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

Chapter 40

Mikhail's POV

My vision returned in small fragments-echoes of pain, distant murmurs, and the acrid scent of thick smoke clogged my senses and filled my lungs until I couldn't take in another breath.

My eyes, ground-level, scanned the area around me. The smoke, however, was stinging my vision by the second. A hand yanked me up by the back of my leather guard. It spun me around, and I was forced to put all my weight on the one leg that wasn't broken.

"Fuck. They got you good." Luciano said, and it was hard to recognize him because of the blood dripping down his eyebrow and bottom lip. Plus, his hair was no longer slicked back like the cunning gentleman he was used to being. Luciano and fighting went hand-in-hand, but only when it went the way he liked. I could tell that the consequences of our expected visit had him pissed.

"Yeah, well, you don't look picture-perfect either." I muttered, my throat tight and itchy. "Where's the rest of them?" I glanced behind him, praying his men had made it out of the explosions.

"Thank fuck you sent us back there- we only had to dodge a few." He looked me up and down, dusting scorched grass off my bulletproof vest. "Hopefully they found a way in while I looked for you."

I sucked in a harsh breath. "What now? They know our numbers."

He smirked, a teasing gleam in his eye. "Not exactly, d'yavol." I clenched my jaw as blood ran down the back of my neck. "You're brother sent his own men. They're on standby until you call them in."

I didn't have room to be any more pissed off than I already was. In fact, some part of me knew we had a chance at failure if it weren't for Nikolas. I looked past Luciano until the faint glimmer of the moon cleared way, giving me space to send a thought.

Damn you and your brotherly interventions.

"Let's go." I jogged behind him, resisting the sharp pain in my calf. He led me down the hill, all the way past the tracks and into a shaded area, grounded by a few slabs of broken concrete due to the chain of explosions. His men cowered over what looked to be a chained door someone'd busted in with the back of a gun.

"No- Rafail knows we'll go through here. Take your half through and I'll take Nikolas's men back up the hill." He nodded.

"Luciano." He turned back around.

"Don't leave anyone alive."

He grinned, the blood lining his lips creating a psychotic image I'd missed for a while. "I'm holding you up to that."

Nikolas's men joined me back atop the hill, Lev and Vik's familiar faces providing little comfort to the strangled net of frustration that was my chest. They stood on either side of me, faces grim at my state.

I didn't give a fuck if I looked bloody and battered. At least I'd go into it knowing Aurora would be there to make all the pain go away. It seemed to be the most special thing about her. The fact that she made the world around me dissipate until all that I saw, all I touched, all I breathed was her.

We held our breath through the seven yards of smoke, still dense and thick to the point where I could only look at the ground and follow my old footprints. A minute later, I was using my shoulder to slam in the wooden door. It cracked and gave away, revealing a dimly lit room that looked straight out of an Italian telenovela Aurora would watch.

I'd always been too young to catch up to my father's operations, but this looked like the best choice to use as a transport and sorting hub for drugs. My eyes spotted a trail of blood, leading up to one corner of the room where a white-suited man sat, his head fallen into his chest. An open book sat atop a ledge. I walked over to him and clutched his collar.