74. Dimitri
DIMITRI
My entire world was in my arms while I carried Sienna and Lilya to the armored SUV. Sergey briefly took the baby so I could situate Sienna.
“Pakhan. What do you want us to do with the body?”
Ilya and Konstantin approached carrying the Souleater.
They’d wrapped him in a large quilt so he was thankfully hidden from Sienna.
I didn’t want her to be upset seeing the body.
I gently took Lilya from Sergey and gave her to Sienna.
Her eyes flicked over my shoulder to the floral-wrapped body.
She cupped my face. “Take a look before we go.”
My brow furrowed. “What? He can wait. We need to get you to the hospital now.”
“We can wait a minute.” She pulled me close and brushed her lips against mine in a featherlight kiss. “You need closure, Dimochka. Go look.”
I hesitated, but her jaw had that stubborn set that told me arguing was futile. “Okay, malyshka. One minute.” I carefully closed the door before crossing the front yard to where Konstantin and Ilya had unceremoniously dropped the corpse.
“Uncover him,” I ordered, unwilling to sully my clean hands with his blood.
They pulled back the quilt, revealing the Souleater’s blank-eyed stare. His pale, waxy skin was covered with dried blood that had obviously poured from his shredded neck. It was an injury that could only have been caused by my wolf.
Vovk trotted over from the SUV and sat beside me.
I dropped to my knees, overwhelmed with gratitude as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Spasibo, Vovchyk. Thank you for saving them.”
His chest vibrated with a low purr and it brought me back to finding him half-buried in the snow. He’d been a tiny thing, half dead from starvation, but he’d still let out a fierce little growl when I picked him up. He’d burrowed into my frozen heart and become family.
“Pakhan, there’s more.”
I gave Vovchyk a final scratch on his ears and stood. “What do you mean?”
Konstantin and Ilya exchanged a look.
“All I can say is I’m not sure I’ll ever look at your wife the same way again,” Ilya said. Before I could ask why, they pulled back the rest of the blanket.
My eyebrows shot up. The Souleater’s bare chest was sliced with deep cuts…ones that could only be caused by a knife. I glanced back at the SUV, unable to see anything through the tinted windows, but it was clear Sienna had done this. For me, for our family.
My eyes took in every detail—the jagged edges of each cut, the pattern on his rib that mirrored the exact scar I had there. Parallel cuts sliced his stomach and lower…
I swore.
Konstantin rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, that was our reaction, too.”
The Souleater’s pants had been pulled down enough to reveal his penis…or what was left of it. It had been sliced straight down the middle and one of his balls was missing.
A slow smile spread across my face. All these years, I’d thought I was tainted by him, like I was carrying his mark on my very soul. But in the end, he was just a man, not a god. The only marks he’d left on me were the ones on my skin. The very ones Sienna had touched, kissed, and memorized.
I let out a shaky breath. The two greatest monsters of my life—Rustik and the Souleater—had been vanquished by two women who had never given up on me. After years of dreaming of revenge, it turned out it wasn’t mine to take. It was theirs.
I spat on his body. “Gori v adu, Dusheguby.” Burn in hell, Souleater. I glanced up at Ilya and Konstantin. “Take him to the pig farm. Do not leave until they have eaten every bit of his body.”
I turned my back on the monster, shook out my shoulders, and strode towards my new life.
When I opened the car door, Sienna was feeding Lilya at her breast. I inhaled deeply, almost forgetting to blink. I had almost missed out on this. Almost let my past steal it away.
My wife met my gaze with brown eyes, filled with warmth. My heart overflowed. I dropped to my knees in the driveway and rested my forehead against her thigh.
“Thank you, Sienna. My wife, my queen, my tsaritsa.”