Page 155 of Unrequited

Ohgod.I hate seeing him hurt, hate seeing him suffer like this.

Another blow lands, and this time he’s thrown off balance. My breath is erratic. I’m rooted in place. Blood swells on his lip. He grunts, and my belly flips seeing him brutalized, but he shifts back to brace his body over mine. Protecting me even now.

Then we feel the vibration: distant gunfire. Footsteps. The unmistakable sound of someone approaching. Morozov rises and curses.

“Zoya,” Seamus whispers, his fingers on my wrists. “The loose end, love. Tug it.” I give it a pull, and his wrists spring free, then he loosens mine. Seamus is instantly on his feet and just as quickly puts his body between me and Morozov.

Then closer,boots hammer concrete, a warning shout. Thesnap-snapof a gun. Morozov turns, fury twisting his features. He barks a command, but it’s too late. A click followed by aboom!

Smoke fills the small room instantly.

Morozov shrieks something indecipherable in Russian, but his plans splinter as he’s ambushed. And then I see them—my brothers—Rodion, Rafail, Semyon. They’ve come all this way.

I can hardly see in here. Seamus yanks me to the side as a gunshot fires and a bullet wedges into the wall just beside me.

Oh god.

I’m screaming, deafened by the sound of ringing in my ears. Rodion’s eyes are wild, a blood stain on his shirt, his or someone else’s. He fires twice, cold and exacting, before calling my name.

“Zoya! Where is she?”

“I’m here!” I say, waving my hand, but in the dense fog of smoke, he can’t see me.

“Are y’alright?” an Irish voice rings out.

“Yes!”

“Oh, thank fuck.”

Is that… one of Seamus’ men?

Then I hear Seamus in my ear. “Down, love.” I fall to my knees just as Morozov points his gun at me, but before he can pull the trigger…

Bang.

Seamus shoots Morozov and hits him, straight between the eyes.

Moments slow. I stumble and drop to my knees, behind Seamus, covered by his body. Then I realize it isn’t just my brothers who have come—his are here, too, along with his cousins. Cavin and Ashland, Colm and Daire surround the Morozovs as one.

Our families. United in their efforts to save us.

I watch as things begin to slow. We exit the room, smoke billowing around us, gasping for air in the dark night, lit only by the moon.

Rafail stares at me and Seamus. Blinks.

“He protected you,” he says, bewildered. He blinks again.

“That’s what husbands are meant to do,” I say, looking him in the eye. My anger at Seamus is momentarily forgotten now. “Aren’t they?”

My brothers stand shoulder-to-shoulder, their weapons now lowered. Cavin stands, blade in hand, beside Colm, barking orders into a phone, and Daire, wiping blood from his face with the back of his sleeve.

Russian and Irish. Side by side.

“Come, lass,” Seamus whispers to me, offering a hand. “It’s time I get you home.”

Chapter 31

ZOYA