Page 105 of Barinov

“Huh?” Roman’s hand raises to his ear. “Hold on. What?” he asks into the comms. “Yeah… no, okay… Jesus Christ give me a damn second!”

He tears it out of his ear. “She wants to talk to you.”

“She?”

He cocks a brow. “Just listen to her.”

I put the earpiece in and before I open my mouth a low syrupy-sweet voice punches through my ears.

“Cade, honey,” Sabine says. “I know what you’re seein’ and I know it’s dark. But I need you to listen to me. Right now, you’re the only one who’ll be able to pull him back in.”

“W-what?” I whisper.

“From this darkness, chéri,” she confirms. “Bella ain’t here to do it this time, so that task falls on you.” She lets out a long sigh. “So buck up, go sit your pretty ass back down, and make damn sure he sees you there. L’ombre needs to know that the love you have for him still burns hot. Especially through this hell that monster’s puttin’ our boy through right now. You understand me?”

My knees nearly fold, but I nod.

She clicks her tongue. “I didn’t hear you.”

“Yes ma’am,” I say.

Roman and I head back toward the bleachers just in time to see Lex fall to his knees, the blade jutting out from his shoulder.

“NO!” My scream tears through the room. He rips it out. Blood sprays across the mat, quickly pooling beneath him.

I sprint to the cage, hammering my palms so hard against the rusted metal that they sting.

“Lex!” I shriek.

He’s swaying, his shoulder gushing blood like a split paint can.

“Cade?” he rasps, his head hanging low.

“I’m here,” I cry.

Viktor’s brother leans down, fingers gripping the bat.

“You need to get up,” I order.

Dragging the bat behind him, he prowls toward Lex. His cold, dead eyes glare through the blood weeping from the gash at his brow.

“Get up!” I bang the cage again. “Right now, baby.”

Our eyes lock. The feral, burning blue I love so much now dull and hollow. Like a storm finally run dry.

“Get, up,” I whisper, my fingers clutching at the cage. “Please.”

“Now, Vlad!” the Vasilev from the bench screams. “Do it!”

Vlad towers above Lex’s kneeling body. He tilts his head, locking his eyes with Lex, and raises the bat into the air.

“This is for our brother. You Barinov bastard.”

He brings the bat down with a bone-shattering force.

“NO!” the scream rips through me.

THUMP.