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And I am so very aware of how close we are and the fact that we are alone.

Vanya’s coy smile has my heart pounding as she backs off. “Well now. He certainly gets you riled up.”

Or it could be her perfect tits rubbing against me.

Instead, I say, “Not as much as you do.”

Vanya smirks, shrugging her shoulders and wagging that bubble butt as she leaves me to clean up the mess. Then she has the audacity to glance back at me right before she turns the corner, biting her lip and raking her eyes down my body before disappearing.

Fucking fuck. I want to tear those leather pants off and bury my face between those cheeks.

For now, all I can do is sit my happy ass down on what’s left of my bed, pinning my hands under me to keep from jerking off or punching a hole in the wall.

4

VANYA

“Skanda,atakovat!

“Dammit, Rover! This is not fair,” Ciro yelps, dodging Skanda’s snapping jaws again and diving out of range. “I’m not going to hurt your dog!”

“Which is why is good practice for agility. You must get to me and incapacitate me without harming him. Also without getting balls ripped off,” I snicker, staying low in a crouch. We may have the advantage, but Shakal is fucking fast.

It’s thrilling to have such a capable and vicious opponent.

We have trained this way for a week, first thing in the morning. Each day, I come up with another layer of difficulty to stump him. So far, I have only managed to bruise and cut him. Yet with me, he holds back.

Today, I make things interesting.

“Seychas!” I shout, lunging forward.

Skanda rushes in from the side, along with four more of my best fighters, dashing from the darkness near the building in the predawn light. We have him pinned down, hemmed in.

No way out.

He should give up. But that is not what I want.

Ciro tenses, glancing side to side. Assessing.

“This is fucking ridiculous,” he mumbles.

“This is life or death.”

“I survived the Gulag.”

“And now you stagnate. You show no initiative. You are limp dick!” I snap, feinting in for a slash. He ducks back, almost into range of Skanda and the two behind him.

They lash out, and he is forced to dodge, parry, chopping down to pop Skanda’s nose. It’s enough to buy him a moment.

“Stop holding back!”

“Stop pushing me. I know how to fight when it counts!”

“Count these,” I hiss, launching several daggers at him in quick succession.

His eyes pop and he drops, kicking one out of the air, deflecting another with his knife and leaping to the side. Right into a stone-fisted lieutenant. The blow knocks him back, rolling across the gravel, back to a crouch.

And I see it, the light flicker in his eyes.