by Lea Griffith
He searched the darkness, his heart thudding heavily because in the tones of that voice had been an unmistakable threat. His heart hardened. It wasn’t possible. There was no way.
“She is fading, Dmitry,” Adam called out.
Dmitry tried to see who hovered in the darkness, but he could not and the woman who’d stolen everything he was needed him.
“I will find you,” he called out.
It was all he could give the one who’d spoken to him from the shadows and it was a threat of his own. He turned to Bone, lifted her into his arms and left the voice from his past there. He was torn but so was Bone and she held him now. All of him.
Rand drove them through the passes carefully. It poured from the sky and he held her. The Jeep jostled and he held her. When the sun split the sky he was still holding her.
They drove until they reached a small town and Rand called in coordinates to Raines who picked them up at a small airstrip hidden among the towering trees of the rainforest.
He bandaged her as much as he could on the plane. He inserted an IV and began rehydration but she did not wake. He cleaned her, dressed each wound, kissed her cracked lips and covered her with warm blankets.
But it could never be enough.
His heart was broken. Dmitry only hoped he could put her back together.
Chapter Eighteen
The pain dug into her with vicious hooks, pulling and rending until all she knew was its embrace. Fire streaked up her leg and through her shoulder, along her scalp and down her back. She called to her aba and ima but they ignored her. She called to Blade, Bullet, and Arrow and they turned away.
She called to Dmitry and he responded but he was too far away for her to hear him. She cried out to God and he did not answer. Bone was alone.
Always she was alone.
“You are not alone, sister,” Blade whispered.
Bone saw her sister then and her heart lightened.
“You came back,” Bone said reaching for her sister, touching her shorn hair and smiling. “I like your hair, sister. It is becoming on you.”
“You need to wake up, Bone Breaker,” Blade urged.
Bone sighed. “Is this death then?”
“Why do you think you’ve died?” Blade asked with a grin.
“Because you did not punch me for commenting on that horrible haircut,” Bone bit out around a gasp of pain.
“I came to see how broken you were and you make jokes,” Blade returned with a small laugh.
Bone nodded. “Yes. I like your laugh, Blade. It has saved me many times—have I ever told you that?”
Blade sighed and it was harsh, filled with pain. “Do not, sister. You suffered and I can find no joy in life right now. I came to tell you that…”
Bone glanced at Blade who simply shrugged. “That what?”
“Nothing,” Blade responded, her shoulders drooping for a single second before she masked her features in a blank facade.
Bone let it drop. “Why are you not in Sydney and where the hell am I?”
“Virginia.”
It all rushed back to her. The torture at Joseph’s hands, hanging from the cliff once again, and Dmitry, climbing down to save her. “I thought it was a dream.”
“Yet here you are, wide awake,” Blade quipped.
Bone tried to sit up, found herself unable to and the weakness taunted her. “I’ll ask again,” she said on a heavy exhale. “Why are you not in Sydney?”
“I am headed back today. Nodachi isn’t going anywhere,” Blade told her in a voice so low she knew she was the only one to hear it.
Bone nodded and spikes dug into her skull.
When her eyes opened Blade was staring at her.
“He came for you.”
“He did,” she replied though it hadn’t been a question.
“You will give him a chance to share his secrets as well, siúr,” Blade cautioned.
Bone went on alert at that. Surely the man who’d accused her of being a liar, wasn’t keeping his own secrets. She didn’t respond to Blade’s demand. Dmitry had been hers and then he wasn’t. “What do you know, Blade?”
“I know that everyone has secrets. And your Dmitry has always had more than his fair share. I am going hunting now, sister.”
“And you, Blade, what are your secrets?”
“It isn’t time, Bone,” Blade whispered. “Soon, sister, and we will all know the truth.”
Between one breath and the next, Blade was gone.
If Arrow was the darkness, Blade was the light. She could hide in the middle of a field of sunshine. And her blades sang such a wondrous song. Bone craved to hear her sister’s blades.
Bone tried to sit, forcing her pain to disappear though it was a difficult battle. Normally, she took the pain deeper inside, twisted into something she could purge. Now, when she had no enemy in front of her, she was forced to accept it. But it hurt and she cursed several times before she was able to sit upright.
She was hooked to monitors and she tore off the leads attached to the machines. She had just reached for the IV when Dmitry strode in and stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“You need the medicine,” he told her simply.
She didn’t fight him. Instead she stared up at the big man who had become her heart long before she realized she even had one.
“You live,” she stated, trying not to throw up at the pain in her head.
He nodded as he began to check her bandages. “Because of you.”
She rubbed her hand over her head, wincing when she rubbed over the stitches at her crown. “He did not cut my hair off,” she remarked wonderingly and then she remembered Joseph’s explanation as to why. How she hated him.
“But he did cut you,” Dmitry snarled.
She glanced up at him, alarm tripping through her. “Cutting is the least of what Joseph did to me.”
Dmitry closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring. It was an awesome sight watching him struggle for control.
“Do not be mad for me, Asinimov. I survived.”
It took him several moments but he nodded. “You live.”
“Because of you.”
