Hour of Darkness Read online

  Cain had been right to suspect him. He had been right to call her uncle a coward, one who claimed to love his niece yet patted her on the head and sent her out with a target on her back.

  She had been so blinded by her devotion to him, by the need to prove to him that she was worthy of his love, that she never so much as considered doubting him. She would have defended him to her last breath. All the while, she was nothing but a pawn to him.

  A knot of anguish lodged in her throat. She swallowed past it, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing her break. “Trust no one. That’s what you told me before I left Russia. That’s what you told me nearly all my life while you pretended to care for me. The only one I couldn’t trust was you.”

  He released a sigh filled with mounting impatience. “Come home, Marina. Bring the data disk. It is not a request.”

  “Fuck you, Uncle.” She scoffed. “Fuck you and your orders. I’ve already told you what I intend to do with those files.”

  “No, Marina. You won’t do any such thing. Because if you don’t return to Russia with that flash drive, I will unleash hell on that nest of vampires you’ve apparently gotten so friendly with.” He chuckled, no doubt sensing her dread. “Do you really think I would let the disk and two million dollars out of my hands without ensuring I could trace its whereabouts at all times?”

  All of the blood drained from her head. Cold panic filled her veins. “You stay away from here. Do you understand? If you order your Vory soldiers anywhere near this place, I promise you, Cain will send them back to you in pieces.”

  He let out a low chuckle, full of amusement. “Who said anything about my men? I’ve got resources at my disposal that you can’t imagine. So, please. Come home, Marina. Bring me the fucking disk. If I don’t see you in Saint Petersburg within twenty-four hours, all it will take is one call for me to arrange for a pack of Breed mercenaries to swarm that Darkhaven and annihilate everyone in it—including the pregnant bitch. And then you’ll come home . . . after you’ve watched your friends die.”

  CHAPTER 22

  “Pink hair in the strapless dress keeps giving you the come-hither.”

  Cain followed Razor’s chin tilt to the corner of the bar in the Key Largo dive where they’d been sitting for about the last hour. The young human woman chewed on the end of a red cocktail straw, her gaze colliding with his across the room.

  “Shit.” He scowled with complete disinterest. “She doesn’t even look eighteen years old.”

  “She’s twenty-four,” Logan said. “Her name’s Lacy and she’s a real sweetheart. She’s blood Hosted for me a time or two. You wanna meet her?”

  Cain grunted. “How many women in this state do you know on a first name basis?”

  Raze smirked. “Better question is how many doesn’t he know? Can’t take him anywhere.”

  “What can I say?” Logan’s grin lit up his dark face. “I’ve got a magnetic personality. Don’t ask me to apologize.”

  “I don’t want to meet Lacy.” Cain leaned back in his seat at the table. “I’ll leave her for you two to bicker over.”

  Razor flicked a narrowed glance at him. “Did you come here to find a carotid to tap, or are you going to sulk all fucking night?”

  “In the time we’ve been here, you’ve scared away three gorgeous ladies,” Logan pointed out. “I don’t know, Raze. I’m thinking he’s got an appetite for something specific. Something a little more . . . cosmopolitan.”

  “I believe the word you’re looking for is Moscovian,” Razor suggested around a chuckle.

  Cain shook his head. Marina was from Saint Petersburg, but he wasn’t about to give them any help. “Did you two tag along to be my wingmen or my babysitters? You know what, fuck this. It was a bad idea. My wounds are healing up as we speak, so there’s nothing here I need. Least of all, the two of you on my dick all night about what you think I need.”

  “We know damn well what you need,” Raze muttered. “And so do you. It’s waiting for you back home at the Darkhaven.”

  “We’re not rehashing this again.” Cain pushed his chair out. “What I should do is head out now. Make this whole fucked-up situation easier on everyone.”

  “Make it easier on you, maybe.” Raze stared at him. “I think you’re afraid if you see Marina again, even for a minute, you aren’t going to have the balls to leave her behind.”

