Pure Blood_ A Nocturne City Novel - Caitlin Kittredge [36]
“It’s under control,” said Dmitri. “Go back inside.”
Irina planted a hand on one nonexistent hip and glared at me. “Who the hell is this?”
“Who the hell are you?” I countered, giving my own glare to Dmitri. “Who the hell is she?”
“I asked first,” she snarled, stalking over and physically yanking Dmitri’s hand away from mine. “Why do you let this trash touch you, darling?” she demanded of him.
Darling? I looked at their linked arms, at the proprietary way she touched him, and all of the blood in my body made fast tracks for my feet. “You bastard,” I managed.
“Luna, don’t,” said Dmitri. “I told you it was complicated. Irina is—”
“I don’t give a fuck what Irina is!” I growled. “You son of a bitch, you told me you were coming back for me!”
Irina tugged on Dmitri’s hand. “Make the Insoli stop shouting. She causes my head to ache.”
“Bitch, my foot will cause your ass to ache in another second,” I told her.
“Enough!” Dmitri roared. “Luna, it’s not your place to talk like that. I’m sorry, but Irina is a member of the pack. I couldn’t tell you, but I’m sorry.” He ran his free hand through his dark red hair. “Gods, I’m sorry.”
“You should be,” I said. “How could you? How could you?”
I heard twin footsteps at the mouth of the alley and two figures who smelled of were approached us. Their scent was usual but different from Irina and Dmitri—aged, like they’d been locked away for a long time.
The man spoke to Dmitri in what I assumed was Ukrainian, and he snapped something back. There was a macho display of fang-showing between them, which Irina seemed to enjoy. Witch.
The woman, who looked like someone’s nice old granny, complete with a severe white bun, looked me over. “You are not what we expected,” she said.
“Who are you people?” I asked helplessly.
“I am Yelena Krievko,” she inclined her head. “And my partner is Sergei Peskevitch.”
“Okay,” I said, “no offense, Grandma, but this is sort of a personal thing between Dmitri and me, so would you mind hobbling back to the bingo hall until we’re through?”
She slapped me across the face, so hard my ears rang. I fell against the wall of the club, totally blind-sided. I couldn’t believe anyone so petite and old could be that strong.
“Yelena! Gods!” Dmitri shouted, coming to help me up. I batted him off with a growl. I didn’t want the same hands that had been holding Irina for the past three months touching me.
“She would do well to learn a little respect for her betters,” Yelena hissed, and her face partially phased, all fangs and wide yellow eyes. She reminded me of Baba Yaga from the old fairy tale.
“Would everyone stop with that Insoli crap!” I snapped. “Dmitri, tell me what is happening. Tell me right now or someone is going to get hurt.”
“Sergei and Yelena are two of the pack elders of the Redbacks,” Dmitri said. “They brought me back to the city.”
All the fury ran out of me. So he hadn’t come back on his own, to see me. Irina caught my eye and smirked, stroking Dmitri’s arm. I gave her a token snarl, but inwardly I just felt broken. Why would he come back, if this was what he had waiting for him with his pack?
“You are in serious trouble, young woman,” said Sergei. He was small and brown, like a walnut topped by a thatch of black hair. “Dmitri, show her.”
Dmitri rolled back the shirtsleeve on his right arm, and even before he exposed the crescent-shaped black scar, I knew why he’d really come back.
The daemon bite had healed, smoothed over with scar tissue that looked like lava glass. The rippled edges of the crescent, where a daemon-called werewolf had sunk his teeth into Dmitri, were as clear and precise as ever, more like a tattoo than a memory.
“It hasn’t gone away,” said Dmitri. “The pack elders don’t know why.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Does it hurt?”
“Not most of the time,” said Dmitri uncomfortably. “But it… affects me—adversely.” He looked at Sergei and Yelena and bit off whatever he’d been going to say. Hex the were packs and their secret-society bullshit.
“As long as Dmitri is infected, he is a danger to everyone,” said