Page 76 of Bratva Butcher

How disappointing.

Fuck. Maybe I should have taken Talon up on his offer to switch partners.

“Aleksandr, with your sister.”

Dimitri 2.0 stepped back at his father’s command, moving next to Illayana.

Talon’s stupid, smug face was on the jumbotron, his arms spread out wide. “Have I delivered, or I have delivered?!” he roared.

The crowd cheered, stomping their feet and clapping their hands so hard and so loud that it felt as though the entire arena shook.

“Now, as this is a fight with the Volkov family, it’s only fair thatallmembers of the family participate. And, would you look at that, we have another one right here!” The camera panned out, revealing Dominik.

He was instantly surrounded by soldiers. “What? What’s going on here?!” Dominik demanded, but no one answered him. The soldiers grasped him tightly, and he disappeared from the screen. A few moments later, he was thrown right into the arena with us.

Ohhh, karma isgood.

“Father,” one of Dimitri’s son’s growled.

“Leave him. He’smine,” Dimitri vowed. His gaze was locked on his brother like a lion sizing up its prey.

Talon continued to drone on and on, but I stopped listening. My eyes moved over the soldiers before me one by one, my adrenaline soaring. The thundering screams of the crowd fuelled the bloodlust pounding in my veins.

Never in my life had I been in a situation like that. I killed people for a living, sure. But that was through planning and subterfuge. Sneakiness and lies. I killed from the shadows. I embedded myself deep within people’s organisations, earned their trust, and then, when they least expected it, slit their throats.

Very rarely would I find myself in a position where I was forced to fight that many people at once.

That didn’t make me nervous, though. It made meexcited. Exhilarated.

Finally, a fucking challenge.

It was going to be a complete free-for-all. No holds barred.

I couldn’t wait. I knew I was going to die; there were simply too many of them to even hope for survival.

At least I would be able to take a few of the fuckers with me, though. As many as I could get my hands on.

Deep, bassy music began to play, signalling that the games were about to begin. We all prepared in different ways. Dimitri cracked his neck, one side then the other, before putting his fists up. Lukyan jumped up and down on the spot, shaking out his hands. Illayana cracked her knuckles and let her hair down before tying it back up in a tight bun. I stretched my arms above my head, twisting my body at the waist, left to right.

Talon’s soldiers shifted from foot to foot, tossing their weapons from hand to hand. Some of them looked nervous, sure—it was a nerve-wracking situation—but most of them had smug smiles plastered to their faces. They knew how drastically outnumbered we were. Thattheywere going to win the fight.

I felt the need to say something, so I went with what came naturally. “If we don’t make it out of this, Your Royal Grouchiness, it hasnotbeen nice working with you.”

What a bold-faced lie.Those last few weeks… I’d never felt so alive. But I would take that secret to my grave.

Dimitri grunted. “Same to you, devil woman.” Our gazes clashed. He could see I was full of shit.Icould seehewas full of shit. Neither of us acknowledged it.

What cowards we were.

“Let the games begin!” Talon roared.

Things kicked off with a motherfuckingbang. There was no hesitation. No fucking around. Everyone just ran forward, throwing themselves right into the chaos.

Without a weapon, I was at a disadvantage, but that didn’t last long. I didn’t need a weapon to kill someone.

It came naturally to me.

I dodged multiple attacks as I ran, blades whistling past my skin by a hair’s breadth. When I returned with my own strikes, I didn’t falter. I dodged left and struck out with a roundhouse kick to a soldier’s face so hard that he spun through the air, landing roughly on the ground. I ducked under the swing of a baseball bat and front-kicked a soldier right in his solar plexus before lashing out with a punch to the left and then the right.

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