Broken Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Seven Read online

  “This suit costs more than your life, idiot American.” Ilya peeled off his suit coat and threw it at his consort. In Russian, he said, “I should take it out of your hide.”

  The black-haired woman looked down and folded the suit coat, apologizing in careful Russian, like she was unsure of the right words.

  So she wasn’t Russian?

  “Let me pay to have that cleaned,” Andrea was saying, walking beside Ilya for a few steps, but he pushed her away and began to yell at his consort in fast, clipped Russian phrases.

  The terminal finally calmed down and looked away from the general scene. Vadik could almost feel the moment when everyone stopped paying attention, and he nodded to Luther.

  Petrov would be just enough off his guard.

  The man continued to walk toward him and Vadik slipped through the door to the jetway, swiping the card Maggie had given him. She was a genius, that woman.

  Inside the door, he saw the big, dumb one and his girlfriend standing in opposite directions. They nodded, and Vadik placed himself in the X that Maggie had pointed out to him.

  The place where the cameras were blind.

  The only place where they could get Petrov.

  In the blind spot, there was a small alcove that appeared to lead under the terminal. This is where he would have to stash the body.

  The door opened and Petrov breezed through, practically turned all the way around to yell at the woman with him. “I don’t pay you to think, Sasha. I pay you to suck my dick. No thinking required.”

  “I’m sorry, sir. I was…I was distracted by something.”

  “The dry cleaning bill is coming out of your paycheck.” With one more step, Petrov was standing in the blind spot.

  He didn’t even see the blow coming. The blonde had done her work distracting him. Vadik reached out to grab the man by the head and broke his neck with a quick, violent snap.

  He let the body drop against the wall, making sure not to let him leave the box that would be hidden from the cameras.

  The woman holding Petrov’s coat kept walking for a moment and grunted when Vadik grabbed her and hauled her into the alcove with him. She smelled of vodka and vinegar, and her lipstick was smudged in several places. But somehow, she didn’t look surprised.

  “If you scream, I’ll kill you, as well,” he whispered, slipping his hand over her mouth. “Will you promise not to scream?”

  She nodded, wide-eyed and silent, and glanced down at her former boss.

  “Give me his coat and undress him.”

  Sasha handed it over, then bent down to obey. Something about the way she complied made him remember a girl he’d dated once. Not naturally compliant, because she’d met his eyes, solid and true, like an equal. But trained.

  “You want all of his clothes?” she asked with a hint of an American accent to her Russian.

  Vadik turned her chin up so he could look in her eyes. “You’re American?”

  “Canadian,” she said. “He… Petrov bought me. Years ago.”

  “Bought you?” he spoke the words carefully, trying not to inject any of the anger he felt into his tone.

  Some women who were bought and sold in the Russian sex trade entered willingly, but most were forced into it. Coerced or kidnapped. The ones who went of their own agency were touchy about it.

  “From my last master.” When she bent her head to just the right angle, and her hair parted, he could see the black collar around her neck. She handed him Petrov’s pants, and he pulled her into a standing position.

  “You’re not going to be bought and sold any more,” Vadik said, dropping his pants and slipping into the Russian billionaire’s. “I can promise you that.”

  “No one can promise me that,” Sasha said with a slight drop in her cadence. She really believed it.

  Vadik signaled around the corner at the big dumb guy. He heard Niko’s lumbering footsteps before he saw the man. “Put my pants on him, and call Luther.”

  Niko stopped, frozen, in full view of the camera. He was staring at Sasha. Glaring at her.

  “Come on.” Vadik smacked him. “Call Luther. We have to go now.”

  “Niko!” the girl called from down the other direction. “What’s going on?”

  He looked back at her and pointed at Sasha, his eyes wild, “She’s a wolf.”

  Dani shook her head and advanced. “She can’t be.”

  “She is. I’m telling you, she is.”

  Vadik smacked Niko’s hand. “What the hell, man? Stop playing around. Call Luther. I have to get this guy’s clothes on.”