  “You think it’ll be easier if I stick around?” Cain shook his head, struggling to reject the idea. “If I stay, my choices boil down to watching her die one day, or watching her find some other male who’ll never be good enough for her, either.”

  Razor glanced down, cursing under his breath. But Logan was nodding in agreement now. Cain looked to his brother, surprised, yet grateful for the support.

  “You’re right, man. Both of those scenarios are going to be torture.”

  “Damn straight,” Cain said.

  “You should go.”

  “The fuck, Logan?” Raze scowled, incredulous. “That’s some kind of bullshit. Don’t listen to him, Cain.”

  But Logan kept talking, his expression about as solemn as it had ever been. “You won’t have to worry about Marina. We’ll keep her safe. Maybe in time she’ll be happy again too. Shit, in time, she might even forget all about your sorry ass. I’ll be glad to help her with that.”

  “Like hell you will.” Rage ignited, launching Cain out of his seat. He grabbed his brother by the collar, fangs erupting out of his gums. “Anyone touches her, and I’ll fucking kill the son of a bitch. Including you.”

  The Hunter chuckled, leaning back with his hands up. “Now, try to tell me you can survive a single day without her in your life.”

  Razor barked out a laugh. Cain let go of Logan, sending a warning glare at all of the human heads now turned in their direction. He glowered at his brother. “You’re an asshole.”

  “Yeah, I am.” Logan grinned, unrepentant. “Now, go prove to Marina that you aren’t.”

  Cain stood there for a moment, his heart pounding like a jackhammer. Fear tore at him. The fear of losing the woman he loved to a vision he couldn’t control and didn’t know how to prevent.

  But the greater fear was living another second of his life without her.

  He couldn’t do it.

  Selfish bastard that he was, he needed her in his life—for however long fate would allow him to keep her there.

  He stepped away from the table, a smile spreading over his face as he looked at the two Hunters who knew him better than he knew himself. His brothers. His family. The best friends he could ever have.

  “I gotta go.”

  Razor smirked. “Yep.”

  Cain stalked out of the bar, then started running. He could reach the Darkhaven just as fast on foot and he had no patience to wait on his brothers.

  If he had any kind of future ahead of him, it would be with Marina . . . as his mate.

  He only hoped she was still willing to have him.

  ~ ~ ~

  Cain didn’t slow until he was inside the Darkhaven. Even then, his boots ate up the distance through the corridor until he reached the open door of Marina’s guest room. The rose-and-spices scent of her wrapped his senses, an instant balm that never failed to soothe him . . . and entice.

  “Marina.”

  She stood at the side of the bed, her back to him as he took the first tentative step inside. Her spine stiffened when he said her name. Her blond head came up, but didn’t turn.

  Cain approached her and realized what she was doing.

  Packing her suitcase with a silent, steady resolve.

  He walked up beside her. A cold hollow gusted behind his sternum when he saw all of her neatly folded clothing laid out on the mattress. “What’s going on?”

  “I cannot stay here. It’s time for me to leave.”

  She picked up the dove-gray wrap dress and started to place it in the case. The curve-hugging dress he hadn’t yet had the pleasure of seeing her in, or out of. He took it out of h
er hands and laid it back on the bed with the rest of her things still to be packed.

  “What do you mean you’re leaving?” When she seemed determined not to look at him, he closed the lid of the case then gently grasped her shoulders, turning her to face him. “Marina, leave to go where? This is your home now . . . if you want it to be.”

  “No, it’s not.” Pain shone in her burgundy eyes, despite the steel of her spine. “I need to go back where I belong.”

  “You belong here.”

  She shook her head, her expression doleful. “I’m going back to Russia, Cain.”

  Moving out of his loose hold, she resumed packing. The coldness in his chest ripped wider, deeper. Now, it began to fill with a different kind of fear. “You can’t go back there now. It’s too dangerous.”

  She slanted a brittle smile at him. “Only if I go near water, right? I’ll be fine. It’s no longer your obligation to keep me safe. Not that it ever was.”

  Jesus Christ. She was serious. She really was doing this.

