Page 24 of Gemini Wicked

Hearing Zara’s yell, Neo’s desperate face swings from me to Racetrack. “No way! Not me. I’m not leaving Zara. You help Ronin!”

“Bollocks,” I groan.

I know what my girl’s doing. Neo’s a civvy, a noncom, he’s helpless in a fistfight. Zara feels like it’s her responsibility to protect him first, then the rest of us.

Never mind that it’s our job to protect her. Pulling that sweet lad of ours away from Zara while she’s this deep in the shit will kill him.

Xiao’s foot swings toward me like a wrecking ball. I flop away from the kick and manage to avoid the worst. Still heavy and tingling with shock, I swing my leg round, clumsy and uncoordinated as fuck. Through sheer brute force, without any of my usual panache, I knock Xiao’s feet from under him.

He crashes to the deck with a yell. The shock stick he’s gripping clatters out of reach.

Over his sprawled body, I catch a glimpse of RT charging up the old battery to do her thing, with eyes like molten lead and the ends of her short hair floating.

Poor Red’s fiercely protesting the whole plan as he’s muscled toward the cabin. “No no no, not me! Ronin—”

“Abigail Prudence Bulworthy Prynne.” Zara roars in the lightning voice, edged and humming with the voltage of a good strong Compulsion spell. Because that mouthful’s RT’s proper name, and names have power in the witching world. “HELP. NEO.”

RT’s face hardens with resolve. I bark out my own protest—it’s Zara who’s the target, Zara we’ve got to save—but I’m too bloody late. Racetrack’s Compelled, and her arm sweeps wide.

Neo’s desperate protest ends in mid-syllable. Our bookworm’s solid body vanishes in a blink.

His two bullies bellow in surprise and outrage.

“Hell.” I flop onto my gut, get a knee under me, use my wobbly arms to muscle my aching chest off the deck. “Red.”

He’ll never bloody get over this.

Gods willing, Neo’s already materialized back at the domus. With any luck, he’ll find Dez on the landline ringing up the Dean.

My head’s still muddy, so I barely register the flash of steel. That fucker Xiao’s back on his feet.

Coming at me from my blind spot.

With a blooming knife.

“Shit.” I push up to stand, but my clumsy palms skid in a puddle of spilled booze. I crash back to the deck, hard enough to bite my tongue. The metallic tang of blood fills my mouth.

The blade slices past with a thin seam of fire that licks my shoulder blade.

Now I’ve really gone round the bend. That prick just ripped my D&G jacket that Vasili picked out for me. I’m probably bleeding all over the thing. When Vasili sees the damage, I’ll never hear the end of it.

Growling with fury, I roll hard into Xiao—hard enough to bruise—and knock that six feet of trouble right to his knees.

“What’s your bloody problem anyway, mate?” Forcing my heavy arms into action, I pin his knife hand above me, holding the blade at bay, even though I’m still wobbly and shocky as fuck. “You jealous of me or what?”

His lip curls in contempt.

“It’s not about you, hot stuff. It’s about her. About what it’ll take to make her lose her Gemini shit on live TV.” He’s got leverage in this position and he uses it, pitting his full weight against my numb and tingling arms, glaring into my eyes the whole time, teeth bared in a grimace of effort. “I figure—this’ll do it.”

Hell, he isn’t wrong.

Despite all I can do, that shining blade’s inching, inexorable as fuck, toward my neck. If he buries that blade in my throat, he’ll make Zara mental. Not to mention what it’ll do to Vasili and Lucius, who’ll both blame themselves.

Plus he’d put a serious damper on my whole day.

I haven’t got shit for leverage. But I manage to twist my hips and knee him a decent knock in the junk.

He yelps and collapses on top of me, nearly skewering me like a damn kebob. I barely catch his wrist, a breath before he’d give me that involuntary tracheotomy he’s jonesing for.

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