Mated To The Vikens (Interstellar Brides Book 8)(47)

I held my breath as I knew the shot would come at any moment. I was out of time.

Gunnar jumped toward us as I rammed my elbow into Dorn’s gut and slammed my heel down on his instep.

“Cunt!” Dorn yelled at me as I slammed my head back into his chin as hard as I could and fought his hold on the pistol. I wrapped my hands around his large wrist and put every ounce of strength I had into shoving the gun away from my head.

The weapon fired. The strange light blasted right past my face and hit the wall of the building closest to us. Across the street, people screamed and scrambled to get away.

I wrenched free of Dorn’s hold just as Gunnar reached me, throwing me to the ground under his massive frame. He covered me as I heard another shot fire, hitting the ground inches from Gunnar’s head.

“Gunnar!” I screamed his name and tried to get him off me as I heard another strange buzzing sound.

Gunnar tensed at the sound. “Fuck, stay down!”

More afraid of the urgency in Gunnar’s command, I huddled as he rose to charge Dorn.

I rolled onto my side as Gunnar charged our enemy. He was within a few steps. Dorn lifted the gun he had and aimed at my mate with a look of pure malice twisting his features into a cruel mask of hatred.

An odd blasting sound, then a weird sizzle shocked me motionless. I flinched after seeing Gunnar’s eyes widen, afraid he’d been shot. I tightened every muscle in my body, assessing the situation as I rolled onto my hands and knees to rush Dorn. I would not let my mate die at the hands of someone so vile, so corrupt. Gunnar deserved so much better than that.

Dorn’s hold on his gun slackened, then fell away, the gun clattering on the hard ground at his feet. I blinked in confusion as I watched him slump to the ground. Confused, I looked up and discovered half of his face gone, a gruesome and charred mess of bone and flesh and exposed brain made me moan. I rolled onto my side, gagging, the contents of my stomach churned and spewed as I closed my eyes, the image of his death burned onto my retinas until I could not escape the sight.

Gunnar launched himself at me. Faster than I could process, Gunnar lifted me and sprinted around the corner, away from Dorn. Gunnar pressed me against the wall of the nearest building, blocking my body with his own.

“What…happened?” I asked, my brain confused, my heart pumping.

“Sniper,” Gunnar bit out.

He looked over his shoulder, pressed his communication device. “Get down here. Now. We’ve got a sniper shooting at Sophia.”

“On our way.” Erik’s voice came through the speaker on Gunnar’s wrist, his calm assurance helped me breathe. Erik must have ended the call because Gunnar didn’t speak further.

“Don’t move,” he said when I tried to wiggle away. The wall was unforgiving against my back, Gunnar’s hard body unyielding at my front. “Someone’s fucking shooting!”

Anyone left on the street had fled before, but the single shot and the dead body ensured everyone stayed away.

I shook my head. “No. You’re wrong, Gunnar. We’re safe now. I’m safe.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? See Dorn? He’s missing half his head. We’re not going out there.”

“It was the VSS,” I said.

“Dorn worked for the VSS.”

I shook my head. It all made complete sense, at least to me. “Not anymore. His cover was blown. They killed him. He was a liability.”

Gunnar was in warrior mode. His senses heightened, his body ready to fight. He’d been helpless standing there with Dorn holding me hostage. He’d had no weapon, no way to save me. That helplessness was gone now.

“Sophia, what the fuck are you talking about?”

I knew his tone wasn’t truly focused on me. He had to see past the dead body and think, but he was too riled. And I had no doubt it was because of me. I was his weakness here, his Achilles’ heel.

Taking hold of his chin, I forced him to look at me. Only when his dark eyes held mine did I speak. “As soon as we identified him, as soon as they knew I was alive, Dorn became a liability for the VSS.”

Gunnar looked down at me, but some of the stiffness left him. “Now that he’s dead, you can’t hurt the VSS.”

“Right. I’m nobody, Gunnar. Trust me. I know how these people operate. I’m worthless to them. And now that Dorn is dead, I’m not even worth the effort or energy to kill.” I sighed, closing my eyes and imagined a black ops sniper in the movies back home. “Whoever took the shot is long gone. As soon as he killed Dorn, he would vanish like a ghost.”

Gunnar shifted and I opened my eyes to see him inspecting the sidewalk behind us, leaning out to look up at the windows on the buildings, the rooflines.