“Over my dead body,” I grit out as I squeeze the trigger. But as my gun goes off, so do several more, shots ricocheting all over the room.
I hear the bullets whiz over my head.
And when I lift it again…both Sver and Ivan have dropped to the ground.
Rush moves first, kicking the gun from Ivan’s hand and then places a hand at his neck. “Dead.”
The room stills.
Around us, several men lay wounded or dead, but all eyes are on Ivan.
“Brothers?” I call out.
Tris responds first. “Here.
“Here but wounded,” Gris grits out. “Bullet to the leg.”
“Here,” Rush answers.
“Here,” Killian shouts. I look up to find him already tying off Gris’s leg. “Didn’t hit an artery.”
“Here,” Dimitri adds last. “Bullet to the shoulder.”
Katarina begins wiggling under me, but I don’t let her up. It’s still too dangerous. Some of Ivan’s men are frozen against the wall, not able to escape but not willing to fight.
“Sver?”
“Here,” the man calls back in his thick Russian accent. “Dying.”
“Let me up,” Katarina begs. “I need to see my brother.”
“Round up Ivan’s men,” I bark. “Hands tied behind their backs. Dimitri, how bad is it?”
But it’s Killian who answers. “He’ll survive but he’s going to need surgery.”
Katarina kicks under me.
“Winston,” Sver calls to me. I look over at him, my hands coming to either side of Katarina’s head. In my mind, she still needs me to protect her.
“What?” I bark, my eyes narrowing.
“My war with Ivan reaches back decades. It had to be me who ended him.”
Is he trying to tell me he delivered the death shot? I jerk my chin, acknowledging the gift he’s given me.
“Take care of my daughter.”
Katarina bucks under me again. I love this woman. But I know she’ll rush toward her brother or Sver. And both would put her in unnecessary danger. “Always.”
“And tell her I’m sorry that I didn’t do better.” He lowers his head, his eyes closing.
Katarina’s hand fists into my shirt, her head burrowing into my neck, as she lets out a feral moan.
“Kitten,” I murmur. “Please understand. One of these men could still shoot you.”
“It’s not that,” she whispers into my neck. “I thought I was alone. For so long and now…I have you, and it turns out, I had Sasha, Dimitri, and even Sver, all along. How did I not see?”
I drop my head, my nose brushing the shell of her ear. “Maybe you’re finally open to love. I know that’s how I feel.”