He nodded again. “Do you feel like you can walk? The sooner we can get you up and moving the better off you will be. All of you heal at an exceptional rate but the infection from the gunshot has been your biggest struggle.”
“I need the bathroom,” she admitted.
“You have a catheter,” he told her.
“Remove it,” Bone ordered.
He stepped away from her and called out to someone standing outside the door. A slight Hispanic woman walked in. Dmitry spoke softly to her and then turned away. The woman removed Bone’s catheter gently.
When she left, Bone was once again alone with Dmitry. Her heart hurt seeing him, knowing he believed her a liar. But she had discovered something about herself while hanging from Minton’s old, fraying ropes. She had pride and she wouldn’t lower herself to beg for forgiveness from anyone. Ever.
She’d had her own agenda from the start and to apologize for seeing it through was wasted breath.
“The bathroom is through there. I will walk with you,” he relayed calmly.
“I do not need help, Asinimov,” she bit out.
“But you will get it,” he said gruffly.
“You would help a killer?” She was deliberately baiting him. His words about his father being a good man rang in her ears.
“I would help you,” he drawled.
She was too weak to fight him so she let him lead her to the bathroom. Bone took her time, using the restroom and washing her face. She brushed her teeth and thought she might fall on her face had he not opened the door and scooped her into his arm.
“I want to hate you,” she murmured at his neck.
His eyes flinched. “We each have contrasting desires.”
Just that quick she was reminded of how he’d felt against her naked flesh. How he had taken her so high and it had been
the only height she’d never feared.
“I will let you heal, kostolomochka,” he informed her. “But once that happens we will have our reckoning.”
“I have no reckoning with you, Asinimov. I killed your father. I killed your mother. Given the contract it would have been me instead of Bullet taking your brother. Are you so sure you’d want to dance with a killer?”
His gaze narrowed on her lips. “Let me tell you what I want, Bone Breaker.” He ran his nose down the side of her face. Then he licked her chin and stared into her eyes. “I want to consume you then rinse my mouth out, so my belly is full but I can no longer taste you. I want to settle between your thighs as I hold your throat in my hand, so my body knows ecstasy but my rage can be appeased at the same time. I want you to suffer but I want to lick your wounds, so that both your pain and pleasure come from me.”
Her mouth went dry and she moistened her lips, feeling a secret thrill when his cheeks went ruddy. There was a bridge of lust between them, but neither knew how to cross it. So the bridge would crumble and they would be left on opposing sides of this thing between them.
“There is one more thing, death bringer.” He lowered his mouth even closer to her, his breath mingling with her own, his intent unclear. “I want you to free me from my hate and let me free you from yours.”
A blaze burned deep in her belly and it had nothing to do with revenge. Bone wanted him like hell on fire, and she affirmed herself to that as she stared into the morning sky of Arequipa days ago. But she would not take his bait—not when she was weak. So instead she sought refuge in the mundane. “How long have I been here?”
“Two weeks.” He smiled wickedly and then placed her on the hospital bed before pulling the covers back up.
She could not fathom being out that long. What kind of things could have happened to her during that time? It was one of the first lessons Master had taught her—do not ever truly sleep because your enemies will find you and destroy you, leaving you to wander the wasteland of your dreams.
“One day we will talk about Abela Badr,” Dmitry said, clearly reading her face. “We will talk about Sacha and Svetlana Asinimov. We will speak on Ninka and you will tell me all the things the devil did to you. And I will take your pain and fling it to the far corners of the earth, because you are mine, Etzem.”
“I will keep my pain, Asinimov. It’s what keeps me alive,” she murmured.
The hand he’d raised to stroke her cheek fell to his side. His face blanked but she could tell he understood and that made her hate him for a moment. The hate was displaced almost immediately by a deeper, rougher emotion.
She ignored it and called his name. He stopped and she asked, “Can I sleep in my own bed?”
“Finish tonight here and tomorrow we will move you,” he said and then he left.
Her mind went foggy slowly and she knew he’d put something in her IV. She had just determined to get up, find him and castrate his ass for it when she saw the darkness coming for her.
She blinked once and fell asleep.
•●•
Dmitry closed the door once she gave in to the medicine. He leaned against the wall outside the small infirmary and rubbed his neck.
“We were not built for love, Dmitry,” Bullet said softly as she came down the hall. “We were created for war and death. If things are as you told me, she is likely remembering your horror at discovering she was the one to take your father. Give her time and if she’s as important as your face tells me she is, you will win not only this battle but the entire war.”
“You all kept that secret from me,” Dmitry bit out.
She shrugged. It was a nonchalance inherent in them all. They affected the bored killer persona so easily it truly seemed sometimes as if they had been born just to kill. “I will say again that First Team has an agenda that might align with Trident’s but we had our plans in place long before you knew the scope of who First Team was. The secret wasn’t mine to share and my sister comes before all others.”
He raised an eyebrow.
She smiled. “Except Rand. He is my only exception.”
“And she is mine.”
Bullet’s smile widened and Dmitry lost his breath at the beauty of it. It was rare to see the curve of this killer’s lips and his chest swelled at the gift.
