Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
You aren’t much older than she is. Gorya’s voice was soft in her ear. Calm. Steady. Sure of her. He had been there to save her when she was a child in this same position. Rogue had been there to save Wraith.
She took her time, reaching for Raul’s leopard first. It was agitated, sensing a threat, but Maya’s verve was so low and Raul was in such a state of arousal and flooded with aggression and testosterone, the leopard couldn’t sort through the waves of powerful energy swamping it. She simply rode those waves into the leopard’s mind, absorbed the animal’s memories, became part of him until he was surrounded by her, accepting and at peace. She took him over with care, separating him from Raul, and the shifter didn’t notice. He was too high on his own power.
She viewed Raul with fresh eyes. He had been taught this lesson by Albert Krylov. Albert was a little older than Gorya, perhaps by one or two years. He was one of the boys brought by the pakhan and his men to prey on the women and learn how to properly “use” them. His father had died by Fyodor’s hand in the bloodbath that followed Patva’s attack on his son and nephew, but somehow Albert and Artur had escaped his wrath.
She didn’t know the full story of how Fyodor had, for all intents and purposes, wiped out the Amurov lair before he’d left, but he had killed his father and every one of the high-ranking members of Patva’s organization. She knew the Amurov name had been legendary long before that night. It was even more so after. There were few bratva who dared to take on the Amurovs. That was one of the reasons she found the way the lair was opposing Gorya’s leadership so odd.
His leopard had not only defeated every challenger but also ruthlessly killed them—in a matter of minutes. Less. They continued to challenge his authority using men who had no chance, backed by teams of assassins. Do they think your cousins won’t retaliate because you aren’t a sibling? You’re still an Amurov. Their cousin.
Maya tried to puzzle out the reasoning of their opponents as she inched closer to the two men with the weeping girl sandwiched between them. She had to block out the sight of the teenager stripped naked, bruises and swelling marring her body. She couldn’t let the girl’s pleas to Derk influence her. Maya had to stay focused on the ultimate goal—killing the two male shifters, both in their prime, both capable of killing or capturing her if she made one mistake.
You won’t make a mistake, Gorya said, his voice low and intense, whispering into her mind like a caress. You and Wraith have done this too many times and you’re like a machine together.
Why would Braum Malcom think he could defeat you, Gorya? Even if he did, your cousins would come. He would be annihilated. He must know that.
She reached for Derk’s leopard next, confident Raul’s wouldn’t sound the alarm even if he caught sight of her. She had instructed him to accept her, and he had done so. Derk’s leopard wasn’t as aggressive as Raul’s had been but was just as agitated as Raul’s, with the levels of arousal and excitement the shifter experienced listening to his friend’s instructions. The man paid no attention to his leopard. Unlike Raul, Derk had drugs in his system that further confused the leopard and affected its senses. She took this one over with much more ease than she had Raul’s leopard.
Once Maya was certain she had both leopards under her control, she glided closer to her target. Of the two men, Raul was the more dangerous, the more experienced. She would have to kill him first. He was totally concentrating on instructing Derk, acting the big man. Showing off. Enjoying himself. Drunk on his own power. Power over the girl. Over the man he was instructing. He was so high on his supremacy—forcing Alicia’s mouth open, telling Derk to pull her hips to him so they could use her together—he never saw the small figure emerging from the shadows to his left. He never saw the blade that slammed deep into his jugular or the one that severed his spinal cord.
Derk’s eyes widened in a kind of horror as blood sprayed around them in a geyser and Raul seemed to slowly crumple like a rag doll. Before he could react, a blade sank deep into his chest directly over his heart. Another followed, then a third and fourth. Each blade hit a vital spot, and blood erupted as if he were a fountain.
Maya hooked Alicia under her arms and dragged her free of the two falling bodies and spraying blood. “It’s over, honey. You’re free. Your father went to the pakhan and he’s taking your enemies down. You’re free. Let’s get your mother.” She sent up a silent prayer that Yelena was alive. This girl needed her mother and a trauma counselor more than she needed to shower the blood from her body.