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Rhia gasped and turned to Lucian. “There’s...there’s a pulse.”
“What?” Puzzled, Lucian replaced Rhia’s fingers over her pulse. The sirens grew closer.
“Go.” He turned to the other men. “Take her and get her out of here. I’ll take care of this.” Lucian pushed her into someone’s arms. She kicked and slapped to be released, but was only passed over to another set of arms.
“Cariña, I’m so sorry, amor. But we can’t stay.”
She raised her chin. Even through the darkness of her apartment and a small bulb from the kitchen she could see the hurt and truth behind his words through his eyes and tight draw of his lips into a thin line.
“Rhia, baby, Lucian will take care of her.”
“Okay.” Traces of dust hung in the air with a heavy thickness and burned the back of her throat. But there was no sign of Indigo. Lucian drew his phone out and started punching out a text to someone. Hopefully whoever was on the other end of the text could help her friend.
“Where is she?”
Both Roman and Sevastyan knew who she meant.
“Gone,” Sevastyan gruffed bleakly. “For now.”
Tears burned her eyes as she could do nothing more than breathe one second at a time.
She clung a little tighter to Matteo. “Maya did nothing to deserve this. Nothing! Why did this have to happen? And now Indigo will go back to Dimitris and the auction will be nothing but a death trap for all of us.”
She sensed Sevastyan bristle beside her but he stayed quiet. Probably picking his time to shut her idea of going to the auction down.
She pushed for Matteo to release her from his hold. Reluctantly he uncoiled his arms and obeyed, still keeping a hand firmly around her.
“I just need to say goodbye. Please. In case, you know.”
“You’ll make a strong queen.” Roman leaned in and wrapped his arms around her for a warm hug. Friends didn’t come easy and to have these four seemingly on her side made for a nice change of pace.
They moved her away from the bedroom and toward the splintered front door. Bodies littered the entire floor and she didn’t feel anything. Maybe later, after the noise stopped and her heart settled, crippling guilt would come screaming out of the darkness to shatter her world. But right now, all she could think was thank God her men had survived. She never doubted they always got the upper hand in a fight. Especially after tonight.
“Still, stay out of there. You don’t need those kinds of nightmares. Take it from both of us who have seen death many times over.”
From the shadows, she watched Lucian drape a sheet over her friend as she passed her bedroom door.
Sevastyan bent and lifted her into his arms and stepped over a crumpled body she recognized as one of the goons who tried to kill her outside the warehouse.
Her kings shuffled her through the apartment, surrounding her like a protective wall of muscle.
“I’ll catch up with you,” Lucian called out. Maya hung limp in his arms, a simple white sheet from Rhia’s bed wrapped around her.
She turned to Lucian and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Sevastyan leaned in a fraction until his lips graced over the shell of her ear. “Give me this one night and I’ll tell you everything, kroshka. You’re safe with us. I swear on my life. Trust me.”
She lifted her head and gazed into his eyes in silence. Her skin prickled with remnants of adrenaline in her veins. She trembled from the aftershocks. Weak and hurting, she didn’t have it in her to argue.
“Indigo and Dimitris are still out there. They are working together.”
“They are, but they still need me and won’t hurt you knowing you are under my protection. Dimitris will put a leash on his little pet after this.”
To Sevastyan’s complete bewilderment, Rhia pushed out of his arms.
“I need to grab something.”
She stepped over chunks of cement and glass until she located the bag she’d had with her before the crazy psycho ransacked her apartment. It was time for all the cards to be on the table. They all had secrets, and someone else would get killed, and having any of their blood on her hands would be the death of her.
Back at Sevastyan’s side, she said, “I’ve been in two gunfights tonight, faced down a Russian crime lord, almost shot another, was saved by Maddox and I think I’m falling in love with four men. All in the span of a couple of hours. And my friend is hanging on to the last threads of life.” An overwhelming sadness draped over her shoulders like a colorless fog of gloom, and it took a great deal of strength to fight back the tears that wanted free.
She sniffed. “You want what I know.” She pulled out the flash drive she’d tucked between her breasts for lack of a better place and held it up. “And I’m ready to talk. But I want answers too.” She placed a hand on Sevastyan’s chest, palm flat, his heart was steady but his breathing hitched beneath her touch. “And we can start with the fact you think I’m your queen.”
