Page 31 of Essence of Fear

“Never,” her brother agreed.

“Here, I’ll take that,” Maya said, reaching to grab the gift Viktoria had been holding. “I’ll put it with the others, but in the family pile. We’ll open those first.”

“Sure.”

By the time Maya had put the gift in the pile with the rest of them, someone else had come up to distract Viktoria’s brother and his wife. She was left alone in the entryway of their living room, where she was again reminded of just how crowded this house was at the moment. All the guests moving from room to room and chatting had her anxiety picking up all over again. As much as she tried to ignore it and push it back down to deal with it later, it continued pressing up in her throat like vomit that wanted to spill from her lips.

Fuck.

Viktoria swung around, ready to slip out the back for a breather on the porch, when she nearly ran headfirst into Konstantin. He arched a brow at her sharp glare and scowl at having her quick exit interrupted by him.

“Thank you for showing up,” he told her.

Viktoria didn’t even swallow back the cutting retort that was at the ready—her standard to use when she needed to get the hell out of a situation in a hurry. “Thank you for reminding me daily like a child that I needed to be here, Konstantin.”

He sighed.

She pushed past him.

It was easier this way.

• • •

“You know, to some people in that house,” Viktoria said as she scratched a spot behind Kolya’s dog’s ear, “you are the most terrifying thing here, I think.”

Sumerki’s stubby tail wagged fast. He was as black as night, and in the dark backyard, he could probably blend in enough that someone might miss him if they weren’t looking for him. But then when he opened those eyes of his—big, yellow, and bright—a person couldn’t miss him at all. He was massive. Probably well over a hundred pounds of solid, pit bull muscle. She had seen this dog go after a poor, wild rabbit once.

It had stood no chance.

He could be vicious.

Nasty as fuck.

But with her, Sumerki had always been a giant baby. She knew people gave the dog a wide berth of space whenever he was out with Kolya. He could, and usually did, act as her brother’s protection a lot of the time.

It was amusing.

She was so distracted with Sumerki that she didn’t notice the form coming up to her side until he sat right down beside her on the steps. The shriek that came out of Viktoria when she realized it was Pav was inhumane, she was sure of it.

Her heart thundered.

He just grinned.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” she asked him, glaring.

Pav cocked his head to the side. “You’re … interesting when you’re scared. Do you realize that?”

Viktoria shivered. “And what, you like that?”

“Yes and no.”

He glanced at Sumerki and held out his hand. The dog didn’t hesitate to come forward, bump his forehead against Pav’s palm, and then he licked the man’s fingertips like the two of them were friends or something.

They probably were.

Kolya often brought the dog with him when he worked, and since he spent a lot of time at the Compound, it would make sense that Sumerki would go there, too.

It was no wonder the dog didn’t alert her to the fact someone else was already outside and watching her play with him. He considered Pav a friend.