Page 48 of Ashfall
Natalia lets out a rush of breath. “What?”
Noc’s movements are like lightning, so fleeting and executed with such precision, she doesn’t even see it coming. His left-hand latches to her like a viper strike, gripping her jaw as his dark gaze burns holes through her. He spits his words through gritted teeth, “What. Size. Are. You.” She starts to ramble incoherent nonsense, his free hand pulls the gun from its straps, the long sleek barrel now firm against her forehead.
She finally manages to speak, stuttering her words. “A. Small.” Then a sob breaks free, making her choke, and an evil smile spreads over his face. His eyes look completely black, menacing.
“Good. My woman needs a new coat.” He looks at me and winks.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
nocturne
Natalia's brows contort in confusion, her pathetic eyes widen, tears spilling over as I throw her body away from me, into Brodie’s grasp. The poison in the air lessened now she’d not so close. Brodie grips her straw like hair, twisting her around as she drags the knife along her throat - not even a beat of hesitation. I watch the sadistic look in her eyes spread as she keeps hold of her. Watching the blood stream down Natalia's neck and the life slowly drain from her eyes. “Tell your brother I fucking sent you.” She throws her body to the side, discarding her like the hold physically burned her. Her partially grey hoodie is now completely darkened, soaked in a mix of Natalia's blood and her own.
I twist my gun around on its strap so it swings round my back, and I storm to her. Crashing my lips to hers as we collide in the center. My heart eases from the tightly coiled form that it's taken over the last two hours. James ordered a chopper to drop us five miles down the shoreline, all six of us weaving through the woodland area on approach to the factory site. An overwatch drone scoped the guards crawling all over this place.
She pulls away from me, breathless as she slams her fists into my chest. “Why are you here?!” Another attempted shove thatdoesn’t budge me. “You were supposed to stop the weapon! All those innocent people, the?—”
My hand slaps across her mouth, my fingers gripping into her cheeks in warning. “That’s twice now you’ve been an asshole when I’ve saved your life,” amusement lacing my words. “Intelligence managed to locate coordinates from Graves’s remote files. He had them scattered everywhere, but with a little help from that phone you left behind.” I raise a questioning brow. “They were able to narrow it down in ten minutes from the distance. Viper-3 left at the same time as us whilst alerting the bases in Virginia; they're already working to locate and deactivate the weapon.”
Her shoulders slump in my hold, and I can visibly see the stress leave her body, wisping away into vapor above her. My fingers drag to grip her jaw and slam her towards me again, getting lost in her. Her fingers snake up my vest, and even though there's a barrier between us, I can feel the knowing heat of her fingertips scald me as she trails a path up my torso. She grips the sides of my vest, tugging me closer to her.
My hand slides down her back, right over the curve of her ass as I squeeze, a feeling like skin beneath my palm with how thin her leggings are. It instantly makes my dick twitch, along with forcing a groan up my throat that could resemble a beast being awoken from its slumber. I'm sure the guys could handle their own out there whilst I fuck the rebellion out her, turn her ass black and blue for running away - on her fucking own. I make a mental note to kick Hawk’s ass for allowing her to be like this.
I press my forehead to hers, closing my eyes, wanting to savor her - that she's alive. That she stands before me. But they snap open, the intensity from earlier breaking through the fog of lust, my hand gripping her nape, tugging her head to look up at me. “If you ever. Pull a stunt like this again, Brodie, I swearto fucking God.” I take a deep breath, stopping myself. Trying to calm the fury I have towards her for running off like that.
But the small, rational part inside me knows why she ran. I manage to keep my voice low. “I can't fucking lose you.” I whisper against her lips, and her eyes finally open, almost doe-like as she glares up at me as she hangs onto my every word. “If you think a text is going to keep me from you. Then you’ve got a lot of fucking lessons to learn.”
I can see the familiar challenge licking the edges of her eyes, fighting its way to the surface as it responds to my underlying message. But she closes her eyes when she speaks, “There was no time, I couldn't risk losing him. Graves can't take anyone else from me, Lev.”
I slump as soon as she says my name.Fuck. In that breathless voice of hers, she could chop off my fucking hand and I'd instantly give her the other if she said my name like that forever.
I cup her chin, grazing my thumb along her jaw and down the partially wet cuts that run ramped around her neck, my free fist curling inwards. I press gently against them, making sure they aren’t as deep as the blood illusions them to be. Thankfully, they’re not severe enough for lasting damage, but will leave behind a hint of scars. Another a Volokov has caused her. But they don't flaw her appearance, they make her perfect. They’re trophies of all she survives.
I lean down, bringing her to me to kiss along the angry red lines, trailing down when I taste the metallic coating on the tip of my tongue, working my way down to her collar bone. She moans my name in my ear, hands snaking round my waist as she pulls me closer. Then she gets ridged beneath my hold as someone clears their throat loudly in the room.Someone better be dead, or they will be.
