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“Stand down!” I yell. “Collect the bodies and prepare them to be returned to their families. Be ready to move out in ten minutes.”
My men reluctantly pivot to the task I’ve assigned, leaving me alone with The Bear and The Wolf. I’m thinking about what Konstantin said as I sat in the burning husk of my company.It’s like he’s got a fucking ghost on his side.
I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. I’ve been scrambling, checking everywhere for leaks—and the answer was so obvious from the start. The two of them showing up here without their third is proof.
“Your brother has betrayed you,” I tell them.
They nod in grim understanding. “He will pay for it,” The Bear growls. “Broken blood oaths cannot be forgiven.”
The Wolf sighs. “He broke the oath, but—”
“There is no excuse for what he has done,” The Bear snarls. “He is a traitor to our brotherhood. He is—”
The only warning of another man’s approach is the single snap of a twig.
We all whirl as one, weapons drawn, a group of stone-cold killers ready to unleash hellfire on whoever dares venture too close.
But even I am taken by surprise when I see who it is. The one man we are all most eager to kill.
The Tiger bows his head as he steps into the open. His scarred face is twisted in regret. “The Bear is right,” he says. “There is no excuse for my sins.”
I clench my fists. I hate Petyr and he will pay for what he has done, but I never expected better of him. But The Tiger? I trusted him. He broke an oath and betrayed me. I don’t have forgiveness enough for that.
Neither does The Bear.
A low growl rumbles deep in his chest. “You are a disgrace to the Babai and a shame to your brothers.”
The Tiger stands his ground. His eyes are downcast and his body is slumped, but I’m not willing to take his submission at face value. He’s lied before. I won’t give him the chance to do it again.
The Wolf and The Bear close in on him from either side. They’re so perfectly synchronized, so rehearsed—but there’s no circumstance under which they could have prepared for this.
I step forward. “Are you here to fight? Or die?”
His eyes flicker to his brothers. “I’m prepared to die here today. And I will take my dishonor with me.”
The Bear pulls out a sleek silver knife from a hidden sheath. It glints under the moonlight, betraying how deadly the blade is. “If only it were that simple. Your dishonor taints us all. You know the rules as well as I do. You know the punishment for betrayal.”
The Tiger looks resigned to his fate. “Death by a thousand cuts.”
“And I shall make each one hurt,” he snarls. “You will stay alive until the last of them.”
The Bear’s jaw quivers as he vibrates with rage and grief. He’s not going to take any pleasure out of killing his brother. He has to do this because the rules demand it.
I almost empathize with him.
I know a thing or two about being a slave to the rulebook.
The Wolf turns his head from his two brothers in disgust. “I want no part in this bloodletting. Pakhan Orlov—I will accompany you to see that our purpose is served in full.”
I nod in acceptance. As I do, my phone pings. I check the message and see the address I’ve been sent. I recognize it, and it’s ironic enough to make me laugh, but I’m numb to shock at this point. The only thing I feel is the urge to march onward, to keep moving until I find my wife.
So I pocket my phone and leave these ancient ghouls to their rituals.
As The Wolf and I walk out of the garden, I hear The Bear make his first cut. The night swallows up The Tiger’s moan, waiting hungrily for nine hundred and ninety-nine more.
My men are waiting for me at the entrance of the mansion. Every one of them glances curiously at the silent Wolf by my side, but no one questions his presence with us.
I get into the lead car with Konstantin and The Wolf.
