Chapter 37 #2
The man we thought had turned to Sonya and Andor’s side was a spy the whole time. Not that I was shocked at all. I was more surprised Kalaraja had any loyalty to anything. I guess Markos was still paying him more.
“I will kill that sick mother fucker,” Killian gritted through his teeth.
I hated Kalaraja. I would love to gut him alive, but I picked up Killian’s history with this asshole. I would enjoy it, but Killian needed it.
“If I get to him first, I’ll save him for you.” I glanced at the man who used to be my enemy. Killian looked back at me, a strange understanding coming between us. He wasn’t in my family, but we were far from enemies now.
“Thank you.” His chin dipped back at me with respect.
“Your leader is dead. Either join me, the true master, or die where you stand.” Markos boomed at the army behind the wall.
No one moved. Not a peep of a response.
“Very well.” Markos motioned to the men at the cannons. “Proceed.”
“Oh, fuck.” I twisted around, grabbing Kovacs, screaming at the others to move.
I dove behind a building, pulling Kovacs to my chest, the others crowding in around.
The boom resonated through the pavement, rattling my teeth and bones.
Tucking Brexley in closer, the next one hit with an even louder resonance, drowning out the screams of death on both sides while it tore through the mortar, spewing stone and concrete in chunks, not caring which side you were on.
Not that it mattered to Istvan. These troops were created to die, to just be a number to build up armies.
To be nothing more than the first line into the slaughterhouse.
Peeking around the building, the cloud of debris thinned out enough to see that a huge section of the southern wall, one which had stood for twenty years, was gone.
Destroyed by the very man who put it up, leaving a massive gaping hole into Leopold.
It only took a moment for Istvan’s men to scream in unison, a creepy warrior cry, running in and attacking ex-HDF troops waiting on the other side.
Friends and allies became foes, all killing without any recognition or thought.
Istvan’s tank rolled past the wall line, by the Attila Jozsef statue, a famous Hungarian poet, the tires smashing the chunks of the wall into dust, claiming back his territory.
“Rosie.” Killian moved toward the tank Istvan was in. I whipped my arm out, slamming him back into the wall.
“We will get her,” I rumbled, my glare warning him to get control of himself.
There was no doubt Rosie was his mate. I could feel the claim, the tie between them, pulling him to her like a magnet.
“Don’t get her killed.” One stupid move, and either he could die, or Istvan could kill Rosie without a second thought.
Killian’s nostrils flared, and his jaw twitched, but I took his nonresponse as an agreement.
“Eli!” A deep voice rumbled behind us, swinging me around, my gun already cocked and ready to kill the man trotting up, a dozen or so people behind him.
“Think that could take me down?” His green eyes went to my gun with a smirk, the same color as Eli’s. The guy looked so much like him. I knew he had to be a relation.
“Lorcan.” Ember moved to the group arriving. “Never thought I’d say this, but I’m happy to see you.”
Lorcan Dragen. The infamous Dark Dweller who was mated to the queen of the Unified Nations. I didn’t know much about their clan’s history, though I did know Lorcan at one time was on the old Seelie queen’s side, but rumors were that he was forced to be a minion of hers.
Another man stalked up behind Lorcan, only slightly shorter, though his air made him ten times larger. The demeanor of a leader.
“Cole.” Ember hugged him, moving on to the blond guy next to him. “Cooper.”
“What about me, darlin’?” Another tall, fit guy strolled up, though this guy had an easy swagger to him.
Ember’s smile took over her face, almost leaping into the other guy’s arms. “Could never forget you, West. How’s Rez and the baby?”
“Good.” A smile glowed on the man’s handsome face. “Really good.”
Eli turned to Brexley and me. “This is Cole, Cooper, West, Gabby, Nic, Lorcan, Dax, and Dominic—”
“Yeah, I don’t give a fuck right now.” I brushed off his introduction, pushing past them, my attention on the only thing that mattered. Stopping the madman about to take our country. “Is this all who’s coming?”
“Lars couldn’t send any of his men without it being a declaration of war from the UN.” The man they called Cole spoke. “We might be small in number, but we are as deadly as the tales say.” He lifted his chin, challenging me.
