Eddie paced outside Konstantin’s office. He could not believe what he’d done last night. Fucking Bear. He closed his eyes, aware that he still smelled her delicious orange cinnamon fragrance clinging to his skin.
Sweet, sexy Tigress.
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
He’d crept out of the guest house sometime before dawn. Alina had been softly asleep, her pretty body bruised from his rough handling of her. Shit. That was why he was no good for her. Couldn’t she see that?
His Bear chuffed and growled inside of him, but he shut the beast down. It was hard, though, knowing his neck bore her bite. The female did not know what she was doing, claiming a monster like him.
The blood on his hands was too much to wash clean. She just did not understand, a monster like him was never going to change. His Bear was a fucking brute. The violence deeply ingrained in him. Hell, maybe it was part of his chemical makeup. What the fuck did he know? It didn’t matter, anyway. Konstantin was going to kill him the second he realized what he’d done.
“Come in, Eddie,” Konstantin said from inside his office.
Eduardo inhaled a steadying breath and opened the door to the Siberian Tiger’s work sanctuary. The place sure had changed. From sterile opulence to a warmer, homier feel. It was all polished wood and cream-colored walls where framed photographs of him and Yasmin, Mikey, their son, as well as his mother and sister, lined the walls. There was even one from the wedding with Eduardo.
Fuck. he owed this man a lot. How was he ever going to explain what he had done? Was it enough to admit his Bear was losing it over the female? All he knew was he would give anything to make it right with Konstantin. He would even bleed for it.
The male Tiger sniffed, turning his bright, familiar eyes on Eduardo. His face, like steel, remained trained on him, then it changed. A smile broke out and Eddie canted his head, confused.
“Ha ha! Brother! Congratulations. You finally did it, then?”
“What?” Eddie asked.
“My sister has been moping for weeks, man. I am glad you both got this settled. And from the bite on your neck, not a moment too soon. Damn, she really took a chunk out of you,” Konstantin noted.
Eddie’s hand reached up and touched the still healing wound. Yeah, he supposed, the male was right. Alina had torn his shit up. Not that he minded. Just the memory of her sexy little body writhing beneath him had his cock hard enough to punch through a brick wall.
“So, you gonna marry her, too? These females all dream about their wedding, you know,” Konstantin was saying, his gaze back on his work.
“Fuck, Kon, I mean, aren’t you mad? I bedded your sister. She was a virgin, and I put my—”
“Geezus fucking shit, bro. No details,” the Tiger snapped. “I mean, look, no man wants to think of his sister having sex. I mean, that’s fucked up. But, she is a woman, an adult, and after the rescue, we all kind of knew she was yours and you were hers, right?”
“I’m not good enough, man. She deserves more—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Konstantin argued.
Eddie’s shoulders slumped as he sat down, head in his hands. How could he explain it to a man he admired so much just how unworthy he was? Alina was a fucking princess, and he was as low as a dog.
“Dude, you are the best male I know,” Konstantin said from right in front of him and Eddie startled.
When had that big motherfucker moved? Feline fucking grace, my ass, he thought. Those Big Cats were humongous, and their silence made them all the more deadly. Still, Konstantin was wrong about Eduardo.
“Listen to me, Eddie, There is no one else I would ever entrust with protecting and caring for my sister.”
“She’s barely twenty-one,” he started.
“Yes, she is an adult, Eddie. And do not forget, she was born and raised in Russia. Life for a Shifter is much harder there than here. Alina is tough as nails, bro. You would be doing her a disservice to think she doesn’t know her own mind.”
Pride filled Eduardo as he thought of all she had been through and overcome. Kon was right. The female was fierce and strong. Mi fiera, he thought with a grin.
“Besides, you claimed her, so what are you upset about?”
“Actually, I didn’t. She claimed me, but I withheld my bite. Fuck, man, I thought she deserved better!” Eddie explained. But by the look on Konstantin’s face, Eddie knew he had really fucked up.
“Shit. You better think of ways to make it up to her, Eddie. There is nothing like a pissed off Tigress, I promise you that. Except maybe a pissed off Lioness,” he replied and winked. “Now, before you think of ways to grovel to my sister, how about we get some work done.”
