Page 85 of Damaged Princess

"I didn't," Dimitri says, dragging me backward. "Not until your vile prick of a cousin murdered my friends and took off with the boss's wife. Then it was only a matter of waiting to see where she ended up. I think the great and powerful Soren Nikolov will be in for quite the shock when he arrives athisdestination."

My heart races as I clutch at Dimitri's arm. That doesn't sound good at all. No, scratch that. My heart literally stops beating as Vik looks me dead in the eyes. He sends me a pulse of comfort.

Dimitri continues to back us toward the door. He bumps it all the way open. I can tell by the scratching sound and the jolt that hits my body as he pops back into me.

"Do you wish to risk her life?" Dimitri asks, standing just inside the doorway. The cool night air hits my skin. I tremble from the cold and a combination of outright fear.

"I won't be," Vik says. He doesn't even glance at Dimitri. He stares straight into my eyes.

A rolling wave of nausea hits me so hard that I squeeze my eyes shut. I'm pretty sure I'm going to vomit. I think I gasp something to that effect. When my eyes open, everything is spotty.

"Follow us and I'll shoot her in the face." Dimitri chuckles. "That would be a shame. It's messy to fuck a bleeding corpse."

My blood goes icy. He really is a sick son of a bitch.

I mouth, "I love you" to Vik. It's so hard to focus on anything as my stomach rolls.

Dimitri steps out onto the porch. I have no idea what happens next because it's behind me, but all I hear is the sick crunch of bones breaking. There's a violent jolt as Dimitri's arm digs into my stomach. He bellows and it makes my ears ring.

Dimitri's arm falls from around my middle, and I instinctively toss myself forward back into the house toward Vik. Another disgusting crunch fills the air.

I clamp my mouth closed as my stomach rolls.

"Get a towel," Rafe calls. "Jesus Christ, man. He got you good."

"Exactly how long were you going to stand there?" Vik grumbles, wrapping his arms around me.

"As long as necessary to ensure I had a clean maneuver," Wolfe says indignantly.

Vik lifts me and I wrap myself around his chest. "Shh, you're okay, princess."

I think maybe I'm in shock because what comes out of my mouth is, "I know I am." Vik heads for the bathroom and grabs several towels before heading back to the door. He tosses them to Rafe.

I sob as I get a look at Wolfe. He's got blood streaming down his face and covering his shoulder.

"I'm good, dollface," Wolfe assures me.

I blink rapidly when I catch sight of Murphy and Luke. They've both got guns at their feet and they're helping Rafe stop Wolfe's bleeding.

"We need to call an ambulance," I whisper.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Anastasia. It's twenty-something degrees outside. Put some clothes on," Murphy grumbles. "We added an addendum at the lodge. No half-naked omegas can roam the halls."

"Shit," Vik says.

"I'm bonded now," I say, like that changes everything. I remember the morning he carried me down the stairs, he said nounclaimedomegas could wander the halls half-naked.

Yeah, I'm fairly sure I'm in shock.

Vik immediately spins back around, carrying me inside. He helps me put on a pair of Rafe's sweats and a hoodie, as well as socks and shoes.

"Did Wolfe break his neck?" I ask, trying to swallow, but it's practically impossible. My mouth is bone dry. I don't even feel nauseous anymore. I'm actually quite numb. It's not a bad feeling at all. I'm pretty sure all of this is a dream, or a delusion anyway.

"He did," Vik agrees. "It was risky, but Wolfe has experience with that move and the model Dimitri was carrying has trigger safety, meaning unless the firing pin safety and trigger are fully depressed it's not going to fire."

"Oh," I say, like I have any clue what that means.

"You couldn't see it, but Wolfe's first move was pulling Dimitri's gun arm down and breaking it. Once that was done, Dimitri immediately went to try to support his broken bone. It's an instinctual reaction. That's when Wolfe transferred pressure to the neck. It's a very quick combo that we practiced many times when we were in training."

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