Blood of My Monster (Monster Trilogy #1 ) by Rina Kent

However, Sasha didn’t listen to reason and insisted on going back to the old couple. A decision that landed us straight in the middle of this fuckery.

Three armed men in gas masks open fire, then disperse as soon as we approach the house.

The critical part is that they came from inside the house.

The worst part, however, is that they’re wearing gas masks, which means some sort of chemical weapon is involved.

At my shout, Sasha drops to the ground behind a tree, but her eyes are shifty and her hold on her rifle is unsteady.

She must be mulling over everything that I just thought of in her own mind and coming up with the worst possible scenario.

Two elderly people have no chance when faced with terrorists with firearms and chemical weapons.

When I was with Nicholas in the market earlier and felt eyes on me, this is precisely the turn of events that I dreaded the most. I promptly cut the trip short and insisted we go back to the house, but maybe that wasn’t the right decision either.

“Lipovsky,” I call with an authoritative tone, but that barely gets her attention.

“Sasha!”

She jerks, her eyes growing in size as they fly back to me.

I stop behind her, taking note of her chaotic reaction. “Are you there?”

She nods once. “Nadia and Nicholas, they…they…”

“We have to get rid of these men to be able to find them. I’m going to need you to cover for me so I can go inside. Can you do that?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I need your head in the game, soldier.”

Her chin lifts slowly, subtly, before she nods with tangible determination. “Sir, yes, sir.”

She leans against the tree trunk, and I slip around the house, using the wall as camouflage. I shouldn’t trust her to cover me under the circumstances, but I do.

Because here’s the thing about Sasha. She works best under pressure, and even though she’s worried about the old couple, she won’t make a mistake that will cost them their lives.

Sure enough, as I steadily move in the direction of the house, she takes one of the men down.

My movements are easy, confident, and without an ounce of second thoughts. She’s an excellent shot and won’t allow any miscalculations. At least, not when it comes to this.

When I reach the entrance, I kill a man in black on the spot. One thing nags at me, though. I can’t locate the other one. Considering Sasha’s lack of action, she probably can’t either.

Still, I continue to use the wall as cover and advance toward the house. The moment I step inside, I hold my breath. I can take it for five minutes, which should be long enough to find Nadia and Nicholas—

My movements jerk to a halt in the middle of the green living room that’s fogged up with gas.

Two bodies sleep over each other on the floor, a pool of blood forming beneath them.

I rush to their sides and check their pulses. As the seconds tick by, the finality of the situation hits me upside the head like a motherfucker.

Even in their last moments, they’re holding hands and leaning against one another.

Nadia’s eyes are rolled back, showing more white than the irises. Her husband’s eyes, however, stare at nothing, completely devoid of the life I was witness to not an hour ago.

I close their eyes, lost for words. They believed in a divine being and kindness, so hopefully, that being is now taking care of them.

A rustle comes from behind me before a haunted whisper follows, “No…”

I whirl around to find Sasha standing on the threshold, wearing a gas mask and holding another that she probably removed from our victims.

Directly behind her appears a shadow of movement, and I don’t hesitate as I lift my rifle and shoot him between the eyes.

She doesn’t look back, doesn’t even think about her carelessness that almost killed her just now.

Instead, she runs inside and falls to the ground, in the middle of all the blood, not caring that her clothes are soaked with it.

“Nadia…Nicholas…wake up…” Her voice shakes, and so do her hands as she grabs the nurse’s wrist. “No…no…”

I pull the free mask from her hand and strap it around my face, then suck in a generous inhale. “They’re dead. We need to go.”

Her head jerks up in my direction, and I could swear she’s about to point her rifle at me. “That’s it? They’re dead and we need to go? What type…what type of an unfeeling monster are you? These people saved our lives when they didn’t have to and they’re now dead because of it. They’re dead, Kirill!”

“If you don’t move, you’ll also be dead, and all their efforts will be for nothing. Get up. Now.”

“No.” She shakes her head, voice filled with a brittleness I’ve never heard before.

It’s not so much weakness as it is rage against that weakness, mixed with a hint of self-destruction.

“They’re…they’re like this because of us. Those men, they’re here for us, not them, and we…we…”

I grab her by her good arm and haul her to me so fast and hard that she’s stunned into silence. She crashes against my chest, and I shake her for good measure. “Listen to me and listen good, Sasha. If we don’t leave right now, we might be ambushed. There’s no telling how many men were on this mission or if they have backup. We need to leave this town before we get anyone else killed. So either you follow me, or I’ll knock you out and take you by force.”