Page 98 of Thorns of Love

The blade zipped through the air. My hands covered my lower abdomen. I shrieked as piercing pain shot through me.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three bullets rang through the air.

By the end of this, someone’s going to hurt.

Adrian’s words rang in my ears, mocking me, as darkness pulled me under.

THIRTY-FIVE

KONSTANTIN

I’d tasted death three times.

The first time was when I saw my mother murdered in front of my eyes. The second time when I saw Tatiana in the rolled up vehicle, bloody and bruised, while her piece-of-shit husband tried to flee.

The third one was now. And it just about brought me to my knees.

The world turned in slow motion as that fucking knife flew through the air. I pushed her out of the way but gravity worked against me. I watched with horror as blood spread over her dress, like a nightmare determined to swallow me whole.

Bullets flew. I didn’t hear them.

Panic unlike any I’d ever felt before froze me in place. My hands gripped my fragile wife, pressing her to my chest. Pain tightened through my chest, making it hard to breathe. I couldn’t breathe without her.

She’s my air. She’s my life.

Fuck no!

This wasn’t how our story would end. We had just barely gotten started.

I put my fingers on her slim neck and waited for the pulse.

There!It was there.

The knife was lodged in her abdomen. My heart lodged in my throat, I held her gently, my mouth skimming over her cheeks.

“Don’t you fucking dare leave me,” I murmured. Her light strands of hair shone like gold against the white background. She needed medical help. Now!

“We can’t pull the knife out. It may cause her to bleed out,” Alexei said, his voice monotone but I caught a slight tremble of his hand as his fingers wrapped around the handle of the knife.

I stared at him. Sasha and Vasili behind him, falling to their knees. Boris shot another bullet into Adrian’s corpse. Straight between his eyes. No reincarnations.

Except none of it meant shit without her.

“I’ll keep it steady while you move her to the SUV,” Alexei said. Fuck, my eyes burned. My throat hurt. My chest constricted with the kind of fear I hadn’t felt since I saw my mother die in front of my eyes.

“Konstantin, you hear me?” Alexei snapped.

I nodded.

Alexei’s cold composure fed me strength. It kept panic out of my head and dread out of my heart. I have waited too long to have her to let anyone, even God, take her from me. She was mine - my future, my heart, my life.

I touched my hand around the knife wound, tracing the flesh lightly while the warm liquid drenched my fingers. The scent of copper and roses thickened the air.

Just like that night!

No fucking way. She couldn’t die. Shewouldn’tdie. Our story wasn’t done yet. It had barely begun.