Chapter 46
Gavriil
Pain radiates throughout my entire body as Alina tightens her hold on me, but I don’t so much as grimace.
She’ll pull away if I wince and having her in my arms right now is the only thing keeping me upright.
“Alina…” I breathe into her hair, cradling her as close as possible.
“We thought you were dead,” she tells me, her voice shaking. She breathes in deeply as her fingers curl in my hair, that simple motion calming me despite the hell waiting for us outside.
“I’m okay,” I assure her.
I’m alive despite the blood seeping into my clothes, the burning pain from my wounds. But we’re losing this fucking fight.
I lift my eyes to peer over her shoulder, realizing that at least twelve of my men made it down here. Most are injured, but they made it out of the house.
I definitely didn’t expect to find Alina…or Dominik.
When my eyes meet my brother’s, my muscles tense, bracing for his anger at seeing Alina in my arms.
Dominik’s face is clouded with emotions that I can’t single out or label. But after a few seconds go by, his face softens, and he gives me a faint nod.
That nod could say a dozen things.
Maybe he’s fine with this.
Maybe he’s glad that I’m not dead.
All I’m sure of is that for now, we’re okay.
I nod back.
Alina draws back a few inches, her hands still gripping the back of my bloody shirt. She frowns as her eyes sweep over me. “You’re hurt. You’re bleeding. Are these burns?”
I gently take her hands in mine, keeping her from lifting my clothes to see how bad my wounds are. Seeing her, I’m really not concerned about my current state.
Alina is here, under the estate where war is raging, and now isn’t the time for me to fail. I have to protect her.
She came back for me.
They both did.
So, I need to figure out how to get us all out of here alive.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I murmur under my breath as I keep taking her in, weaving her into my reality because seeing her feels like I’m in a dream. “It’s not safe.”
“We had to come back,” Alina tells me with a mixture of relief and fear in her eyes. “You shouldn’t have sent us away in the first place.”
The jolt of shock in my chest warms and sinks deeper into something that I refuse to name. Not right now. Not when our survival isn’t guaranteed and I’m vulnerable like this.
Instead, I let myself feel furious because that’s easier to handle and more helpful in battle. Our enemies have slain countless men, nearly destroyed my estate, and almost killed me multiple times. If they see Dominik and Alina, I have no doubt that they’ll shoot them and kill them on the spot.
“Pyotr said that our scouts saw enemy vehicles scouring our territory. Did they find you?” I ask Dominik and Alina before looking past them at Matvei. “Have you heard from Pyotr? I lost sight of him on the second floor.”
Matvei frowns and shakes his head. “I haven’t heard from him. I haven’t heard much talk at all over the radio. Our men are either hiding, unable to talk, or…dead.”
This is a nightmare come to life.
“They found the farmhouse,” Dominik tells me as he slowly makes his way over to us. “They didn’t find us inside, though. They did a quick check of the property and left.”
Guilt stirs within me. My hand falls to the small of Alina’s back as she presses against my side and tries to wipe away some of the blood splattered across my face. “I thought you would be safe there...”
Dominik shakes his head at me. “I know. I don’t blame you.”
“How did you get back here?”
“We ran through the woods,” Alina admits.
“Are you insane?” I ask Dominik.
“Our options were limited. We had to move on foot. What do you think would’ve happened if we’d been seen on the road?” Dominik asks me, his face steady and grim.
Nothing good.
It’s impossible to separate Alina from risky situations any longer, but it seems like she’s handling herself well. She isn’t a trembling ball of fear right now, even as we hear faint thuds in the distance from gunshots and explosions.
“At least you made it here in one piece,” I state, straightening my posture despite my body threatening to crumble.
Exhaustion weighs down my very bones, but the fact that they risked themselves to come back gives me enough motivation to stand tall. I need to for them.
“What’s happening besides you’re losing? We haven’t heard much over the radio,” Dominik questions me, determination laced in his voice.
He’s strong, rested, and ready to go. So are Renat, Viktor, and Petrov standing off to the side, unlike the rest of us down here.
I don’t miss the labored breathing and groans of pain that I hear throughout the bunker.
