Page 128 of Midnight Sanctuary

I wince. He doesn’t even sound angry anymore. Somehow, that’s so much worse. I’d know what to do with his anger: take it. His sympathy, on the other hand, is a complete mystery. “Nikolai…”

“Don’t,” he says firmly. “You can apologize to me later. After you’ve found Alyssa and sorted out your shit with her.”

I sigh. “You’re a better man than I am.”

Nikolai snorts. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You’ve never played the victim before; don’t start now.”

“Alyssa’s in Boris’s claws because of me. And our last interaction was a dumb fight that involved me accusing her of cheating on me and trying to pass off another man’s babies as mine.”

Dimiv curses softly in the back seat but Nikolai just glares at me. “And you’re going to get her back and you’re gonna do everything in your power to make it up to her.”

“And what if I don’t get that chance?” I growl. “What if—”

“No,” Nikolai says sharply. “We’re not going there. You hear me? We’re not going there until we have to.”

“Damn straight,” Dimiv agrees from the back seat. “The baby birds have just landed. Stepan’s got them secured at the castle. Half the family is good—let’s take care of the other half.”

“Good.” I look down at the location on my phone. “We’re almost there. Seven minutes.” Nikolai steps on the gas and we hurtle down the road, past suburban cul-de-sacs towards a single house at the end of masses of empty land. “Check in with Dominik for an ETA.”

“We have enough men,” Nikolai says.

“I’m not taking any chances.” I gesture for him to slow down. “Park here and let’s walk down. The area thins out after this point and I don’t want to risk being seen before we’re ready.”

Nikolai parks on the side of the road just behind a thicket of trees. The three of us get out of the car while the rest of the caravan queues up behind us and begins to unload and arm themselves.

Dimiv tucks his phone away. “Dominik is right behind us. Should be here in a minute or so.”

“Good. Dimiv, take a couple of men and try to scope out the back of the house. I want to know what kind of resistance we’re dealing with.”

Nodding, Dimiv picks out three guys and they slip off down the road, using the trees as camouflage. Meanwhile, I grab the binoculars from the back seat of the SUV and aim them at the house in the distance. “We’re looking at two guys in the front… That’s all I can see.”

Nikolai pulls out a box of cigarettes and lights one up. When he sees that I’m watching, he offers me one.

I wave him off. “I’m good. You haven’t smoked in a while.”

He shrugs. “I’m feeling a certain kind of way.”

“Yeah? What way is that?”

“This is the same bastard that killed our parents. Fucked up Lev. This is the motherfucker that tried to sell Polly into sex slavery, tried to rape Alyssa, and now, he’s abducted her for the second time.” As he recites the list of Boris’s sins, I can feel my blood heat up to a boil. “It’s about time we finish off this asshole once and for all.”

I nod. “I couldn’t agree more.”

“Incoming!” Vlad calls from the jeep behind us.

Dominik arrives with two carloads of men in tow. He gets out of the lead vehicle and strides towards Nikolai and me.

“What happened to you?” he asks in alarm as soon as he’s close enough to see Nikolai’s face.

Niko shrugs. “Walked into a door.”

“Must’ve been a hell of a door.” He purses his lips, but doesn’t ask any more questions about the bruises. “What are we doing standing around out here?”

“Just doing a little recon. There’s Dimiv on his way back now.”

My cousin approaches. “There’s a car parked a couple of yards away. Two men inside. There’s bound to be more soldiers inside the house, but we couldn’t tell for sure. Windows are closed, curtains drawn.”

I nod and turn to Dominik. “Can you take care of the guys outside the house? That’ll give me time to get inside without being noticed. I need to do this silently and quickly.”

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