Page 10 of Blood, Bones, and the Bratva Bogeyman
“Something happened to him. He told me he’s okay, but this connection between us took a wild turn earlier. Did you know that now I can feel if something is wrong with him?”
“What do you mean?”
“I was in the middle of work when there was a sharp pain that went through my head. It scared me at first because I’d never felt anything like that before. You know how you can tell when there’s something wrong with yourself?” Sunni nods and I continue. “This didn’t feel like that. It was painful, but it was muted. As if it was happening to someone else, you know? That’s when I paused and just sort of listened to my body. Then my nose began to burn. It felt like that one time you accidentally head-butted me and I got that nosebleed, but nothing was happening. Logically, the only thing that made sense was that it was Konstantin and our bond.”
“Did you check on him?”
“Of course, I did. He was okay. Sounded like himself. That normal tone of his is so cold it could freeze you straight to your bones.”
Sunni shudders dramatically, her mocha-colored eyes wide with laughter. “I love you, babe, but I won’t lie. I’m fucking ecstatic that it’s you that got hit with that bond and not me. I don’t know if I like some mystical force having so much control over me.”
“I don’t like it either, Sunni, but how the hell am I supposed to fight fate?”
“You know you can refuse the bond, right? That’s the one thing your Mum always made adequately clear. It’s not something you have to accept.”
I sigh, running my fingers through my hair. “I know. But this marriage to Konstantin is happening. I think the whole idea of convenient marriages is ridiculous, but I love my family. I may not agree with everything about them. Their ideals aresometimes a bit misogynistic, and even though I call them out on it, I don’t expect they’ll ever change. That stuff has been ingrained in this lifestyle for hundreds of years. It’d take a miracle to change their views.”
“Your brother isn’t as bad as the rest of them.”
“No, he’s not. I think that’s why it was easier for me to accept the marriage alliance for him. Plus, you’ve seen Kon. It won’t be a hardship going to be next to him every night.”
Sunni snickers. “He’s got that big dick energy.”
“I’ve felt that thing against my ass, my friend. He has a reason to have that type of energy.”
We fall into a fit of laughter before we sober up, and she asks me the one question I’ve been thinking of since my engagement.
“What about Dane?”
I lift my shoulders. “He’s been fun, but we both knew it would never be anything more.”
“You don’t think you’ll break his heart when you end things with him?”
A snort of laughter escapes me. “Only if his heart is in his dick.”
“Well, when are you going to break his poor dick, then?”
Grabbing a pillow from the couch, I toss it at her. “Why would you put it like that? That’s just horrible to think about. I was considering taking him for one last spin, but what if this stupid bond really does make me break his poor penis or something?”
Sunni grimaces. “You’re right. Fate is a bitch. She’d totally do something like that. Okay. So, no dick riding.”
“Do you want to go to Embers? At least at the club, we can still have some fun while I inform him, I’m ending things.”
“Hot men, alcohol, and drama? Sign me up, doll face. When?”
I peer at the clock. “Tonight? Let me see if Dane is free.”
ME
Want to go to Embers tonight?
DANE
Only if you promise not to wear anything under your dress.
“Naughty boy, Dane,” Sunni says with a laugh. “Good luck behaving tonight.”
“Shut up,” I mutter as I type out a response, already feeling the rebellion rushing through my veins.