“They took the gates down,” I tell him. “They drove large trucks onto the property and sent one right through the front door. They were hauling men inside the back, and they came pouring out. We couldn’t hold them on the first floor, so the fighting moved to the second floor.”
Alina remains tense against my side as she listens, worry shining in her eyes.
“Enemies kept running onto the property during all of this, and snipers picked off what they could on the roof. On the second floor, we took down who we could as they came up, but someone threw a grenade and made the hallway catch on fire,” I tell them, replaying through the horror that happened in my halls.
“We saw the fire from the road,” Dominik says. “We thought you were still in there.”
I shake my head. “I moved to the back hallway on the second floor with Pyotr to help some people pinned down. Then we all got out.”
“Where did all this blood come from?” Alina asks as she pinches my blood-soaked sleeve between her fingertips.
I feel Dominik’s heavy, waiting stare on me. I don’t want either of them to know how close I came to dying multiple times.
I could be dead in the hallway right now. Shot to death. Strangled to death. Stabbed to death. Burned to death.
But somehow, I’m here with my brother and my…I don’t know what to refer to her as anymore.
“It’s not all mine,” I assure Alina. “I killed the Armenian leader.”
“How many of the Irish and Armenians are left?” Dominik asks.
“Too many,” I tell him. “Probably three times the number of men that we have left. They’re still swarming the place, waiting for survivors to come out. We came here through the basement passage. ”
“Is it smart to stay here if we’re so outnumbered?” Alina says as she rests her hand on my upper arm.
“I can’t leave,” I tell her, my chest aching at how concerned she looks. She wants me to flee and spare myself, but I just can’t do that. “My men may have been taken hostage. The dead need to be buried. This is my estate. If I leave, we lose.”
“If you don’t leave, you’ll die,” Alina replies in a firmer voice.
I hold her gaze, fighting the urge to unravel and run away with her. Fuck, part of me wants to. But I can’t.
“I’ll fight with you.”
Dominik’s voice drags me out of my spiraling thoughts.
“I’ll help you sneak up on the rest of their forces. We’ll pick them off,” Dominik continues. “They’ll still be looking for you. They don’t know about the bunker yet or that we’ll be coming up from behind them.”
My brother already has a plan.
Relief crashes down on me, and I have to clench my jaw to keep it from showing on my face.
“Dom…” Alina starts.
“If he’s not going to leave, I’m staying with him,” Dominik tells Alina. Her face softens as she nods in not just acceptance but also agreement. She holds my arm firmer, not going anywhere.
“We’ll fight too,” Viktor agrees as Petrov and Renat nod their agreement.
“Fine. But if you’re going to fight, you’ll have to do it as Pakhan,” I tell Dominik, watching his expression shift in surprise. Pakhan had never meant having a crown or glory. It represented standing strong when everyone else was breaking. My brother has always had what it takes to lead.
“That’s not necessary,” Dominik replies with a shake of his head.
“It is,” I assure him, unable to carry the weight of leadership right now. “You’re uninjured and have healthy men. I led us as far as I could. Now it’s your turn.”
Dominik frowns, looking conflicted. “Gavriil…”
“Dominik,” I say as our eyes meet. “You’re who they need now. Who she needs.”
Dominik tears his gaze away from me to look at Alina, his brows knitting as he considers it.
He can pretend to refuse all he wants, but I know what his answer will be in the end. It all boils down to what will most likely keep Alina safe. Before she came along, my brother never thought he had what it took to lead. Now he knows the truth.
He’s just as capable as I am. Possibly even more so.
“Okay,” Dominik replies when he turns back to me. “I need to know what we’re up against.”
I slide my hand around to Alina’s hip, grounding myself in the only thing that hasn’t wavered tonight.
It’s clear to me now that I need her and Dominik both. Fighting that is what nearly destroyed us all.
“They have to be close to using up all their explosives. All vehicles have been parked and emptied of the men they brought with them,” I tell him. “Last I saw, they were combing the grounds for survivors.”
Dominik nods as he listens. “We’re outnumbered, but they’re contained in one place. We can do something about that.”
There has to be some way for us to all come out of this alive, I’m just not sure what that is yet.
That’s why I’m finally putting our lives—and my trust—in Dominik’s capable hands.
I don’t know how we survive this, but for the first time, I’m not facing the burden alone.