Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

everything about Ivanov, knowing as a teenager that Petr Ivanov was his most dangerous enemy.
    Sorbacov will always protect him. That’s how I knew his order to terminate was a ploy to keep him here and draw you out. He believes Ivanov can take us both.
    It mattered little if a team of adults hunted him with automatic weapons in the coldest place on earth, or that he was dropped into a desert with nothing but a knife, while the adults hunting him had every convenience—it was Ivanov that Stefan had feared as a child. Even as a teen, Ivanov had been insatiable, needing the pain and suffering of others the way others needed air to breathe.
    I think this thing is sawing my leg in half.
    Stop fucking moving. Just stay still. I’ll get it off you. And for God’s sake, when I do, don’t take a step without testing for more traps.
    I’m shoving as many things as I can down inside it, hoping it eats through the sticks and my knife before it does my leg.
    Stefan wasn’t about to allow Lev fall into Ivanov’s hands. The exterminator was royally pissed that Stefan had managed to spot him, chase him and actually wound him. The blow to his ego would be enormous. Stefan raced across the bare street and dove over a fence into the middle of a trumpet tree split trunk. He scrambled through the thick limbs into heavier foliage. A bullet hit the heel of his boot, knocking it off, and another plucked at his sleeve, far too close for comfort. But Ivanov was still focused on him, hating him with a cold fury, determined to kill him.
    Ivanov had no idea he had trapped Lev or the exterminator would have abandoned Stefan to kill his brother. Stefan used his elbows and toes to make his way through the yard, crushing flowers as he went, all the while turning his mind to the trap on his brother’s ankle. It would be difficult to open the jaws from a distance and for the first time he wished he had Judith’s power to tap into.
    You drugged her, you idiot, Lev pointed out helpfully.
    Shut up, that’s not helping, Stefan growled.
    Dividing his mind, keeping part of it on survival and the other tuning his energy to opening the serrated teeth digging into his brother’s calf was actually painful and he didn’t need his brother’s pointing out he’d be facing a firing squad when he confessed.
    The wind rushed inland from the ocean, bringing in a heavy veil of mist fast. Overhead clouds built fast and furious, a tower of angry, dark cauldrons, heralding an ugly storm.
    That’s my woman, majorly pissed and coming for her man, Lev announced.
    That’s the last thing we need, bringing a woman into this mess. He’s a wily old wolverine, Lev, more dangerous than anyone you’ve ever faced. You don’t want him to have a way to get to you and he’ll use a woman without compunction.
    She’s going to come, Stefan, and she won’t be alone.
    Stefan cursed under his breath. He had to flush out Ivanov fast, before Lev’s wife came, thinking she was going to rescue him. As if Lev needed rescuing. Even with his leg caught in a trap, his brother was a dangerous man.
    Stefan began to work his way slowly through the garden to try to get a better angle on Ivanov. The man had to reveal his location soon and all Stefan needed was a single moment to take him out, because unlike Ivanov, Stefan didn’t waste bullets—and he didn’t miss.
     
     
    THROUGH layers of sleep, Judith heard frantic voices and footsteps pounding through her house to her bedroom. It had to be a dream—or a nightmare. She’d just gone to sleep.
    “Stupid security system is a total waste,” she muttered and put the pillow over her head. She couldn’t clear her brain enough to think properly let alone sort out the feminine voices calling to her.
    “Judith! Get up! Wake up!”
    Okay, that was definitely Rikki and she sounded scared and imperious at the same time. Because it was Rikki, Judith forced her leaden body to move. Nothing worked. Her arms and legs felt numb right along with her brain and she landed with a thud on the floor. Struggling into a sitting position, the sheet falling in a puddle around her, she gasped, realizing she was completely naked. There were marks of possession on her body she couldn’t possibly hide, so she yanked up the sheet as Rikki raced into her room. Judith could hear the others rushing down the hall. Swearing under her breath, she managed to yank the sheet up to wrap herself in. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her hazy vision. There