No. I thrashed against him but couldn’t seem to wiggle away or tip him over. What the hell was wrong with me?
“Stop fighting me.” The barrel of a gun jammed into the back of my head while he tugged at my pants. “You deserve everything you get, fae-lover,” he seethed in my ear, pushing down my underwear.
“Try again, faszszopó.” Dicksucker. A feral growl thundered before Rafe’s body was torn from mine. I flipped around to see Farkas lift the big guy off the ground by the throat like he weighed nothing. Ruthless. Vicious. The legend I remembered who killed the bull-shifter with one hand was in front of me. Warwick throbbed with pitiless anger, his eyes dark, sparking with revenge and death.
“It’s you who will be taught a lesson.” He squeezed his fingers around Rafe’s neck, making his eyes bulge. My classmate’s legs kicked frantically, his hands clawing at Warwick, every second growing weaker. “A deadly one.”
Like crushing a tomato, Warwick’s hand clamped down, and the blood vessels popped in Rafe’s eyes as the snap of his neck cracked off the stone. The Wolf snarled as he let the body drop in a heap, staring at the corpse as if he wanted to bring him back to prolong the kill this time.
Eventually, he twisted to stare down at me with a sneer. “You’re welcome, princess.”
Gashing my teeth, I climbed to my feet, forgetting the leap in my heart from thinking he came for me. That he followed me. “Fuck you.”
“Looks like I have to get back in a very long line if I want a turn again.”
Rage fueled me forward. “Eszem azt az ici-pici szívedet!” I’m gonna rip your heart out and feast on it!
“Whoa! Whoa!” Ash stepped between us, his hands on my arms, pushing me back. I hadn’t even noticed he was there until now, the mythical asshole always seeming to dominate my focus. “Just calm down. This is not the time or place. You can kill or fuck each other later. We need to get out of here.”
“Brex?” Luk’s panicked voice came back around the corner, his shoulders easing when he saw me and who I was with. “Don’t do that. You scared the crap out of me. I turned around and you were gone.”
Warwick puffed up, stomping for Lukas.
“Next time, keep your fucking eyes on her at all times, asshole.” Warwick got an inch from his face, fury streaking his features. “If you leave her again like that, I won’t hesitate to gut you.”
“Warwick!” I tried to shove him off Lukas, not even moving him an inch. “Back off.”
“Fucksake, I leave you guys alone for a moment, and everything goes to hell.” Kek strolled up to us, blood and gore streaking her cheeks, and tinting her blue hair red, her eyes back to normal. “That was fun with your little friends. Got a little rush there.” She licked her fingers as her gaze drifted to Ash. “Always makes me extremely horny.”
A slight smile hinted on Ash’s mouth before he turned away. “We need to go. The hyenas aren’t too far behind, and there could be more HDF.”
Warwick, still in a stand-off with Lukas, curled his lip, his shoulder ramming into Luk’s hard, almost knocking him to the ground as he passed, following Ash.
“You okay?” Luk asked me, his glower still tossed back at Warwick.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I touched his arm, reassuring him. “Ignore him. He’s being an asshole.”
“Hard to.” Luk shot another glare at Warwick. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was so far ahead.”
“I was extra slow for some reason. Don’t worry about it.”
“I worry about you anyway. But I don’t think he’s the kind to lay down false threats.”
Walking with Kek and Luk, Ash and Warwick were a few yards in front of us.
“Like I said, ignore him. His ego is all puffed up and obscenely massive.” I rolled my eyes.
“And if you recall, princess.” Warwick peered over his shoulder at me. “So is my dick.”
The new headquarters was a row of neo-classic buildings on Kürt Street. Boarded up and long abandoned, the buildings were condemned, and even the homeless avoided them. But whatever it looked like on the outside, the underground area was vast, reinforced, and secure enough. It was clear Andris had found this property a while back and had been preparing it. The space was very basic, but there was the computer room with a few screens up, a workout and training space, canteen, and an entire wing for the sleeping quarters, some with beds and some still empty. The place was up and running enough for Sarkis’s army. What was left of it.
The main underground space was filled with the wounded: gunshots, broken bones, burned, bloody, beaten. Their eyes were swollen with grief, pain, and exhaustion, their shoulders sagging with misery. We had taken a huge blow, and by the faces and quiet mutterings, you could feel the loss echo in the room.
Deflated and dejected.
“Brexley.” Andris came up to me, not looking at Farkas. “So glad you came with us.”
“I couldn’t leave. Not now with so much going on.” Exhaustion started to weigh heavily on my bones. “Are Hanna and Caden… ?”
“They’re fine.” Weariness rode over Andris’s expression. “But now HDF knows we have them. Knows about me. We thought we had a target on us before. There’s nothing Istvan won’t do to track me down now.”
“I know.” And it was all on me. I was the one who forced them to contain Hanna and Caden, and it was now my fault HDF knew they were alive and being held by Istvan’s ex-general.
“Well, we can’t think of it now.” Andris sighed. He would never say it, but he had to blame me too. No apology in the world was good enough for all the danger I was putting them in. There was a good possibility I was the reason the bunker had gotten blown up. This was twice now the base had been discovered since I had shown up and put his army in harm’s way. That was not a coincidence. “Other things take precedence.”
“There’s still so much we need to talk about. Not just about Istvan or Killian.” I swallowed at saying the fae ruler’s name, my lids burning. “But what we discovered at Visegrád.” The discovery of my mother and the nectar already felt like days ago, not just last night.
Andris dipped his head. “We do, but right now, my priority is with my people. Making sure this place is guarded, safe, and everyone gets settled in and taken care of. We lost a lot tonight.” He rubbed at his face, his eyes bloodshot. “I guess there was a moment everyone thought they lost me.” He slid his hand over his head. “It’s so strange. I even feel like I died. I think I did. But…” Andris tapered off.
Warwick and Ash’s heads snapped to me, eyes searing in with sharp wonder and perplexity. It felt so long ago now that I forgot I never discussed what happened with them. Everything occurred so fast, spiraling into more chaos, never giving me time to work it out myself.
Andris studied me for a moment, his eyes going back and forth between mine like he was trying to figure something out. “I thought I saw you…” He laughed dryly. “Never mind. It’s nothing. Simply crazy rantings of an old man.” He patted my arm. “I need to go deal with everything first. We can meet later.” He strolled straight into the throng of the wounded, talking with his fighters and giving orders to protect us.