  “Dani, I swear, I’m not…” Niko trailed off and his girl came to stand at his side. They were both in full view of whoever was looking at the cameras.

  “You’re really not.” Dani glared down at Sasha, who zipped up Petrov’s pants.

  “Will someone just call Luther?” Vadik buttoned the pants and laced the belt. “He has my phone, or I’d do it myself.”

  Dani flicked at her phone screen and before she could say anything, the door into the jetway opened. All four of them froze, until they saw the blonde flash of hair that preceded the pixie and Luther coming into the hall.

  The three newcomers looked down at Sasha.

  “She’s—” pixie girl began.

  “We know,” Dani said.

  “But she’s—” the blonde started.

  “Got it,” Luther added.

  They all kept staring with open mouths and Vadik slipped on the man’s stained coat. It was coldly wet against his shirt and stuck to one side like tape.

  “I’m Sasha,” Petrov’s consort said, standing. “Is there somewhere you’d planned to stash the body?”

  Luther just kept staring. Vadik smacked him and his buddy jumped. “Right. Right. Yes, we’re going to take him with us.”

  “You’re just going to take him on to an airplane?” she asked, a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

  Vadik smiled. “We have a jet.”

  “You do?”

  “We do.” He held out his hand and Luther put the packet between his fingers. He smashed the fake blood onto his forehead and thick liquid oozed down his face.

  Luther produced the towel and Vadik pressed the towel just above where the packet had exploded, then placed the empty plastic in his other pocket.

  “Don’t forget to tie those cords to his ankles,” the pixie was saying as Luther and Niko hoisted the body between them. “He has to look like he’s walking.”

  “Got it.” Luther pulled at the cord she’d attached to his wrist and the blonde attached a similar cord to Niko’s.

  They held Petrov’s body, dressed in Vadik’s clothes, and pulled his feet up and down with their off-hand wrists.

  “It’ll work,” Niko said. “He looks drunk.”

  “Well, he won’t for very much longer,” pixie girl said. “He’s going to start going into rigor.”

  “Then let’s move fast.” Luther pointed to the hallway that led down to the jet entrance. “After you.”

  Vadik grabbed Sasha by the hand, but she jumped.

  “What was that?” she squealed.

  “It’s a gun.” Dani smiled, sweetly. “Surely you know what a gun is, sweetheart.”

  “You don’t have to put a gun on her,” Vadik said. “She’ll come with us willingly.”

  “I will, but why are you bringing him with us?” Sasha asked, pointing at the odd marionette between the two men.

  “He’s got to be the guy I knocked out.” Vadik lifted the towel. “My face has to be obscured so your pilots won’t recognize that I’m not him.”

  “And how will you…” She saw the packet in the blonde’s hand and stopped.

  “As soon as we get out of the blind spot,” Vadik said.

  “Well, no need to go to all that trouble.” Sasha stepped into the hallway. “I’m the pilot.”

  Vadik and Luther exchanged looks. This was better than they’d even planned. “Then, by all means,” Vadik said. “Let’s get to your
jet.”

  Andrea watched the group finagle with Ilya’s dead body until it kinda did look like they were half-walking half-dragging a passed out guy down the terminal. Luckily it wasn’t a busy area, and between Luther and Vadik’s size and Niko’s charming smile, everyone was pretty much ignoring them.

  She quickened her step and came up behind Maggie, Luther, and Vadik.

  The tall Russian had gorgeous dark hair that begged to have fingers run through it. He glanced over his shoulder at her again, and she met his intense gaze with more interest that she’d expected.

  His brown eyes narrowed at her, but she continued to stare. The angled cheekbones and strong jaw were mesmerizing. Damn. She should not be thinking about how hot he was while they were trying to smuggle a dead body out of the airport.

  She sucked in a quick breath and regained her lost composure. “There should be a dumpster we can use to stash his body once we exit to the tarmac. I’ll call my brother, and he can have the local pack pick him up before authorities find him.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Maggie said. “I’ve got the codes for the doors up ahead. So we’ll be able to go out the back door and then go around to the plane.” She pointed through the floor to ceiling windows on the left. “Sasha said that plane with the red tipped tail is our target. She’s apparently flown it before.”

