rubble and into the well-lit arena, keeping my grip tight on the machine gun that was strapped across my body. My ears filled with the sounds of screaming, crying, people fighting. Smoke curled into the air, hindering my ability to see properly, and small blazes of fire burned bright around me, courtesy of the explosive we’d just let off. A blaring alarm rang out into the night.
I fired my gun, the recoil hammering into my shoulder. Thump, thump, thump. I didn’t differentiate my targets. I didn’t hold back, didn’t hesitate. Anybody who wasn’t a Volkov or part of our raiding party was free fucking game. Including the people buried beneath mountains of stone, crying out for help. The people who’d been sitting in the stands, cheering for the death of my Nikolai when we’d blown up the side of the Arena.
It had been a mission and a half to get there in time, and even then, we almost didn’t make it. Luckily for us, the majority of Talon’s army had been called to the Arena, so not only were we able to sneak onto the island relatively undetected, but with all the noise and bluster of what was going on, it was like a shining beacon in the night sky, telling us exactly where we needed to go.
We all split off into our pre-arranged groups. Drea and her brother with the Bratva and the cartel soldiers, and Arturo, Vincenzo and I with the La Cosa Nostra ones.
Each of us had a job to do. Drea and Juan were responsible for finding Aleksandr and Lukyan. Arturo was on Illayana. I was on Nikolai. Mikhail was on Dimitri. There was no set plan exactly. Just get in, find them and get out.
I couldn’t stop to think about what condition Nikolai might be in. Every time I did, it would almost cripple me. I had to believe he was okay. Anything else was unacceptable. If he was hurt…if he was dead, I’d kill them all. Every. Last. One of them.
I stuck by Arturo’s side as we forced our way through the hole we’d blown into the side of the building, being careful where I placed my booted feet so I didn’t roll an ankle. The bulletproof vest strapped to my chest offered little comfort against the danger we were walking into. I had as many weapons as I could carry secured to my body without them becoming a hindrance. Hip, waist, ankle, thigh. A mixture of daggers and guns.
Dead bodies littered the ground. Far too many to count, most of them in pieces. Blood seeped deep into the sand. The air reeked of burnt corpses and rotting flesh. Of death and destruction.
Arturo and I spotted Illayana at the same time, crouched over the body of one of Talon’s soldiers, repeatedly smashing a rock into his face. My best friend had undoubtedly seen better days. She was covered head to toe in dirt and blood. Some of it others’. Some of it definitely hers. Her clothes were torn, her hair a frizzled mess.
Aleksandr was fighting around her, snapping necks and breaking bones, but I couldn’t see any of the other Volkovs. I couldn’t see Nikolai.
The panic inside me grew. Where is he?
The sight of Illayana made Arturo growl and he took off, charging towards her. He blew away anyone who came into his path, offering no mercy, no hesitation. Vincenzo and I struggled to keep up with him. He dropped to one knee at her side, his machine gun up and firing a stream of bullets as his soldiers surrounded us in a protective circle, keeping Talon’s men from getting any closer.
Illayana looked up, surprise flashing in her eyes. “Arturo,” she breathed. Her gaze darted to me and did a double take. “Tatiana, what are you—how did you find us?”
“Later,” Arturo snapped. He quickly unsnapped the bulletproof vest from around his body and then shoved it over her head, forcing it on her. Illayana didn’t fight. Whether that was because she didn’t want to waste the time or she just didn’t have any energy left, I wasn’t sure. She looked like she’d been to hell and back.
Aleksandr’s chest heaved up and down as he took a second to catch his breath, the surprise in his eyes mirroring Illayana’s. He was covered in blood, cuts and bruises dotting his skin. Exhaustion lined his face but he didn’t let it affect him, keeping his stance powerful and body ready for action.
I reached back and pulled a gun out from behind my back, offering it to him. He nodded in thanks, took the weapon, checked it over and then held it up, keeping watch over the area.
“Can you walk?” Arturo asked, helping Illayana stand.
“I’m fine.” Though she stumbled when she finally got to her feet. His arms instantly wrapped around her waist, holding her up.
“Illayana, where’s Nikolai?”
“Nik?” she looked around, still slightly dazed. There was blood running down the side of her face from a nasty cut. She pointed across the Arena, all the way to the other side. “The last time I saw him he was over there somewhere.”
I cursed. Between our position and there, it was like a goddamn battlefield. Bodies everywhere. Some alive and fighting for their lives, others lying motionless on the ground.
“Give me a gun,” Illayana demanded, pushing out of Arturo’s arms to stand without his help.
Arturo shook his head. “No, you’re hurt. I’m getting you out of here.”
“I’m not leaving without my family!” she hissed. “Now give me a fucking weapon.”
Arturo growled before handing her his machine gun. She checked it over quickly, like Aleksandr had done, before holding it up.
“Is that Drea?” Aleksandr stared out across the field, eyes narrowed in concentration.
