Hazy moonlight broke through the trees, showing off a lake that shined like it was filled with black diamonds. It was dark and eerie and yet still gorgeous.
I followed the shoreline until I spotted a white dove perched on a rock.
I ran toward the bird, my heart pounding. If I could just hold it, I’d feel better. I would find the others, and we could go home.
As soon as I got close, the dove looked at me before it fell over and landed on the mossy ground.
Diving, I tried to catch it, but it slipped through my fingers. My shaky hands hovered over the dove, trying to figure out how to help, when I saw a large claw mark going down its back, staining the white feathers bright red.
A coo came from the side of me, and I saw the other two doves, grey and black, laying on the ground in a similar position. All of them were breathing, but barely. All of them looked like the wolf took a chunk out of them.
All I could think about was that the pain had to be unbearable, and I had to help them and had to get them to safety to heal.
I tried to balance them in my arms by gathering them all up as gently as possible. It was like holding a glass, their soft, fragile wings always threatening to break, the rattle of their breaths rising and falling in an erratic rhythm, my hands unable to keep the trembles at bay. I hoped it wouldn't cause them discomfort as I tried to find my way back through the murky forest.
That was when a growl rumbled behind me like a storm brewing from the depths of something savage, cruel, and evil.
My body shook violently, but I had to turn to look at this beast who harmed my doves. All I could feel was my chest rising and falling rapidly as I ticked around to face this large, overbearing wolf.
It snarled, and I jerked back, its fangs too long, reminding me of freshly sharpened white knives and red eyes that glared at me like I was nothing. Like I would no longerbeanything when it was done with me.
I opened my mouth to talk to it when another growl came, and this time, it chomped its teeth at me, showing me what it would be like to be captured by it. Fear. That took over as I turned and covered my face, not wanting to be swallowed whole.
Seeing those white baby soft stained feathers on the ground, I glanced at the doves, not knowing what to do or how to save us from this. If I didn't defend them, if I didn't do something, then this wolf was going to rip me apart savagely and then feast on them and… I couldn't let that happen.
My eyes snagged on a large, jagged gray rock, snatching it as fast as I could, and I chucked it at the wolf with all my might, hitting him right on the snout. That seemed only to anger him, which made him growl again, but this time, he jumped lunging for me with those big scary fangs, and all I could do was cover myself with my arms and hope it didn't hurt.
“Get up, Kazia.”Hands shook me awake, and I gasped, covering my face so the wolf wouldn't get me. When nothing happened, I looked up to see three sets of eyes on me, filled with concern. Looking at the bed and then back to them, I realized I was out of the dream and back to reality. Before I could register what was going on, someone lifted me, and I was moving without using my legs.
“You’re light as a feather, my wild Roma.” Cezar smiled down at me, his arms holding me tight as he moved to follow his brothers.
“I just got a text from Gage that they got a tip from our rivals here, the Shadow Kings, who heard the three of us were here and heading our way with a van and massive artillery. We need to get out of here fast.”
That woke me right up. Whispering to Cezar to put me down, which he pretended not to hear, I watched Ion and Nicu fighting about where to lie low until we could get to the plane tomorrow.
A loud screeching sound came from the front, and Nicu quickly clicked the screen on his phone to pull up the security camera. “Shit. They're here.”
Cezar set me down, and we fell into a natural huddle as Nicu gave orders. “Cezar, I need you outside, taking out as many as you can before they infiltrate the house. Ion, take Kazia with you and stay on the outskirts of the house. Avoid as many windows or doors as possible, but keep moving. I don't want you two to become a target.” He looked around quickly. “I will stay in the center of the kitchen; that way, if someone slips by, they can easily find me and think I'm an easy target.”
He tapped on the wall, two taps, one tap, one pause, three taps, and a three-foot square popped out to reveal a set of handguns. He handed two to Cezar, who frowned, complaining under his breath about not being able to use his knife. He handed one to Ion with an extra ammo and took the last one himself. A piece of me wanted to complain that I wasn't getting anything to defend myself, but then again, I was their prisoner.
“Okay, let's go,” Nicu called out, and just before I turned to face Ion, Cezar grabbed the front of my dress, yanking me forward until our lips met. It was a short kiss full of passion and longing that made me wish we had just a little longer.
Ion yanked my arm, glaring at Cezar, who smiled widely like a crazy clown. “I’ll be back for you, my Roma. Let me take out the trash like a good husband first.” In a split second, he dashed out the back door, hollering to the men outside, asking them who would like to be taken to the garbage first. Pops of gunfire went off, and my heart dropped. Ion tugged me to follow him, but my ears were desperate for a clue as to how Cezar was doing until I heard a loud cackle, and his voice rang out, “Is that the best you got?!”
My chest unraveled, being able to breathe better when I heard his cocky, too-sure-of-himself voice calling out like a maniac to those wanting to kill him.
Ion whispered along my skin, making the muscles clench, “He’ll be fine. He’s very, very hard to kill. I promise.”
He grabbed my hand and waited like he was asking permission instead of tugging me along. He stared down at me, his eyes swarming with emotions. Regret, disappointment, pain, anguish, lust. All of them were strong and deep, but we didn't have time for a conversation like that. Instead, I nodded, letting him take my hand, and we moved around the house slowly and carefully. With each room we passed, he turned off all the lights and then pointed his gun in the room, scanning it for intruders before we continued.
The house was eerily quiet. Every gunshot from outside made us tense, reassuring us—for now—that the fight hadn’t reached us yet. “Keep close to me,” Ion demanded that I listen to him with absolute authority, and I huddled closer.
With our bodies so close, they occasionally rubbed against each other, especially when he stopped to check a room. The heat of his back along the front of my chest had my breathing turn up a notch. The excitement and fear mingled inside me like a tornado; my senses heightened, and I almost laughed at how having him with me made me feel safe. It was a direct one-eighty from when I first got here.
Something happened between us when he forced himself into my room and told me about his darkest pain. While it didn't excuse his behavior, I at least understood it, and it made sense. I would never know the pain of having your father's sins laid on you in your mother's eyes, but it had to have been painful. Mixing love and hate into this toxic self-hatred that bleeds out into his everyday life. It was heartbreaking, and I wanted to soothe it and tell him she was wrong. When he was gone the next morning, only the heat of the sheets gave any indication he had been there; I knew he wouldn't hurt me again. Deep down, he didn't want to be his father because he hated him.
I was starting to collect damaged men like Pokemon cards. Snorting at my joke in my head, Ion was not amused.
