The gun goes off, the bullet going wide, and the scarred man rounds on me with fury in his eyes. His fist connects with my face, and pain explodes through my cheek. I fall, hitting the floor hard.
Through the ringing in my ears, I hear Dimitri roar. It's a sound of pure rage, primal and terrifying. Then the scarred man is falling, a red bloom spreading across his chest.
I try to get up, but my vision is swimming. Strong hands grab me, and for a moment I panic, thinking it's another Kozlov soldier. But then I smell that familiar cologne, feel that familiar heat.
"Alina." Dimitri's voice, rough with emotion. "I've got you. You're safe."
He's cutting the zip ties from my wrists, his movements quick and efficient despite the chaos still raging around us. The plastic falls away, and blood rushes back into my hands, making them tingle painfully.
"Can you stand?" he asks.
I nod, though I'm not sure it's true. He helps me to my feet, one arm around my waist, supporting my weight. His men are still fighting, still clearing the cabin of threats.
We're almost to the door. Almost free. Almost safe.
Then I feel it. The cold press of metal against my temple. A gun.
Dimitri freezes, his body going rigid. His eyes lock on something behind me, and I see murder in his gaze.
One of the Kozlov soldiers, one I haven't seen before, has his arm wrapped around my throat, cutting off my air. "Drop your weapons, or I paint the walls with her brains."
He's backing up, dragging me with him. Away from Dimitri. Away from safety. Toward a rear exit I hadn't noticed before.
Dimitri's men have their weapons trained on us, but they can't shoot. Not without hitting me. The soldier is using me as a human shield, and he knows it.
"You're not leaving here alive," Dimitri says, his voice deadly calm.
"Maybe not," the soldier agrees. "But neither is she. Not unless you let me walk out of here."
We're at the back door now. I can feel the night air on my face as he kicks it open. One more step and we'll be outside, in the darkness, and Dimitri will lose me again.
I meet Dimitri's eyes across the cabin. I see the calculation there, the cold assessment of angles and odds. I see him weighing my life against the risk of letting this man escape.
And I see something else. Something that looks like fear.
The gun presses harder against my temple, and the soldier takes another step backward, pulling me with him into the night.
16
DIMITRI
Time fractures into crystalline shards of awareness. The Kozlov soldier's arm wrapped around Alina's throat. The gun barrel pressed against her temple, cold metal kissing pale skin. Her green eyes wide with terror, finding mine across the smoky interior of the cabin.
Something primal tears through my chest, ripping away decades of careful control. I've killed men before. But this is different.
This is Alina.
My wife. The woman who stood up to her father, who pressed the panic button I gave her, who trusted me to come for her.
The woman I love.
The realization hits me with the force of a bullet, and I have to lock my knees to keep from swaying. Love. That weakness I swore I'd never allow myself. That vulnerability that gets men killed in my world.
I can’t really be in love, can I? Is this what it feels like?
But looking at her now, at the fear in her eyes and the way her hands grip the soldier's arm, trying to create space between the gun and her head, I know the truth. I'd burn the entire city to ash for her. I'd sacrifice everything I've built, everyone I command, every principle I've held.
I'd die for her.
