SWNOVELS Alluring Darkness: Chapter 18
On instinct, I jerk my body to the side. A second later, a fist slams into the wall right where my head was supposed to be. I whip around to find Mikhail Petrov drawing his hand back for another strike. Yanking my arm up, I slam my fist into his side before he can finish swinging.
A huff rips from his throat, and he dances back a step.
I flick a quick glance up and down the concrete corridor. It’s suspiciously empty. Almost as if he had it cleared beforehand.
“You put a gun to my little brother’s head,” Mikhail snarls, his blue eyes flashing with fury.
I shoot him a nonchalant look. “So?”
“No one threatens my family.”
Before I can reply, he yanks out a knife and lunges at me. I dodge the swipe and throw a fist down on his forearm, pushing it downwards before I slam my other fist into his jaw.
Pain pulses across his face, but he recovers quickly and jabs at me with the blade again.
My mind churns with possible strategies. I don’t have a weapon, which means that I need to disarm him first.
Grunts echo between the empty gray walls as I land a series of punches to Mikhail’s side. He manages to get in a shallow cut on my forearm. I grit my teeth as a flicker of pain sears through my skin.
He’s good. I’ll give him that.
Unfortunately for him, I’m better.
At last, I manage to land a precise blow to his elbow that makes a jolt shoot through his arm. The knife flies from his grip when his muscles spasm. I follow it up with a kick to the side of his knee.
A cry of pain rips from his throat as his leg buckles and he crashes down on the floor. I slam my knee into the side of his head, sending him smacking into the ground.
Dropping down, I straddle his chest and then ram my fist into his face again and again.
Mikhail tries desperately to protect himself, but on his back with my weight across his chest, he doesn’t stand a chance.
Fury roars through me like a lightning storm. I know that I should try to control myself, but those safeguards in my brain were shattered long ago.
“Uhm, did I miss something?” Rico suddenly asks.
Locking my hand around Mikhail’s throat, I pause my attacks and look up to find Rico, Kaden, and Jace standing next to us. Rico just looks at me with his eyebrows raised in question while Jace cocks his head as if studying Mikhail’s face and the injuries there. Next to them, Kaden watches us with a cruel smile on his lips and that customary sadistic gleam in his eyes.
“The bastard tried to knife me,” I grind out between gritted teeth while trying desperately to get my rage back under control. “Because I put a gun to little Anton’s head earlier.”
“Aww, how cute,” Jace says.
I turn back to Mikhail, who is struggling to get my hand off his throat so that he can breathe again. “You want to be us, huh? You want to take our family’s place as the most feared one here? You want to be me?”
Only strained gurgling answers me.
Without taking my eyes off him, I snap my fingers at Kaden. “Knife.”
He immediately slides one out of his thigh holster and hands it to me.
I relax my grip on Mikhail’s throat, allowing him to suck in strangled breaths. Then I lift the knife and place it over his left eyebrow.
“Well, if you want to be me, then we need to start by making you look more like me.”
His blue eyes dart up to the scar running through my eyebrow and down to my cheek. But before he can say or do anything, someone else comes sprinting around the corner up ahead.
Anton Petrov skids to a halt on the concrete floor, and his eyes go wide as he stares at us. Then rage floods his features, and he charges.
“Get off him, you fucking—” he begins, but his words are quickly cut off as Rico and Jace intercept him.
Air explodes from his lungs as my brothers throw him up against the wall. He struggles like a maniac, but they keep him effortlessly trapped like a fly with his back against the wall and his arms spread wide.
I turn back to Mikhail. “Now, as I was saying, we should start by making you look more like me.” Shifting the blade, I position the tip right above his eyeball. “Though maybe I should take your eye too, so that we don’t look too similar.”
Dread washes over his features. But to his credit, he doesn’t beg.
Someone else does, though.
“No, please,” Anton calls as he struggles against Rico and Jace’s hold. “Please!”
“Anton,” Mikhail snaps.
But Anton ignores him and instead locks pleading eyes on me. “Please, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what happened on the gun range this afternoon. I’m sorry for what my brother did in this corridor. Please, please, don’t take his eye.”
While holding his gaze, I let a vicious smile stretch my lips as I move the knife closer.
“No!” Anton thrashes wildly against the wall. “Please, I’m begging you. I’m begging you.”
I stop moving the blade and arch an eyebrow at him. “Are you now?”
“Yes. Please, Hunter. I’m begging you not to take his eye. He won’t come after you again. I swear it. Just please let him go.”
Mikhail squeezes his eyes shut and clenches his jaw. Shame burns on his face at hearing his little brother plead so pathetically and beg us for mercy on his behalf.
And in my book, that utter humiliation is punishment enough.
With a smug grin on my mouth, I move the knife away from his eye and spin it in my hand instead. “Well, since you begged so prettily.”
A gasp of relief rips from Anton’s throat.
After handing the knife back to Kaden, I get to my feet again.
As soon as my weight is off his chest, Mikhail tries to push himself up too.
I plant my boot against his chest and shove him back down on the floor. “Stay down.” Sliding my gaze to Anton, I lock hard eyes on him. “And you, you’d better make sure he stays that way.”
His worried gray eyes flick down to Mikhail, but then he nods.
Taking my boot off Mikhail’s chest, I jerk my chin at my brothers. They release Anton and then fall in beside me as we start down the hall.
The restful calm I felt this morning after sleeping for almost ten hours evaporated the moment I saw Anton put his fucking hands on Raina. And now, volatile restlessness is back again. Just waiting to explode. Beating up Mikhail helped a bit, but it’s not enough.
When it comes to Raina Smith, nothing is ever fucking enough.
I drag in a deep breath to calm my churning emotions as the four of us walk out the front door and into the parking lot.
People hurry back and forth. Some heading back to their dorms and others walking towards other buildings for after-hours practice. The orange afternoon sun is slipping farther down the horizon. Its light stretches across the parking lot and reflects against the cars and the windows, making it look like part of the area is on fire.
“Well, that was fun,” Jace announces, sliding his hands into his pockets, as we start towards our cars.
“I really wish you would have actually carved his eye out,” Kaden says. “That would have been fun to watch.”
“And also a fucking mess to clean up,” Rico adds, shooting Kaden a pointed look.
He just shrugs. “It wouldn’t—”
A boom tears through the air.
I jerk back in stunned shock as the front of my car explodes. It sends the hood flying up and slamming into the windshield with enough force to crack the glass.
People around us scream. It’s probably yells of surprise rather than fear, since it wasn’t that big of an explosion. After all, none of the other cars were damaged. Only mine.
Rico grabs my arm and says something, but I can’t concentrate on his words. All I can do is stand there and stare in utter disbelief at the strange flames licking the engine of my car. It’s not a natural color. Fire only looks like that when it’s burning chemicals.
I sweep my gaze around the area, noting the faces of all the people around us.
This wasn’t Mikhail’s doing. If it had been, he wouldn’t have tried to attack me in the corridor. He would have just waited for me to get in the car.
Only stunned faces meet me as I continue scanning the parking lot.
No one except the Petrov brothers would even consider doing something like this. So if it wasn’t them, it leaves only one possible suspect.
Someone who is pissed at me for not letting her flirt with my enemies.
Someone who is just as unhinged as I am.
Raina.