Hidden Monsters (Volkov Bratva #4)(80)

“I need a favor.” Luka knew exactly how that sounded as soon as the words left his mouth—especially with the way Klaus was now looking at him—but he couldn’t take them back now. And even if he could, he wouldn’t.

And not to mention the way Klaus had acted at the Christmas party a few weeks ago.

“You’re not in a position to be asking me for anything, Ahmeti.”

Luka visibly flinched at the name. Years had passed since he’d last been called that, and even during those days, he was still called by his first name. Ahmeti had been his father, the cruel bastard who had taken everything from him. If there was one thing he hated, then it was the reminder that he was a product of his father.

Klaus turned, heading around the side of his car as he swiped the towel over it, drying off the droplets of water that remained. As he moved, Luka got a good look at the jagged, raised scars that lined his back, another reminder as to why approaching Klaus was a gamble. There were days when they had a mutual understanding, but other days, very much like this one, Luka was just another reminder as to what had brought Klaus this low.

Unlike Luka who had covered his marks with vivid tattoos to the point that you couldn’t see them—only feel them if you were to touch them—Klaus wore his for everyone to see.

“It’s not about me,” Luka said carefully.

Glancing back at him, Klaus shook his head. “Alex, then? Didn’t the Russian tell you to stay away from her?”

Ignoring his question, Luka asked one of his own. “Are you going to help or not?”

Tossing the rag down, Klaus leaned against his car, focusing the intensity of his gaze on him. “What can I do?”

“In about an hour, there’s a meeting scheduled with the Angels MC. I need you there.”

“To pretend to be the Russian?” A sudden smile bloomed on his lips. “This should be fun but leave that piece of shit here,” he said with a gesture to Luka’s Jeep. “We’re taking my car.”

Luka momentarily blinked in surprise, not having actually expected Klaus to agree. It had been wishful thinking on his part because, for once, he had thought before he acted. Either way, Snow was going to die. There was no changing that.

Klaus headed into his motel room and changed clothes. Unlike his twin who mostly had a closet full of suits, Klaus wore jeans and a plain black shirt, but he still managed to look put together.

The ride to the meeting was uneventful, and by the time they reached their destination, Luka was a bit antsy.

“Anything I should know?”

“The one you want is Snow.”

Nodding, Klaus looked out toward the men who were waiting for them. “And before I condemn him to your ass, tell me. What the f*ck did he do to you?”

“Like I said, it has nothing to do with me. Alex…” He thought back to the night he had found her, the way her eyes had been glassy and she could barely sit up… No, this had never been about him at all.

Once, he had told her he would keep her safe, no matter what. And that was before…whatever it was they had now. He’d made that promise because he cared about her. There were some men who would have thought they’d done their job by just getting her out of that situation, but Luka…Luka had to make sure that the situation never presented itself again.

Luka told Klaus a very condensed version of the events that had taken place that night, then telling him what he had done after, but nothing more than the first night he’d kept Alex at his place.

Klaus was better at hiding his reactions than Luka, but there was a mutual understanding between them at that moment. He might not have been as close to Alex as the rest of them…but he cared.

Luka was the first out of the car, then Klaus, both crossing the parking lot to a stand a few feet away from the bikers.

The president didn’t waste time. “Reason why you called this meeting, Volkov? And brought that motherf*cker…”

He might have been bold enough to tell Mishca the truth about why Luka had nearly killed a few of them that night, but he had mentioned there’d been a problem.

“Because we have a problem.”

It was disconcerting how Klaus could mimic Mishca, and to anyone else, he sounded spot on. And had Luka not known the pair of them as well as he did, he might not have caught the subtle differences.

That was working in his favor tonight.

“A routine meeting, but it went bad this time. Why is that?”

The prez didn’t look as sure of himself now that it wasn’t Luka questioning him. Even Luka was curious as to how he was going to talk himself out of this one.

Pulling the gun from the waistband of his jeans with ridiculous ease, Klaus pointed it at Luka’s forehead, never taking his eyes off the bikers.

“I don’t tolerate disrespect of any kind, so please, if his actions were unwarranted, I’ll put a bullet in his skull right now.”

Since none of this was rehearsed, Luka actually looked at Klaus, trying to gauge how serious he was. Knowing Klaus, he would shoot him just for fun.

“But know that if you lie to me—and believe me, I’ll know if you do—I’ll destroy your organization member by member. Do you understand?”

The prez swallowed, his other guys looking at him, but he never looked away from Klaus. “One of our guys was messing around with a girl, but he didn’t know she was your sister. She never gave her name.”