“Me too,” I replied through my teeth. I had no doubt he knew perfectly well who I was.
“Cole.” Eli drew his attention away from me. “I need you guys to take as many off the back. Be careful—Istvan surpassed Dr. Rapava’s methods. They are harder to kill and more feral.”
“So are we.” Lorcan smirked, ripping off his shirt and kicking off his boots. The others followed suit, stripping down to nothing.
“Damn.” Kek sucked in, biting down on her lip. “Like wow.”
“Kek?” Ash lifted his brow, reaching for her. “Come on.”
“Go ahead, I’m good. I mean, if I’m gonna die, this is a good way to go out.”
“Agreed.” Brexley and Birdie said in unison, watching the almost all-male group get naked, starting to shift into their other forms. My head jumped to Kovacs, a growl tickling the back of my throat.
“Need me to show you who this belongs to?” My shade licked up her thigh, slicing through her. Brexley jolted with a sharp inhale, shooting a glare at me, only making me smirk. “That’s what I thought.”
“Let’s move out,” I ordered the group, stepping out of our hiding spot and pointing for Istvan’s caravan.
When I looked back, the Dark Dwellers were gone.
Only the guy Nic, who had a patch over his eye, still in human form, could be seen slipping into the darkness.
From the intense sexual energy I got off him, the guy was definitely an incubus.
Like we did in Kyiv, we grouped into small clusters.
Kovacs, Killian, Eli, Ember, Ash, Kek, Lukas, Birdie, Caden, Scorpion, Hanna, Wesley, and I moved in waves toward Markos’s convoy, thousands of soldiers battling in the streets and across the plaza into HDF.
My skin felt electric with death, alive in battle, like part of me had come home.
Reborn and restructured from violence. Once again, Kovacs and I were on the battlefield, like the day we both took the first gasp of life.
Since we had nowhere near the numbers to fight head-on, we had to be strategic. While the two forces slaughtered each other, we had to get to Istvan. Cut the head off the snake. It would be nearly impossible, and all of this would fall apart if Brexley’s plan didn’t work.
Mykel and his team had split off when we first entered, placing the trucks full of weapons near the river.
Fuck, I hoped this worked.
Istvan’s army clashed against HDF. The air was filled with the sharp clank of metal, the pops of guns, the booms of more cannons from both sides, and the shrill screams of death. It had only started, and some soldiers were already carcasses on the ground. Robbed of weapons and left forgotten.
“Csapassuk.” Let’s do this. Birdie pulled out two more guns from her waist and thigh, ignoring her healing wound.
The sound of a tank missile zipping through the air, cutting through a strip of Istvan’s men from behind, tore all the air from my lungs.
The small rocket smashed into another portion of the wall in an explosion of brick and cement.
We ducked behind another building, shielding our heads, while tanks and trucks rolled over the fresh dead bodies coming up on HDF.
Movement drew our attention to the bridge.
“What the fuck?” Birdie responded, our attention going to the new convoy.
From both bridges on the north and south side of HDF, hundreds, if not thousands of troops, all with Sonya’s emblem, came marching up, circling Leopold.
“Holy shit.” Brexley gaped next to me, horror filling her eyes. She wasn’t here when Sonya had taken over Killian’s palace, making her own militia. By the looks of it, Sonya had been a busy girl.
Where did all these people come from?
“Mother.” Lukas snapped his teeth. Anger and pain burned in his eyes watching a sleek black armored SUV roll to a stop, surrounded by tanks and trucks.
“That bitch is using my car,” Killian grumbled.
A man got out of the passenger side. Brexley hissed next to me, both of us recognizing the man playing servant. Boyd.
He jogged to the back, opening the back door.
The wannabe Seelie queen stepped out of the car, looking confident and collected, like nothing could touch her.
No bullet or blade could get near her, surrounded by some miracle force field.
Reminding me of the days when leaders would meet in the middle before they released their troops on each other, treating each other with this strange respect they didn’t give their own soldiers.
A door slammed, and another blond man climbed out of the backseat next to her, making Lukas, Killian, and Brexley snarl.
Iain.