Page 84 of The Devils' Darling

He bursts out of the doors, dragging me with him, and stops.

Facing us, with no obvious weapon and his hands up in the air, is Kirill.

Chapter 36

Kirill

I hold Paxton’s gaze, even though I’m dying to look at Mackenzie and make sure she’s unharmed. I can’t take my eyes off this motherfucker for a second, though. I can see her in my peripheral vision, gagged, but standing on her own two feet. There’s the glint of a knife digging into her side.

“Get out of my fucking way.” Paxton pushes the knife farther into her ribs. “I’ll gut her like a pig in front of you if you don’t.”

“You can’t get out of here,” I tell the son of a bitch. “There are drones up. Dogs who have your scent.”

He laughs. “Nice try, but they don’t have my scent.”

“They do. When we knew you’d be a threat to Mackenzie, the college dean got his men to take a piece of your clothing from your apartment. The dogs have your scent. They’ll rip you limb from limb if their handlers give the word.”

“I’m taking a car, so no, they won’t. Now, move aside.”

“You can’t drive out of here except by the main exit and entrance roads, and they’re heavily armed,” I say, keeping my tone level. “You have to go on foot some of the way. The dogs will catch you and tear you apart.”

“Well, she’ll be attacked, too.” Paxton sneers. “So that’s fine by me.”

“No, she won’t. They’re highly trained. Why don’t you just let her go? You can walk out of here if you do.”

“Sure, I can.” Paxton’s words are loaded with sarcasm. “Who the fuck are you, anyway, to have any say in what happens to me?”

“He’s one of the Devils,” Tino says as he approaches from our left, also with his hands visible.

Dom isn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Oooh, scary name. Am I supposed to cower in terror?” Paxton gives a shrill, overly loud laugh.

I wince at the sound because it isn’t the sound of a well-adjusted man. He’s unraveling. Already was when he drove a damn bomb onto the campus, but the longer this goes on, the worse he gets. That knife sticking in her side will only need a few millimeters more to end our Duchess.

“I’ll drive you out of here myself,” I say. “Right through the main gates.”

“I don’t think you get it. If I don’t get to keep her, no one does.”

I force a laugh. “She’s not that special.” The words stick in my throat, but I have to say them and try to get him to move away from her so I can take him down. “Plenty of fresh pussy out there.”

“Yeah,” Tino joins in. “What if we give you safe passage and throw some money into the equation, too?”

Paxton’s gaze flicks between us. “She’s special to me because she ruined my life. We’re in a pact now, me and her. We either die together, or I ruin her fucking life in return. There can be no other outcome. Now I can see you’re in love with her.” He laughs at me when I start to shake my head. “Don’t deny it, blondie. It’s written all over your stupid face. I know if I push this knife deeper into her side, slicing through arteries as it goes and signing her death warrant, you’ll kill me. Guess what? I. Don’t. Fucking. Care. All I care about is making this cunt pay.”

He pushes the knife a touch deeper, and Mackenzie sobs, the sound muffled and pitiful.

Loud buzzing comes from overhead, and a shadow falls on Paxton. He glances up, and, as he does, the knife in his hand lifts away from her side.

It’s the moment I need. I take that split second of distraction and use it to throw myself into them, taking Mackenzie with me as I hit the ground.

“I’ve got you,” I whisper to her.

I wrap her in my arms as the bullets start to fly.

Chapter 37

Domenic

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