  He had fucked up. Irreparably, based on the lack of hesitation in her voice or her actions. He had pushed her away because he was too afraid to bring her closer—into his life, into his blood as his bonded mate.

  “I’ve been an ass, Marina. I said a lot of things I didn’t mean—”

  “Stop, Cain. Please.” Her voice sounded choked. “This has nothing to do with you . . . or with us.”

  “Then why won’t you look at me?” He caught her chin on the edge of his fingers and drew her face back to him. “I hurt you tonight, and I’m sorry.”

  She blinked, but it didn’t seem to stanch the sudden welling in her eyes. “Please, don’t make this harder for me. I have to go. There’s a flight leaving Miami in a couple of hours and—”

  “I take it back, Marina. Every stupid fucking word.” He stroked her cheek, hating how real it felt that he was losing her. Maybe already had. “I want to take it all back. Except the part about being in love with you.”

  Those tears she couldn’t squelch spilled over now, running in streaks down her lovely face. “It’s too late for that, Cain. I have to be in Russia tomorrow.”

  As she said it, he noticed the satellite phone peeking out from under some of her clothing. The pain and fear taking up residence in his chest was now joined by a bleak realization.

  “You spoke to your uncle.”

  She reached up to swipe at the wetness on her cheeks. “I went to look for you in your quarters a while ago, but you were out with Logan and Razor. The phone was lying next to your bed. My uncle . . . Anatoly,” she amended quietly, as if she needed to put the space between the man who raised her and the one revealed to her tonight. “Anatoly had been calling repeatedly after hearing about what happened to Fuentes. He called again while I had the phone in my hand.”

  “Ah, fuck.” Cain reached up and raked both hands over his head. “You shouldn’t have answered, Marina. What did the bastard say to you?”

  She shook her head. “He denied none of it. He never intended to leave the Bratva. He planned to trade the list of JUSTIS covert operatives in exchange for Fuentes arranging to have Karamenko killed. Then Anatoly would have Karamenko’s billions and control of his organization. He chose me as his courier not only because he trusted me, but because it didn’t matter to him if I got killed along the way.”

  Fury seethed into Cain’s marrow, even though this only confirmed most of his suspicions about Moretskov. “That son of a bitch. He’s a dead man.”

  He practically shook with the depth of his rage. Yet Marina, who’d been the one to hear Moretskov’s confession firsthand seemed oddly subdued. She seemed strangely, woodenly, resigned. But he knew her too well. He saw behind the mask of her courageous calm.

  “He threatened you.” Dread clawed at him as he studied her now. “Jesus Christ. Tell me what he said.”

  “It doesn’t matter what he said. I’m doing what he wants. He’s ordered me to bring him the data drive.”

  “Bring it to him?” Cain erupted with a curse. “That disk is going straight to JUSTIS. And you’re not going anywhere near Russia. If I have to chain you inside this Darkhaven to keep you here, I’ll fucking do it, Marina.”

  “He’s got copies, Cain. Giving the disk to JUSTIS won’t save any of those people.”

  Right now, he didn’t give a damn about a single one of the hundreds of law enforcement lives hanging in the balance. The only life that mattered to him belonged to the woman looking at him as if this entire conversation were still going to end with goodbye.

  “You’re not taking the disk to him, Marina. You can’t save any of those people by going back to Russia. If he told you that you could, it’s just another of his lies.”

  “I know I can’t save them,” she murmured. “But maybe I can save you and everyone else in this Darkhaven.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “If I’m not in Saint Petersburg to hand over the disk to him tomorrow, he told me he will send a pack of assassins here to kill all of you. Breed mercenaries, Cain. He said he would make me watch everyone die. And when it was over, he would bring me back to Russia anyway.”

  Cain went coldly, lethally still. Even though he was confident he and his Hunter brothers could handle any threat, he was loathe to imagine what an attack like that might look like. The risk of casualties—even losses—was high. Too high. And then there was Lana and the baby to consider.

  He would die to defend this Darkhaven and the people in it, but Marina was his heart. She was his soul and everything good he ever dreamed of having in this life. He wasn’t about to let her sacrifice herself for him or anyone else.

