncriminal.
“You did great,” Damien admitted. “You got closer than any of us could to the Barinovs. Now we have one in our custody, and we can get the information we need from him.” Damien held up a vial of her serum. The green liquid taunted her as it shimmered in the florescent lights of thebathroom.
“You can’t use that on Rurik.” She lunged for the vial, but Damien stepped back, slipping the serum into his blackjacket.
“Why not? Is there something wrong with theformula?”
“Rurik is agoodman. He doesn’t deserve to be drugged andinterrogated.”
Her brother raised a brow. “Charlotte… He’s adra—gon.” He drawled out the worddragoninto two emphasized syllables. “He’s dangerous. You’re lucky he didn’t seduce you. They can turn women into slaves with theirpheromones.”
Charlotte advanced on her brother. “Yeah, well, he wasn’t the only one usingthose.”
Damien frowned. “Yeah, Meg told us about that. What were youthinking?”
“I was thinking that if we could actuallytalkwe might get somewhere, not these crazy roughhouse tactics. Is this how you always intended to talk to the Barinovs? God, Meg was right to be worried about giving you theserum.”
“And what would you have usdo?”
“Don’t treat him like he belongs in prison. I’ve spent time with him. And he’s not dangerous, not to me.” She shoved past her brother and ran straight into Jason, who kept her from getting to hermate.
Jason gripped her by the wrists, holding her still while he spoke over her head. “Damien, he’s coming aroundalready.”
“Shit, that’s supposed to keep an elephant out forhours.”
“Guess our intel was right—he’s a battledragon.”
“Shit!” Tamara hissed and stepped away from Rurik’s prone body when one of his arms twitched. “Load anotherdart.”
Charlotte jerked herself free of Jason’s hold and rushed to Rurik, kneeling down beside him. She turned to her brothers, fury in hereyes.
“Releasehim.”
“Are you nuts?” Damien and Jason said inunison.