“Then you will do whatever is necessary to get her through this. But remember, Dmitry, we are one. She will keep things from you still simply because her loyalty is first and foremost to her sisters. It isn’t that she cannot include you, it is that it would break her to do so. Until we are finished, we are our own.”
“She has already broken,” Dmitry pointed out.
“Her body, yes. But her mind is strong and so is her affinity for the kill. Bone has never been like the rest of us. Out of us all, she was the one who lusted for the kill. It is as if when she takes life she experiences acute relief. You look at her now and you see through the eyes of love. Do not make the mistake of denying what else is inside her. Bone will only ever see herself through the eyes of hate and death. It is the same for all of us. So if you truly love her, you will accept her and all that she has done in the name of righting wrongs and giving Ninka the retribution she deserves.”
“I will make this right,” he vowed.
She shook her head sadly. “There is nothing to make right, Dmitry. Just love her and she will be what she was meant to be before Joseph took her and transformed her into a killer.”
He pulled Bullet to him and kissed her forehead in thanks. She allowed it and Dmitry knew she’d given him another gift.
She began to walk away but turned back. “She will always be a killer. Only you have the ability to help her be more.”
Dmitry watched her leave and ran a hand through his hair. His hand ached but his fingers were healing well. Another two weeks in the cast and he’d remove it and begin physical therapy.
He walked back into the infirmary and sat down in the chair he’d taken up residence in the last two weeks. He watched her breathe and rubbed his chest. She barely moved, the fear still holding her mind.
But he was there now and he would protect her. Joseph would never touch her again. He watched her until his eyes closed and sleep weighed him down.
And then he dreamed about her.
Chapter Nineteen
In other world news, Russian President Vladimir Putin vows to find the people responsible for blowing up the east wing of the Kremlin. No one has stepped forward to take responsibility though Moscow has assured the Russian people they have everything under control.
Bone listened to the news report and nodded. Blade. Her sister had made sure the cell and tower she’d been beaten in had been destroyed.
“Would you like to see the babies today?” Bullet asked from the doorway.
“Not today,” Bone answered.
She was getting stronger every day. The infection was gone and her injuries healing well. Joseph hadn’t broken any of her bones—but he had cut and whipped her until her flesh burned and bled. The gunshot wound to her thigh was also much better. It hadn’t hit anything vital though it continued to hurt like a bitch.
Bone was growing antsy. With the exception of Arequipa, she’d never been in one place this long. She’d been in Virginia for a little under a month and it made her skin crawl to think of how vulnerable they were not moving from place to place.
It would have been much easier had Dmitry not been present. Indeed, she’d spent most of the last two weeks avoiding him.
The days had been easy. She trained and he did whatever it was he did for Trident. But the nights were…difficult. The darkness somehow shed light on her memories and the feel of his hands on her body, the taste of his mouth on hers and the sound of their breathing as they’d strained together in ecstasy was closer, louder. She’d tried turning on a light. She’d attempted meditation. But nothing took those memories away and Bone had finally given into the realization she didn’t want them to go anywhere.
&nb
sp; Should she have a future she would need to fill it with those remembrances of his body on hers. It would be all she had to warm her frozen heart.
He had left a few days ago with Adam and Rand. He hadn’t said a word to her. No doubt, she mused, they were headed to Sydney. Because of their endgame and the slight difference in their motivations from First Team’s, her sisters remained here.
It still blew her mind that Bullet and Arrow had settled enough to be together in one place for very long. But as Bullet said, if Joseph was coming for them, better they were together than separate at this point.
The men of Trident had headed to find Nodachi. He had the boy and the boy was First Team’s. Nodachi could run and he could hide, but Blade would find him and it would be on then.
“They will be returning tonight, but they haven’t found Nodachi,” Arrow murmured.
Bone snorted and glanced at her sisters. “I don’t care when they return. What have you two become? All you’re missing is knitting needles and yarn.”
Bullet laughed and Bone’s jaw dropped.
“It doesn’t happen often so make sure you remember it,” Arrow told Bone.
“Fuck you both,” Bullet remarked shyly.
“The Kremlin was Blade’s work.”
Arrow glanced at her, her eyebrows lowered and a frown tugging her mouth. “You need to train.”
Shock coursed through Bone. “Why do you say that?”
“Because you’re rambling,” Bullet offered. “Telling us things we already know.”
Bone shrugged and got up, walking to the window and glancing out. Why she picked that moment to look out the window she had no idea, maybe it was intuition or the universe giving her a heads up for all the shit it had given her over the years. Whatever the reason, she didn’t miss the glint of sun on glass.
“Scope, ten o’clock,” Bone said dropping down and crawling to the space between the two huge picture windows in the study.
“Another one, two o’clock,” Bullet’s hard voice came from the doorway.
“Get down,” Arrow called.
Then Bone heard a sound she’d heard many times before but only in war zones. As the RPG screamed through the window and detonated, everything went silent. Shrapnel bit into her skin and her vision hazed. Gunfire sounded and as she looked for her sisters, she saw Arrow down on the ground, not moving, eyes closed.