Chapter 19 #3
“Don’t move!” Joska’s beefy hands regripped his gun, pointing it at my head.
He was a big dude who I remembered had the extremist attitude that if you weren’t pure human, you shouldn’t be alive.
And women shouldn’t be soldiers. Bigoted, sexist, and righteous.
A new crop of what they called pure human nationalists. “Drop your weapon!”
The third guy, Samu, stayed quiet. He always let the dominant person lead, following like a sheep, regurgitating whatever they said without one thought of his own. He had trailed after Caden for six years like a puppy. Caden had been too nice to say anything, but the guy gave me the creeps.
“Captain, we have her. We have Brexley Kovacs,” Elek spoke into the device. He was the only one I had once liked. He and Caden had been pretty close, so I got to know him. He teased me and hinted about us hanging out together, just the two of us.
Now everyone was my enemy.
“I said drop your weapon or I will shoot you. I don’t care what Markos wants.
You are a disgusting fae traitor.” Joska took a step closer, flicking his gun to the middle of my forehead.
“You should be hung as the turncoat and spy you are, but I will blow your fucking brains out right here. Now get on your knees.”
My eyes lit into him, the fighter underneath my skin itching for release.
“Now!” He shoved the barrel into my skull.
He was not someone who would give empty threats.
But neither was I.
Lowering, I placed my gun on the ground, slowly raising my hands, my gaze shifting around for objects I could use.
“Don’t move.” Joska and Samu descended on me, kicking my gun out of my reach. The metal scraped the pavement and hit the wall.
“Search her,” he ordered Samu. Samu patted me down, found the other gun, and tucked it into his pants with a lingering stare.
At least the others got away.
“Handcuff her. I want to personally take her to the general.” Joska sneered, motioning for Samu to do the dirty work again.
If they took me to Istvan, I was done.
But that wasn’t in my plans.
My fists rolled up, the bitter taste of adrenaline on my tongue, my muscles flexing, ready to react at my command.
Three against one. All of them with multiple weapons. Most likely, I would die here, but I wasn’t going without a fight.
A vein twitched in my neck at the sound of the metal cuffs opening, heading for my wrists. My patience scraped my bones, priming me for action.
Out of my periphery, I noticed a flutter of movement, a figure swooping down, more like an angel of death than a bird.
Birdie landed right beside Samu, slamming her fist into his kidney. He swung around, Birdie kicking the gun out of his grip.
With her arrival, chaos burst into the tight alley, and I seized my opportunity. Grabbing the barrel of Joska’s gun, I twisted it out of his grip as we had both been taught by Bakos.
My leg swept and kicked the tendons in his knee. He grunted but didn’t budge, his knuckles slamming into my face. I stumbled back. Pain crackled through my already sore jaw, raising my anger.
The girl who survived the Games growled from my chest.
I went for the tender part of his throat, my fist punching his larynx. Gasping, he clutched his neck as I nailed him in the eye socket, a loud cry bolting from his lips.
Tough guy wasn’t so tough now.
“You bitch,” he choked out, his teeth bared. I’d heard enough of his misogynistic comments to the girls in his class to know how he felt about women training next to him. I knew he couldn’t stand the thought of one beating him up.
This would be fun.
Samu and Birdie were fighting right next to me as Elek ran for my gun on the ground.
Joska barreled for me. While the tiny alley didn’t give me much room, I twisted just out of the way, so he only nipped my hip.
Pain raced up my nerves, and I looked down.
Blood seeped out, soaking my pants red. Darting my attention back to him, I saw the dagger in his hand, a smug grin on his face. The fucker stabbed me.
Little did he know a fight like this was a morning ritual in the mess hall at Halálház.
He lunged for me again, his knife darting for my chest. Fury raised the monster inside me, my vision hazing over as I twirled, kicked, and punched.
My senses were on high alert, but at the same time lost in a cloud of violence.
I relished the sound of cartilage breaking and muscles tearing, the strike of flesh and bone being hit.
An agonized cry erupted from him as I slammed my elbow into his spine, cracking a vertebra and dropping him to the pavement with a thump.
Right then, Samu went flying back onto the pavement. Out cold, drawing a quick glance to Birdie, I saw a contented smile on her face. She fucking loved it too.
“Stop!” Elek’s voice bellowed, the blast of gun halting us.
Elek lowered the gun from the air to us swinging it between Birdie and me as he stepped forward.
“There’s no point, Brexley. They know you are here.
Markos is coming.” A slice of regret cut across his brows.
“I wish it wasn’t this way, but you gave us no choice. ”
“You could let us go,” Birdie replied, shrugging. “That’s a choice.”
He shook his head. The fight to be a good soldier was too powerful. It was embedded in you at an early age. Obey. Take orders. Fight for your cause. Except the cause was a lie, and the reasons were all bullshit. There was only Istvan and his need for power.
