Chapter 21 Katarina
I coughed as the dust filled my lungs. My hands ached and my knees were all torn up from the pieces of ceiling that had rained down on us when the explosion happened.
We didn’t even have a chance to take cover.
I remember hearing Grim bark with a warning and Pasha seeing something on his security cameras.
And then…boom! A deafening noise followed by chunks of stone and metal rushing into the room. Right where Grim was standing.
I suddenly realized I couldn’t feel Grim in my head.
“Grim!” I shouted, and then immediately started hacking. Every cough burned my sides, making me think I’d broken a rib or two or three. “Grim,” I pushed out again.
Nothing.
Tears filled my eyes, both from the burning particles in the air and the horror that my dog may be hurt.
Feeling around on the ground, I tried to get my bearings.
The blast had knocked me back almost to the other side of the room.
The metal security door imploded with such force that it tore the stone threshold to pieces and even dented some of the metal bars on the cage that once held me captive.
My head spun as I tried to look side to side and assess.
Pasha’s desk was gone, several of the monitors blinking the last of their life as they lay on the ground.
A hole the size of a truck now formed the opening to the hallway and I knew this was no ordinary attack.
This had to be magical. Especially considering the events of last night.
Murielle was here. Somewhere.
I rolled my head to the right where the metal door now lay smashed up against the interior stone wall. It was bent in the middle like a cannonball had hit it and underneath the far side, I thought I saw fur.
“Grim!” My hoarse voice barely carried over the sound of stone crumbling, but I didn’t care. Crawling on my hands and knees, I pushed past the debris slicing my skin and tried to get to my dog. His two hind legs were the only part of him I could see, and both were covered in blood.
I cried out. No, I couldn’t lose him.
Sucking in the largest breath of air I could, I pushed myself forward…
only to be knocked back to the ground by a swift kick in the stomach.
I moaned in agony, my shallow breaths barely pushing enough air into my lungs.
Rolling to my back, I curled up in pain and squeezed my eyes shut.
I had to push through this. I had to save Grim. And Pasha. And the rest of the men.
Having a purpose helped me take in the air I needed, so when another foot flew at my face, I was able to grab it and yank it to the side.
The momentum of the person trying to kick me continued forward right over my body.
They yelped in surprise, and with a quick move, I kicked into the air and smacked their other leg out from underneath them.
They crashed to the ground, right between my legs and I immediately used my advantage to pull their foot closer to me so that I could wrap my legs around their neck.
In my training, this would usually be when a person would tap out and submit.
But this wasn’t the gym, and I was pissed.
I held the person’s neck between my thighs until they stopped moving.
Dead? I didn’t know and I honestly didn’t care.
Letting out a scream, I pushed the limp body off me and slowly stood.
The room spun and nausea almost knocked me back to the floor—only the adrenaline coursing through my blood kept me on my feet.
I looked down at Grim’s legs and let that fear and anger surge in me as I turned to face my enemies.
There were two more standing in the blown-out doorway and they both charged me at once.
The first, a woman about the same age and size as me, reached her arms out and came at me, but she realized her mistake too late.
I grabbed her wrists, bent forward, and flipped her over my back.
She smacked into the rubble, bones cracking when she hit the ground.
I spun and glared down at her. Blood trickled down the side of her face, and she moaned something at me… maybe begging me to stop?
I kicked her in the head to make sure she was knocked out for good.
Just as I set my foot back down, the other one tackled me from behind. I fell on the woman, her body actually protecting me from the worst of it. The person on my back was large, and his fists pounded into my kidneys as I grunted in pain.
But being big didn’t always mean having the advantage.
I waited until he paused between punches and quickly flipped over on my back so fast he didn’t see it coming.
I sat up as he glared at me and readied for another strike.
I couldn’t avoid his first punch to my jaw and my face exploded in agony.
A sharp, pulsing pain snaked down the entire left side of my body.
Blood pooled in the back of my throat, and I crunched a piece of my tooth as I tried to move my muscles enough to swallow.
The man lifted his right fist to hit me again.
In a flash, I grabbed a chunk of rock in my hand, and when he moved toward me, I smacked him across the side of the head with it.
He screamed and fell to the side. I immediately leaned over his form and brought the rock down on his head over and over until he stopped struggling beneath me. I didn’t know if I’d killed him. But just like the woman still lying motionless behind me, I didn’t care.
“Enough!”
I recognized Murielle’s voice before I saw her.
Squinting through the pain in my jaw and the dust in the air, I noticed four more bodies filling the hole in the wall.
They all wore hooded cloaks and whispered an incantation.
I couldn’t tell exactly what their magic was doing, but at least they weren’t physically coming after me.
I tried to stand again. That blow to the head had knocked me for a loop, and I hoped I didn’t have a fractured skull like the man at my feet.
