Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 141532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 708(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 708(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Dymka and Sevastyan both moved quickly, leaping away from the dead man and his partner. Sevastyan rolled as fast as he could toward the big leopard in hope of somehow protecting him. Mitya leapt toward Sevastyan, his large body covering his cousin’s. Two more bullets hit Dymka as the leopard lay over Sevastyan.
Mitya immediately shifted, not wanting his leopard to suffer. The moment he did, he pushed the blazing heat of pain away, gripped his cousin and scuttled for the brush. A bullet parted his hair and nearly sliced his head open. On the heels of that reverberation came another, this time the sound coming from a different direction, followed by something heavy falling from the branches of a tree. He could hear the cracking of small branches as it fell.
He lay there for a long moment and then rolled over to stare up at the dark sky. “Getting too old for this shit, Sevastyan,” he announced.
“Who was on our side?” his cousin queried. “It couldn’t have been Vikenti or Zinoviy.”
Mitya turned his head to meet Sevastyan’s eyes. “I have no fucking idea.” He didn’t.
“You hit?”
“Yeah, a couple of times. Not bad. Hurts like a bitch, though.”
“Good. You deserve it. What the hell were you thinking? I’m head of security. If Vikenti and Zinoviy saw you protecting me, I’ll be the laughingstock of my security team as well as everyone else’s.”
Mitya sent him a faint grin. “I told you not to take the position. Don’t have too many people in this world that matter to me. You do.”
Sevastyan shook his head and turned his face up to the sky in order to hide his expression. “Feel like moving?”
“Not on your life. Tell Vikenti to get the cleaners here again and get rid of this mess. Hope no one heard those shots and called the cops. Fortunately, we live far enough out that we don’t have too many neighbors.”
“They were looking for a fucking notebook.”
“I heard.”
“You think we’re in that book?” Sevastyan turned his head back to look at his cousin.
“There’s a good chance we all are. We’re working for Donovan to clean this mess up. We have the cops after us, our women after us and now we’re going to have every crime boss from here to hell and back after us,” Mitya said. “I think staying right here on the ground is the best place for us. In fact, when the cleaners come, let’s pretend to be dead and get a ride out of here.”
Sevastyan laughed. “I do need some sleep. Every part of my body hurts like hell.”
“Don’t be a whiner. I’m shot, and you don’t hear me whining.”
“You losing a lot of blood?”
“How should I know?” Mitya tentatively brushed his hand down along his ribs and winced when he found the wound. His fingers found a sticky mess. “It isn’t bad. Got two more, but they didn’t really do more than sting me.”
Sevastyan made a sound of disbelief. “We gotta get up, Mitya.”
“You go right ahead,” Mitya said. “Stand all you want.”
The wind shifted just a bit and brought with it Vikenti’s scent and something else, something more elusive but familiar. Mitya sat up fast, his eyes narrowing. “I thought you put the entire security team on Ania,” he snapped. “Did you disobey a direct order?”
“Only the one where you didn’t want me with you.” Sevastyan sat up as well, looking around. “Is that her?”
“I’d know her scent anywhere.” Mitya would. There was something beautiful about the way she smelled. Soft. Like the whisper of the wind touching his face. A natural scent. She didn’t use fragrances, yet she smelled as if she did. “She’s here, which means she slipped out right under the noses of your security people.” It was an accusation.
“They’ll hear about it,” Sevastyan promised. “Do you think she plans on shooting us?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Mitya answered. His woman. She probably had the fucking sniper rifle pointed at his heart that very moment. He softened his voice. “Think of the sex you’ll be missing, kotyonok.”
“That’s it?” Sevastyan wasn’t impressed. “That’s all you’ve got? You didn’t even say ‘good sex,’ or ‘great sex.’ When you’re negotiating for your life, you pull out all the stops.”
“I’m shot, damn it. It isn’t easy to think when you’re in excruciating pain.”
“Now it’s excruciating.” Sevastyan sounded sarcastic. “Which is it?”
“Would you mind getting dressed, Sevastyan?” Ania’s voice came out of the darkness. “I’m not all that comfortable with staring at your naked body.”
“Because I have a superior body,” Sevastyan noted to his cousin. “She can’t exactly stay true to you when she’s always comparing your body to mine.” He searched the brush, trees and landscaping for Ania but couldn’t see her.
“She’s extraordinary,” Mitya said, meaning it. “Jewel hasn’t emerged, but she still managed to slip past the guards and help out.”