“Kayden, what’s on your hand?”
“Fuck, sorry,” he says, releasing my hand. “Jaxon’s hurt pretty bad. I was trying to put pressure on the wound, but there was so much blood…”
“Jaxon’s here? Where’s Melody?!”
“Don’t worry, angel. She’s safe back home. James, Emilia, and Jaxon accompanied me on the flight over. Donovan and Axel should be here any minute.”
Thank God. Kayden stops in his tracks and places a hand to his ear. “Thank fuck, you guys. Jaxon needs help, he’s to the west of the house with Emilia. It’s not good.”
There’s a pause before he continues. “No, don’t worry about me, Donovan. Your orders are Jaxon. I can handle Andrei myself, he’s the last one left.”
Donovan must pressure him. “No, don’t send Axel. He’s going to have to stay with you. He’s the only universal donor here and Jaxon needs bloodnow.”
Kayden looks down at me and places a finger to his lips before motioning for me to follow him.
We only make it a few steps into a moonlit clearing before a hand yanks me backwards and I cry out in surprise. My gun drops silently to the forest floor as Kayden turns, but not fast enough.
The cold steel of a knife is placed against my neck, and I know it’s Andrei behind me. Motion at my side has me looking out of the corner of my eye as he brings up the barrel of a handgun, freezing Kayden in his tracks. Proving a point, he shoves the gun against my head, causing my neck to bend at an uncomfortable angle.
I completely freeze, fear choking me as my legs threaten to give out.
“Thought you could get away from me, pet?” Andrei asks angrily in my ear.
Kayden stands across the small clearing from us, gun raised, chest heaving as his anger ripples across his face. “Let her go.”
“Now why would I do that? I’ve already had a feel for her tight cunt, you know,” Andrei taunts him. Kayden’s eyes dart to mine and a mask of anguish covers his face at Andrei’s admission. “I don’t think I’m ready to let go of my new pet just yet.”
“You’re not going to kill her,” Kayden challenges, raising his gun at Andrei.
“Maybe. Maybe not. But are you willing to take the shot at me with her between us and my knife at her throat?”
As though to prove his point, Andrei digs his knife in until blood runs down my neck. I let out a shallow gasp at the pain but try to stay as still as possible.
“Alright, fine!” Kayden yells. “You proved your point, but my men are on their way here right now. You’re about to be greatly outnumbered. Give her to me, and maybe we can talk this out.”
“Put down the gun first, Kayden, or else my knife might slip a little further,” he sneers as he points his gun at Kayden.
Kayden raises his hand and slowly crouches to lay the gun down on the ground before straightening, his hands still raised in surrender.
“It’s unfortunate, you know. She really loves you. But soon, she’s going to be filled with my cock so often she won’t even remember yours.”
Kayden’s hands lower and he clenches his fists, his jaw fluttering as his eyebrows pull down, pure rage radiating off him. Andrei is trying to get a rise out of Kayden and it’s working.
“This one is going to be my most prized pet. Hell, I might even auction off her services for one night to my customers. I think she’ll bring me in a pretty penny. Make her work off what I paid for her. Make her pop out little babies over and over again. I’m going to absolutely ruin her, Kayden, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Kayden charges across the clearing, Andrei’s words finally breaking him. Andrei takes a small step to the side and fires the gun quickly, emptying the entire clip. I can’t tell if any of the shots hit their mark, but Kayden doesn’t slow as he takes advantage of the small gap between Andrei and I as he tackles him to the ground. I fall with them and my eyes widen at the sharp pain at my throat. As Andrei falls, the knife slices my throat, the pain burning as the hot blood runs down my cool neck.
Kayden lands punch after punch to Andrei’s face until eventually he slows, his back heaving as he takes in large gasps of air. Andrei pushes him off and Kayden falls to the side, and only then do I see the damage. Andrei slowly rises to his knees before straightening to his full height, breathing heavily as he stands above Kayden with the knife in his hand.
My eyes scan the forest floor as I desperately search for the gun I dropped when Andrei grabbed me. With Andrei completely oblivious to me and his focus solely on Kayden, I rise to my knees, feeling around the leaves and twigs on the ground, tears running from my eyes.Fuck, I can’t find it.
Come on, come on, come on.Think. My eyes dart over to where Kayden laid his gun down on the ground, but there’s no way I’ll make it there without Andrei noticing. My hands continue to sweep the forest floor until suddenly my hand grazes cold metal. I grasp the gun in my right hand and rise to my feet, placing my left hand under my wrist to stabilize my aim.
Andrei moves, maybe to stab the knife into Kayden’s chest, but I don’t wait to find out. I shoot, over and over and over again, all my shots landing in his upper torso. Andrei looks up at me as he staggers over Kayden and drops to his knees a few feet from me, blood already trickling from the corner of his mouth. He smiles like he won and the action confuses me.
“And this is for what you did to me,” I growl, landing a single shot in his head. His body falls over as the life leaves him completely. I lay the gun down and run over to Kayden, dropping to my knees next to him. This is why he smiled.
“No, no, no, no.” My hands shakily hover over his chest and the numerous bullet wounds, unsure which ones to focus pressure on. My own blood drips onto him, still running in rivers down my neck.
