Page 114 of Land of Monsters

“Polina!” Dimitri shoved out of the door, screaming his wife’s name. Eve followed him.

“Dimitri,” his wife whimpered, tears streaking her face.

“Do not hurt her!”

“You should have thought of that before you decided to betray me. You think I wouldn’t know?” Sonya clasped her hands, speaking down from her perch above us. “Though I should know better than to ever trust a man. You all are so predictable, especially when your power is dwindling before your eyes. You become desperate. Foolish.

“Next time you send cryptic messages to your wife about your movements concerning the troops coming through the border, you might want to make them harder to decipher.”

My gut bottomed out, understanding the predicament we were in.

We had no help coming, and it was only us against hundreds. Plus the monsters she kept hidden below.

“Do you know what I do to those who go against me?” I swear I could feel her eyes find mine in the car, knowing I was here. Her hand rubbed at her stomach again, a smirk like she knew something none of us did.

Iain’s sneer became more prominent, his arms locked behind the cape draping from his shoulders, so comfortable in their power.

“I take away what they love the most.” Her chin barely moved before the guard shoved Polina off the ledge. Polin’s screams pierced the night, her body flailing before hitting the rocky ground far below their perch. Only yards away from where we were parked.

“Oh my gods!” Raven screamed out.

“Noooo!” Dimitri bellowed, trying to run to her, the guards holding him back. “Polina!” He thrashed, trying to reach the mangled corpse of his wife behind the lines of soldiers at the base of the castle. Blood splashed over the rocks and snow like someone spilled red paint.

“I warned you not to deceive me.” Sonya tilted her head.

“I will kill you!” Dimitri screamed back, saliva spitting from his mouth. “I will fucking kill you! I will take everything from you! I will rip his heart out in front of you!” He gestured to Iain.

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Both Sonya and Iain laughed. “You are nothing now, Dimitri. You have no family, no mafia working for you, your cabinet has turned against you, and soon you will be banished as leader of Russia. You have no power,” she sneered. “You are weak and pathetic.”

The insult surely hit his pride like a knife, his body tensing before he yanked away from the guards. Reaching over, he grabbed the gun from Eve’s hand, pointing it up at Sonya.

Bullets exploded into the night air.

Guards lunged for Dimitri while I saw Iain reach for something under his cape. In a second, he brandished a bow and released an arrow.

Dimitri moved, but the arrow still found a target, sinking into flesh and bone.

Eve’s scream sliced through my nerves, puncturing my eardrum. The blonde stumbled, falling to the ground, the arrow sticking out of her sternum.

“Eve!” Raven cried out. It was automatic, ingrained in her to respond to her friend since she was young, no matter what had happened between them.

Eve gasped and gaped, the arrow affecting her more than I expected, but she was no longer my concern. Neither was Kozlov.

I would protect my family.

A squawk chilled the already frozen air, a dark wingspan gliding over Sonya’s head.

“Kill them all,” Sonya ordered Nyx.

“That fucking bitch,” Brexley snarled as the hawk swooped down for us at the same time the troops took her order, marching for us.

“Fuck.” I clenched my teeth, making a hasty decision. Slamming on the gas, I yanked the wheel, spinning the car in reverse. The tires whirled in a circle over the icy ground, tearing through the grass as I punched the car forward. Wesley peeled away, flipping around and following us while hordes of men with fae-like strength leaped for the cars, shooting at our tires.

“Come on, come on!” I begged the car to move faster. We were vastly outnumbered, with no hope of assistance. We had to get the hell out of here.

Inches away from the barrier, magic flared and crackled up the invisible wall, the Druid barrier sparking with power. Spells like this were to keep people out, not in, yet I could feel us beingsealed in. The spell sizzled with power, barricading us from going through it like a wall. Tugging the wheel to the left, the car squealed with effort, the right headlight and side smashing and scraping against the barrier, taking the brunt, while I flipped us around.

“What the fuck?” Raven physically jerked, sucking in sharply, black fur prickling her arms and face. I felt it through her, the signature of the spell maker.

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