He lifts a shoulder as if there isn’t anything to be thankful for. But for me, there is. Plenty.
“When can we leave this place?” I ask.
“Not in the near future.” He points a thumb behind him. “There’s a snowstorm that will last for a few days. It’s dangerous to even go into town in this weather.”
“How about the base? Have you been able to get in touch?”
“Negative. There’s no reception due to the storm. Until we find an opportunity to leave, the couple outside needs to believe our husband and wife story. They don’t trust soldiers around here, and Nadia already asked me why we don’t have rings.”
“What did you tell her?”
“We were robbed, and then when we struggled and ran away, we were shot at. Thankfully, we got far enough to escape capture.”
“They must’ve picked up that we don’t have a rural accent. Did they ask you why we were so far out from the city?”
He raises a brow. “They did. I told them we were lovers of nature and were celebrating our second anniversary.”
I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks.
“That’s good acting.” He motions at my face. “Looking horrified when I gave you a pet name wasn’t.”
Shit.
“It’s just that… I’m not used to that.”
He walks toward me, his purposeful strides eating the distance in no time. When he stops in front of me, I cease breathing, utterly taken aback by how close he is.
Kirill lifts my chin with his forefinger and says in a low tone, “Then get used to it, Solnyshko.”
11
KIRILL
There’s nothing more irritating than being stuck.
My annoyance level has been building in the background despite my futile attempts to remain fucking calm.
Ever since we arrived at the old couple’s house yesterday, I’ve been trying, and failing, to reach Viktor. To avoid suspicion, I had to call him from the village’s public phone, thinking maybe he had gotten back to base, but there was no reply.
He and I found out about this village during our initial scouting of the area prior to the mission. I told him that if things went south, this place would be our emergency hideout.
The fact that he hasn’t come here yet is unlike him. Even with the snowstorm.
I have a firm belief that he’s stronger than a boar and would be able to defeat a whole army on his own. But then there’s the pesky reminder that he’s only human.
Not to mention that someone targeted us with the intention of annihilating my men.
No matter which angle I look at the events from, it screams a setup, and I’m ninety percent sure I’ve figured out the reason for it.
That aside, if Viktor were to meet Rulan’s fate—
“Captain.”
I lift my head from the book I’m supposed to be reading but am only seeing a replay of the battlefield on its pages.
Lipovsky—Aleksandra—stares at me from her position on the bed. She’s been uncharacteristically quiet since I grabbed her chin and called her by a pet name a few hours ago.
Her cheeks curiously flushed with a soft pink hue in the span of seconds. A fact that makes me want to repeat the gesture just for the reaction alone.