CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
Drago
My throat tightens so hard it hurts.
“Lily,” I whisper without meaning to as I almost fall through my own front door.
No answer. The silence is deafening.
My eyes snap up. Everything inside me turns into one single, deadly point.
I step forward slowly, gun in my hand now, without even remembering drawing it. My gaze darts from the staircase to the hallway.
A low sound threatens to tear out of me, something feral and ugly, but I swallow it down.
Not yet. Not until I have her. Not until I know.
I race to the stairs. My boots hit the first step, and I take them two at a time, fast and silent, hugging the wall as I reach the landing.
Then I see him. Lev is on the floor beside the safe room doorway. Half on his side, one knee bent awkwardly, his handpressed to his stomach, his shirt soaked red. His face is grey. Sweat beads at his hairline. His breathing is shallow, wet, wrong.
But he’s breathing. He’s still fucking breathing.
I drop to my knees beside him, keeping my weapon angled down the corridor as my other hand goes straight to his pulse.
“Finn!” I all but scream. “Get up here!”
“Lev,” I growl. “Open your eyes.”
His lashes flutter once. Nothing else.
“Lev,” I say again, sharper. “Don’t you dare die before you tell me where she is.”
His chest rises with a shuddering inhale. His mouth moves like he’s trying to swallow broken glass.
He coughs and blood stains his lip.
My jaw clenches so tight I taste it. “Stay with me,” I order, pressing hard against his wound to slow the bleeding even though I know it’s too much. I know it’s already too late. “Where’s Lily?”
His eyes finally crack open.
Barely.
But they find me.
Finn drops to his knees beside me and takes over. All I see is the blood coating my fingers, and I want to throw up.
“She…” he rasps. “Came out.”
My stomach drops.
The safe room door, open, flashes in my mind again, like a nightmare frame.
“She came out? With Maria?” I demand the words ripping out of me.
Lev’s hand twitches weakly. His fingers curl into my sleeve, gripping like he’s afraid he’ll float away if he lets go.
My ribs feel too tight, like my lungs can’t fully expand.
