Page 55 of Rurik
No, onlymyfamily doesthat.
“What’s your plan?” She sat up properly in her seat and buckled herself in. They were driving through Moscow now, but it was clear she’d slept most of the journey because they seemed to be almost out of thecity.
“They wanted us to take you to the airport. Don’t worry, that’s not happening,” saidMeg.
“We’re taking you to a safe house the Saint Petersburg branch has out here,” said Tamara. “By the time we get back, they’ll probably want Rurik taken to the airport for transport. We’ll make sure he ends up at the safe house with you instead. That should buy us some time to talk sense into those numbskulls, give them a chance to cool down before they do something they can’tundo.”
“Don’t worry,” said Meg. “We’ll get you through this. Even if your brother firesus.”
Tamara grinned. “I don’t know about you, but I definitely have some serious vacation timeaccrued.”
Charlotte smiled. They were going to help her. Everything was going to beokay—
Twin headlights appeared on the driver’s side of their SUV a millisecond before they were T-boned. Everything exploded in a spray of glass. Metal screamed, and the world around her flipped over and over. Charlotte gasped as the car finally stopped rolling. It landed on its right side, smoke billowing from the engine. Something trickled down her nose into her right eye. Charlotte raised a shaky hand, wiping at her face. Her hand came away bloody. She stared at the red smear on her palm, and between her splayed fingers she saw the front of the car where Tamara and Meg were hung like rag dolls, their seatbelts keeping them locked intoplace.
Charlotte fumbled with her seatbelt, wincing as she fell out of it onto the car roof. She tried to crawl toward the front seat, but two booted feet appeared in front of the shattered windshield. She froze, holding her breath as a man knelt down and peered at her through the shattered window. He had caramel-colored skin, dark hair, and black eyes, like two gleaming shards ofobsidian.
The man smiled wolfishly, revealing a set of bright teeth. “Olá,chica.”
Charlotte didn’t move, didn’t speak. She slowly looked between Tamara and Meg, not wanting him to know what she was doing, or more importantly, what she was hoping tofind.
There. The butt of a Glock stuck out of a holster on Meg’s right side. If she could grabit—
“Take her,” the man barked. “Before she does something stupid.” The car suddenly tilted a few inches as something heavy moved above her. She glanced up to see the left door above her jerk open. Silhouetted against the setting sun, she saw the shadow of a man, his eyes swirling gold as he reached toward her. She shrank away from him, but he grabbed her arms and hauled her up out of thecar.
She balled a fist and punched him. Pain exploded through her hand, and the man snarled and tossed her to the ground. She hit the asphalt, biting back a cry of pain. Someone hauled her to her feet. She now faced the man who had greeted her through the shattered window. He was tall and lean, but she could feel the power rippling offhim.
“So you are Damien MacQueen’s sister?” The man reached up to cup her chin, then trailed a finger down her cheek. “Not exactly my type, but I can see why Barinov broke his vow never to mate.” He leaned toward her and inhaled. “You smellsweet.”
Charlotte may not have been a hunter, but she’d been trained to protect herself. She pulled her head back and threw it forward, head-butting the man on the bridge of his nose. He let out a string of Portuguese curses and stumbled back, clutching his face. The man behind her smacked her on the back of the head hard enough that white dots burst before hereyes.
“Take her to the car,” the man rasped as he clutched his nose. He might have been a dragon shifter, but bone still beat cartilage in afight.
She was dragged to a black SUV and shoved into the back seat. Three other men climbed in with her. She was almost certain these men were dragons. Damien’s voice fluttered up from her survival lessons.“Stay alive. Do whatever you have to do, but stay alive. Honor doesn’t matter. You breathing is what matters. We will findyou.”
It was something she’d always remembered. Do whatever it takes. Grovel and beg if you have to. These men knew her brothers were in the Brotherhood and that she was mated to Rurik. It was obvious they wanted to use her for a trap. The man she’d head-butted sat beside her, and his gaze made her fleshcrawl.
“You think you are brave?” heasked.
Charlotte studied his cruel smile and swirling gold eyes that had settled into twin black pools. He was definitely adragon.
Her head ached, and her heart pounded like war drums. “I’m not brave,” shereplied.
“Good. I don’t like my women to be brave. I prefer them screaming for mercy as I take what I want.” He gripped her throat, squeezing. “I will take you, and I will extinguish the light behind those pretty eyes. Do you want to knowwhy?”
When she didn’t answer, he gave her a rough shake, choking her until she gasped and clawed at hishand.
“You are MacQueen’s sister, and that would be reason enough, but you are also Rurik Barinov’s mate. We have waited so long for him to show weakness. Now he finally has.” The man let go of her throat, and she sucked in sweet, preciousair.
“Who are you?” shegasped.
“I am Luis Silva, head of the Silva family of BuenosAires.”
Ahh…That explained the Portuguese atleast.
“So what’s your plan?” she asked, all too aware that minutes ago she’d asked her friends the same thing under very differentcircumstances.
Luis laughed. “You say that like I am a Bond villain. Eh, whatever. You will die, and we will convince the Brotherhood that the Barinovs did it, then convince the Barinovs that your brothers killed you to kill Rurik. A sacrifice play.” Luis was smug. Charlotte was in no mood to point out that Damien would never do that. Sure, Damien had drugged her—and she was going to throttle him for that—but he would never really hurt her. Still, it didn’t matter what she knew, only what the Barinovsbelieved.
