The stage lights were bright, their heat beating down on Alina in her leotard and her soft dance shoes. She was sweating through the tiny spandex thing, despite the chill outside.
“Again,” Alina repeated, barely out of breath, as they finished the last steps of the number she and Yasmin had choreographed.
She had been training with the two females for the last five days under Yasmin’s tutelage, and Alina was having the time of her life. Marcella and Rosalyn were fantastic dancers, if a little bitchy. But that was nothing new.
The dance world was not all pink satin and thunderous applause. It was blood, sweat, tears, and some of the most brutal, back-stabbing Alina had ever witnessed. Both females were Shifters, one a Leopard, and one a Wolf. Once upon a time, they’d been classically trained, but not cut out for the grueling world of ballet.
Marcella and Rosie, as she preferred to be called, had been working for Alina’s brother for years. Now that The Stripe Club was adding more to their routine performances, Alina was determined to be part of it.
After all, what else did the young Tigress have? The Ivanovich Bratva had stolen her right from the Russian ballet she’d been starring in on the night of their final performance. She had been due to audition for another, better role, but missed it with everything else going on in her life.
Truthfully, she was not all that sorry. The cutthroat world of Shifter Ballet demanded sacrifices Alina was no longer of a mind to make. How could she be?
Ever since the big, strong Grizzly Bear busted into her prison, freeing her, and tearing apart the men who held her captive limb from limb, Alina had not been the same. Yes, she had been drugged during most of it, but somehow, deep inside, she had been aware.
With that awareness came recognition that the Bruin was not just some employee of her brother’s. Oh, no. Eduardo Valens was more than that. He was hers. Her fated mate.
Moy bogatyr. My warrior. So fierce and proud.
He was so big and handsome, with warm brown eyes the color of the delicious maple sugar she sprinkled on her oatmeal in the morning.
That was another thing Alina loved about the states. Food. For years, she had been starving herself to be the best dancer she could be. Prima Ballerina had been her dream. But her dreams had changed.
Now, hers were composed of one delicious looking man who, for some reason unbeknownst to her, had disappeared. He was there, technically, but Eduardo had been avoiding her. Almost as if he was in denial now that the dust had settled.
Maybe she was unattractive to him in the light of day. Maybe her Tigress had made a big mistake imprinting on him the second the fog had cleared from her mind.
No. He is mine.
“Alina, we need a break,” Rosie complained, and she turned her head, ready to snap at the female.
Thank goodness she had enough presence of mind to stop herself. Alina forced a smile on her face and nodded. These American dancers were not used to the grueling pace of the Russian Shifter ballet instructors who’d trained Alina.
Grabbing her towel, she walked off the stage and took a water bottle from the mini fridge. Alina closed her eyes, sipping greedily, and that was when she smelled him. Warm and sweet, with a hint of spice that tickled her senses, Eduardo’s scent filtered into her nostrils. Her inner Tigress growled softly, that same infrasonic sound that paralyzed prey in the wild. Maybe she saw the Bruin as her target, maybe she was just tired of waiting.
“Alina,” he whispered, and her gaze flew to his.
“Eduardo,” she replied, swallowing the lump that seemed stuck in her throat.
So many emotions. Anger, joy, relief, need—all of these and more washed through her and Alina swayed slightly on her feet.
Damn it.
No, damn him for making her body betray itself. Alina was an athlete. An accomplished dancer whose precision and technique had been praised by her teachers. How this one man could knock her so off balance was inconceivable. Unless he was a wizard or something, but no.
Eduardo Valens was just a man. At least, that was what she told herself. Just a man and she was just a girl, but for some reason, he just wasn’t after claiming her. Alina just did not understand.
Unless, maybe, that was why he was there? To talk. To plan.
Please, yes.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, inky black eyebrows furrowed as he looked over her rehearsal garb.
“I am dancing,” she replied, stating the obvious.
“Not here, you’re not,” he said, aghast.
“Excuse me?”
“You are not dancing here. Konstantin will not allow this,” he said matter-of-factly.
“I don’t know why you think my brother would have any say over what I do. But just so you know, I will open the renovated wing with a performance Yasmin and I choreographed together tomorrow night,” Alina said coolly.
Eddie’s eye twitched. And wasn’t that interesting? Alina put the empty water bottle in the recycling bin, keenly aware he watched her every move. She might want the big Bear, but she would not be told by him or anyone else what she was going to do. Eyes narrowed, she watched Eddie war with himself, disappointment filling her when he simply nodded.
“As you wish, mi fiera,” he muttered, turning his back on her.
Unsure what her next move was, she left him there, returning to where Rosie and Marcella were waiting. Good thing they had done enough rehearsing for now, she thought, dismissing the two dancers with an agreement to meet the following morning for a final dress rehearsal.
“Speaking of which,” she muttered, changing her shoes and grabbing her duffle.
“You’re talking to yourself,” Eddie said, startling her.
“What are you doing in here?”
“My job,” he replied, eyes narrowed. “Some of us have to work.”
“In case that was a dig of some sort, I know all about working hard, Eduardo. Ballet is not all tutus and pink ribbons, you know,” she mumbled, hating the way he made her feel.
She wasn’t all that young. Well, maybe in years, but not in spirit. She had been dancing on stage since she was ten years old. She loved it, yes, but there were other things she wanted from life.
No more fear. No more hiding.
Happiness was within Alina’s grasp for the first time in her life. But was she brave enough to take it?