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Raven swallowed back sorrow and disgust. “You blame me for that?”

“No, but being on your protection detail, knowing the closer I got to you working as your bodyguard, earn the trust of your parents, the more I could bend them to their knees.”

“But why?” Raven blinked back emotion. “What did they ever do to you?”

A deep laugh came from behind Eve, my blood turning cold at seeing who stepped out of the darkness.

Nikolay the Bloody.

“Ohdorogoy.” Sweetheart.The half-Vampir stepped to Eve, his nose brushing up her ear through her sleek ponytail, his hands on her hips, pulling her slightly back into him. A heated smile formed on her face, showing an intimacy between the two.

Lovers.

“What haven’t they done? Your family has caused so much death and destruction. They are drowning in it, in their corruption.” Nikolay’s cruel smile was pointed at Raven. “But your hands are just as red now. And Mommy, Daddy, and your uncle just swept it all away, like his life didn’t matter, like all our lives don’t matter to you guys.” He kissed Eve’s neck, though his gaze never left Raven. He stepped around the blonde, a smirk on his lips. “And I think it’s time you pay for your crimes. Have your family know how it feels to lose a child.” He nodded at one of his minions. “To really feel despair.”

“What?” Eve turned to him.

“Kill her,” Nikolay ordered the men.

“No, please! Don’t!” I tried to move my body in front of Raven’s, ready to take the bullet. The three men around me grabbed me.

“Nik?” Eve frowned. “We are supposed to take her back.Vozhdtold us he would handle it.” I knew that word had been once what Russians called Stalin. Chief, supreme leader.

“TheVozhdisn’t here.” Nikolay’s vocals tightened, not liking her stepping in. “I am. And he told me to handle it.”

“Nikolay.” She blocked him, worry crinkling her brow. “He said nothing about killing her.”

“Get out of my way.” His lip curled, showing off his sharp canine teeth, his anger simmering under the seams. He was not someone you fucked with. “Or you will be next. I can find an easy fuck anywhere.”

She jerked, hurt coloring her cheeks, and moved out of his way.

“You touch her—”

“You’ll do what, tree fairy?” Nik folded his arms, a knowing grin hinting on his lips. “Yes, I know who you are, Ash. Your name back in the day, along with Warwick’s, used to cause fear. Now look at you. A babysitter for a noble brat.” Hetsked, his head wagging. “Pathetic.”

My jaw cracked under the pressure of my teeth. Nothing in this cave gave me any power; even tree roots were too far above me to feel.

“I don’t particularly want to piss offThe Wolf, but if you get in my way, I guess I’ll have to.”

“Fuck you.”

“Your choice then.” Nikolay shrugged, ordering his men. “Kill them both.”

“No!” I bellowed. As a shot rang out, I wrenched from the men’s grips and leaped for Raven. I felt it sink into my gut, the pain tearing through my abdomen, a grunt driving me to my knees. I lurched for one of the men holding me, taking him down with me, trying to grapple for his gun.

I heard Raven scream, calling for me, saying something else in a fevered tone, but I could no longer hear her. Gunshots exploded off the cave walls, flashlights flickering around as pandemonium took my senses.

Metal clanked to the ground, my attention catching Raven’s bracelet landing on the stone.

“No, Raven!” A woman’s shrill tone pierced the air in an echo.

Everything felt like it stopped. The power coming off Raven halted the air in my lungs, freezing us all in fear with the warning that something even deadlier had entered the space.

“Raven! Don’t!” Eve cried out again, as if she was the only one who knew what was coming.

A deep growl came from Raven, beams of light flickering over her.

She lifted her head, her hair sliding away from her face. My body jerked back, seeing her hair and skin turning black as night, her features slightly off, dark magic swirling around her.