“Yes. Her and her brother—” and he was gone, pushing his way out of the protective circle of Arturo’s men and running after her, not even letting me finish the sentence. Whatever.
“I need to find my father.” Illayana looked around frantically, searching. It was hard to see anything in the place with the smoke and all the people moving around, some fighting, some running away.
I didn’t give a shit about Dimitri, as bad as that sounded. There was only one person I wanted to find. “You find your father. I’ll find Nikolai.”
“We shouldn’t separate,” Arturo chimed in. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Tell someone who cares. I’m going.” I stepped away and he yelled out.
“Wait! Vin, go with her.” His younger brother nodded and moved up to my side, gun ready. There was none of that playful banter he was very well known for. Just pure focus and determination.
Illayana’s arms wrapped around me in a tight hug. “Be safe.”
I quickly returned the hug. “You too.”
Arturo’s men dissipated, following him and Illayana as they went a different way. I ran in the direction Illayana had indicated, Vincenzo jogging at my side. A man came at me from my right. I fired, never slowing down. Another from the left. Vincenzo took him out. A knife came soaring towards me. I ducked, plucked a dagger from my thigh, threw it and kept running. Four soldiers stepped into our path, far too close for me to try and get a shot off, and attacked. Two on Vincenzo and two on me.
Duck, swerve, twist; I avoided their strikes, my movements quick and fluid. I pulled out another dagger and slashed upwards in a powerful arc. One of the men screamed, stumbling back. I blocked a strike from the other soldier and stabbed him twice in quick succession, one blow to the rib, another blow to the side of the neck. He crumbled.
I kept running.
Nikolai, where are you?
Vincenzo caught up quickly, coming back to jog at my side. After all of it was over, I’d probably feel bad for not sticking with him, but in the moment I didn’t care. I needed to find Nikolai. He was there, somewhere in the chaos—
“Watch out!” Vincenzo dived, tackling me out of the path of an axe flying through the air. I grunted on impact. Soldiers swarmed us, yanking Vincenzo to his feet and punching him.
A boot came flying towards my face and I only just managed to roll out of the way before he literally stomped me to death. He was on me quickly, pinning me to the ground with his hands wrapped around my throat.
I gasped, struggling to breathe as I thrashed wildly. You stupid piece of—
I frantically ran a hand down my body until my fingers curled around the handle of a gun.
Bang!
He slumped against me and I shoved him off, straddling him. I stuffed the gun I’d just used to shoot him in the stomach into his mouth. His eyes widened. Good. He is still alive. I emptied the clip. Blood splashed me in the face, along with what I think was part of his tongue (I wasn’t sure).
I wiped my face with the back of my hand and ran to help Vincenzo. The dude did just save my life. I couldn’t just go running off again.
Having no qualms about shooting someone in the back, I fired my gun at the man crouched over Vincenzo and shot the other two standing over him. Not wanting to waste any more time, I rushed over and pulled Vincenzo to his feet.
“You good?”
He groaned, holding his side, but nodded. “Good. Go.”
We took off again, a little slower this time thanks to the injuries we’d sustained along the way, but still, fast enough.
“Where is he?!” I almost sobbed when we still hadn’t found him. The panic inside me increased every second we went without finding him, almost suffocating me. I started to lose hope, my will to live going right along with it.
“Is that him there?” Vincenzo pointed to the right and I almost broke my neck snapping my head in that direction.
Relief nearly had me dropping to my knees, my legs buckling.
There he was.
My Nikolai.
I always loved watching him fight. There was something truly hypnotic about the way he moved. The way he swung his arms. The long stretch of his legs as he delivered powerful kicks. The brutality with which he took his enemies lives. It was like nothing could stop him, like he was death reincarnated.
Given the amount of bodies lying on the ground all around him, the analogy fit quite well, and I’d pat myself on the back for that later.
He was a small distance away, surrounded on all sides by soldiers with a wall at his back. I took off at full speed, focusing on nothing but him. Getting to him. I ducked and swerved around other people, ignoring everything and everyone else. I let loose a stream of bullets in his direction, being careful not to hit him, then I unstrapped the machine gun from my shoulder and dropped it so I could run faster, the weight of it doing nothing but holding me back.
He was up against the wall, a knife inching closer and closer to his throat as he struggled to hold it back. One last burst of speed brought me right to him and I rammed into the soldier in a brutal tackle, sending us flying into the air and landing in a heap on the ground.
The soldier was taken completely by surprise, allowing me to get the upper hand quickly. We rolled in the sand and I pushed for the dominant position, ending up on top. I plucked a dagger from my waist and thrust it up under his chin, the blade slipping through his skin like butter. His lips opened on a silent scream and I glimpsed the knife inside his mouth. I ripped it out and plunged it deep into his eye before rolling off him and jumping to my feet.
