the field, hand up to shield my eyes from the blinding light bearing down on me. The crowd erupted, screaming, chanting, stomping their feet and clapping their hands.
“Volkov!”
“Volkov!”
“Volkov!”
The atmosphere was electric. The excitement was contagious. Having been on the other side, exactly where they were, it made being all the way down there slightly disorienting.
You could barely see a thing up there in the stands. The spotlights placed around the Arena made it almost impossible. The only thing I could make out was the outlines of the box seats all the way at the top, but they were way too far away to see who was inside them.
Lukyan and Illayana turned slowly in a circle, mouths open slightly as they took in the Arena. The field had been condensed into one terrain instead of being broken off into several.
Sand. They’d chosen sand. I wasn’t happy about that. Sand was harder to fight on.
Talon appeared on the jumbotron dangling above our heads. He had a smile on his face but his eyes burned with anger. I suspected it was from how loud the crowd was cheering for us, chanting our name.
Well, if it isn’t the consequences of your own actions.
“Wow! Aren’t we excited?!” He had no microphone, but his voice rang out into the air.
The crowd cheered again, louder this time.
“I present to you, the Volkovs, the most lethal and dangerous family in all of the mafia.” He emphasised the ‘I’ in that statement, trying to make it clear that he was the one responsible for capturing us. A feat not easily accomplished. “You’ve all heard of the Bratva Butcher. Allow me to introduce you to his children. All cut from the same cloth as their murderous father. All born and raised to be ruthless, violent killers. And all brought here to you by me, to fight for their lives in what promises to be the show of a lifetime!”
Roaring cheers erupted from all around us. Talon was really laying it on thick.
Lukyan raised his hand and waved to the crowd, like he was some kind of music superstar and everyone had come here to watch him sing, not be bludgeoned to death. Aleksandr slapped him upside the head, and Lukyan winced, rubbing the back of his skull.
“Now, I’m sure you’re all dying to know what we have planned for the family tonight,” Talon smiled evilly. “As these are not ordinary people, I thought something special was in order, something different. Something to even the odds a little bit and ensure there is a good, brutal fight for you all to see. So, tonight, it will be a fight to the death between the Volkovs and me. Or, more specifically, all of my men.”
The relief I felt at finding out we weren’t fighting each other was short lived as the Arena flooded with soldiers, coming in from all different directions to surround us.
Five soldiers. Ten soldiers. Fifteen soldiers. The number just kept climbing.
“Back to back!” Father ordered. We quickly formed a small circle, standing shoulder to shoulder with our fronts facing outward. Father grasped Autumn by the arm and moved her into position beside him when the woman didn’t move.
Twenty. Twenty-five. Thirty.
“Aleksandr, with your sister.” My brother stepped back into the circle and moved to the other side to stand next to Illayana. We all shuffled along so he could fit, keeping the formation tight.
Thirty-five. Forty. Forty-five.
The soldiers just kept on coming, no end in sight. It was a mixture of the A-Team soldiers and the normal guards. Some were dressed in tactical gear. Some had knives. Others had bats. Batons. I think I glimpsed a mace?
My gaze collided with Luke’s. His eyes shone with regret. He didn’t want to be there, that much was obvious. Ryan was at his side, and so was John, whose expression was filled with glee. He smiled at me, flashing his teeth in a feral smile. He pointed at me, then at himself, a silent promise that he was coming for me.
That was fine with me. I had been waiting to kill him since the moment I met him.
“Have I delivered, or have I delivered?!” Talon roared, his arms spread out wide.
The crowd cheered, stomping their feet and clapping their hands.
“Now, as this is a fight with the Volkov Family, it’s only fair that all members of the family participate. And, would you look at that, we have another one right here!” The camera panned out, landing on Dominik.
His eyes widened in shock as he was surrounded by soldiers. “What? What’s going on here?!” They grasped him tightly and, at Talon’s command, escorted him out of the box seat. A few moments later, he was thrown into the sand field with us.
“Father,” I growled, my eyes locked on the backstabbing man that was my uncle as he picked himself up, dusting sand off his clothes. His head darted left to right in distress, looking for a way out.
“Leave him. He’s mine,” Father vowed, darkness and vengeance dripping from his tone.
“Of course, we want to keep it fair, so weapons will be in play,” Talon continued as if nothing had happened. He’d just betrayed the very man responsible for bringing my father—and, by extension, us—to him. The look on Dominik’s face was fucking priceless. “But they’ll have to get to them first.”
