Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(42)

“For a time though, he didn’t care. He liked living in that illusion. Because to admit that he was nothing more than a weapon…it would ruin everything.”

Luka took a breath. “She meant everything to him then, but he had meant everything to someone else. And that someone else didn’t like how he was spending his time. But he couldn’t touch him, of course—they took it out on her instead.”

Luka grew quiet again, his hand clenching on her stomach. She reached for it, feeling the tension in him, but she didn’t stop, interlocking their fingers, offering what little support she could. While he might not have ever showed vulnerability, he hurt for his friend, and she wanted to comfort him as best as she could.

She hadn’t realized she’d stopped shaking as soon as he’d started speaking.

“It was f*cking brutal what they did to her and one side of me…shit, one side of me understands why they did it. They wanted to break him again, teach him a lesson and make him into a bigger monster than he already was, but they didn’t understand what love could do to a person. They might have taught him that love came at a price, but they brought back his humanity in the process. For that, he would always be grateful, but because they hurt her, the one person who made him human again, they were nothing to him.”

“What happened to her?” Alex asked, watching as the rain came in a slow drizzle.

“I don’t know.”

She wanted to turn and face him, read the emotions in his eyes, but she didn’t want to break the moment between them. “And your friend? What happened to him?”

“Escaped the life and learned to hide his monsters.”

Sighing, Alex shook her head. “I’m sorry you lost your friend.”

“Don’t be. Everything happens for a reason.”

“And the men? Did he kill them? That’s what you would do.”

She felt him shaking with silent laughter. “Maybe, but as far as I know, he only got to one of them, the other is still out there somewhere.”

“Hopefully he gets to him.”

“Unless somebody else beats him to it.”

“Can I ask you one more question?”

“Of course.”

“What was your friend’s name?”

Luka was quiet for so long that she feared he wasn’t going to answer, but so quietly, almost so that she didn’t hear him, he said, “Valon. His name was Valon.”





20

____





Awake





Every couple of hours, she woke up in a daze, her stomach hurting, her eyes watering, but before she could become too out-of-sorts, Luka was there, his much larger body curled around hers, providing heat that she didn’t know she needed until then.

It was hard to tell where she ended and he began since their legs were tangled together. His arms wrapped securely around her as though he thought she would slip away, and at some point during the night, she had grabbed hold of his hand, twining their fingers, hanging on as though she were the one who was afraid to let go.

The cravings never stopped. The need for pills was stronger than ever. But it almost seemed like he could read her mind because any time she felt the urge to get out of there, he held on tighter.

He was her anchor.

_____

After four days of constantly hovering, making sure that she didn’t attempt to leave the room, Alex wasn’t surprised that Luka was passed out, and while he normally heard everything, she’d gone back and forth to the bathroom and walked around him enough times to know that he wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon.

Now, she was finally awake and could bring herself to move around.

For a while, she had sat as he’d done, watching him sleep, feeling terrible because even as he slept, he looked stressed. Truly, he looked exhausted, and there was no one to blame but herself.

While the door might have been locked—and she had no idea what he had done with the key—she checked the knob before pulling two bobby pins from her hair. She still knew a few tricks.

A little rusty, it took her a bit longer before she was able to pop the lock and twist the handle, the door swinging open. Loki was laying on the other side, but when he saw her coming out, he perked right up, his tail thumping wildly.

Alex shushed him, scratching behind his ears for a brief second before she headed for the bathroom on the first level. Since the laundry room was right across the hall, she grabbed some of his clothes along with a towel.

Peeling off the T-shirt that felt utterly gross, she cut on the shower, waiting for the water to heat up before she stepped inside, pulling the curtain closed.

Though showering seemed like a good idea when she’d first thought of it, by the time she finished washing her hair and scrubbing herself clean—she would have liked to stay in there for at least another hour—exhaustion was quick to set in.

She was contemplating just sitting under the spray when the curtain was wrenched open and she gave a startled shout at the sight of Luka standing on the other side. His eyes were red from lack of sleep, but that didn’t diminish the intensity of his gaze.

“Jesus, Luka. You scared the shit out of me!”

Covering herself as best she could, it didn’t seem to help much. The way he looked at her made her feel like she was baring all to him.