Ash took a step closer.
“Stay back, fae,” Caden snarled, adjusting the gun at my head like he was ready to kill me.
“Please,” Ash smirked. “We both know you are not going to shoot her.”
“You don’t know anything about me. Or what I will do.” Caden’s chest puffed up.
“I can feel the binds you have to her.” Ash inched him and Hanna closer. “You love her. You won’t shoot her.” He moved even closer. “So how about this? We make a trade, like going to market. Your girl for my girl.” Ash’s eyes glinted, looking at me with a wink, knowing he was getting a rise out of me. “You know, you’re probably getting the better deal.” He flicked his chin at me. “That one is quite lippy and a real pain in the ass. Never listens... always getting into trouble and wanders off when she shouldn’t...” He tipped his head, making the last point clear.
I glared at him but couldn’t deny it. Yeah, I was all those things.
Ash moved him and Hanna closer still, a mischievous smirk twisting his lips. Hanna’s eyes went wide, fear blasting through them like stars, her head shook, her screams muffled.
“I said stay back.” Caden pressed me closer to him. I could feel him becoming rattled, not knowing how to get out of this without sacrificing Hanna or me. The need to please his father would override his decision. Between saving a soldier or losing me? Istvan would have made his choice clear on that. Hanna would be sacrificed. “And I don’t make deals with fae.” He spat the word like it was dirt on his tongue.
“That’s a shame,” a gravelly voice rumbled behind Caden. The gruff sound slithered over me, instantly igniting fire in my veins, rushing life through my body, coiling between my legs.
Fuck, that man...
The sound of metal cracking against flesh and bone echoed off the walls. Caden’s frame dropped away from mine, plunging to the ground with a thud.
“Caden!” Whirling around, I dropped down next to my old friend, checking to see if he was still breathing after being pistol-whipped. His head gushed with blood; a large wound cut into his scalp. “Basszus, Farkas! You could have killed him!”
“But I didn’t,” Warwick grumbled, pulling my gaze to him. Aqua eyes scorched through my soul, his massive physique heaving with adrenaline and fury. Blood and cuts covered his face; his lip curled up in a snarl. “Yet.”
I could feel his wrath, the line of death he still walked, his fury at me and at the boy who laid next to me. I could also feel his walls shutting down the link between us.
The pounding of footsteps hit the alley, whipping Warwick around, his gun pointed.
“No,” I exclaimed, rising to my feet, already knowing who was running up.
Scorpion, Maddox, Birdie, and Wesley came around the corner. It was subtle, but I watched Scorpion’s shoulders drop in relief the moment his eyes met mine.
“Oh good, more of your fan club,” Warwick muttered, running his hand through his tangled hair, his eyes rolling back.
“X.” Birdie was covered in wounds and blood, looking like a warrior princess with her long white-blonde hair and angel face. She flicked her head between Warwick and me. “Legend.”
Warwick snorted, dipping his head in response to her.
Seeing Birdie, Scorpion, even Maddox and Wesley, I felt another puzzle piece click in. I didn’t know how it all fit together; I just felt in my bones. These people were meant to be in my life. I had known them for barely a day before we had to part, but it was already there. Like they were an extension of Andris. My true family in this fucked-up world.
“HDF has retreated,” Maddox told us, his glance dancing between the form on the ground and the terrified one in Ash’s grip. “But you know it will only take them a moment before they regroup and return. Especially for him.” Maddox pointed at Caden. “Kill them, because we need to go.”
“Kill them? No!” Panic fizzed in my lungs like lava.
Maddox looked back at me like I was insane. “Yeah. We don’t take prisoners out here, and we don’t let people trying to slaughter us go free. They will turn around and kill us without blinking. This isn’t training camp. This is real life. It’s kill or be killed.”
No one disputed his claims. Wesley cocked his gun, heading for the body lying on the ground next to me.
My best friend.
My first love.
The person who curled up next to me after my father died and held me at night when I cried. The one who would sneak into my room and share his dessert with me because Rebeka thought it would ruin my figure. The boy who had always been by my side through all my pranks and mischief.
“No.” I moved defensively in front of Caden, blocking Wes, a snarl on my lips. “You will not kill him.” I ground my teeth, ready to fight if I had to.
“X, get out of the way.” Wes tried to move me.
“You will have to go through me first.”
Wes stopped, glancing back at Maddox then me, wondering what to do.
“You willing to fight me?” A snarl snapped off my tongue, my body rolling in a threat. I would fight to the death for those I loved.
Wesley took another step.
In a blink, Warwick moved in next to me, a deep growl penetrating the walls. Low, but the threat was felt down to your toes.
“Your guard dog can muzzle it.” Scorpion stepped forward. “We take them alive.”
“But—” Maddox started, but with one look from Scorpion, he shut up.
“Let’s move out.” Scorpion motioned for us to exit the alley, signaling for Warwick to get Caden.
Warwick’s nose wrinkled as if he were about to attack Scorpion.
“Either it takes three or four of us to carry him, or just you.” Scorpion motioned down Warwick’s frame.
Warwick inhaled deeply, his eyes darting to me before he huffed. Walking over, he roughly grabbed Caden, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack, which was better than I was expecting. Ash hauled Hanna behind us.
We all traveled back to the main road, spotting more of Sarkis’s army moving around, picking up dead soldiers’ weapons and items that could be sold.
“Hey!” A man crouched over Luk. “I think he’s still alive.”
“What?” I sputtered. Taking off, I bolted toward where Luk lay, my knees scraping the pavement as I hit the ground.
“Luk?” I bent over him. “Oh gods... Luk...” Hope danced in my chest with the chance he might still be alive, ready to do anything.
Bring him back to life? A voice slithered into my head.
“Take her!” Ash shoved Hanna at Scorpion before elbowing me out of the way, his ear going to Luk’s mouth, fingers at his pulse, trying to find a sign of life. “Shit! It’s barely there, but he’s still breathing.” Ash sat up, ripping the backpack from his shoulders, tossing it onto my lap as he ripped off his sweater. Using it as a tourniquet, he wrapped it around Luk’s torso, pressing down on the wound, trying to slow the bleeding. “I need to get him to a place I can clean this out and heal him.”
Maddox whistled at two bulky guys pinching shiny objects nearby, waving them over. I stood, pulling Ash’s discarded bag onto my shoulders, watching the guys run to us. They looked like they were half pig or something, with flat noses and no necks. They weren’t ripped or tall, but you could tell they were strong.