Page 15 of The High Priestess

“Go.” I shove her backward. “Please.”

She starts to move, her eyes brimming with tears. “I love you, Cassia.”

I nod as I watch her walk farther away from me. “I love you too.” Turning away so I won’t see her cry, I raise my right arm, my fingers flexing around the handle and trigger of the gun.

My breaths slow down, and for a moment, it sounds like I’m underwater as a dizzy wave hits.

When the first bratva soldier appears from behind a container, I pull the trigger, but it misses. I turn around and rush into the nearest open space, but much to my horror it’s to see there are no more containers, and Eleni’s running toward the back entrance.

I dart forward and run after my sister while randomly firing at the men as they appear from the openings between the containers.

When Eleni makes it out of the warehouse, my gun clicks, indicating it’s empty. With no spare magazines, I toss the weapon to the side and make a run for it.

I hear the sound of an engine speeding toward us, and my eyes flick to the side. The next instant, the windshield of the SUV shatters, and the vehicle swerves to the right, crashing into the side of a warehouse.

A group of men comes after us while another flanks us from the left.

“Eleni!” I try to run faster, but my body refuses, and instead, I begin to slow down. “Run!” I gasp.

Suddenly, one of the bratva soldiers falls to my left, and I realize we have someone looking out for us. It gives me the strength to keep jogging after my sister.

Another soldier hits the ground, then they start dropping one after the other. I’m just beginning to think that we might escape, but then one of the men takes a bullet and falls backward. I can only watch in horror as he pulls the trigger, sending a spray of bullets in our direction.

Eleni’s scream has my eyes darting to her, and seeing her collapse rips a harrowing cry from me.

I start to run again, but when I’m a couple of feet away from her, a bullet slams into my back, and I go down hard. Agonizing pain rips the breath from my lungs, and I’m only able to groan as I watch more soldiers being gunned down by our rescuer.

Somehow, I manage to push myself up on my elbows and use the last of my strength to drag my body closer to Eleni.

She’s lying on her back, staring up at the sky while blood trickles out of her nostrils.

“Eleni,” I whimper when I reach her.

She blinks slowly, and her speech is so slurred I can’t make out what she’s saying.

Blood starts to pool beneath her head, and whatever fight I have vanishes.

“Eleni,” I groan, my heart shattering into a million unrecognizable pieces.

Again, she makes a garbled sound, her movements jerky as she tries to lift her hand. Lying on my side, I manage to wrap my fingers around hers and watch as the blood trickling from her nose forms bubbles with every breath she exhales.

“Hold on for me,” I plead. “Help has arrived. You’re going to be okay.”

She turns her head drowsily, and lying in the middle of a shipping yard, we stare at each other.

Let her live. Please. Take me and let her live.

There’s a gunshot near us, and I let out a cry while I try to pull my body over Eleni’s so that the bullets will hit me instead of her.

I hear boots running toward us and just keep staring into Eleni’s eyes. “I love you. So much.”

Her features strain, and I can see it takes everything she has to whisper, “Love…you.”

A sob bursts from me, someone crouches right behind me, and I brace for the kill shot.

“I’ve got you. Stay down,” the man orders, and then I hear as he fires bullet after bullet at the enemy until the last shot rings in my ears.

I’m grabbed by my shoulder and forced to turn onto my back. My vision blurs from all the pain and blood loss I’ve suffered, and when it comes back into focus, my eyes lock on a pair of dark green ones.

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