A Shade of Kiev 3 Read online

  A Shade of Kiev 3

  Bella Forrest

  Contents

  Also by Bella Forrest

  Copyright

  1. Chapter 1: Mona

  2. Chapter 2: Kiev

  3. Chapter 3: Mona

  4. Chapter 4: Kiev

  5. Chapter 5: Mona

  6. Chapter 6: Kiev

  7. Chapter 7: Mona

  8. Chapter 8: Kiev

  9. Chapter 9: Mona

  10. Chapter 10: Kiev

  11. Chapter 11: Mona

  12. Chapter 12: Mona

  13. Chapter 13: Mona

  14. Chapter 14: Mona

  15. Chapter 15: Mona

  16. Chapter 16: Mona

  17. Chapter 17: Mona

  18. Chapter 18: Kiev

  19. Chapter 19: Mona

  20. Chapter 20: Kiev

  21. Chapter 21: Mona

  22. Chapter 22: Kiev

  23. Chapter 23: Mona

  24. Chapter 24: Kiev

  25. Chapter 25: Mona

  26. Chapter 26: Kiev

  27. Chapter 27: Mona

  28. Chapter 28: Kiev

  29. Chapter 29: Mona

  30. Chapter 30: Kiev

  31. Chapter 31: Mona

  32. Chapter 32: Kiev

  33. Chapter 33: Mona

  34. Chapter 34: Kiev

  35. Chapter 35: Mona

  36. Chapter 36: Kiev

  37. Chapter 37: Kiev

  38. Epilogue: Mona

  Other Books by Bella Forrest

  Also by Bella Forrest

  A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES

  A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)

  A Shade of Blood (Book 2)

  A Castle of Sand (Book 3)

  A Shadow of Light (Book 4)

  A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)

  A Gate of Night (Book 6)

  A Break of Day (Book 7)

  A Shade of Novak (Book 8)

  A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY

  A Shade of Kiev 1

  A Shade of Kiev 2

  A Shade of Kiev 3

  BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY

  Beautiful Monster 1

  Beautiful Monster 2

  For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net

  Also, sign up to her New Release email list and you’ll automatically get notified as soon as her next book is available: www.forrestbooks.com

  Copyright © 2015 by Bella Forrest

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Chapter 1: Mona

  Kiev’s lips touched the back of my neck as I lay against him, his steady breathing chilling my skin.

  We didn’t exchange a word for hours. Now that the heat of the moment had passed, the weight of what we had just done was beginning to settle upon me.

  I wondered what he was thinking.

  I swallowed back the lump in my throat and ran my fingers along his arm, which rested around my waist.

  “Thank you, Kiev,” I whispered.

  He exhaled and withdrew his arm. I turned around to see him roll onto his back and fix his eyes on the ceiling.

  “What?” I leant my chin on his bare shoulder, gazing up at him.

  “I’m not sure that you should be thanking me.”

  I sat up and leaned my back against the wall, drawing my knees up against my chest. I felt suddenly too bare before him and covered myself with a sheet.

  I understood his response. I was fully aware of the gravity of our situation. And yet I couldn’t help but feel thankful to him for this glass of water in the desert. Even if it only made me thirstier.

  He stood up and wrapped a towel around his waist. He headed out to the balcony, placing both hands on the banister. Bunching the sheet around me, I followed him.

  I placed a hand over his cold one. Finally, he looked me in the eye.

  “I feel thankful all the same.”

  “Even though I didn’t do any of this for you?”

  I took a step backward, trying to read his serious expression.

  “What do you mean?”

  He turned his back on me and reached up to the top of the doorframe. His muscular back arched as he leaned against it.

  “I did this for myself,” he said. “I didn’t give a second’s thought to how this might impact you. So don’t thank me.”

  The words he had spoken before we’d made love echoed around in my head.

  “I’m not here to comfort you… All I know is that I needed to see you again.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling goosebumps on my skin as a chilly breeze blew across the lake.

  “What are you trying to say?”

  He whirled around, his green eyes settling on me.

  “Could I make myself any clearer?” he snapped. “I’m not looking out for your best interests. So don’t thank me. It’s absurd.”

  I was trying to wrap my head around what he was saying. Why he was saying it.

  “So you’d prefer me to be angry and call you a selfish bastard.”

  His tone was beginning to grate on my nerves.

  “That would be more appropriate and certainly less delusional.”

  We both stood still, glaring at each other.

  Then something sparked in his eyes. His breath hitched. He closed the distance between us, wrapping one arm around my waist while the other hand reached into my hair. As he pulled my head back, his lips began kneading harshly against mine.

  My own passions took over despite myself. I let go of the sheet covering me and wrapped both arms around his neck, pulling myself up against him and locking my legs around him as I responded to his kiss.

  We were both breathing heavily again as our lips broke apart minutes later.

  “What are we?” I whispered.

  He lowered me back down to the ground.

