GUARDED FLAMES

CHAPTER FOUR

NIKOLAI

I shouldn’t have come back.

I shouldn’t have let her come down there to the training room, shouldn’t have let her see me like that—vulnerable, hot, dripping sweat, rage close to snapping. And I definitely shouldn’t have let her get under my skin so goddamn easily.

But she did.

And I couldn’t stop it.

When I walked away, I was barely holding it together, every muscle in me screaming to turn around and push her up against the wall and kiss the arrogance off her lips.

She was pushing me. Testing me. Daring me.

But she was dangerous. Too dangerous. And I had enough blood on my hands to last ten lifetimes. I wasn’t going to be the one to ruin her. I wouldn’t.

So I went up to my room, grabbed the first bottle of whiskey I could find, and poured myself a drink. Hell, I needed more than one.

I tossed the glass back and felt the burn in my throat. I should’ve gone to bed, should’ve buried myself under the covers and tried to forget her. But her goddamn eyes wouldn’t leave me alone. Her smile. The way she was looking at me like I was some kind of thing to claim.

She wasn’t like the others. She didn’t just want my body—she wanted everything.

And that scared the hell out of me.

There was a knock at the door.

I ignored it.

But it came again—this time harder, more insistent.

“Nikolai.”

I froze.

Her voice. Again.

I stood up, swearing under my breath, and went to the door. When I opened it, there she was—standing in the hallway in nothing but a robe, her hair messy like she had just woken up, eyes wide with something that looked a lot like desire. I couldn’t breathe.

“What the hell are you doing?” I barked, trying to keep my composure.

She tilted her head to the side, giving me that damn grin. “I’m looking for you.”

“Well, you found me. Now go back to your room.” My voice was rougher than I meant it to be.

She stepped forward, and I swear, the floor moved. “Not until you stop pretending, Nikolai. I know what you want.”

I tried to step back, but she was faster. Her hand landed on my chest, a soft, dangeros pressure. My breath hitched, and I hated myself for it. My body was betraying me.

“You don’t get it,” I growled, hands by my sides. “I’m not the one you want, Evangeline. I’m not the one you should want. I.....”

Before I could finish the sentence, she pressed herself against me. Her lips crashed into mine, forceful, hungy. Her tongue slipped past my lips, and for a moment, I let myself fall into it.

It was too much.

Her hands tangled in my hair, pulling me closer, and I wanted to break. I wanted to give in.

But I couldn't.

I pushed her away—just enough to make her stop for a second.

She was breathing heavy, her lips swollen from the kiss. “You’re lying to yourself, Nikolai,” she said softly, her fingers tracing the lines of my jaw. “You want this. You want me.”

“Evangeline,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

She leaned in, her mouth brushing against my ear. “I think I do. I think I know exatly what I’m asking for.”

Fuck.

I grabbed her wrists, pulling them away from me, holding them behind her back with one hand as I stepped back. “Go to your room,” I said again, my voice shaking, barely keeping control.

But she was relentless. “You can’t fight it forever, you know. You’re mine, whether you like it or not.”

I stared at her, my chest heaving with the effort it took to not snap.

“I’m not yours,” I growled. “Not now. Not eve.”

But even as the words left my mouth, I felt the cracks begin to form in the walls I’d built around myself.

And I f*****g hated it.