Chapter 18

Boris had been eager to finally claim his woman. Upon their arrival, he'd intended to lock her in their shared cabin and not let her leave for the entire ten days. He would fuck her senseless so she would have no understanding of time and space beyond what he told her. He would bring her food and he would wash her in the small cubicle shower. He would care for her every need and make sure she was entirely dependant on him during their time together.

Instead he had lost her. For a full twenty-eight hours. He was not amused. He was less than not amused, he was enraged. He should be balls deep in her hot little cunt for the fifth or sixth time by now, not searching a fucking ship for his missing goddam kitten.

He didn't understand why she wasn't locked in his cabin. He'd been close so many times. He was a damn good hunter. It was why he'd bothered to issue the bloody challenge in the first place. Even on a ship the size of the HMS Solntse. He should have had her within the first hour.

If he'd been smart, he would have tied her to the fucking bed the moment she'd taken the first blade away from the vicinity of his manhood. Instead, he'd watched in amused patience as she'd sheathed both of her blades, dug a power bar and a toothbrush out of her duffel bag and reached for the door.

"Laney," he'd called as she stepped into the hallway.

She'd looked back at him with those jewel-like sapphire eyes that turned his dick to stone every time and raised an eyebrow in question. "There are seven crew on this ship, including Oleg. If you wish these men to live, you will stay well away from them."

She shrugged and turned away from him, braids swinging against her shoulders. That was the last he saw of her. He would have worried over her safety except he had reports from the cook about missing food. Which was fucking impossible because he'd been watching the galley, expecting that particular move and hadn't seen hide nor hair of Laney. She really was a fucking ninja.

Next came a report from a somewhat bemused captain Oleg that someone had used his shower and bed while he'd been busy at work. It saved the good captain's life that he had no idea what to think of the situation and he was a good forty-five years older than his lovely young passenger. Still, it further enraged Boris to imagine Laney naked, enjoying the luxury of another man's shower. Then curling up and sleeping in the warmth of another man's bed. Like goddamned Goldilocks, making herself at home and sleeping as though she hadn't a care in the world.

He'd stalked the lower decks, knowing she wouldn't be there, but checking nonetheless. He checked the engine and navigation rooms knowing she wouldn't be in either place. Too much risk of discovery. He wanted to be thorough so he could learn her method. And he was learning. Slower than he would have liked, but with enough time that he would get to spend eight and a half days punishing her for their wasted time. After that, he would find a way to get her back to Russia where he would spend a lifetime learning her as her husband. He was never letting her go.

Now the hunter knew where to find his woman. Laney would go high. She did not like to be trapped. On a place like this she would want to be free like a bird.