The ground shook, and walls of weapons rose from the sand at the edges of the Arena. Knives, swords, spears, shields, axes, katanas. All right there. His army of soldiers stood between us and the weapons, which meant we’d have to go through them to get to them.
Talon didn’t give a shit about fair. If he did, it wouldn’t be fifty versus six. There was no way we were going to win, because he didn’t want us to win. He wanted to humiliate us. To watch us get overrun and slaughtered.
Well, we weren’t going to make it easy for them, that was for damn sure.
The men surrounded us from all sides, forming a big, loose circle. They moved closer and closer as one, slinking forward like a snake. I could see Dominik on the outskirts, running for the wall of weapons.
Talon was still talking but I’d stopped listening. I think all of us did, focusing instead on the army of men that was getting closer and closer.
Father shifted at my side, his eyes never leaving the threat in front of him. “Fight hard. Watch each other’s backs. And remember, I love you all.”
Illayana gasped, her gaze whipping to him in shock. She hadn’t been there when Father pulled each of us aside one by one to say a final goodbye, so it was the first time hearing those words from him. And it had shocked her, like it did all of us.
Aleksandr gripped the top of her head with his whole hand and turned it, forcing her to look forward again. ‘Sosredotoch’tes’!“ Focus! he snapped.
Deep, bassy music began to play. Lukyan jumped up and down on the spot, shaking out his hands. Father cracked his neck and put his fists up. Autumn stretched her arms above her head, twisting her body at the waist left and right.
“If we don’t make it out of this, Your Royal Grouchiness, it has not been nice working with you,” she said to Father, taking a fighting stance.
Father grunted. “Same to you, devil woman.”
Aleksandr whispered to Illayana to stay close to him and she nodded. For once, she wasn’t pulling the whole “I can take care of myself” card, because this was a situation where we all needed to help each other. They each took up position, bodies tight and ready for action.
I took a deep breath, my gaze shifting from one person to the next, assessing. I thought of Tatiana. Of her bewitching hazel eyes and silky golden hair. Of her beautiful smile and her soft, smooth skin. Her face materialised in front of my eyes and I couldn’t help but smile.
Tatiana, I love you.
“Let the games begin!” Talon roared.
Aleksandr rushed forward and front kicked the first soldier within his reach, sending him flying back. A knife came sailing towards him. He blocked, punched the man in the face, took the blade from his hand and tossed it over his shoulder to Illayana. She caught it, flipped it into a better hold and sliced right across a man’s throat.
I ducked and weaved, trying my best to avoid the swing of an axe and fists hurtling towards my face. I twisted out of the axe’s path, grabbed a man by the back of the head and smashed his face into my knee as I drove it upwards. Lukyan’s hollering war cry rang in my ears as he ran past me and literally jumped into a man’s arms, knocking him down.
Swiping up the axe, I gripped it with both hands, lifted it over my head and sent it hurtling at the soldier running towards Lukyan. His whole body went airborne from the force of the axe impaling deep into his chest and he let loose a blood-curdling scream. A scream that made me smile like a feral wolf.
I dodged and punched, kicked and blocked. My body worked on complete autopilot. Muscle memory. Attack, defend. Attack, defend. Don’t stop to think. Just move, move, move.
The adrenaline helped numb the pain of the strikes I couldn’t avoid. Arms and legs swung in every direction. Blades curved through the air. Bones snapped. Noses broke. Necks twisted at ungodly angles. It was complete and utter mayhem. A total free-for-all. You defended yourself and struck back, or you died. There was no sitting this one out.
Lukyan dove forward, rolling along the sand and swiped up a machete. He turned, swinging it in a powerful arc that had the sharp edge lodging deep into the side of a soldier’s neck. Blood sprayed. He ripped it out and struck again. Hacking and hacking and hacking, drenching himself in blood.
A kick to the stomach had me grunting in pain. I managed to grab his foot at the last second, mildly lessening the blow, but it still fucking hurt. I twisted sharply, hearing a resounding crack, and then smashed the side of my fist down onto his shin, snapping the bone. He screamed and went down like a house of cards.
I reared back, narrowly avoiding another strike, ducked under another one from a different soldier and threw out a wicked fast combo: uppercut to the chin, left hook to the face, knee strike to the gut, front kick to the chest, roundhouse kick to the jaw, alternating each blow between the two men. They both crumbled under the onslaught.
