I blinked at JJ owlishly. Did he know Andrey already? What were the chances? There was certainly a spark of recognition in Andrey’s eyes, too. But again, what were the chances? I felt like I was missing something.

Like, for example, that Andrey wasn’t who he seemed to be. Just like me… But still! All that time, and this is how I learn about it? Though, what could’ve expected? Bitter resentment filled me.

Suddenly, Andrey stepped towards JJ, blocking my view of him with his wide shoulders. “Don’t come closer, bloodsucker,” he growled. “If you touch even a hair on Diana’s head…”

The protective gesture would’ve felt better if Andrey wasn’t the one causing the troubles in the first place! As it is, I felt a burning desire to kick him in the shin for his hypocrisy. The only thing stopping me was ‘no fighting in the store’ rule.

JJ’s rich laughter reverberated through the store. The sound caressed my ears, and in another time I would’ve revelled in it, but right now I was more concerned with the growing puzzlement on Kirill’s face.

I reached towards him, planning to push the man outside if necessary, but JJ beat me to it. He clicked his tongue and said, “Kirill, please, leave us alone for now. I will deal with the matters from there. You have nothing to worry about.”

Kirill nodded with a dazed expression of a hypnotised person and walked to the inner part of the house, forgetting even his laptop. All the better—now that vulnerable people were out of the store, that only left fragile antiquities… and me.

But I was (mostly) sure that Andrey won’t hurt me, and I was absolutely sure that JJ won’t. With his protection at my side, I felt self-assurance filling my chest.

I made a step from behind Andrey’s back, but he caught me by my arm before I could move farther away. “Stay behind me, Diana. I don’t know what lies he had told you, but this man is dangerous,” Andrey said, his voice low.

I hissed at him and the electric heat coming from Andrey’s skin as I tried to shake his hand away. Good thing I wore a long-sleeved short, but the thin fabric was barely a protection from the magic.

“Let me go! Instead of protecting me, how about explaining what the hell are YOU, Andrey?”

Without his wide shoulders blocking my view, I could finally see the wide, predatory grin on JJ’s face. He looked at Andrey like on a delicious milkshake.

Andrey dropped my hand, and I backed off from him until my back didn’t hit the nightstand I photographed earlier. He looked at me with a determined frown.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“It’s unimportant now, Diana. Now stop acting stupidly.”

He moved towards me, but before he could make a step, JJ stood between us, his movements so swift that they were a blur to me. Andrey froze, his upper lip curling in a snarl. Ignoring him, JJ turned his head to me. His eyes were somewhere between green and red now.

“So, ma chèrie,” he said, the nickname causing Andrey to growl again. “Let me guess… A rebuked admirer? These can prove very troublesome indeed.” For a moment, a grim shadow overturned JJ’s predatory grin, disappearing so quickly I barely had time to notice.

“Basically, yeah. Do you know him, JJ?”

“Don’t listen to this monster, Diana! I will explain everything to you, I swear, after we leave here.”

Andrey made a forceful movement towards me again. I jerked away from his grabbing hands, but they didn’t reach me. When I looked up again, JJ was holding the sides of Andrey’s head, forcing him to look into his enchanting eyes.

I watched how muscle by muscle Andrey’s body relaxed. Finally, he fell onto his knees with a loud thud, and JJ stepped away, leaving Andrey to stare vacantly into space.

“This will give us some time to talk without his growling.” JJ brushed his hands from invisible dust. “To answer your question, ma chèrie, I don’t know your misguided protector, but I know his kind like he, as you can guess, knows mine.”

JJ leaned closer to Andrey and licked his lips—a slow, salacious motion that made a part of me wish JJ looked at me when he did this, and converted another one into a fan of BL genre. “Now, ma chèrie, will you be offended if I drink my fill from him?”

I swallowed, fighting to keep my mind out of the gutter, but it was impossible to achieve. Not when I had two hot guys in front of me instead of just one, and not when my brain threw me vivid fantasies of JJ sucking on Andrey’s neck as his face slacked in ecstasy.

“Hmm, should I consider your expression an agreement?” JJ asked me with a teasing lilt to his voice. His cat—or snake—eyes were almost entirely red now.

I shook my head with vigour, both in refusal and to clear my mind. “Well, most of all, I don’t want to see Andrey anywhere near this store anymore.” I looked at the kneeling man.

Under the sway of JJ’s hypnosis, Andrey lost the layer of broodiness. Seeing him without it was a little disturbing. Instead, my eyes gravitated towards JJ. He was a dangerous sight to behold, but one that brought joy to my eyes.

I couldn’t help but compare the two of them again. Even without the tightness to his muscles, Andrey’s face was fit for a model. He had cheeks sharp enough to cut, a perfectly straight nose with arched wings and a delicate line of upper lip, now that it wasn’t pursed or curled.

Compared to JJ’s face, it all seemed somehow pointless. Shallow. JJ’s cheeks were sharp, but not just quite enough; his nose was straight and pointy, but was a little too small, as if fit for a woman’s face; his lips were thin and wide, but had a softer curve to them.

Right now, though, there were curved into a devastating smile that was a great visual demonstration of how personality mattered more than looks.

As relaxed as JJ appeared when he wanted it—like now—his presence filled the room just as well as Andrey’s did. His inner radiance, or maybe the bright cherry-blond of his hair, made the entire store feel brighter. On the contrary, Andrey only ever made things feel darker.

But under that, both of them had the same edge of power and violence. JJ might have had velvet paws, but they hid very sharp claws. As for Andrey, he never hid the fact that he believed in the idea of physical dominance.

“So,” I lifted my eyes at JJ, who watched me patiently, “can you hypnotise Andrey into it? And will you tell me what the hell he is?”