Reap (Scarred Souls, #2)(63)

I snapped. I charged forward, gripping Luka by the throat. But he fought back, his strength nothing like I’d ever encountered before. His arm slammed down on mine, the force knocking my arm away. He pushed on my chest; I stumbled back. I paced again, my body remembering the kill … remembering bringing death.

I wanted it.

I craved it.

“How did he die?” I hissed.

Luka stilled, and my eyes bored into his. “How did he f*cking die?” I boomed. Luka lifted his hands, as if in surrender.

“Me,” he said quietly. My world stopped. “I killed him,” he said. “He died at my hands.”

Heat, so intense, flared at my feet and traveled through my body like hellfire. He killed Anri? A Tolstoi killed my brother.

Heaving forward, I rushed Luka. I tackled him to the ground. My fists struck his face over and over, but Luka hit back. I ignored the pain and agony of his blows as we fought for dominance on the ground. In blind fury I just kept hitting.

“I had no choice!” Luka snarled as he rolled me on my back, his hand tight around my throat. Sheer strength kept me pinned to the floor. His dark eyes pierced mine. As he spoke he seemed to make me a promise. “I had no choice but to kill him. We were forced to fight. I had to get my revenge on the man who had me captured and taken to the gulag.”

I flailed, but Luka’s incredible strength held me down. “Anri understood that only one of us would be walking away from that cage. It was him or me. I won, but, as he drew his final breath, I promised him his revenge.” He leaned down farther and tightened his grip on my throat, making it even harder to breathe. “I got you out. I set you free. We put you in the basement to get you off the Georgian drug. You f*cking survived. And next, I kill Jakhua. I promised Anri, and now I promise you, Zaal. I don’t f*cking fail.”

Luka released my neck and sat up. “Our families may be enemies, but Anri was my brother. I was 818 and he was 362. No family names divided us. No family history tore us apart. Pain and revenge brought us together.”

I panted for breath through gritted teeth. My chest was covered in blood. My ribs ached. “He would never have befriended a f*cking Tolstoi,” I spat out in a guttural voice.

Luka tensed. Then raising his fist, he slammed it against my jaw, and pushed down on my head. I wrapped my arms around his neck. Either of us could twist and it would be the end. A neck would break. One of the clans would lose the heir.

“Anri was my brother too. He taught me how to survive. He told me to be strong, keep strong. And I did. And I am. I’m strong. I’m f*cking Raze. And I’ll slaughter you here and now, if you threaten my family.”

As those words poured from his mouth, my arms fell away from his neck. Luka rose, feeling me pull away.

Be strong. Keep strong. Be strong. Keep strong …

Blistering agony possessed my mind as Anri’s familiar words struck home, struck at my heart. My body ached. Confusion set in. He was a Tolstoi. But he knew my brother. I could see that absolute truth in his eyes.

Jerking my legs, I knocked Luka off me. I staggered to my feet. Luka stood and turned to face me, his brown eyes darker still. His body ready to strike.

I caught movement from behind me. I saw Luka’s female huddled in the corner. She had been watching us fight. Tears were flooding her eyes. Luka’s gaze flickered to her, then immediately back to me. “I killed Anri to save Kisa. She’s my wife and the woman I’ve loved all my life. I had more to live for at that moment in time, but he died a warrior. He died giving all his heart.”

Footsteps pounded into the room. Talia’s two guards came running in. They looked just like they’d woken up. Each of them held a gun, pointing in my direction.

“Don’t shoot!” Luka ordered, but the guards did not lower their weapons.

“He didn’t remember you either,” Luka said suddenly. I held my breath as an agonized ache sliced down my spine. “But if he’d known you were alive, he would have never stopped until he freed you. He was the most honorable man I’ve ever met. He saved me, and I want to save you, enemies or not. I want to save those he loved. I think maybe he befriended me because, deep down, he remembered having a brother. He wanted a brother again.”

Gasping for breath, I stumbled back. My mind was crammed full of thoughts. Too many thoughts to handle.

Footsteps ran down the stairs. But I needed to get out. I watched Luka, the guards, and his wife. They were all looking at me.

Reaching the door that led to the beach, I pushed on the wood until the door broke off its frame. Cold air slapped against my bare chest, but I ignored it all to run out into the night.

I ran and ran until grass gave way to the wood of the dock. I ran until the wood ran out and gave way to the freezing cold sand. I tried to run on, but my legs gave out. As my knees hit the soft sand, I threw my head back and screamed. I screamed for my family. I screamed for my brother dying in a cage, and I screamed with the venom flooding my veins for Jakhua.

He would die.

I would slaughter him.

I would honor my family by slitting his motherf*cking throat.

When there was nothing left inside of me, my hands fell forward, plunging into the soft sand. Tears poured from my eyes. The icy wind whipped my hair around my face and clung to my bare skin. But I was beyond caring.

I was empty.

Light footsteps sounded on the dock. They were running. Then they stopped. I felt her behind me. I knew who would be there.