Ruthless Creatures (Queens & Monsters, #1)

by J.T. Geissinger

“Sure. Just like David did. Now get the fuck out of my house, Kazimir.”

“You don’t want me to leave. You love me. You’re mine.”

“Do it, then. Without you, I’m dead anyway.”

“I love you. That’s not a lie. I love you more than anything. More than I want my next breath. I’ll give anything for you to forgive me, and that includes my life.”

“Kill me if it will take away your pain, love. If it will give you even a little peace, pull the trigger and end me.”

When I return an hour later, her house is in total shambles, and she’s gone.

A man stands in the space between them. When I step out of the cab, he steps out from the doorway and begins the walk down the long gravel drive.

As he does, he watches me with sharp hazel eyes I’d know anywhere on earth. And of all the things I thought I might do or say at this moment, of all the curses I wanted to scream and the insults I wanted to hurl, the only thing I find myself actually doing is sinking to my knees and fighting for air. When my knees touch the gravel, David breaks into a run.

No matter what it costs me, even if the price is my own blood, Max is going down. Nobody threatens my baby.

“Or maybe it’s the five years I spent mourning your death while you were living like a king on an island paradise that’s getting to me.”

“Yes. I gave them everything they needed to nail him for enough crimes to put him away for life. In return, they gave me a new identity, relocated me, and wiped my existence off the books. Those were things I couldn’t do myself.”

“Broke my heart a thousand ways and left me like a zombie. Left me for dead. Can you imagine what it’s been like for me? Not knowing what had happened to you? All this time … not being able to move on?”

“My handler in the witness protection program told me they’d gotten credible intel that my location in Lake Tahoe had been compromised. They insisted I relocate again, immediately. They gave me hardly any notice before they cleared me out.”

“They said I could never contact you again. They said you’d be under surveillance forever by Max’s people. That they’d use you as a trap to lure me back in. And if I ever made the mistake of falling into the trap, they’d have no use for you any longer. You’d be killed. I might as well be pulling the trigger myself. But as long as I stayed away, you stayed alive. And I thought … I thought you’d get the key and find the letter, and you’d understand you had to take extreme precautions…”

“Wait. It gets worse. Instead of being a good assassin and shooting me in the head then dumping me into the lake, he thought it would be fun to make me fall in love with him first. Which he did, the bastard.”

Then a deep voice from behind me says, “I was never playing you, baby. I loved you from day one.”

“There’s nowhere on earth you could hide from me.”

“When the longing got too bad, I’d come sit in here and imagine you on that stool in front of the easel, painting something that made you happy. Maybe a picture of me.”

“I’m yours, Kage. Even when I hate you, I love you. Whatever happens, we’ll work it out.”

“Ya tebya lyublyu. I love you. Ty nuzhnah mne. I need you. Ty moya. You’re mine.”

There’s a weight to this thing I feel for him. A darkness. A violent edge, like what I see in the dangerous men’s eyes.

“Are you telling me you want to have my children?”

“I’m saying I want to know if you’d be open to it.” His reply is instant. “If I say yes, will you marry me?”

“If ten carats aren’t enough, I’ll return it for a bigger one.”

“Is that a yes or a no?” When I don’t answer, he prompts impatiently, “Use your colors, stubborn girl.” A tear slipping down my cheek, I whisper, “Green, honey. All the green in the universe.”

“I’m Declan. I’m taking you to Boston to speak with my boss. As for what happens when we get there … that’s not up to me, pet.”

“But you did start a war, so I’m guessing you won’t like it.”

Most importantly, I never make the rookie mistake of mixing business with pleasure. Business always comes first. I never fail.

Then she steps out from under the porch overhang and turns her face up to the sun, and my heart stops beating. As if it’s been stabbed, the fucking thing literally stops dead in my chest.

I force myself to study her, to imagine what it will be like to put a bullet in her head, wrap her body in a tarp, and dump her into the lake. It makes me feel sick. Physically sick to my stomach.

I’m Kazimir fucking Portnov! I don’t lose my shit! Except apparently I do, because she just looked up and locked eyes with me, and my dick is hard again.

That thing inside my chest where a heart’s supposed to be is alive and kicking. My blood pulses fast and hot through every vein in my body, and I don’t know what the fuck this is, but I know it’s dangerous. For me, for her, for everyone. Dangerous.

More than anything else, I want to see those cracks. I want to explore them. I want—fucking stupidly—to make them go away.

So here’s the icing on this awful shitshow cake: she’s kind. She’s not afraid of me, she’s welcoming me to town, she’s gorgeous and down to earth and feisty, and I’m so fucked it’s not even funny.

For better or worse, the angel’s got the devil on her side now. If there is a god, not even He can save us from what will come of this.

The Reaper put a target under his protection. None of the old rules apply anymore.

I’m too much of a realist to imagine it will be happy, but I’m too far gone to care.

Natalie Peterson is the brightest flame, and I’m the moth flying straight into her fire.

Okay, baby. Let’s see how hot we’r...