  “You’re not leaving me, Marina. Not to go back to Russia or anywhere else.”

  “I have to.” Anguish twisted her expression. “I don’t have a choice.”

  “Then neither do I.” He stepped in close and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m going with you.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Saint Petersburg had been her home for nearly all of her life, but as Marina exited a rented Mercedes with Cain the next evening, the beautiful Russian city felt like an alien land.

  They stood outside the busy restaurant where Anatoly Moretskov had agreed to meet them—a compromise he hadn’t been pleased about, but had grudgingly accepted. That he had been willing to concede to any of her terms only told her how serious he was about seeing her in person again. The thought of having to look him in the eye knowing all that she did now put a chill in her veins. It joined with the fury that had settled there and might never abate.

  Still, as the valet whisked their car around to the lot, Marina’s heart raced, her feet leaden beneath her. With damp palms she brushed the creases from her black skirt and blouse.

  “You okay?” Cain asked, his touch a comforting warmth at the small of her back.

  She nodded. “I will be, once this is over.”

  He pressed a kiss to her temple. “He can’t hurt you. Not anymore. I’ll see to that.”

  His growled promise was one he’d made on the flight out of Miami as well. Marina knew it was all but guaranteed a lethal vow. The only reason Cain had agreed to let her go through with the meeting was to bring him within arm’s reach of Anatoly. Access that would otherwise be next to impossible to arrange, even for a skilled Hunter like Cain.

  He made no secret of the fact that he preferred to see Moretskov dead—and he’d brought enough weapons to make it happen—but it was JUSTIS that deserved to hand down her uncle’s punishment. As for Cain, executing a man in full view of the public was hardly his habit, but Marina didn’t doubt that all it would take was a threatening word or action toward her for the measured and cool Breed male at her side to erupt into pure, deadly menace.

  She let go of a shuddery sigh and felt for the flash drive in the pocket of her skirt. “All right, I’m as ready as I can be. Let’s get this over with.”

  Cain opened the restaurant door and she strode in, pausing until he was at her side. There
was no need for the hostess to show them to their seats; Marina spied her uncle immediately at one of the tables situated near the back of the crowded dining room.

  Squatty and going soft around the middle, Anatoly Moretskov seemed diminished in many ways now that she knew his true character. Her step faltered only for a moment when her gaze connected with his. Dark eyes held her with an unmasked contempt—one that sharpened as he glanced at Cain.

  At both of her uncle’s sides stood a pair of Vory soldiers in dark suits. Their tattooed hands were clasped in front of them in an at-ease stance, but the men were far from relaxed. It would take only seconds for them to reach for the weapons they carried beneath their jackets.

  But not even four heavily armed men would pose much of a threat to Cain. She reassured herself with that certainty—and Cain’s calm strength at her side—as she made her way through the restaurant toward her uncle’s table.

  He rose from his chair like a gentleman, offering her a thin smile. “Moya radost, stunning as always.”

  Wincing at the awful endearment and oily compliment that came with it, she said nothing in return. She halted a foot from the table, taking Cain’s pause as her cue.

  In the hours since she’d last spoken to Anatoly, her regard for the man as her uncle had coalesced into a dull, almost phantom ache, the sort of sensation that might linger after the removal of a diseased limb from her body. Her connection to him was severed. What she saw before her now was a stranger, the ambitious Bratva boss he’d always aspired to be.

  “Don’t be rude, Marina. Have a seat.”

  “We’ll stand,” Cain growled. “We aren’t going to be here long.”

  When Marina remained unmoving, Anatoly’s narrowed gaze flicked away from her to Cain. A sneer stretched his mouth. “My headstrong niece has spent twenty-five years balking at my authority, yet she obeys you like a pet dog.” He grunted and eased back down into his chair. “She always was a willful girl in need of a strong hand, so I suppose I should be impressed. It only took you a few days to put a yoke on her, Hunter. I do wonder, though. Did you have to beat her or fuck her into submission?”