Read Online Eternal War Rising to the South: The Beynok Vampire Series by Erika Bradshaw - Free Book Online

to answer because Vladimir and someone I didn’t recognize walked into the room from the basement. I just looked at Yuri with pleading eyes. I should have been more worried about who the stranger was.
    Vladimir’s eyes widened with surprise and quickly recovered. “Anya, you’re back from your morning run. You were gone for an unusual long time today. I guess you were enjoying the beautiful, brisk day.” The command in his voice told me he was pissed.
    I quickly replied,” Yes, the day is beautiful and kept me out longer than intended. I’m sorry if I worried you.”
    Vladimir brushed over my comment and said, “This is Boris, one of the Russian guards sent here to help. Irena is with the others down in the basement. You’ll meet her shortly. Boris, this is our field leader, Anya.” I had to force myself to act natural to help Vladimir save face, and me, too, for that matter. I held out my hand with a slight nervous smile.
    Boris stood as tall as he was stocky. His hair was dark brown and long enough it curled over at the ends in every direction. He had a coarse face with dark circles under his eyes. He might have been good looking, but the scars on his cheeks made him almost unapproachable. The grooves and shape of the scars mirrored werewolf claws. He must have had a narrow escape. Most of the time our bodies will heal themselves, but for him, the damage was too deep.
    “Nice to meet you too, Boris. Thank you for traveling such a long distance on such short notice. My family and I appreciate it.” He smiled back at me and shook my hand firmly while saying hello in Russian.
    “Sorry, I forget to use English while over in the states. It has been a long time since I left Russia.” It is a Beynok rule to speak the language of the land we are in, so we fit in the best we can. Our kind studies many different languages, and we master as many as we can.
    Vladimir looked eager as he said, “Yuri, take Boris down to the sparring room with the others. I have something to discuss with Anya.” Yuri nodded and led Boris out of the room. As Yuri passed through the door, he turned and looked at me with complete curiosity. I couldn’t tell if he was going to talk to Vladimir later or not. He probably hadn’t decided himself.
    Vladimir and I stared at each other, waiting for one to say something to the other. It was not my place to talk first. He was the elder. After a second of confusion, I sensed we were no longer elder and student, not after what had happened in my bedroom. He was as unsure as I was. There were still rules, and I was sure going to try to follow some kind of structure in my life, so I waited for him to talk first. Finally, thank God, he opened his mouth. “Anya, I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to be so forceful. There are things going on you don’t understand. I’m trying to do what’s best for you and for our kind. Where did you go?”
    Finally, a simple question I could answer without having to lie. Lying is something I don’t do. I might kill, but I don’t lie. “I ran, and then I ran some more until I didn’t want to run anymore. I ran until I felt I was far enough away from here … from you.” Well, that was honest enough.
    Vladimir looked down as he walked over to me. He reached for my hands and looked into my eyes. I tried to pull my hands away, but his grip was iron strong. We had to make sure not to cause a scene. We had guests, and our family didn’t need to know of our quarrel. I thought, Is this a lover’s quarrel? Hell, no. “You don’t have to run from me. You belong with me, by my side forever. Don’t ever leave like that again. We were all worried about you. The others are wondering why you left.” He paused to take a breath. He seemed so overwhelmed, having me back safely and so close. “I told them you must be extremely upset about Misha and his team and Ambrose, and you didn’t want them to see you that way, so you left. I knew you would be back. If I’d