  “I don’t know.”

  I stared at him for several moments longer, but unsure what to say, I walked back into the cabin. I found a dress in my old cupboard and slipped it over my head. Kiev picked up his own torn clothes from the floor and put them on.

  I walked up to him and placed my hand in his, tugging at him to follow me outside again.

  He didn’t ask where I was leading him as I walked to the edge of the balcony. Gripping his hand more tightly, I vanished us both back to the mainland.

  We still had time before we had to return to The Shade, and I just wanted to walk with him. That little cabin had suddenly felt too small and claustrophobic for the two of us.

  I didn’t know where I was going to take him. But walking, rather than standing still, felt like what I needed to be doing. It distracted me from the pain that was beginning to eat away at me as each second of our short time together ebbed away.

  As we neared the entrance of what used to be the vampires’ tunnels, before Kiev’s siblings made Matteo and his crew evacuate, Kiev darted off into the forest.

  What in the world…

  Someone screamed.

  My mouth dropped open and all the blood drained from my face as Kiev emerged from the woods, gripping a young woman by the neck.

  “Celice!” I gasped.

  My stomach jumped to my throat as I stared at her sweaty face.

  As Kiev dragged her closer, he grunted and let go of her as if he’d just been burned.

  Celice stood up straight, a look of triumph on her face.

  Kiev launched at her again, but she raised her hands and put up a forcefield around her. He couldn’t come within a few feet of her.

  “
You,” she said gleefully to me, “are in some serious trouble for stealing this vampire from me. He was supposed to be mine. Not yours. You already have Rhys. He’s not going to be too pleased when I return and tell him all about—”

  The curse escaped my lips before I could stop it. A bolt of fire shot from my palms, breaking through the young witch’s forcefield and hitting her square in the chest. She crashed back against a tree. Sliding down its trunk, her body was limp as she hit the ground.

  My limbs trembled as I stared in disbelief.

  What have I done?

  I staggered toward her, gripping her head in my hands. Her eyes were open, staring blankly ahead. I laid her down on the forest ground and placed my ear against her chest.

  Not even the slightest hint of a heartbeat.

  Kiev approached beside me. He looked almost as shocked as I felt.

  And then he voiced what I was hoping wasn’t true.

  “She’s dead.”

  Chapter 2: Kiev

  I stared at the corpse. It had all happened so fast. The snapping of twigs, the dark brown curls above a bush, a sharp intake of breath…

  I should have suspected Celice when I heard that sound on the balcony back in the castle.

  “I killed her.” Mona’s breathing came in short rasps as she got to her feet and stumbled away from the body. “I d-don’t know what I was thinking.”

  I bent down and scooped up Celice’s body in my arms.

  “What are you doing?” Mona gripped my arm.

  I brushed her away.

  “We shouldn’t leave her body here in the open.”

  I began walking back down to the lake. Mona followed me, still in shock.

  Once I reached the bank, I placed the body down on the ground. Removing my shirt, I ripped off a strip of fabric. I picked up a stone and tied one end of the cotton around it, fastening the other to Celice’s ankle.

  “Y-you’re going to dump her in the lake?” Mona looked at me in horror.

  “Why not? The fish will eat away her flesh soon enough.”

  Picking up both Celice and the rock, I waded into the water. I swam with both until I reached the center where I let go, watching as the brunette’s body disappeared into the lake’s depths.

  I returned to the bank.

  “Dry me,” I said to Mona, who was still staring at the center of the lake where I had dropped the body. I shook her shoulders. “I said dry me.”

  She came to her senses and dried me, although her voice trembled even as she uttered the charm.

  “W-we need to leave here,” she said. She threw one last look at the lake, and then her deep blue eyes settled on me. Before I could respond, she grasped my hands and in a whirl of colors we had disappeared from Matteo’s island.

  A few seconds later, I opened my eyes to find us both standing back on The Shade’s beach, close to the port.

  I looked down at Mona.

  “I need to get back to the castle,” was all she said.

  Taking a step away from me, she vanished.

  I stood still, my eyes fixed on the sand where now only her footprints remained. I decided to wait before returning so that we arrived back at different times.

  I breathed in the sea air, turning to face the waves.

  Mona… I don’t know what I’m doing any more. This was probably a mistake. Soon enough, Mona will be another woman whose downfall I’ll be responsible for.

  Yet I still wanted to see her.

  I thought of Rhys and wondered how much longer it would be before he returned with more humans. I guessed that he probably wouldn’t be back for at least another half day.

  We’d returned early, Mona and I. Thanks to that little wench.

  I still felt surprised by the force of Mona’s spell. I’d been so used to thinking of Mona as helpless—no different really than a human. Seeing her display such prowess was strange. But something about it brought me comfort—it made her seem less fragile, less breakable. Unlike all the previous women in my life.

  As I continued walking along the beach, I wondered if Celice could have already told Rhys and her sisters about us. Somehow, I doubted it. If Rhys knew, Mona would have known about it. On that front at least, we were safe.

