Page 21 of Blood, Bones, and the Bratva Bogeyman

Underneath it, scrawled in jagged black marker, are six words:

Catch me if you can, Bogeyman.

I stare at it.

At the blood.

At the chaos left behind.

The game’s not just evolving, it’s multiplying.

I clench my jaw and walk into the night.

There’s a war coming, and it’s going to be bloody.

nine

Cressida

There’sathruminthe back of my skull. It’s a steady, simmering pressure just under the surface, like a storm rolling across my mind.

They’re foreign feelings that don’t belong to me.

It doesn’t take long for me to understand where they’re coming from and only seconds to cipher through them to determine what that thrum means.

Konstantin is angry.

No, it’s more than that. Kon is bloodyfurious.

I don’t know how I know, not really, but it’s there, deep in my bones like the ache of an old wound right before it rains. It pulses through the bond, heavy and hot and full of teeth.

He’s doing his best to keep it contained, but his truth is leaking through. Rage, guilt, vengeance—they’re all there balancing delicately.

And beneath it, flickering like a barely-there flame . . .

Fear.

For me.

This man, who I’ve not known nearly long enough, fears for me.

I close my eyes and exhale, pressing a hand to my chest, right over the place where our flash bond hums like a second heartbeat.

It’s not been long since it clicked into place, but it’s already made itself a home in my chest.

But this thing . . . it’s not soft.

It’s not some dreamy string of fate or gentle soulmate magic. It’s violent and demanding. And it knows me. It reads my shadows, my feelings, and it peels back my armor when I’m not looking.

And I hate it for that.

Mostly.

Because even now, with my own fear swallowing me whole, I can feelhim. Not just the anger and not just the heat.

Buthim.

And damn it . . .