Strong arms locked around my neck and lifted me off the ground, squeezing tight.
Fuck!
I kicked out, thrashing wildly, but whoever had me wasn’t letting go. They squeezed harder and I gasped, scratching frantically at the arm crushing my throat, running out of air quickly.
The body behind me suddenly stiffened, going completely still.
“Let her go.” That voice…I’d recognise that voice anywhere. It was laced with darkness, rage, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was Nikolai.
“Drop the knife or I’ll snap her neck,” my attacker warned.
“Motherfucker, you think I’m playing?” I was jostled forward slightly when Nikolai grabbed a fistful of my attacker’s hair. “I will fuck you bloody with this knife if you don’t let her go. Right. Fucking. Now!”
That threat scared my attacker enough for him to drop me instantly, his hands flying up in surrender. I landed roughly on my hands and knees, breathing hard. I looked over my shoulder just in time to see Nikolai sink the knife deep into the man’s neck, right down to the hilt. He literally threw him to the side and then his arms were around me, holding me tight.
“Love, what are you doing here?” he breathed into my hair, his whole body shaking.
I hugged him back, squeezing so tightly that it made him groan in pain. “What a stupid fucking question to ask.” I half-laughed, half-cried. All the fear and anxiety I’d been holding in since the moment I found out he was taken came bursting out of me and I sobbed, clutching him to me like he was going to disappear again.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he chastised, kissing the side of my neck, my jaw, my cheek.
“‘Thank you, Tatiana, for coming to save me’ is what I believe you meant.”
He chuckled softly, grabbing the sides of my face with both hands. He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and just stared at me, those mesmerising blue eyes holding all of my attention. He kissed me softly, full of love and tenderness that made my whole body melt into him.
“Excuse me?!” Both of us snapped our gazes to Vincenzo, who just yanked out his blade from a soldier’s stomach and then kicked him away. “Kiss later, fight now!” He ducked under one strike, slashed upwards, ducked under another and spun, delivering a powerful roundhouse kick into a soldier’s jaw.
Right.
Nikolai and I jumped up, leaping back into the fight.
“Have you seen my family?” he asked, defending and attacking, defending and attacking.
“Illayana and Aleksandr, yes. Duck.” He dropped and I swung a kick over his head, smashing my foot into the side of a man’s face. “Lukyan and your father, no.” We kept close together, inching our way back across the field towards the hole we’d blown into the Arena. It’s not like it was easy to miss.
Mikhail’s voice blared through my earpiece. “Dimitri secured.”
Arturo’s voice came next. “Illayana secured.”
“Aleksandr and Lukyan secured,” Drea said last.
Vincenzo touched his earpiece. “Nikolai secured. Making our way out now.”
“Rendezvous at the submarine,” Arturo ordered. A chorus of “Yes’’ followed.
I looked at Nikolai. “Your family is safe.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, they—” my eyes widened as I glimpsed a figure appear behind Nikolai, a gun pointed right at his back. I didn’t stop to think, didn’t hesitate. I pushed him out of the way and—
Bang!
White-hot pain exploded across my chest. My body was propelled backwards by the force of the gunshot and I landed hard on the ground, screaming out in agony.
The pain. Fuck, the pain!
I’d never been shot before and, if that is how it felt, I never wanted to be again. Jesus.
Nikolai’s face appeared above me, eyes glistening with tears. “Fuck, Tati. You’re okay. Why the fuck did you do that?! You’re okay. It’s alright.” He frantically pried open my bulletproof vest and literally sagged on top of me. “You’re okay. The bullet didn’t penetrate the vest. You’re okay. Oh fuck, you’re okay.”
“That’s good.” Whoa, was it just me or did that come out kind of sluggish?
His head snapped up and he looked at me with concern as he cradled my face. “Hey, what—” his eyes widened with fear when he looked at his hand. It was covered in blood. He lifted my head slowly and I winced. He pulled out a rock from behind me.
Did I land on that?
“Fuck.” He threw it to the side. “Get me some fucking help!” he roared to Vincenzo.
“I’m feeling a little…woozy.” Darkness crept into the corners of my vision. My head lolled to the side and Nikolai gripped my face tight.
“No. Hey! No. Stay awake, you hear me? You’ll be fine. Just stay awake.”
Dizziness washed over me. My eyes suddenly felt heavy, so fucking heavy. There was a dull pain throbbing from my skull. Something wet slicked down the back of my neck.
“Tati! Hey!”
The darkness around the edges of my vision increased, spreading out, swallowing more of my sight.
Oh, boy. This can’t be good.
Nikolai started screaming, but I couldn’t hear him. Why couldn’t I hear him? I felt so weak, I couldn’t even lift my arms. I wanted to touch his face. He had such a handsome face. Beautiful. Utterly beautiful.
Nauseousness rolled through me, mixing with the dizziness. The last thing I saw was Nikolai crying before the darkness took over completely.
