He couldn’t hide his hunger as his gaze touched every inch of skin the small dress left exposed. No more than I could hide the way my nipples tightened painfully and pressed against the material. His nostrils flared again as he watched my reaction.

“N-not exactly.” I stumbled over my words once more, not sure how he would react to knowing that Garik had purchased my outfit for the night.

“My mother, then.” But he already knew that answer. Anya wouldn’t ever have bought me a dress her son would be upset over. She’d done it once, on one of our supposed shopping trips to Paris when I was fifteen. The dress had ended up in tatters after Ryan had gotten scissor-happy on the poor, beautiful garment.

“No.”

“It’s a beautiful dress, yes?” Garik spoke in Russian, probably thinking that Ryan wouldn’t understand, as he draped his arm around my shoulders. “I knew as soon as I saw it that it was made for her.”

The air around us turned so cold, goose bumps lifted on my skin. Ryan’s head slowly tilted to the right as he took in the fingers, the hand, the arm that was touching me. All the way up to Garik’s shoulder and then to his huge, shit-eating grin. There was no way the rocker didn’t know that a predator had him in its sights, and that only made his grin widen.

“He bought you this dress?” Ryan gritted out. The question was directed at me, but he didn’t shift his gaze from Garik.

“I didn’t pack anything to go clubbing in,” I said with a shrug. “Garik was kind enough to—”

“Stop saying his fucking name.” His tone was lethal as he unbuttoned his coat and pulled it off, then wrapped it around my shoulders. But it hung off me, the bottom hitting the floor and making me look like a little girl playing dress-up. His movements were jerky as he buttoned the coat up to my neck and then scooped me into his arms.

“Ryan!”

“Do not speak, my heart,” he spoke into my ear. “I am holding on by a thread.”

“But—”

“Nova.” His lips touched my neck right below my ear, and I had to bite back a moan. “You are lucky I didn’t put a bullet in your friend’s head. Keep talking, and I will go back and do so right now.”

I pursed my lips, knowing this was not the time to press the issue. I’d only seen Ryan this angry once before, and even then, it hadn’t been to this extent. I didn’t know what he was capable of when he was like this, and I didn’t want to test his limits.

As we descended the stairs to the first floor, I realized Pietro was right beside us, blocking anyone from taking our picture as we left through the back exit. As soon as we were outside, the guard opened the door to Ryan’s SUV, and I was practically tossed inside before Ryan followed after me.