It was impossible for Elias to remain motionless, his tread threatening to wear a path in front of the monument. He’d kissed her. He’d kissed Roksana.
Her taste owned him. Consumed him.
There was no going back now. None.
Hell, there had been no going back three years ago, but his tether had fully and completely snapped tonight. First when he’d walked into the apartment and thought she’d left. His skull had almost caved in on itself. Going into the bathroom with that weak of a will had been error enough. There’d been no strength to fight when she asked to be kissed.
How had he ruined something so perfect?
She’d clung to him the way she’d done every night in his dreams, her legs tight around his hips, her mouth the definition of perfection, her sighs like balms to his tortured soul. But he’d been unable to content himself with physical touch. Not with this woman. He’d craved words, confessions, declarations, truth. Everything.
He’d screwed up big time. But that wouldn’t happen again.
No longer could he maintain this vitriol between him and Roksana. It was slowly killing him. Every time she looked at him with pain in her eyes, thinking he was just some fang chaser who’d used her as an avenue to eternal life, he wanted to rage at the unfairness. Because he was holding firm to his resolve to keep the truth hidden. He would not be the one to shatter her illusions about Inessa. He would not steal more from her life. He’d done enough to hurt her.
Somehow, even believing him a deceitful enemy, she’d softened for him tonight.
She’d opened her legs for him, kissed him like she couldn’t stand stopping.
Oh, there was no going back.
A twig snapped on the ground behind Elias and his fangs snapped into his mouth, lips peeling with a snarl. His muscles relaxed when the tip of a cigar winked at him in the darkness.
“Fuck me, man. Could you be more dramatic with this meeting spot?” Tucker swaggered forward, dropping his voice to a rasp that mimicked Elias’s. “Meet me in a deserted park in the shadow of a hammer and sickle sculpture. You’re allowed to pick an intersection or a Starbucks, you know.”
Elias couldn’t completely subdue his smile. “Thanks for coming.”
“You owe me.” He stomped his boots and buried his hands further into his coat. “It’s so cold here, I’m going to cry.”
“I do. I owe you.”
“Ah, I was just playing. You know I love flying on the Vamplane,” Tucker said, referring to the planes with blacked out windows that were secretly kept at more airfields than any human could fathom. “If I ever get sick of driving Uber, I’m going to become a flight attendant on one of those things. Talk about an easy gig. There’s no meal service, there’s only one drink choice on the beverage cart—”
“Tucker, I brought you were for a reason.”
“Right-o.” He clicked his heels together and saluted Elias. “At your service, pal.”
Elias shook his head. How he could be such good friends with someone his total opposite still remained a mystery to him. His path had diverged from Jaxson’s as a youth and he’d learned to be comfortable as a loner. As soon as he’d started to open himself back up to friendships, he’d been Silenced. He really hoped his third time making friends was a charm, because…hell, he liked Tucker. The guy was an irreverent goofball, but he was reliable and trustworthy. Not to mention, Elias got the feeling Tucker had a lot more layers than anyone realized. “It’s Roksana. Obviously.”
“Yeah, somehow I didn’t think we were in Russia for the borscht.”
Elias checked his phone again, growling when he didn’t find an incoming call for Jonas on the screen. “She’s playing in a poker game tonight. I’m not sure what the stakes are, but her mother arranged her place at the table.”
“Meaning you need to be at the table.”
“Damn right.” He nodded at Tucker, still willing his phone to ring. “Both of us, if possible. I don’t take chances with her.”
“Oooh-eee.” Tucker rubbed his hands together. “I haven’t played poker in years. Being able to hear everyone’s pulses at the table kind of took the fun out of it.”
Elias had thought of that. If the poker game was among humans, they could help Roksana win easily. But Elias wasn’t betting on this being some average, run-of-the-mill poker game. Not if Inessa was involved. She surrounded herself with dangerous elements, as he knew too well, and he wasn’t letting Roksana face the night alone.
“Anyway,” Tucker said, scratching his chin. “Poker isn’t going to be the same without beer and snacks, but I’ll take it.”
“Unfortunately, we have no invitation or way of negotiating our way in.”
“Have you tried calling Jonas?” Tucker asked.
Elias just looked at him.
The phone rang. Elias answered it before the first ring was completed. “Jonas.”