“Savage,” I huff with a slight cough, feeling heavier than ever. I’m slick and coated in sweat, trying to get my body to work with my brain.
Parker grunts, bearing most of my weight. “I got you, man. C’mon. Your men are all over the place, taking out Syndicate members like beer cans on a fence.”
My brain immediately buzzes with the need to bark out orders. To make sure everyone is safe. “We need to help them.”
“Nope. My mission was to save the king. Retrieve the queen—”
“it’s Duchess—”
“...Besides, Aleksi has a fuckingtank.”
“High friends in low places,” I groan out.
Parker chuckles, “Yeah, that’s exactly what Aleks said.” He leads us out of the room and through the corridor I've been through only a few times. My legs begin to move with a fraction more speed.
“Parker?” Sabrina says from my other side. “Where are the other people that were being held here?”
“I let them go when I got the doors open.”
“Is that what took you so long?”
“Darlin’, I got to watch you piss on a man's face while he gargled it and shoot a bullet between his eyes. I’m pretty fuckin’ sure I got here at the right time.”
Sabrina huffs, and before I can shift my weight more to Parker, she replies with, “I think I went a little too easy on him.”
I grin down at my violent little wife, feeling my legs move more swiftly now.
“This way.” Parker leads us further down the corridor. “Shit. There's a fuckton of stairs, Maks. But I don't know another way out.”
“I can do it. I can move my legs a bit more.”
He opens the door, and I let Parker go up first in case anyone tries to come down; he can get to them. I crawl up the steps with Sabrina behind me. As we get closer to a black square, I realize this is the way they had us moving like fucking cattle the night I was game. I use my arms to crawl faster, scrunching my abdomen to move like a fucking worm. The sounds from outside are getting louder, and it sounds like a war zone.
“Parker… the noise…”
His eyes flash. “I got it, Maks. I know where I am.”
Parker gets out and reaches for me, helping me out of the hole and into the shed. I sit against the wall, legs stretched before me. I take as many breaths as I can, waiting for Sabrina to come up. She smiles down at me. “Are you ready?”
I nod, and Parker helps me up once more. The sensation in my legs finally returned. “Fuck. I think I got this. I can walk.”
“Just hold onto us for the next few minutes. And don’t let go. We have to go through the manor to get out. If you could walk, I'd say we climb over the wall, but I don’t think it’s feasible, and the only other way out… is the manor. Good thing Aleksi blew a hole into the side wall the size of fucking Texas.”
He opens the door to the shed and the noise is louder. There are body parts all over the property, plumes of gray and black smoke billowing in the soft, crisp breeze, ash mixes with snow, and my jaw drops at the sight of my men dragging out more elder Syndicate members in suits and ties, having them kneel in the snow. Kill shot after kill shot, they’re executed, brain matter and blood splatters on the ground before their bodies fall forward. Hot crimson melts the blanketed snow, creating little rivers of blood and viscera.
My teeth chatter from the cool wind whipping around us. It’s a massacre.
But it’s fucking beautiful.
“Alice,” I mumble.
Parker looks at me, then at Sabrina.
Sabrina lets go of me. “I’ll get her before your men do in case they think she’s one of ‘em.” She tips on her toes and kisses us quickly, running in the direction of the manor, kitten heels leaving tiny footsteps in her wake.
“No, Sabrina, wait!” I scream after her just as Parker shouts her name.
“I’ll find you!” she screams on a backward glance and continues. Her strides are powerful and determined. She keeps her gun out and shoots as someone comes running out, jumping over the bodies.