A big, heavy body rammed into me, lifting me up in a running tackle. My back slammed into the sand. Pain shot up my spine. The flash of silver caught my eye and I just barely managed to throw my hands up in time to stop the blade from piercing my chest.
It was John. He smirked, slapped his free hand down onto the one curled around the hilt of the knife and pushed forward, throwing his body weight behind it.
I growled, struggling to hold it back. My arms shook, my teeth clenched in exertion.
He laughed, the blade inching closer and closer. “I knew there was something off about you. I just knew it.”
What does he want, a fucking medal or something?
I darted my head left to right, looking for something—anything—to help me get out of the situation. I saw Aleksandr fighting off four men, trying to keep them back from Illayana, who was on the ground nursing what looked like a pretty bad blow to the head. There was blood trailing down the side of her face.
Father and Autumn were trying to get over to them, but for every soldier they killed, another two took their place.
Lukyan was in the same position I was, except instead of trying to stop a knife, he was trying to pry the hands around his throat away. His feet dug into the ground as he bucked his body, gasping, desperate for air.
I took it all in in only a few seconds and a dark cloud of anger took over me, burrowing deep into my soul, into every cell of my being. I couldn’t let him die. I couldn’t. I had to do something.
Not my baby brother.
I snarled, grabbed a fistful of sand and threw it into John’s face. He cursed, the shock providing the perfect distraction for me to knock the knife out of his hands. I heaved with every bit of strength I possessed and we rolled, growling and snarling as we wrestled for the dominant position.
Rage pulsed in my veins and I reared forward and tore out a chunk of his cheek with my teeth. He screamed, the pain overwhelming him enough to allow me to wind up on top. Blood stained his skin. He clutched the side of his face, crying. I spat his flesh into his face, gripped his head and snapped his neck in one quick move.
Scrambling to my feet, I rushed towards Lukyan, trying to dodge the attacks of other soldiers as I ran. Duck, punch. Deflect, kick. Block, elbow strike.
I’m not going to make it in time. I’m not going to make it in time. I’m not—
Bang!
I froze, everybody in the Arena doing the exact same thing, exchanging looks of confusion.
Was that…a gunshot?
The man on top of Lukyan slid to the side and then collapsed to the ground, sand wafting up into the air around him. Right in the centre of his forehead was a huge bullet hole. It didn’t look like it was made from a standard weapon, like a handgun or even a machine gun. The entry wound was far too big. 50 calibre, easy. And the sound of the gunshot hadn’t been close. Most likely a sniper.
Lukyan jumped to his feet, hand to his throat, his skin red and marred with bruising. He looked down at the lifeless body at his feet in shock.
Movement behind him caught my attention. “Lukyan! Behind you!”
My brother spun and—
Bang!
The soldier that had been running towards him dropped dead, an identical bullet hole smack dab in the middle of his forehead like the other. All of sudden, soldiers started dropping like flies…but only the ones around Lukyan. Only the ones who came near him. Any time someone even made an attempt to go near him, they were shot dead. None of the soldiers fighting me or my siblings were shot. It was only Lukyan. Whoever the sniper was, they were protecting him, and him alone. He just stood still, watching in shock as soldiers fell to the ground all around him.
I caught a fist flying towards my face. I twisted sharply and front kicked him in the chest before lashing out with another strike to a soldier coming at me from the side. I didn’t care who the sniper was. I didn’t care that they were only protecting Lukyan. The only thing that mattered was that they were keeping him safe, shielding him from danger.
“Go to Illayana!” I screamed, ducking under a roundhouse kick.
Lukyan nodded and sprinted to our sister. The sniper followed him, taking out any soldiers in his vicinity, providing a clear path for him to run in any direction he pleased.
Block, block, kick, punch. My body ached, my energy dissipating fast. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep it up. My reflexes were getting slower. More strikes were making contact with my body, sending pain shooting all over me. I didn’t know how many soldiers I’d killed, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. I was being overrun. Two soldiers. Three. Four. Five. They swarmed me, each one trying to get a piece of me, hitting, punching, kicking.
I blocked and lashed out, trying to get them off me, but more just took their place. I couldn’t—
BOOM!
A huge, concussive force sent me hurtling into the air. I curved my body into a tight ball to try to protect myself and then slammed painfully into the ground.
