Page 24 of Blood & Snow

My cock is throbbing and if she looked down at my jeans, she'd see how hard I am.

"No, thank you. Just call me when you've murdered more innocent people."

Nadya scowls at me and side steps, walking around me.

I watch her leave, appreciating the view of her body in motion, the graceful way she carries herself despite the horrific work she's just completed.

She's intelligent, competent, motivated by family loyalty and controlled by carefully applied threats.

Her forensic training makes her invaluable for evidence disposal, and her desperate circumstances ensure continued cooperation.

And better yet, she's got the kind of curves that would look perfect pressed against my body, the kind of face that would be gorgeous looking up at me from her knees with my dick in her mouth.

I should view her as a tool to be discarded when she's no longer useful.

Resources in my world have temporary value, and people become liabilities when their knowledge makes them dangerous.

So she's resisting me, and I assume she'll be the sort of woman who fights me if I try to take what I want.

But she is good at what she does, and I need someone like her to do the job she's doing for me.

Might as well enjoy the view while she does it.

6

NADYA

"Pass the bread, Aunt Nadya."

Anya reaches across the kitchen table while balancing her homework against her dinner plate.

"I need to finish these problems before bedtime."

I hand her the basket and watch her tear off a piece while simultaneously working through multiplication exercises.

Eight years old and already managing multiple tasks like someone twice her age.

Our mother would have been proud of her determination.

"How was school today?" I ask Mikhail, who's been unusually quiet during dinner.

"Good," he mumbles around a mouthful of soup.

"We learned about animals that live in the forest."

"What kind of animals?"

"Bears and wolves and foxes. The teacher said wolves hunt in packs because they're stronger together than alone."

His blue eyes light up with enthusiasm.

"Just families helping each other survive."

Irina smiles at his explanation while clearing emptybowls from the table.

"Families do help each other survive. That's what makes them special."

I feel my nerves prickle at the back of my neck as I think of what I'm having to do to help my family survive, and it's my fault they are in this position to begin with.