Page 57 of His Dark Pull
They’re armed, their weapons held with a casual familiarity.They know what they’re doing.
I duck back behind the bushes, my mind racing, searching for a way out of this impossible situation. But we’re trapped, cornered like animals, with nowhere to run. This is it, I think. This is where it all ends.
“Don’t run,” Alexander whispers, his voice low, his hand squeezing mine. “They’ll shoot you. Stay calm. Do as I say, follow my lead.”
“Well, well, well,”Dexter’s voice, sarcastic slices through the silence. “Look what we have here. You two thought you could escape?”
“You can run, but you can’t hide,”Kovacs adds with a cold amusement that makes my blood run cold.
Alexander steps forward, his body shielding mine, his voice a growl that rumbles with suppressed fury. “What do you want?”
“Oh, we just want to make sure you two don’t get away. Alexander, I’m so disappointed in you. You should know better,”Dexter replies, his eyes gleaming with a hunger that makes my skin crawl.
A hand seizes me from behind, yanking me away from Alexander. I struggle against the iron grip, but it’s no use.
It’s one of the Veles men. I’m surrounded by Dexter’s guards, their bodies forming a wall of muscle and malice. No, I scream, the word echoing in the hollow chambers of my heart.I can’t let them take me again.
“Let her go.”Alexander steps forward, his body coiled tight, a predator ready to strike. “Or you’ll regret it.”
Dexter laughs, a cruel, mocking sound. “I’m afraid I can’t do that,”he says, his eyes fixed on me with a possessive glint. “Ava is mine, and you both know a little too much about this – organization I’ve built.”
Alexander takes another step forward, his eyes blazing with rage.
“I’ll never let you have her,”he says, his words a vow, a declaration of war.
My body thrums with a primal fight-or-flight response, but I force myself to remain still, my breath caught in my throat. Each tick of the clock feels like an eternity.
Kovacs steps forward, his lips curled into a smug smirk. “You two are quite the escape artists,”he drawls. “Cute, even. But your little game ends here.”
Alexander’s grip tightens on mine, his jaw clenched, his eyes blazing with defiance. “You’ll have to kill me if you want to get to her,”he hisses.
Alexander snarls, a primal sound. He doesn’t hesitate. He launches himself at Dexter, a whirlwind of muscle and fury. His fist connects with Dexter’s jaw, a sickening crunch of bone against bone. Dexter staggers back, spitting blood, but recovers quickly.
Kovacs is on him, too, a hulking shadow moving with surprising speed. They grapple, a tangle of limbs and grunts, each blow a percussion against the silent night. I can’t tear my gaze away, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
Alexander throws a punch that connects with Kovacs’s gut. The air explodes from Kovacs’s lungs in a wheezing gasp, but he doesn’t go down. He slams his fist into Alexander’s side, and I hear a grunt of pain. Alexander retaliates with a brutal uppercut that snaps Kovacs’s head back. Blood spurts from Kovacs’s nose, staining his shirt crimson. He stumbles, disoriented but still fighting.
They circle each other, two predators locked in a deadly dance. Every muscle in Alexander’s body is taut, coiled like a spring. His eyes burn with a cold fire, his breath a ragged rasp in the night.
Dexter, his face contorted with rage, lunges for a fallen branch, its gnarled wood a weapon in his desperate hands.
“Alexander, behind you!”I scream, my voice raw.
But it’s too late. The branch connects with Alexander’s shoulder, the impact reverberating through his body. He cries out, staggering back. Kovacs seizes the opportunity, driving his knee into Alexander’s stomach. Alexander crumples to the ground, the air knocked out of him.
“No!”The word tears from my throat, a strangled sob.
Kovacs moves in for the kill, his face a mask of triumphant rage. He raises his fist, ready to deliver the final blow.
Dexter, his chest heaving, steps back, his eyes gleaming with a sadistic satisfaction that makes my blood run cold.
I strain against the guard’s grip, my muscles screaming in protest, but it’s no use. I’m helpless, trapped in this nightmare as I watch the man I love fall.
Please, get up. Fight back.
But just as Kovacs lunges forward, Alexander moves. With a swift, unexpected maneuver, he rolls to the side, causing Kovacs to lose his balance and fall face-first into the dirt. Alexander rises to his feet, his body battered and bruised, but his eyes burn with fire.
He turns toward me. Tears decorate my cheeks as I watch two more of Dexter’s men approach, their movements purposeful and their intentions clear. Kovacs, his face contorted with rage, scrambles to his feet, ready to continue the fight.