Page 122 of Feral King

“Yang?”

He's wounded. I can see the bandage beneath his coat, but he's walking without assistance. Behind him is a squad of men, weapons raised, moving in formation.

Lee freezes.

"Yang," she repeats. I can see her pulse spiking, her breathing becoming labored.

"Margaret." Yang's voice carries across the warehouse, calm and controlled. "We need to talk."

Alexander spins toward the door, gun raised, eyes wild. Lee's men don't know who to point their weapons at—Yang's strike team, Sophia, or me.

Behind Alexander—silently descending from the catwalk on a length of cable—Julian drops to the warehouse floor.

He lands without a sound.

He raises his weapon and points it at the back of his brother's head.

“Hello, Alexander.”

Alexander’s expression turns to one of despair and defeat. He doesn’t turn around. “J–Julian?”

“Good to see you, brother.”

Nobody is breathing.

Blood is about to be shed. The only question is whose.

CHAPTER 44

JULIAN

Ihave a Glock 19 pointed at the back of my half-brother’s head.

Yang has Lee’s bodyguards in the sights of multiple automatic weapons.

Lyra is bound to a column ten yards to my left, her expression a mix of relief and fear.

I flick my eyes to Lee. She keeps her weapon raised, her trigger finger twitching.

“Don’t even think about it, Lee,” I say. “Yang is alive, as you can see. Your coup failed. The men behind you are Triad enforcers and Bratva lieutenants. This ends one of two ways. Time to choose.”

“You are so arrogant, Julian,” she says. “And that will be your undoing. And you, Yang, are an old fool. You shouldn’t have gotten cocky when that first shot didn’t do the job.”

Then she does just what I’d expected.

Sheaims directly at Yang.

Yang says nothing, he only smiles.

There’s a flash, then a loudPOP.

Yang stands with his gun raised, the scent of gunpowder filling the air.

“I suppose I’ve always been one to push my luck,” he says.

Lee’s arm drops. She looks down at her stomach, where a red stain is spreading across her pristine cream blouse, confusion on her face.

Then the rage returns.