“Yeah, man. Sorry about all this. It’s been fucking with my head.”
“Love can do that to a man, Eduardo. We are good, I swear. Now, about the security for tonight’s re-opening event,” Konstantin began.
The phone ringing drew their attention, and Eddie waited as Konstantin answered. Using his supernaturally enhanced hearing, he listened as a familiar voice spoke to Konstantin.
“Mr. Petrov, this is Detective Sergeant Rami Llewellyn, from the 135th Precinct. Our sources have received a viable threat to you and your family, and I was hoping you would have a moment to talk in person?”
Eduardo stood, calling for the car to be brought around the front. Konstantin had already hung up and was on the phone with Yasmin first, then his mother next.
“I got Alina,” Eddie said, before dialing her number.
“Hello?” she answered breathlessly, and he knew she was practicing.
“Alina, it’s Eddie.”
Her silence told him all he needed to know. She was pissed about his skulking off after they had made love, and rightly so.
“Look, I know you are mad at me, and you have every right to be. I promise, I am going to make it up to you, but first, there’s been some kind of threat against your family. I am on my way with Konstantin to find out what it is. We are sending extra guards to the house.”
“What do you care what happens to me, Eduardo? The way you left this morning, I did not think I mattered all that much.”
She spoke without heat, and the lack of emotion was even worse than the words themselves. Eddie closed his eyes and inhaled.
“We will talk about all of it, I swear. I owe you an apology and an explanation and you will get them both. But first, I need you safe, Alina.”
He waited a full minute before she replied. Hope and despair warred within him, and he prayed like fuck, he hadn’t messed up his one chance at happiness. Finally, she did reply, the honesty in her voice was like the sun coming out for him.
“Okay, Eddie. I will give you a chance to explain,” she said.
“Thank you, Alina.”
She hung up without a goodbye, but that was alright. He didn’t really expect one. Konstantin waited at the door, and Eddie went with him to the precinct. Whatever this threat was, hopefully, it would not be too bad.
Famous last words, he mused a half hour later when Detective Sergeant Llewellyn explained what they were facing. The Lion Shifter seemed just as upset as they were at the news that the Ivanovich brothers had been released from holding.
“I don’t understand. They were guilty of kidnapping, aiding, abetting, and a slew of other charges!” Konstantin raged.
“Their lawyers got the charges thrown out. Seems they were able to pin everything on their father and had alibis for the crimes they’d been accused of. As for your sister’s kidnapping, Mr. Petrov, all the evidence pointed to Gleb Ivanovich, not his sons. I am very sorry.”
“So they are out already?” Konstantin growled.
“Yes. I am afraid they are.”
Rage filled Eduardo as he followed Konstantin back to the car. The justice system was fucked, far as he was concerned. Maybe he was not the animal he thought he was. Maybe the world needed people like him to do what the law could not.
That sort of philosophical debate was above his paygrade. One thing remained clear. He needed to see Alina with his own eyes. To know she was safe.
“If Grigory, Evgeny, and Gavriil are all out, they will seek revenge. We must get the family home safe,” Konstantin told Eddie, his accent thick as his anger.
“Yes, boss,” Eduardo replied, already sending notice to his team.
“And Eduardo, that means you, too. I want you back home,” Konstantin demanded, and something inside Eddie clicked.
For a long while now, Konstantin Petrov was the only family Eduardo had known. But it was more than that, it was like his Bear heard the order and was ready to obey. The beast in him looked at Konstantin as Alpha and Eddie’s blood hummed with the knowledge.
“It is time I think we make this official, second,” Konstantin stated, meeting Eddie’s stare with his eyes shining bright with his Tiger.
The Bear maintained eye contact for a few seconds before willingly averting his gaze and baring his throat, a sign of submission. Fuck, this was real. Eddie had just been made Konstantin’s Beta, and that was a huge fucking honor.
The Petrov Pride was now official, and it would be Eddie’s pride and joy to serve under such an Alpha. Even better, he could claim Alina the way he wanted to, knowing she was safer with him than with anyone else.
Yeah, Eddie had a lot of groveling to do, and he would do it on his fucking knees for that woman. She was everything to him and it was time to take what was his.
Mine. Mate.