Left For Dead (The Guarded Secrets Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

the distance by the short muscular stature with his signature beard and fur coat, and the other guards as they followed the death order.
    The women had their heads shoved into the freezing water, held there, and then yanked back up to take what could be their last breath. The mother fought valiantly, even managed to escape once when she elbowed the man behind her in the groin, but another quickly took his place and shoved her under the water again; this time for longer. Katya, while she was fighting, wasn’t strong enough to break free and was slowly losing the will to fight.
    Demon held me to the ground in fear I would react and race to help them. It was a smart move on his part because if his hand wasn’t between my shoulder blades as a constant reminder that I had others to look out for, I would have been up and running toward them right now. It was getting too hard to watch, especially when I saw Katya’s mother go limp after one man clubbed her over the head and she crashed into the water. Katya followed soon after, although she hadn’t been hit. The water must have gotten to her and her lungs would be burning from the lack of oxygen; it was too much for someone to handle.
    Once the men were satisfied they turned and left in the car they had come in. They seemed to be taking commands from a man who had stayed back and done nothing, most likely Volodya Petrov but I couldn’t be sure from our distance. We waited for the men to file into the car, casting glances in Katya’s direction as they drove away, and when we were sure they were gone, we rushed to see if either had survived. Demon raced to Katya’s mother and I went to Katya. I kneeled down next to her, pulling her from the water’s edge and flipping her over to investigate. As I had learned in my previous life, before I was recruited, I put my ear close to her mouth to see if she was breathing while I looked down at her chest. I felt no breath on my ear and never saw her chest rise to take a breath.
    I performed CPR and let the adrenaline race through my veins to keep me going. I allowed myself a glance at Demon to see he was doing the same. It was a long few minutes as we tried to revive them, but it wasn’t long before Demon joined me and pulled me from my rescue attempt.
    “She’s dead, Night Stripe,” Demon said, placing a hand on my shoulder for comfort. “They are both dead. We did all we could without putting ourselves in unnecessary danger. I’m sorry you had to be here to witness it, but we tried, and that’s more than most would have done.”
    Tears welled up in my eyes, but I managed to push them back as I stood up. Demon was right, I tried, and that was all I could ask of myself. I couldn’t will fate to bring Katya or her mother back, and I couldn’t blame Demon for holding me back because I would have been killed on sight. It was sad to see them go, both too soon, but he was right—we did all we could.
    “You’ve saved more people from Ash’s hit list than I could have imagined,” Demon stated. “You couldn’t keep them all alive forever.”
    I nodded, unable to find the words. I took a deep breath to calm down, but their deaths weighed heavily on me. I was here; there had to have been a way to save them. They didn’t have to die. “Let’s go home. I can’t be here much longer,” I said solemnly. I took my first step away from the body only to have something suddenly latch onto my other ankle. I let out a shocked gasp before I turned to see Katya beginning to move. She coughed loudly as she tried to expel the water from her body, but she held tightly onto me as if I were a lifeline.
    “Quick, get her up,” Demon ordered as he took off his coat and helped me with her.
    She spat out the water as she tried to get to her feet, but swayed and remained dead weight as if she was still unconscious. I squatted down and lifted her easily into my arms as Demon hung the coat over her cold body. The water from her clothes was seeping