  “Shit, have they been to the island before?”

  “No. Never to this man’s island,” Sasha said.

  Andrea frowned. She slowed her pace, drifting to the back of the group as she dialed her brother’s number. The line picked up on the first ring.

  “Aaron?”

  “Andrea, is everything okay?”

  “Yes, well…mostly. I need a favor.” She chewed her bottom lip and glanced forward, surprised to find her gaze lingering on the sexy Russian mercenary’s ass.

  Luther’s friend was hard-core badass. Running a biker bar had taught her to read people quickly, giving her a chance to defuse problems before they started.

  Vadik didn’t like her. In fact, she was quite positive that Luther’s friend didn’t like any of them.

  “There’s a pack in Toronto, right?”

  “Yes.” Her brother’s voice deepened with concern.

  “We’re going to stash a body in a dumpster—” She turned her head to read a passing sign as the group neared a pair of door marked exit. “Terminal 2, staff exit 12A.”

  “What the hell are you doing in Toronto? And why are you killing people?”

  “Aaron, where I am is not the point. He was a very bad man and we have a plan, but it changed. Now I need you to do this for me now, before we have to drag a dead body onto a leer jet. It’s gonna stink to high heaven.”

  Grumbles and curses filtered through the speaker of her phone as her brother attempted to bottle his irritation. “I’ll take care of it. Just, be careful. I know you’re our representative enforcer on this mission, but—”

  “I know how to take care of myself. I couldn’t run the Wolf Den if I didn’t.”

  He sighed. “I didn’t say you couldn’t. I just…never mind…I’ll take care of it, even if I have to fly up there personally.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You know I’d do anything for you.”

  She smiled. He always had. No matter what kind of scrape she’d gotten into, Aaron had always been there with a hug and any kind of help she needed. All her brothers would bend over backward for her, but Aaron had taken on the paternal role more than her other two brothers, Allan and Adam. “Love you,” she said, gave a smooching noise, and tapped the screen to end the call.

  Andrea pulled open the ajar exit door and nearly collided with Vadik. “Why aren’t you keeping up? You’re carelessness will cost someone their life.”

  Jackhole!

  She shoved her phone into the front pocket of her jeans and crossed her arms. “I believe my carelessness was exactly what caught us a Russian asshole in the first place.”

  His brown eyes flashed with anger, but the rest of his face remained frozen in a hard frown.

  Andrea curled her fingers, letting the bite of her fingernails into the flesh of her palms dissuade her from reaching up to touch his face. Such a beautiful face under all that simmering fury.

  “You’re flapping your lips with your boyfriend on the phone while we’re doing the real work. So don’t smart mouth me about who’s carrying their weight on this mission. Your group is a pack of undertrained over-ambitious civilians.”

  One corner of her mouth shot up.

  Vadik hissed and whirled around, apparently finished conversing with her for now. She hadn’t missed his scrutinizing gaze. The man was interested in her whether he wanted to be or not.

  Strangely enough, she found herself drawn to him as if an invisible string kept tugging her focus. It wasn’t overwhelming, but it was just enough to make her take a second look and try to see past his threatening stick-up-the-ass façade.

  Andrea followed him through the doorway and down the empty corridor to where the rest of the group was waiting at the corner of the terminal building.

  “Did you get through to your alpha?” Maggie asked.

  “Yep,” Andrea answered. “Aaron said he’d take care of contacting the Toronto alpha. We’re good. I gave him the terminal and door number.”

  “Alpha of what?” Vadik asked.

  “Of the pack, you big Russian badass,” Maggie shot back with a snort. “Luther, you’re in charge of explaining this time.”

  “I’m not showing him the way you showed me, Mag,” Luther growled.

  “No?” Maggie asked, grinning.