It took me a minute to get upright and get my bearings.
I could still see Grim’s black legs under the metal door and it ripped my heart to shreds realizing he hadn’t moved yet.
A crunching sound from behind the pieces of Pasha’s desk had me focusing on the corner.
Two forms appeared from the smoke—Pasha and Murielle.
She was holding him by the back of the neck and forcing him to walk closer to me.
His glasses were gone and his face was covered with dust and blood.
A bone protruded from his lower left arm that hung like it was barely attached to his body.
His dazed look had me wondering if he had a concussion and just how badly he’d been hit with the debris.
“What are you doing, Murielle?” I managed to say despite my aching jaw.
Like the four other witches, she was also wearing a black spelling cloak.
Her dark hair hung free, and she parted it down the middle so she could tuck it behind each ear.
An emerald choker wrapped around her neck which I swear glowed each time she spoke.
“I’m here for you, Katarina.” Her smooth voice echoed in the room. So calm and so cool.
“Why?” I spat. “You don’t care about me.”
“I don’t,” she agreed, still holding Pasha in an upright position. I was pretty sure he would collapse the moment she let go. “But I’m still here for you.”
“You need to negotiate with Roman.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
She cackled. “Oh, don’t you worry. Those negotiations are already in progress. Now, come with me.”
“No.”
Her sigh filled the room, and she jerked her chin toward the four witches in the doorway.
Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. Like they pulled every molecule of air out of my lungs, I was suffocating with the lack of oxygen in my blood.
I clawed at my throat with both hands, hoping I could stop the feeling of being smothered. “Stop,” I croaked.
She nodded and my lungs filled with air again. Taking several deep breaths, I leaned forward to brace myself and try to get my breathing back under control.
“I won’t ask you again,” Murielle said calmly. “I need you to come with me.”
Coughing to gain some time, I caught another glimpse of Grim’s legs and bit back the tears. “I don’t understand,” I whispered. “If you want the stupid necklace, I’m sure Roman will give it to you.”
She shifted her hold on Pasha and he stumbled forward. He still had that foggy look in his eyes, and I didn’t think he knew what was even going on right now. “You really are dumber than I thought,” she spat at me.
“What?”
“I don’t care about the necklace, Katarina. That was just a…” she waved her hand around like she was trying to find the right words. “A ploy.”
“So, you set me up? You wanted Roman to catch me.” I figured the longer I could keep her talking the longer the men had to come and find us. I didn’t think I could take all five witches by myself, but I was willing to fight as long as I needed to.
“You were supposed to be a distraction,” she finally admitted. “But when I saw you with them last night, I knew I needed a different approach.”
“Did you hit your head because you’re starting to speak crazy talk?”
The barest flicker of a smirk appeared on her face. “Come on. I hate this place and we need to leave.”
“You did hit your head,” I spat. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You will come with me now, or he dies.” She tilted her head toward Pasha and my heart skipped.
“You wouldn’t,” I breathed thinking about how she probably already killed Grim and there was definitely something wrong with my men if they hadn’t shown up here yet.
“Do not test me.” She said each word in a sharp, clipped tone. “Let’s go.”
“No,” I said before truly thinking about the consequences.
Her brows raised as she glared at me.
And then she pulled out a dagger from her waist and sliced across Pasha’s throat.
“No!” I screamed, the gurgling sound of the blood bubbling out of the wound and his mouth piercing my ears. “No!“ I cried again.
He dropped to his knees as I rushed across the room to him.
His wide eyes met mine and asked the question I didn’t want to answer.
Yes, you were going to die. I held my hand against the gash in his neck, stomach roiling when my fingers slipped inside the opening.
There was no way to stop the blood. Nothing I could do to remedy my disobedience and take it all back.
I looked up at Murielle through my tears. “You will pay for this!”
She wiped the blade on her cloak and slid the dagger back into the leather sheath. Without saying a word to them, the four witches began chanting louder. The room spun and a tornado of dust kicked up around me. I sobbed over Pasha’s lifeless body not caring what Murielle planned to do to me next.
He was dead because of me.
And I would never forgive myself.
I screamed at the ceiling as the wind picked me off the ground and suspended me over the debris in the room. My lungs hurt as the air squeezed me tight and I only got a few more breaths in before there was no air left at all.
I looked down at Murielle while I suffocated and narrowed my eyes with a promise I couldn’t speak right now. She would die for Pasha. And for Grim. My lungs burned and my head throbbed, but I would make her pay. I promised I would.
As though reading my thoughts, Murielle looked at me and smiled. Her eyes glowed the same green as her emerald choker when she whispered one word. “Quiesco.”
The incantation wrapped around me like a snake and squeezed until I couldn’t hear my heartbeat anymore. And when I crashed to the floor, falling on my hip and crushing my collar bone, I sent one last thought out through my bond.
I’m sorry.