When she pulls from my hold, it’s like a veil has been lifted. The muted sound of bullets firing in intervals outside the wallsflood back in. A face that holds the same lethal and unearthly look that she mirrors, glares at me. A silent, unspoken threat exchanged between us.
“Dad,” Brodie huffs out, like all the air has been lost in that one breath. She runs towards him as he grips her tightly, but his eyes never leave mine until she’s in his hold. As soon as they embrace, he focuses back on his daughter. “Brodie. I told you not to come, darling.” She pulls back, shaking her head frantically “No. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you Dad. Never.” His gaze searches hers. Looking into her ghostly eyes that likely remind him so much of her mothers. The same green swirls within them, but Brodie’s have a haunting edge to them.
She pulls back to look over him, her brows furrowing as she notices he's armed and has a new bulletproof vest on. His wound is also partially patched up – the best we could manage in an active hostile zone. He's had a small morphine shot, so that will keep him going until we’re back at base. We brought them both supplies, in the event we either had to fight our way in or out. And from the thundercracks that whip the air outside, it sounds like we'll be doing both. “How the hell did you get out of the chair?” she asks, still clutching him by the forearms. He chuffs a laugh at her.
“Graves thought he gave me enough sedatives. He obviously didn’t account for the adrenaline I injected into myself before I got out of the car. It diluted the full effects. But the knock on the head faltered me - the prick. I was awake when you came in, but I couldn't react. I needed time to plan and assess.” He strokes his thumbs across her cheeks, catching the tears that leak from them. A smile as rare as the warmth of his tone comes from the captain when he lowers his voice. “You’re so like your mother. Two of the bravest women I know.”
The radio crackles on my chest, Rhaine's voice filtering through. “Noc, we've cleared the entrance. Hostiles are pushingtowards the back. We're taking the roof to clear them. No sign of Graves.” I lift my hands above the large wooden crate to grab a M4A1 SOPMOD and vest for Brodie as I copy into the device. I walk over and put the vest on her, she tugs the straps at one side whilst I fix the other. Taking an earpiece from my pocket, I slide it in her ear, her fingers brushing past my hand whilst she secures it. It sends a bolt of electrified static down my arm, and I can’t take my eyes off her again.
“Just so we're clear. I won’t be calling you fucking commander, Noc.” The captain declares to me, and a smirk stretches across my lips as I speak, “I think we're past those types of pleasantries, Captain.” He chuffs a humorless laugh, the once in a lifetime warmth I saw him show his daughter gone, clearly only reserved for her. Brodie frowns, her eyes suspiciously assessing both of us, confusion written all over her face.
“Ugh, do you two know each other?” She asks. The captain raises a brow at me, giving me the stage to tell her our backstory. “When your mother was deemed missing, your father had his team hack into her files and he came across the video message to me.” I see her throat bob in an emotional swallow, and I instantly soften my voice. “He reached out. I would send him updates on any progress I made. He’d help me where he could.” I pin him with a scorching glare. “He also managed to track me down after I faked my death. I've kept in touch with him to let him know when Black Talon would be initiated. He’s our eighth member.”
Aaron Voss, better known as theCaptain, provided me with a dead email address I would write to every few months with progress, and a copy of the files. Until one day he turned up at my rented home in Russia, after Brodie had told him about my 'death' and that she loved me. I saw his finger draw to the trigger more times than I could count, whilst he sat across from me atthe dining table. Gun in hand, fighting the urge to shoot me for real for hurting his only daughter.
To say he wasn't happy about Brodie and I, would be the understatement of the fucking century. But we came to an understanding after hours of planning, arguing, and having an imaginary pissing contest. It was needed to rid us of Volokov and Graves. Strictly between the two of us. He turns to look over at her, the warmth seems to instantly form again when she's the center of his focus. “I’m sorry I couldn't tell you Brodie. It would have risked too much - risked you.”
My muscles relax when the betrayal I once saw in her eyes doesn’t form, I’ll never forget what it looked like when she stormed back into my life. I know deep down she’s still dealing with the hurt. But after everything, I know she realizes it was all necessary. And I was willing to do anything to keep her safe, even give my life for her own. But the memory still weighs heavy on me.
“Come on,” I say, bringing them both back into the now. “Graves is still breathing.” I head out first, Brodie in the back and flanked by her father. I edge out the door, gun aimed. Adam and Hawk are still standing outside. Brodie follows behind me, the guys both grabbing a shoulder each to greet her. Hawk is rambling on about her running away on her own, Adam bobbing his head in agreement like one of those car bulldog decorations.
Hawk turns his attention to the three of us. “We're keeping watch out here for reinforcements, Phantom and Rhain are on the roof. Hunter needs support for the back-”
