Guns & Roses

Tatiana

I didn’t get to sleep. At all.

And when I felt like I was just about to get some shut eye, someone started knocking on the door. When I proceeded to ignore the person, the knocking turned into banging.

Getting up from my bed, which was an accomplishment in itself, I opened the door and yelled at the other person.

“WHAT?”

“Well good morning to you too sweetheart” Viktor greeted as he barged into my room.

“I seriously don’t have the energy to deal with you today Viktor” I said as I made my way towards my bed again. But before I could even reach the mattress, a new voice piped in.

“Oh great you’re up! Training starts in 30” Boris’s voice chimed in from the door.

“What is it with sleep and men here? Doesn’t that word exist in your vocabulary?” I asked, annoyed at them.

“Someone’s not a morning person” Boris said teasingly.

“I know right? I don’t even know why I got assigned to fetch her every morning” Viktor replied to Boris as if I wasn’t in the room with them.

“Yet despite my obvious annoyance you still show up every single day”

“I’ll let you get ready, training today will be different so I have to go organize a few thing before it starts” Boris explained as he went outside my room probably heading towards the training rooms.

“What did he meant by different?” I asked Viktor.

“Remember when Dimitri announced the mock battle three days from now?”

“Yeah, I think so...” I wasn’t really listening at that time, but I wouldn’t give Viktor the pleasure of teasing me about it.

“Uhuh.. you’re not fooling anyone sweetheart” he said as he trailed towards the walk in closet and brought out some gym wear.

“You know I could get my own clothes right?” I asked him, eyeing the clothes he threw at me.

“But where’s the fun it that?”

“Oh, of course, like I hadn’t notice you choosing the tightest and shortest gym wear possible” I said rolling my eyes at him.

“You know me too well kroshka. Come on, you only have fifteen minutes left. Don’t be late” Viktor said as he left my room.

As if I needed more than ten to get ready. Picking up the clothes, I went to the bathroom and did the necessities. I wore the black yoga tights with cut out designs and a tank top with sports bra. I tied my hair in a bun wore the same shoes I have been wearing for the past week.

Closing the door on my way out, I opted for the elevators since I really don’t have the energy right now.

When the metal doors opened I wished I chose the stairs instead. Anton was texting on his phone and when he looked up to see me his whole body became rigid.

He nodded at me as I entered the elevator. The training room was only a floor beneath mine so the ride was pretty short. As soon as the elevator chimed, Anton walked out so fast that it confirmed my suspicions right away.

I knew something fishy was going on, because you just don’t confess to someone only to avoid them like a plague afterwards.

I made my way to the training area and noticed that the other rooms were vacant. Heading to the main training room, which was sort of like a mini arena, I entered the place only to be surprised at what was in front of me.

At least a hundred or so were at the room, all in groups of their own chatting away. There were women also but they could only be at least twenty.

Searching for a familiar face, I saw the twins at the corner talking with Boris.

Walking towards them, I was greeted with a few curious looks, glares and some men even had the guts to blatantly eye me up from top to bottom.

I ignored all of them and continued to walk towards the twins. When Andrei spotted me he waved me over smiling.

When I got to them, Andrei draped his arm around my shoulder but before he could even lean on me I swiftly bent his arms behind me and locked onto that position.

“Ow! Ow!”

“Keep your hands to yourself buddy” I said, releasing him.

“Damn woman! That hurt” Andrei said as he flexed and stretched his right shoulder, all the while his twin brother was guffawing from the corner.

“He’ll keep that in mind Tatiana” Alexei said as he patted his twin while Andrei just rolled his eyes at him.

“Where’s Boris?” I asked the twins. He was just here a moment ago.

Before I could look through the large crowd, the tapping sound of a mic was heard.

When I directed my sight towards the sound, I saw Boris standing with a wireless mic on his hand standing on an elevated platform. When I looked beside him, I was greeted by a blue eyed hottie whose gaze was currently aimed at me.

I gulped and looked away.

Just as Boris was about to talk, Viktor and Anton joined our group. I paid no attention to them and focused on what Boris was saying.

“Listen up everyone!” Boris’s voice boomed. At his command, the people in the room became silent and directed their attention on the stage. He handed the mic over to Dimitri and I swear I felt the whole room go tense.

“As some of you already know we will have a mock battle that days from now. This will be in preparation for our attack” Dimitri said eyeing me.

Was this his alternative instead of sending me alone? I knew I wasn’t a saint, but I know enough to confidently say this will end in a bloodbath. I also knew Dimitri was a good leader, in spite his cold demeanor, I knew he wasn’t one to sacrifice a hundred for one person. And this confuses me a lot.

“Boris will be explaining how this exercise would go. I expect everyone’s full cooperation on this” Dimitri finished.

“Alright, so here’s how this would go” Boris started to explain. “The first five teams would each be assigned to respective leaders, and the rest would serve as the defense line”

“Team Alpha! You’ll be assigned to Viktor, Team Beta, you guys will be with Tatiana, Team Charlie with Anton and Team Delta you’ll be with Andrei and Alexei”

“And as for Team Echo... you guys are with the Boss”

“Dimitri’s also participating in the exercise?” I asked Alexei since he was the one closest to me.

He nodded. “Dimitri’s more of a hands-on guy. He prefers interacting and working with his men rather than bossing them around. That’s why his men respect him in many levels, not just out of fear”

It’s quite refreshing to see Dimitri in a new light, I knew the Aleksandrovs were powerful but I didn’t know such leadership like that was displayed here. And quite frankly, I find that hot.

“The exercise will be close to the real deal, you’ll be competing with the other groups. We’ll have dummy weapons that may still hurt but won’t be fatal”

“The actual rules of the game will be announced on that day. All you need to know is that you should be working as a team to achieve a certain goal. Practice, collaborate and get to know your team’s strengths and weaknesses. You have three whole days to strengthen your group. Alright now everyone go to your places!” Boris ended.

The crowd scattered and I notice about fifty to sixty men were left for the defense line. Roughly guessing, a group assigned to us would be around five to six people.

The other guys started going towards their respective group but I had no idea who were the people on my team.

When the crowd started clearing, I saw a group of five people on the corner. Approaching them I asked “Are you the Beta team?”

“Yes we are, and you must be the famous Tatiana Romanov” A big burly man greeted me with a heavy thick Russian accent. He seemed friendly even with his tough guy look going on. Bouncers at the clubs doesn’t even compare to him.

“I don’t know about the ‘famous’ part though. Nice to meet you..” I trailed.

“Levi” he said shaking my hand.

“I’m Leo” a blonde guy stated, shoving Levi away to shake my hand.

Smiling at him, he introduced the other members. The two girls were Mia and Kate. Mia had wild curly red hair while Kate was sporting a pixie cut. Both of them looked friendly enough to work with.

“And this one’s Justin” Leo pointed to the quiet one in the corner. He only grunted in response. How charming. I thought sarcastically.

I better keep an eye on this one. You know what they say.. it’s the quiet ones you have to look out for. After all, nobody plans a murder out loud.

“Well captain, what’s the plan?” Levi asked, interrupting my thoughts.

Nice question. What the hell am I supposed to do?