Page 59 of Delicious Prey

“Do you see him?”

Vadim’s reply is immediate. No. I didn’t shoot him.

Neither did I, which means he’s still very much alive. I’m almost to her when I spot him rounding the corner with his gun raised and aimed right at my precious zaika. I yell her name and lunge myself in front of her while I fire off a shot. Pain rips through me right as I see his head jerk back from the force of the bullet. He falls to the hard concrete floor at almost the same time as me.

Fuck! Vadim yells in my ear.

“Take care of her,” I say, the Russian words sounding far away even to my own ears. “Keep her safe.”

I barely register the sound of her muffled screams coming from somewhere above me. The bullet hit my chest, and already I can tell that I’m losing way too much blood. One of the dogs gives a whimper and licks my hand. I want to pet him, but my fingers refuse to move. When Vadim drops to his knees by my side and starts looking at the bullet hole, I let out an angry groan.

“Get her down,” I grit out.

He sees the look in my eyes and lets out a frustrated sigh before jumping up to free Lydia from the hook she’s been hanging from. He cuts through her bound hands and rips off his own shirt. I’m coherent enough to hate seeing her wearing another man’s shirt, and that thought gives me a flicker of hope, but then my vision starts to darken, and I can tell I’m not going to be conscious much longer.

“Kirill,” Lydia screams, dropping down next to me. She cups my face and presses her forehead against mine. “Please don’t die,” she whispers, and I want to tell her that I’m trying like hell not to, but I don’t have the strength. Her tears hit my face, and when she presses her lips to mine, I think that this isn’t a bad way to die at all. My baby’s lips are on mine, her hands are on my face, and I’m surrounded by her love. Not a bad way to die at all.

Chapter 16

Lydia

“No, no, no, no, no!” I scream the word over and over again while I cup Kirill’s beautiful, bloody face and will him to come back to me, but his eyes stay shut, and his body stays limp and unresponsive. Looking up at Vadim, I notice he’s talking into his phone while keeping a hand pressed firmly against Kirill’s chest. He’s telling whoever’s on the other end of that line the address to the warehouse and then describing where the gunshot wound is.

His eyes dart to mine before he says, “Hurry the fuck up. It doesn’t look good.” He hangs up and puts both hands on the wound that will not stop bleeding.

“We need to get him to a doctor.” I look around at the dead men lying around us, the four dogs with bloody muzzles who are pacing nervously, and the weapons that I’m guessing are not legally registered. Calling the police is obviously out of the question, but we need an ambulance at least.

“Already on the way,” Vadim says, making me feel a little bit better.

If they can get here in time, then maybe he can survive this. The thought of losing him sends a rush of pure terror through me. I’d been pissed at him earlier, so fucking pissed and angry and hurt, but I can’t lose him. He threw himself in front of me. The only reason I’m breathing right now is because of him, and I will not let him die for me. I won’t fucking allow it.

The door behind us bursts open, but I don’t turn to look. I lean closer to Kirill, bringing my lips close to his ear. “Don’t leave me,” I beg. “I love you. Please don’t leave me.”

I have just enough time to kiss his cheek before a pair of strong arms are pulling me away. I try to fight my way out of the hold, but it’s no use.

“It’s okay,” Vadim says, pulling me further away from Kirill and the two men who are quickly loading him onto a stretcher. “We need to let them do their job.”

I watch them carry Kirill away, and it’s only Vadim’s arm around me that’s keeping me upright. I sob until I can barely breathe, watching them put the man I love in the back of a makeshift ambulance.

“Who are they? Where are they taking him?” I manage to ask in a shaky, raw voice.

“They’re doctors who don’t mind earning money in a less than legal way.” He picks me up, being careful to pull the shirt I’m wearing down so his arm isn’t hitting my bare ass. There’s nothing sexual about the hold, not even with me in nothing but a shirt and him without one. It’s just comforting. He’s watched over me for two years, and now he’s just doing what he’s been trained to do—taking care of me because Kirill isn’t here to do it himself.

“I want to be with him,” I say as he carries me to the car, giving a whistle for the dogs before opening the back door. Three of them jump in, but one stays right next to me. Vadim ignores him and carries me to the front passenger side. Once he’s got me in and buckled up, the dog jumps in, sitting his large body between my legs. I see the bloody muzzle, but I don’t care. I wrap my arms around him, burying my face in his neck because sometimes you just need a dog to make you feel better. Vadim runs back inside and comes back out a few minutes later carrying a couple of handguns, several knives, and a large gun slung across his back. He puts them in the trunk, and when he’s behind the wheel, I ask, “Which one is this? I can’t tell them apart yet.”

“It’s Grisha. Oddly enough, he’s always had a soft spot for a hug.” I know Vadim is trying to keep me calm, but I can hear the worry in his voice. We both know how much blood Kirill lost. I’m covered in it, and when they moved his body to the stretcher, there was a sizable puddle on the concrete. I stroke Grisha’s fur and kiss the top of his head.

“Are you taking me to him?”

“No, I’m taking you home.”

“What?” I ask, jerking my head up. I twist around in my seat, trying to find the black van they’d loaded Kirill into. “I don’t want to go home. I want to be with him.”

“Relax, Lydia. I’ll take you to him, but first we need to drop the dogs off, and you need to get cleaned up.”

I look down at the bloody shirt and the filthy body it’s barely covering. I’d been so fucking scared when they’d grabbed me off the side of the road, and then when Enzo had introduced himself and told his men to strip me, I was so terrified that I could barely breathe. It had been so humiliating and scary, and I didn’t think for one second that I was going to come out of it unscathed, but I had. Aside from a few hits and the cut Enzo gave me, I’d left that warehouse alive and breathing. All because of Kirill.

“Will they call you if anything changes with him?”

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