Their Vengeance: Siren's Revenge Book Two

19. Pasha

Fyodor’s Rules #43 - The quiet after battle never lasts long.

Iwas the last to arrive at the clearing. Nikolai was kneeling between Alexei and Fyodor. It didn”t take more than a few seconds to know there was nothing I could do for Fyodor. His eyes were closed, his chest unmoving. Black veins ran under his gray skin. Grief rocked through me, familiar yet entirely new. There really was nothing to be done, and I had other people I needed to focus on. Nikolai held his hand pushed to Alexei”s chest, and I could see the blood welling between his fingers.

I took over, directing him to help Lukas. It didn”t take long to close the wounds. The rest of Alexei’s treatment would have to wait until we were home. I just needed to make sure that no one else died tonight.

With that thought in mind, I was reluctant to turn to Lukas and Yana. I could feel the grief rolling off him in waves. I couldn”t hear what he was saying, but his voice was a steady murmur as he worked.

“Alexei is ready to move.” I called out to no one and everyone. I wanted to offer them what reassurance I could.

Nikolai was back by my side in a moment, his hand on my shoulder. “She”s lost some blood. It”s bad, but she should be fine.” It felt like my relief punched the breath from my lungs. I stood and let him pick up Alexei; it was odd how small and vulnerable he looked in Nikolai”s arms. Even though we were almost the same height, Alexei was never small or vulnerable. He was larger than life, all the time.

Now I knew I would not see in person the vision which had haunted me for a decade, I picked up my med-kit and went to join Lukas. He had already applied a field bandage around the knife, which was still sticking out of Yana”s side. She was on her back, and he had laid her head in his lap. He murmured sweet words to her, even though she was clearly unconscious. I was glad they had left the knife there. Even with the bandages, any further blood loss prevented the better.

Being under the night sky, my power felt almost endless. The first thing I did was reach out and connect with the energy which flowed through her body. The knife wound wasn”t the only place she was hurt. I was pretty sure both her eardrums had burst. She also had a concussion, and her magic levels had been almost completely depleted. There was blood in her sinuses and in her lungs. Honestly, I was surprised she was breathing at all.

Lukas looked at me like I had all the answers, but I didn”t have time to explain. I closed the knife wound, doing what I could about the blood loss. Everything else was going to have to wait until we got back to the hotel. I would have suggested calling in another healer, but any type of magic which required interacting with someone”s core was difficult enough even when you knew them as intimately as I knew Alexei and Yana.

Lukas lifted her up like she weighed nothing.

Nikolai had come back, picked Fyodor up, and carried him to the car with us. I still couldn”t bring myself to look any closer at our father. It felt like if I did, it would confirm he was dead. Then all the feelings I had thought I’d dealt with would overwhelm me again. I didn”t have time right now. My family needed me.

The burns around Nikolai”s mouth from ripping out Sasha”s throat healed before we got home. He spent about an hour throwing up, but fresh blood helped to settle any lingering damage, and I wasn”t worried about him at all.

Once we were back at the hotel and everything had been dealt with, it was the wait which was killing me. I had never been good at it. They say good things came to those who waited, but I had always been a fan of instant gratification. Why bother waiting if you could have what you wanted right now? I had done everything I could for Alexei and Yana, and now all we could do was wait.

Alexei was the first to come to, almost a day later, and I was relieved. I had been worried whatever those bitches had hit him with was going to be beyond my ability to heal. I had closed his wounds, done what I could for the blood loss, and strengthened his magical core as much as I could. After that, all we could do was hope that the hex he had been hit with had been dimmed by his defenses, and he could shake it off.

When his eyes had cracked open, he had immediately reached under the pillow, pouting when he couldn”t find one of his knives. I had let out what felt like my first real breath in hours. We had all taken time to shower, but otherwise, we had been sitting a vigil in Alexei”s room. Yana was on a stretcher, just in case either of them flailed or seized while unconscious. I needed to monitor them both, but not at the risk of them injuring each other.

Alexei sat up in bed, and I checked him over again. It was going to take him a few days to be up to full strength, and I already knew keeping him in bed was going to be a fucking nightmare. Maybe one of the others could get him to listen to reason. If I thought it would work, I”d cuff him to the bed. Unfortunately, Alexei was the type to dislocate his thumb to slip the cuffs out of spite, rather than listening to what was good for him.