  “It’s not something to joke about,” Andrea hissed. Thank the gods they weren’t in Somewhere right now. Aaron would’ve had a coronary if he’d overheard this conversation.

  Vadik remained silent after her snarl, but Andrea saw the swift glance he snuck over his shoulder at her. Maggie and Luther had confused him, but he wasn’t going to push the subject.

  Andrea just hoped that when the time came, he got on board quickly or this whole plan would be for nothing, and they really would get more people killed—starting with Vadik and this Sasha chick.

  “This is really getting old you guys, come on. We’ve got a plane to catch.” Niko started walking across the tarmac and everyone else sprinted to catch up.

  The group crossed to the waiting plane and climbed the stairs into the small jet. No one said a word. The plane was privately owned and the only people on the tarmac were people who had passes. Or people with computer geniuses that could hack airport terminal keypads and anything else that could possibly be compromised using only technology.

  Andrea turned as Dani worked the controls for the door and brought it up closed behind them, sealing the cabin with a small hiss of air. This plane had similarities to the Davis’s jet they’d flown on previously, but it was a little smaller.

  “Are we still bound for Choaca?” Sasha asked once everyone had turned to face each other in the center of the cabin area.

  “Yep,” Maggie answered. “How quickly can we get up and moving?”

  “Shouldn’t take too long, once I get the go ahead from the tower. Can I ask what you plan to do with me once we arrive?”

  No one spoke for what seemed like ages.

  It was Vadik who finally answered. “You will accompany me to the island. I will eliminate Adrian Rossi and you’ll be free to go after the mission is accomplished.” He glanced around the group, as if waiting for his reply to be debunked.

  No such luck. The plan one hundred percent intended to send them both into the lion’s den.

  “Yes, sir,” Sasha replied, her posture immediately changing from tall and proud to slightly hunched and docile. The black-haired woman bowed her head somewhat, keeping her gaze fixed to the floor. “If everyone will find a seat and fasten their belts, I’ll get us on our way.”

  Sir? What the hell was that? Andrea had never seen anyone change so drastically…ever. In the space of ten
seconds, Sasha had altered her entire demeanor to submit to Vadik. It shouldn’t have bothered Andrea, but it did.

  She sat in one of the nearest captain chairs along the wall of the cabin and hooked her seatbelt.

  Dani sat in the chair next to her and Niko sat across, facing them both. The others all quickly grabbed a seat and within a few minutes the plane was taxiing across the tarmac toward a runway.

  Sasha’s voice came over the speaker. “We’ll be taking off shortly. Please be sure you are seated and seatbelts are fastened.”

  Moments later, the plane picked up speed and launched itself into the air with barely a shudder.

  Andrea watched the landscape race past through the window and leaned against the headrest of the chair. Another long ass flight. Too bad she was going to have to spend it watching Niko and Dani moon at each other, thinking no one noticed.

  The buildings on the ground shrank further and further from view. Once they’d leveled out, everyone unfastened their seatbelts and relaxed.

  Niko and Dani stood and walked to the far end of the cabin. They helped themselves to the bar and Andrea licked her lips. She could use a nice swallow or two of whiskey. She hated flying. Driving was more her style. In the last few months she’d flown more than she had her entire life.

  The plane shuddered and her gaze flew across the cabin toward Maggie. “What was that?” Suddenly the plane banked and Andrea gripped the arms of her chair to avoid being tossed out of it.

  “What is that crazy ass wolf doing?” Dani snarled and crawled through the cabin toward the cockpit.

  “Sasha?” Luther called out.

  No reply came from the open door of the cockpit.

  Dani made it across the cabin and into the cockpit, followed closely by Luther and Vadik.

  “Fuck!” she yelled. “She’d dead.”

  Chapter Three

  Vadik jumped into the co-pilot seat and grabbed the control wheel. He pulled hard to right the plane, and a red light blinked on the SID.

  Sasha hadn’t put on the auto-pilot yet, but the nav controls could tell they were veering off-course. The night in front of him was dark and the flashing lights of car traffic below threw him off. He focused on the nav board.