Page 208 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

Heaven smiles slightly as she examines the terrain beneath us before sending us all to the ground, the rocks we stood on fitting back into the spots they rose from.

She then floats down to the ground and flicks her hair. “That was impressive, Si.”

Sienna turns in my arms and smiles at me. “Thanks; you all helped. It was a group effort, excluding Ahren, of course,” she says, her hand caressing my bicep.

“I’m still stuck on the pregnancy part,” Ahren mutters, and they both exchange looks, probably mind-linking, but even then, Sienna remains leaning against me.

I lift her bridal style, and she gasps. “I can walk!” she protests.

“You’ve done enough walking for the day. Rest; I got you,” I reply.

She closes her mouth, a soft smile crossing her lips before she locks her arms around my neck and rests her head against my shoulder, deciding against arguing.

She’s exhausted, even if she pretends she isn’t.

“So let’s go find some life out here, and I don’t mean these freakazoids,” Ares grunts.

We all nod in agreement before Royce sets the course of direction.

We begin walking in silence, and I notice the drakaths following as we make our way back towards one of the other outposts.

“Before the dome fell, we were here,” Royce explains. “But we were trapped behind a barrier suddenly.”

As we get closer, I can sense other presences and the distinct smell of blood.

Its stench is so fucking intense I stop in my tracks, looking across the snow-covered ground; blood soaks parts of the snow, the colour going from dark red to pink in certain areas. And the bodies – so many bodies lay in the snow, surrounded by a pool of bloody snow, and my stomach twists. These weren’t killed by the drakaths but by Vincenzo and the Indomitable.

I swallow as Sienna slowly slides out of my hold, her heart thumping as we look at the bodies lined up. There are countless bodies.

Far ahead, there’s light peering out of the broken barracks, and I stride towards it, making sure not to step on any of the dead.

A few vampires stand guard, and I realise with sinking clarity that the majority of the dead are wolves.

The vampires all tense seeing the drakaths, but I step forward.

“They are now under our command; it’s safe,” I say clearly through the howling wind.

“Are they? The things that were created to kill our kind?” someone asks, hostility clear in his voice.

“So that’s what they wanted all along,” another one whispers.

“That’s not true,” Ahren says sharply, but I raise my hand, motioning him to remain silent.

“Right now, we need to take control of the situation. The drakaths are the least of our concerns. So how about…” I trail off quietly when my attention falls on the body that lies on a makeshift bed. The skin is completely grey, with red veins running through him, and it takes me a minute to recognise him from his red jewelled earring.

Mikhail…

I walk towards his body, seeing the way his chest is torn up; whoever killed him showed no mercy.

The vampires step forward, hostility clear in their eyes. “If it wasn’t for Prince Mikhail, we all would have died,” one of the vampires says, his eyes glimmering dangerously.

I look back at the barely recognisable body of the Prince, knowing the loss is a heavy one. I then look at the vampire for a moment.

“Raul. Fourth Squad,” he identifies himself.

I nod. “How many survivors?”

I may not have been here for the last few weeks, but I was still a captain before I left.