The others filled him in while I made food for everyone. We hadn”t eaten much, as there was too much tension in the air to be hungry. Lukas had left for a short while the first morning to debrief his men, but I”d had him on speakerphone the entire time in case Yana moved or woke. We were all waiting with bated breath for our sister to join us.

I was concerned when it had been two days, and she still hadn”t woken. The others kept looking to me for answers, but all I could do was reassure them I had done everything I could. The blood loss was dealt with, it was her concussion which was the worry now. Brain injuries were tricky, even when you were healing them with magic. All we could do was wait.

I shouldn”t have worried though. Just as I finally nodded off, I heard the blankets move. My eyes snapped open, and there was Yana, blinking sleepily. She looked around the room as she tried to work out where she was. I wasn”t the only one by her bedside. Getting Lukas to move after he’d gotten back from the debrief had been a fight every time. I wasn”t sure if he’d even slept since the night of the party. Hopefully now he would, but I wouldn’t push the issue with him. I thought Ghost was going to tear my throat out the last time I tried.

Both dogs had been laid out at the bottom of her stretcher the whole time, even when Lukas had been forced from the room.

All of us were worried about our sister, and the relief which filled the room when she croakily asked what happened made me want to laugh with joy. It was like a crushing weight was gone and I could finally breathe.

Lukas helped her sit up as I checked her over. Nikolai and Alexei filled her in on what happened. When they got to the part about Fyodor, the words caught in their throats. Realization dawned on her face when they couldn”t say it, and grief immediately struck. I was worried about her as she sobbed, but it was like a dam had broken. As each sob racked her body, we joined her. I could tell you the last time I cried—it was a decade ago. And today, we all cried together. Our hands reached out, gripping each other, and sharing what little strength we had.

It took a long time for us to calm down, and Yana fell back asleep instantly. Not wanting to leave the room, but suddenly heavy with exhaustion, we all climbed into Alexei”s bed. It had been a long time since we had all slept together, but for the first time in too long, sleep came easily to all of us, even Nikolai.

When we all woke, it felt like a new day in more ways than one. Lukas helped Yana to shower. Alexei was out of bed as well, helping me in the kitchen to make food for everyone. Nikolai was in his office, dealing with a mountain of calls. But he had the door open, he was no longer shutting us out. He came out whenever he could, joining us for breakfast and lunch, and even a couple of coffee breaks.

Lukas organized funerals for the men he had lost. Nikolai had already organized what was needed for their families. We took care of our men. But really, we had gotten off lightly in the scheme of things. Alexei still coughed when he pushed himself too much, and Yana napped twice during the day as she grew tired easily.

By the end of the day, exhaustion reared its head again. I hadn”t felt like cooking, and I didn”t want to pressure any of the others. Instead, I had the restaurant send some food up. Usually we liked to cook for ourselves, but it was one benefit of living in the hotel. Yana and Alexei were both yawning at the table. While I felt bad about keeping them awake, they needed to eat. Their bodies needed time to recover, and the best way was with food and rest.

When Nikolai came out of his office to join us, he had a serious expression on his face. “The families have called a meeting about what happened. I”ve made a lot of calls. The Irish are definitely on our side. The Bratva ... it”s hard to tell. The Armenians aren”t talking. It”s no surprise the Italians are presenting a united front, but I am sure there aren”t a small number who are glad to see Fiorenza go.”

Silence answered him. The hope we could pull this off with no one realizing it was us had been a pipe dream. We knew the chance was unlikely, but we had decided it was worth the risk. Now the consequences were coming due, and I could only hope the others all thought that way.

“How long do we have?” Lukas looked the most worried of us all, although I couldn”t see my own face. I was too tired to put on a brave face if I was being honest.

“This weekend. We”ll meet at Mrs. Westerly”s. She”s agreed to host the meeting, but it doesn”t mean we will walk out of this scot-free. Whatever the families decide, we must abide by.”

Nikolai was looking at each of us, like he wanted to make sure we understood. There were nods all around, and after that, no one ate. Food was pushed around plates before everyone made their excuses and disappeared into their bedrooms.

A heavy cloud hung over us all, and there was nothing we could do but weather it until this was over and we were on the other side. All I could do was hope was in the end, we were all standing together in the sunshine.