Page 34 of Dark Rebel's Fortune

She lowered her gaze to where blood was splattered all over his clothing. "You've been busy."

He cracked a smile. "The only way to ensure a Doomer is dead is by tearing his heart out or aiming a special bullet through his eye to shred his brain."

Kyra didn't even wince, and he loved her even more for that.

If he weren't so dirty and covered in enemy blood, he would have pulled her into his arms and kissed her senseless.

"They need to kill them all," she said. "If any escape, they'll go after my sisters immediately. The moment they realize we've taken Yasmin, they'll accelerate their timetable for abducting the others."

He nodded. "We need a complete sanitization of the site. No survivors to report back. Everyone on our team understands that."

"Max," Yamanu's voice sounded in his earpieces. "I sent Dima and Anton with Kyra's family to the safe house. And, Kyra, we will need to talk about your insubordination."

"Yes, sir." Kyra didn't sound or look remorseful in the slightest.

"You two move out. I'll follow with Jade and her crew."

15

KYRA

"I'm sorry that you trekked back to the compound for nothing," Max said to Kyra as they made their way to where the vans were waiting, hidden in a shallow ravine about half a mile from the compound.

She cast him a mock glare. "No, you're not. You're very happy that I missed all the fighting."

"Guilty," he admitted, taking her hand. "But not for the reason you think."

"Oh, yeah?" She lifted a brow. "So, you didn't want me to stay safe while you fought all the bad guys on your own?"

"Of course, I wanted that, but I also didn't want you to see me turn savage."

Her eyes softened. "I know how it gets in the heat of the battle. I wouldn't have held it against you."

He shook his head. "You don't understand. It's not just me doing what needs to be done. I relish doing it.A monster stirs to life inside me, and it's eager to tear Doomers and other evildoers limb from limb."

Kyra considered that for a moment. "I get that. I don't turn into a total savage, or rather, I didn't, but that's only because I didn't know that Doomers regenerate from most injuries. I was sure that I killed them." She shivered. "I feel guilty for not finishing them off."

He squeezed her hand. "You had no way of knowing."

She nodded. "Because of the Doomers I left to regenerate, my people were not safe in Tahav. I'm glad that they moved to a different location."

As they crested the ridge, she could see that only two vans remained, the one with her family on board having left minutes ago.

"I'm also glad that Yasmin and her kids are on their way to the safe house." She looked at Max. "I feel like a big weight was lifted off me." She chuckled. "The truth is that I didn't believe you and Yamanu, along with Jade and half her team, could take on an entire compound of Doomers."

"Thankfully, they were not all Doomers," Max said as he opened the passenger door for her. "Most were Revolutionary Guard soldiers, and Yamanu took care of them with his blanket thralling. We only had to dispatch the Doomers."

He walked around the vehicle, his eyes scanning their surroundings before he slid into the driver's seat.

"Evil and eviler," Kyra murmured. "There is always a bigger fish."

He chuckled. "You have no idea."

"Really?" She tilted her head. "Then please enlighten me."

"It's a long story, and it has to do with the gods who created intelligent species all over the galaxy." He turned the engine on and started the slow and bumpy ride to the nearest road. "The ruler of the home planet of the gods is called the Eternal King, and he's the biggest fish of them all. The Doomers, with their delusional leader, are not even fleas to him. They are not even specks of dust."

Kyra sensed that there was an enormous story there, but right now, she couldn't concentrate on tales about alien gods and their galactic empire or whatever else the story was about. Her mind was on Yasmin and her children and their devastation over losing their father.

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