Heart of Fury - Stone and Fire # 2 [17+]

Chapter 25

Mikhail's POV

Nikolas leaned back in the chair, roughing out a curse. "I fucking told you to stay low." The frustration on his face was no more prominent than any other time I've fucked up, but right now I had a feeling my actions wouldn't result in forgiveness too fast.

"Eduard was loyal. He'd been loyal- up until you missed your chance and let the son of a bitch kill him." The moment I'd barged into my brother's house, two bodies in tow, he'd taken a mere look at them before dragging me inside and pulling out a consolation lecture.

He dragged a hand through his hair, and Adriana sighed before talking from her seat on the chair's arm. "What was the other one's name? The one you said played dead before shooting you in the arm?" She grimaced at the wound, still open, hounding pain through my shoulder. 

Nikolas had shooed her away from patching it up- apparently me being younger than him meant he had still had the requirement to punish me when suitable. 

The pain was bad, but Aurora's presence had somewhat mulled it down- something hard to do. I caught her eye from across the room, a worried lip between her teeth and arms tensely crossed over her chest. She had glanced at my shoulder a total of fifty times since I'd entered this house- I counted.

"Don't know. He was one of Petrov's, though. Could see the snake on his skin from meters away."

"Should've killed the rest of his little team when we got the chance." I knew most of what Petrov Vassiliev had done to become a traitor within the status of the Bratva, and wished him a happy farewell to Hell when Adriana tortured the fucker for what he'd done to her. She'd gotten her retribution fair and square- and finished the job by getting rid of his body with a lighter and a match. 

The look on her face had been unmatched, flames dancing and a expression that only made me wonder how my brother had found someone much alike to his daunting persona. It was only a week later, when a stabbing near a division close to our East division caught our eye, that Nikolas realized how deep Petrov's traitorous blood really ran. It'd been months, now years, just to get rid of some of his comrades. They conjured up hiding places even I had trouble hacking into. No CCTV cameras, no bread trails. Simple killings, and an agenda we had yet to figure out.

"What made them go after you?" Nikolas's keen eye finally tore out the big question. 

"I killed Silas," My arm waved around, "he was one of Petrov's, too." I roughed out, glancing around the room for a glass- anything I could fill with vodka. I fucking needed it.

Nikolas's eyes thinned. "Why?"

The image of grey-haired bastard reaching for Aurora filled my mind, making all sense of regret slip away. I gave her a curt glance from my seat. "He ruined my match." She all but sunk into the wall she was leaning against.

Nikolas narrowed his eyes. "I heard you won."

Shit. Too much blood loss to think of another excuse.

My tongue clicked, and I clocked out an answer. "He was targeting one of my assets." Aurora's eyes trained on me, narrowed. I could tell, if were alone she'd have shot right back, but for now it was what it was. 

Nikola's eyes shot right towards Aurora, and then his jaw ticked. He wouldn't have a retort for that- years ago he would've done the same for Adriana. Technically, I wasn't in the wrong. The frustration webbed away and he stood up, comprehensiveness on his face.

"You realize who's gunning for us now, right?"

"The same people who've always been. The opposers haven't changed, they just keep multiplying."

"Yeah. Which means less men on our side. No more safety for the Pakhan, and none for everyone else." His voice grew less and less roomy. 

"That just means more work. More weapons-"

"When will you learn?" His voice boomed against the walls, and the air went still. It wasn't regular that our limits crashed, but right now the pain was beginning to get to my head, and pissing me off wasn't the ideal motive. "I clean up after you every goddamn time you fuck up. You're acting like a child."

I will admit, I've made some mistakes in the past that weren't worth the forgiveness. But that's just it- I'm not my brother. I'm not a copy of Alexei Volkov. I don't have his fucking grey eyes. His stony, ice-faced collection of expressions. I'm not a goddamn control freak, and I don't have a mental instability when it comes to having fun.

"No. I'm doing things how I want." I stood up, voicing out my statement on a firm, clear account. "I don't need your permission."

"I'd punch you across the face if you weren't loosing half-a-pint of blood per minute."

I grinned. "Wanna test that out?"

He shrugged, then walked over and slammed his fist across my jaw so hard I saw black for a second. 

I revealed a bloody grin, wiping off the cut I felt open on my cheekbone. "Less of an angle. It'll give you more precision." I sat back down, winking at a Aurora who had a jaw so loose I was worried her brain wouldn't be able to handle any more action for the night.

"Can I speak now? Or you guys wanna stain the floor, too?" Adriana's patience was running thin, she never was a woman who waited to speak. 

"Go ahead." I winced as pain rang through my shoulder the moment I rested it on the arm of the couch.

"Who leads them now that Petrov's dead?" Adriana asked, a hand under her chin.

"Some hunker who goes by 'khishchnik'." The Russian word rang with familiarity.

A laugh tore out of my chest, but I silenced it realizing it only caused the pain in my arm to pulse further. "Who the fuck names themself Predator? What is he, some hot-shot hiding behind a screen? No way he goes out and fights people bearing a label like that."

Nikolas's serious stare brushed the humor out of my voice. "He kills. Slovaki, from the South division?" I think back to finding the bag of body parts, all broken up as if someone'd deliberately wanted to send us a 'don't fuck with us' message. "That was him. So was the drowning in Hooks Creek." I would cringe at the memory, but I've seen worse things pulled out of murky, bacteria-brimming water.  

"He has to be the one who sent him. And kidnapped Eduard, just to hand him to you with a bullet in his goddamn stomach." I got up, pacing the path behind the grey couch. 

Adriana sucked in a breath and stared at the ground behind me. "Mikhail. Please, your getting blood all over the floor."

I gave my brother a look, and he simply continued staring at the carpet as if he was conjuring up a plan to go kill khishchnik himself. He looked at Adriana. "Tell him to grab a mop and clean it up."

"The fuck? Why me?"

"Wait a damn minute." Adriana's hand shot up in the air, casting a narrowed eye between me and Aurora. "Who let you take her out so late?"

"I did." 

She blinked. "Where'd you take her?"

"Church." I said, grabbing the spare keys to my motorcycle from the drawer under the living room console.

"Mikhail." 

"Sorry. Meant to say club."

I grabbed Aurora by the elbow and headed for the front door. "Hey. Where are you going? You can't drive with a bullet wound in your shoulder."

"I'm Rambo. I can build a spaceship and fly to Pluto."

"That doesn't even exist." 

"Exactly my point."

Adriana's voice boomed from the house's terrace the moment we were outside. "Get her home before sunrise, or I'm cutting all ten of your motorcycles in half with a chainsaw!"

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cya