“All right,” he agreed easily. “But I can assure you, my men are quite accustomed to sleeping outside. Their wolves prefer it, to be honest.”
“Whatever’s easiest,” Skye said, nodding. “Thank you.”
“Right,” Nikolai said smoothly. “You already know my son, Dimitri. This is my wife, Natasha.”
“Welcome,” I greeted evenly, skipping past Dimitri and smiling at Natasha.
“Are we done with the formalities?” she asked, looking briefly at her husband.
His smile tightened. “Depends. Are you planning to behave?”
My eyebrows lifted as Skye snorted, shaking her head.
Nikolai’s gaze met mine once more, his eyes sliding down to where Skye’s hand was tucked into mine. “I suppose we are family.”
“Exactly,” Natasha said brightly, stepping away from him and reaching for Skye’s other hand. “All this formality is stifling, Nik.”
“Mama,” Dimitri grumbled.
“I swear, Natasha,” Nikolai started, shaking his head.
Skye was fighting a smile that loosened some of the stress gripping my gut.
“Is that her?” Natasha’s eyes widened as her voice dropped to a whisper. She craned her neck, looking between Rhodes and I.
Glancing back, I saw Addie had stepped around Ryder. She was pale, and I could see the way she was trembling from here.
“She’s pretty,” Natasha remarked, almost awed. She glanced back at her husband with a scoff. “Too pretty for you.”
Nikolai looked ready to strangle her, but he hadn’t told her to shut up.
“Tasha,” Skye warned, her eyes narrowed. She looked worried as she looked from her mom to her stepmother.
“Ryder,” I called, barely turning around, “take Addie back to the car.”
Natasha’s eyes widened, her hand fluttering up to her throat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean … Oh, hell.” She sighed, dejected, as Ryder led Addie back to the line of waiting cars.
“Are you pleased with yourself?” Nikolai asked sourly, glaring at her.
To her credit, Natasha didn’t flinch. She tipped her head back, meeting his glare with her own. After a beat, she relented, rolling her eyes and stepping back with an annoyed huff.
Nikolai turned back to me. “Thank you, Alpha.”
“Remy,” I corrected him, still not used to having the formal title of Alpha attached to my name.
“Remy,” he repeated. “One last matter to discuss. You have cells here, yes? For holding people under arrest?”
I frowned. “Of course.”
Every pack did, but I could honestly say that Blackwater’s were rarely used. We didn’t have a high crime rate, and the shit that did happen was usually handled by my dad. The last person who had been in one of those cells was Rhodes’s dad, and that had been over a year ago.
In one of his rarer moments, he took his drunk ass to the bar in town and got wasted. He’d gotten into a fight, and Dad had put him in a cell so he could dry out for the night.
I wasn’t sure why Nikolai felt the need to ask until I caught movement coming out of the plane.
“Fuck,” I swore, my blood running cold as Elias and then Linden were led down the stairs.
Skye’s hand tightened around mine. “It’s okay.”
“What the hell are they doing here?” I demanded, my gaze swinging from Nikolai to Skye.
She opened her mouth to answer, but Nikolai beat her to it.
“I thought you might want to question them yourself,” he explained, almost happily.
I glared at both of them as they approached. Linden met my stare defiantly, his mouth pressed into a grim line. Elias hung his head, looking like he was walking to be executed. He refused to look up.
Skye’s hand squeezed mine, dragging my attention away from them.
“Let’s get them settled and then we can all talk,” she said softly.
I nodded slowly, not liking the flicker of fear in her eyes. There was something she wasn’t telling me.
“Okay,” I said sharply. “We’ll get you all settled for the night. We can meet later tomorrow to discuss a plan.”
I motioned to my pack with my hand. “Will and Michael will handle your sleeping arrangements and take you to the houses we have ready. We’ll bring your luggage by when it’s been unloaded.”
Nikolai smiled and started leading his people away to where Michael and Will stood.
I pulled my hand from Skye’s as Dimitri approached, extending it to him.
He paused in front of me.
“Thank you,” I started sincerely, “for protecting Skye.”
Dimitri nodded with an easy grin and shook my hand. “No problem.”
My right hand squeezed his as my left arm swung. My knuckles collided solidly with his jaw, snapping his head back. I let go as he stumbled backwards and went down, hard.
Everyone around us froze.
“Remy!” Skye hissed, moving to step around me and check on him.
I held her back with one hand as I glared down at Dimitri. “Take her away from me again and I’ll kill you.”
“Noted,” he muttered, rubbing his jaw. He winced as he touched the already swelling area and got back up.
Skye’s nails dug into my forearm as Dimitri joined the others getting ready to leave.
“Really?”
I looked at her. “Yes, really. And I really will kill him, or anyone, who takes you from me again.”
She sighed, but didn’t seem too upset by what I said. In fact, when her eyes met mine, all I could see was love.
Unable to resist, I kissed her again, hard.
It killed me to step away from her, especially when she rocked forward, her lips chasing mine as I straightened and looked back at my pack.
“You all know what to do,” I said, nodding that they were okay to leave. The cars carrying the Narodnaya pack members were already leaving.
Everyone slowly cleared out until only a few of us were left. Dante stalked away from my side, grabbing Tate and pulling her close as Ryder let Addie out of the car.
“Mom,” Skye breathed as she approached. “Are you okay?”
She was still pale, but nodded. “I’m fine, baby.”
“You’re welcome to go with the others,” I told her, not crazy about her going home to an empty apartment. “You can stay at the house tonight. Or stay with Zoe and Michael.”
“Actually I’m going to go pick up your mother,” Addie replied, her eyes darting around nervously. “Gabe’s insisting she get some sleep that isn’t the cot they brought into his room. I told her she can use Skye’s bed. The apartment is only a couple blocks from the medical center, so she’s still close by.”
“Thank you,” I said, truly meaning it. Addie had been invaluable lately between handling food for the workers and keeping Mom company at the medical center so she wasn’t alone.
“How is he?” Skye demanded, her worried eyes lifting to me.
“He’s doing good,” I answered, thankful it was the truth. “I promised him I would bring you by soon to visit.”
“We’ll give you a ride,” Rhodes said, wrapping an arm around Larkin’s shoulders.
“Actually,” Addie said, “if it’s all right, I’d like to run back. I could use some time to clear my head.”