“I’m sorry, Brexley. You will come with me. All others are to be shot on sight.” He switched to pointing at Birdie.
“Elek, no.” I reached out, my steps slow. Cautious.
“Sorry . . .” His finger squeezed down.
Boom! The shot thundered in the alleyway, making me jump and scream.
Birdie’s eyes went wide, full of torment, but then her brows furrowed in confusion, her eyes dropping to where she should have been shot.
Elek’s body fell forward, slamming face-first onto the cement. Dead. A huge silhouette stood behind him, gun still pointing at the spot Elek had been.
“Warwick.” Relief heaved in my lungs at the sight of him. Our eyes met, and I could feel his familiar touch along every inch of my skin, though this time it seemed to be checking me for injury. Furious and pugnacious.
“Let’s go,” he grumbled.
I scrambled forward, the noises of battle sounding right on top of us. Swooping down, I got the two guns I had been relieved of. I stopped at Elek’s figure, crouching down, my hand reaching out to close the eyes of my old acquaintance.
Sorrow filled my heart like a tsunami. He was a good guy. He didn’t deserve to die like that. No matter what we were told about it being an honor to die for HDF, the reality was utter crap.
My hand brushed over his face, recalling the times Caden and I had hung out in his room with the rest of their class, getting drunk. He would find reasons to get close to me, flirt with me, but because of Caden, he never crossed the line or asked me out.
“Kovacs,” Warwick called to me, but I couldn’t tear myself away from Elek. One moment alive, now he was dead . . . because of me. I knew his mother and father. They would be devastated. Emotion swirled inside me, bursting at the seams, wanting to change his story.
Under my palm, a nerve twitched in his face, a spasm in his body, his lids fluttered.
“Kovacs, now.” Warwick grabbed my hand, yanking me back onto my feet, his nose flaring, his gaze darting between Elek and me, his brow crunching together.
Numb, yet alive, the vast emotions swirled inside, my brain not wanting to land on what I had been doing. What I might be capable of.
“We need to go.” He released me, stepping away.
I dipped my head in agreement and looked back at Birdie.
She watched us, her expression awed, her blue eyes wide.
“You’re fucking Warwick Farkas . . .” Her mouth parted. “The Wolf.”
He grunted, inching to the lip of the alley.
“He is, isn’t he?” She faced me. “Holy shit. He’s so . . . Is there even a word for him?”
“Asshole?” I replied, getting a glower from Warwick.
“No, seriously, this is really Warwick Farkas?” She said his name like he was a god.
“Birdie . . .”
“He’s real? The actual legend is standing in front of me? The guy who came back to life? And you knew and didn’t tell me?” She punched my arm.
“Ow.” I rubbed my shoulder.
“That’s for not telling me you were sleeping with a myth. Is the sex astronomical? Mythical status?”
“Yes,” he grunted.
“No,” I responded.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me earlier. I was totally going on about him . . . and you’re fucking him?” Birdie’s mouth dropped open.
“No. No, it’s not like that. W-we’re not . . . No . . . We aren’t.” I shook my head, unable to stop babbling. “He wasn’t talking about sex with me.”
Warwick grunted even louder, his irritation curling up the back of my neck.
“Can we focus here?” It was freezing outside, and my body was in pain.
“Right.” Birdie gripped both of her guns. “Kill first, talk later about how you are sooooo fucking him. And if you aren’t, you really should be. Or I volunteer.”
“She really thinks you should be, princess.” Warwick’s voice rumbled in my ear, his presence up close, while the real man stood a few feet away, his eyes on the battle on the street.
“No,” I growled under my breath, and I could see the real man smirk.
“Well, as you know, fucking me is a mythical experience. Most never recover.”
He switched to the other ear, the trace of his fingers sliding across my lower back.
“You mean it’s fictional?” I replied just to him.
The real Warwick let out a gruff laugh, his eyes darting back to me, making Birdie look between us again with skepticism.
“Sergeant Gabor, state your location. Markos is moving in.” A crackling voice rose from Elek’s walkie-talkie device, and fear compressed my lungs.
Markos. He was here. He rarely came to battles personally, dictating from the safety of HDF. But I was personal to him.
“Shit, how do we get out of here?” Birdie motioned around, the lanes filling with more and more soldiers.
“Distraction.” Warwick’s eyes slid to me, and a smile spread across my face because I knew exactly what he meant.
“Distraction?” Birdie peered up at him, then to me.
BOOOOOOOM!
An entire building across the street from the base exploded, shaking the ground. Clouds of debris and glass mushroomed out, raining down on us like hail.
All of us ducked, Warwick’s form looming over us like an umbrella until the worst of the blast was over.
He glanced at Birdie, one eyebrow lifting. “Distraction.”