“You okay?” he breathes the words out as if they’re a prayer, and I want to close my eyes and listen to his voice all day.
I nod and lift a hand to touch his cheek, then I remember we’re not alone and let it fall to my side. “You’re alive.”
“No one will be able to kill me. Or you. Hear me? No fucking one.”
I swallow my tears.
I want to cry. I want to say how happy I am that he’s here, but if I say that right now, I can’t guarantee that I won’t break down in sobs.
So I remain silent and concentrate on the battle.
Soon after, the Albanians are wiped out in droves, mostly by our men and Damien, who went completely rogue.
I only managed to shoot two before I was out of ammunition, so Kirill shielded me from the bullets. He physically pushed me behind him as if he were the bodyguard and I was under his protection.
As I took cover, I could only watch his back as the muscles contracted with each shot he fired.
“Stay beside me,” he orders as he tells the others to clean up.
“That was over too soon,” Damien complains. “They couldn’t put up more of a fight or something?”
I try to help with the cleaning, but a glare from Kirill keeps me rooted in place. I look at Rai and she smiles.
I walk to her as her husband, Kyle, hugs her to his side. “Thank you.”
“Likewise, Aleksander.”
Warmth fills me at the way she respected my apparent gender. I was terrified she’d certainly use this information—that Kirill hired a female guard who’s pretending to be male—to threaten him with, but she proved me wrong.
In more ways than one.
Maybe Rai isn’t as bad as I initially thought.
“You can call me Sasha, Miss.” I offer her a bow of respect. When I lift my head, my eyes clash with Kirill’s icy ones. He’s wiping the blood off his glasses and glaring at us.
I jog to his side, or as much jogging as I can do under the circumstances. The last thing I want to do is spur some sort of war between Kirill and Rai because of me.
When I stop beside him, he gives Rai an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture, then slips his glasses up his nose.
“You don’t have to do that—”
“Shut the fuck up and walk.” He nudges me in front of him not so gently and I stumble but then regain my composure.
What’s wrong with him now? I would almost swear he’s mad at me, but why would he be?
I didn’t do anything to warrant this…or did I?
15
SASHA
Kirill and Damien are called in by the Pakhan to report back on what happened with the Albanians.
I follow them to the car, limping slightly and without much energy. My arm wound isn’t bleeding anymore, so that’s a good sign. Before I can open the door, Kirill whirls around and fixates me with his signature stare. People downright tremble when he looks at them in this cryptic manner that can only translate to possible trouble.
“Where do you think you're going?”
His tone is so harsh that even the others, namely Yuri, Viktor, and Maksim, stop a safe distance away and stare at the scene.
I clear my throat despite the tinge of pain bursting through my chest. “With you. To the Pakhan’s house.”
“You’ll do no such thing.” He stares behind me. “Yuri, Maksim. Escort Lipovsky back to the house and make sure the doctor takes a look at him. If I find out my orders weren’t met, you’ll be the ones who face punishment.”
“Yes, sir,” both say at the same time.
I start to speak, but the words get stuck in my throat when he glares down at me. It’s not a good idea to provoke Kirill when he’s in this unpredictable state. It’s worse that I don’t know what made him this mad.
Is it because I got myself kidnapped? Or is it the fact that I couldn’t protect him?
His shoulders are tense, causing his jacket to strain against his strong muscles. His lips part as if he wants to say something, but they soon clamp shut again, and he slips into the car without a word.
Viktor moves to the front, and I intercept him. “Make sure he’s safe.”
The mountain of a man looks at me as if I were an alien. “I don’t need you to tell me the obvious.”
“If anything happens, call us.”
“I know that,” he says with a note of frustration.
“Make sure your phone is on you the whole time.”
“What the fuck, Lipovsky? Did you get your head hit in there?” He pauses as if he doesn’t want to say the next words, but then he speaks in a lower tone, “Worry about yourself first.”
And then he’s also gone. Soon after, the car that Damien, Kirill, Viktor, and Vladislav are in leaves the premises, followed by a few others.
I instinctively walk for a few paces as if I could run after them or something, which is entirely impossible, considering how weak I am. The fact that I’m standing upright is a feat in and of itself.
A familiar, safe arm holds my shoulders and pulls me into a headlock. Maksim ruffles my hair. “You scared us, you little shit.”
I tap his arm, wheezing. “I can’t breathe—”
Yuri pushes him with a surprisingly strong shove, and once Maksim releases me, he kicks him in the back of his knees. Then Yuri wraps his arm around my shoulder. “The fuck, Maks? Can’t you see he’s been drugged?”
“Oh, right.” Maksim scratches the back of his neck, looking apologetic. “My bad, Sash. Should’ve thought of that.”
“I’m completely fine. Look.” I duck from under Yuri’s arm, spin around, and punch the air. The moment I do, the whole world turns blurry.
I’m about to hit the ground when Yuri catches me, holds me upright, and says in a soft voice, “Don’t push it.”
“Yeah.” Maksim hugs my shoulder. “Take it easy. And I swear to fuck, if you scare us like that again, I’ll kill you.”
I can’t control the smile that lifts my lips. It’s hard to imagine that I only met these guys a year and a half ago. It feels like I’ve known them forever, but I guess that’s what true friendship should feel like.
“You did scare us,” Yuri offers.
“Even Boss lost his shit,” Maksim says.
I swear my heart is about to jump out of my chest and flounder on the ground. “He…what?”
“Fucking lost it, Sasha,” Maksim repeats slowly as if he thinks I didn’t hear him the first time.
“What did he do?” I really, really hope the heat rising to my cheeks isn’t externally visible.
“Let me see.” Maksim releases me, jumps in front of me, and starts to count on his hand. “He ran in your direction when you were knocked out and would have gotten himself killed if it weren’t for Viktor, who jumped on top of him and protected him with his body. Then Boss punched him for it. Can you believe that?”
“Kirill punched Viktor?” I ask, looking between my two friends.
Yuri nods. “I know. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself.”
“But why? He protected him, no?”
“Yes,” Yuri says. “But Boss said that if it weren’t for Viktor meddling in the situation, he could’ve gotten to you before they took you away. So in a way, he blamed Viktor for that.”