Claim Me

Chapter 12

12Yulia

“Bayu-bayushki-bayu, ne lozhisya na krayu…” My mom is singing a Russian lullaby to me, her voice soft and sweet as I snuggle deeper into the blanket. “Pridyot seren’kiy volchok, i ukusit za bochok…”

Her crooning is off-key and the words are about a gray wolf that will bite my side if I lie too close to the edge of the bed, but the melody is warm and comforting, like my mom’s smile. I bask in it, savoring it for as long as I can, but with each word, my mom’s voice gets fainter and softer, until there’s only silence.

Silence and cold, empty darkness.

“Don’t go, Mom,” I whisper. “Stay home. Don’t go to Grandpa tonight. Please, stay home.”

But there’s no response. There’s never a response. There’s only darkness and the sound of Misha crying. He’s feverish and wants our parents. I pick him up and rock him back and forth, the sturdy weight of his toddler’s body anchoring me in the sea of darkness. “It’s okay, Mishen’ka. It’s okay. We’ll be okay. I’ll take care of you. We’ll be okay, I promise.”

But he doesn’t stop crying. He cries all through the night. His screams get hysterical when the headmistress comes for him in the morning, and I know she did something to him. I saw the bruises on his legs when he came out of her office last evening. She hurt him somehow, traumatized him. He hasn’t stopped crying since.

“No, don’t take him.” I struggle to hold on to Misha, but she pushes me away, taking my brother with her. I come after her, but two older boys block my way, forming a human wall in front of me.

“Don’t do it,” one of the boys says. “It won’t help.”

His eyes are pitch black, like the darkness around me, and I feel myself spinning. I’m lost, so lost in that darkness.

“I have a proposition for you, Yulia.” A man dressed in a suit smiles at me, his hazel eyes cold and calculating. “A deal, if you will. You’re not too young to make a deal, are you?”

I lift my chin, meeting his gaze. “I’m eleven. I can do anything.”

“Bayu-bayushki-bayu, ne lozhisya na krayu…”

“It’s your fault, bitch.” Cruel hands seize me, dragging me into the darkness. “It’s all your fault.”

“Pridyot seren’kiy volchok, i ukusit za bochok…”

The melody trails off again, and I’m crying, crying and fighting as I fall deeper into the darkness.

“Tell me about the program.” Strong arms catch me, imprisoning me against a muscular male body. I know I should be terrified, but when I look up and meet the man’s pale gaze, I’m suffused with heat. His face is hard, every feature carved from stone, but his blue-gray eyes hold the kind of warmth I haven’t felt in years. There’s a promise of safety there, and something else.

Something I crave with all my soul.

“Lucas…” I’m filled with desperation as I reach for him. “Please f**k me. Please.”

He drives into me, his thick c**k stretching me, spearing me, and the heat of him dispels the lingering coldness. I’m burning, and it’s not enough. I need more. “I love you,” I whisper, my nails digging into his muscled back. “I love you, Lucas.”

“Yulia.” His voice is cold and distant as he says my name. “Yulia, it’s time.”

“Please,” I beg, reaching for Lucas, but he’s already fading away. “Please don’t go. Stay with me.”

“Yulia.” A hand lands on my shoulder. “Wake up.”

Gasping, I sit up in bed and stare into Obenko’s cool hazel gaze. My heart is drumming in my throat, and I’m covered in a thin layer of sweat. Turning my head, I take in the sight of peeling wallpaper and gray light seeping through a dirty window. There’s no Lucas here, nobody to catch me in the darkness.

I’m in my bedroom at the safe house, where I must’ve fallen asleep before the debriefing.

“Was I… Did I say anything?” I ask, trying to get my shaky breathing under control. The dream is already fading from my memory, but the bits and pieces I recall are enough to knot my insides.

“No.” Obenko’s face is expressionless. “Should you have?”

“No, of course not.” My frantic heartbeat is beginning to slow. “Give me a minute to freshen up, and I’ll be right out.”

“All right.” Obenko walks out of my room, and I pull the blanket tighter around myself, desperate for what little comfort I can find.