  Then there was the issue of the human disappearances. The only way Rhys would suspect me was if Tiarni mentioned we’d both been on the island together. But I doubted that would happen—since I’d gotten Tiarni so drunk that night, she couldn’t be sure that she hadn’t left the cell doors open by accident.

  Even if Tiarni was lucid enough to realize that I had done it—especially since it had happened both in The Shade and their island in quick succession—it would still be my word against hers because she had no evidence. That could of course lead both of us into an awkward situation with Rhys. He didn’t strike me as the most charitable of sorts.

  I’ll just have to deal with it when it happens. What’s done is done.

  All this trouble for that witch. And why? I still didn’t even understand myself.

  I still didn’t understand what drew me to her. Why I wanted her so. Why I was willing to risk so much just to see her.

  After half an hour, I left the beach and walked back though the woods to the castle.

  I headed straight to my quarters. Thankfully nobody saw me on my way up, for I was wearing no shirt and my pants were torn.

  I locked the door and went into the bathroom to take a shower, careful to inspect my body and clothes for Mona’s long blonde hairs. I threw away my old clothes and put on fresh ones. Then I lay down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

  I had touched another corpse today.

  Only this time, I had not claimed the life myself.

  I wondered if this day was the first time Mona had killed. Although she’d appeared to feel guilty afterward, she certainly hadn’t seemed to have any qualms while she was doing it.

  Killing seemed second nature to her.

  Chapter 3: Mona

  As soon as I arrived back in Rhys’ apartment, I rushed to take a shower. I soaped myself from top to bottom and washed my hair to rid myself of Kiev’s scent. I changed into a clean dress and vanished my old clothes.

  I was still in a state of shock as I paced up and down the apartment, trying to wrap my mind around what had just transpired.

  I couldn’t believe that Celice was dead. But most of all, I couldn’t understand how I could have killed her. Rhys had taught me fatal curses in the past, but that was a long time ago. What disturbed me was how instinctively that curse had come to my lips. I’d thought that I’d forgotten how to even perform such powerful magic, yet it had come to me without even having to think.

  I just murdered Rhys’ sister. His youngest sister. Rhys always had been most affectionate with and protective of his youngest sister.

  Still shaking, I got into bed and pulled the covers over me. I closed my eyes, trying to steady my mind. Trying to numb the guilt that was tearing at my chest.

  The door clicked open at some point past midnight.

  Rhys entered. He whipped off his cloak and swung it over a chair. His dark eyes roamed me as I lay in bed.

  “H-how did it go?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from breaking.

  “A disaster.” He scowled.

  I sat up, trying to assume a look of concern.

  “Why were you gone so long? What happened?”

  He sat down on the bed and removed his heavy boots. Leaning back against the headboard, he stretched out his legs on the mattress.

  “The humans were gone from our island too. The dungeon’s door had been left open. Some of the old boats were gone.”

  I clasped a hand to my mouth and gasped.

  “But how?”

  “We don’t know. But it’s clear now that we have a rat among us.”

  He stripped to his underwear and slipped between the covers, lying next to me. He didn’t stop eyeing me as he rested his head on the pillow. He reached out and gripped the back of my head, pul
ling me closer against him.

  “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this?” His voice was soft but deadly.

  My heart beat faster.

  “How would I?”

  Silence.

  I sat up and stared down at him, doing my best to act indignant.

  “How could you think I could have done this?”

  “You’ve been acting strangely ever since we arrived on this island.”

  I shook my head.

  “I had nothing to do with this. I promise you.”

  He continued staring at me.

  Finally, he reached for me and pulled me against him.

  Desperate to change the subject, I asked, “So you had to get a new batch of humans?”

  “Hm.”

  Although I was still curious, I didn’t dare ask where he got them from. It didn’t matter at that point.

  “I need to rest now,” he said, rolling over onto his side. “It’s been a long day. And tomorrow may be even longer. I’m going to smoke out this rat.”

  He reached out to the bedside table and switched off the light.

  I lay trapped in his arms as I listened to him drift off.

  Smoke out the rat.

  What’s he going to do?

  I realized how flimsy Kiev’s cover was. If anyone found out that he had gone with Tiarni to the island—and I was sure Rhys would sooner or later—Tiarni could reveal what happened. And even if she didn’t, Kiev would be under suspicion. That was something I couldn’t allow, especially now that Celice had also mysteriously disappeared.

  “Oh, by the way,” Rhys said. “Have you seen Celice recently? Julisse and Arielle said they’ve been looking everywhere for her.”

  “No,” I said. “I can’t imagine where she’s got to.”

  Chapter 4: Kiev

  I was woken by a knock on my front door.

  Groaning, I staggered out of bed. I wrapped a robe around me and opened the door.

  My brother stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Erik?”

  His mouth hung open as soon as he saw me.