Chapter 442: Two Halves Of A Broken Heart

[FROLO]

Zhenya knew what Katya had done.

He had seen it; how careful the omega had been around him, and he knew it could cause trouble. Katya had sent his vitals and location to Sergei’s camp; that much Zhenya was sure of.

The radio transmitter on Zhenya was a little too particular, and the tech could be used as a communication device in the most adverse of conditions.

It was not baffling for him that his nephew had chosen that, but also Zhenya could have blocked the transmission if he wanted to.

He could have stopped it all.

But he’d seen the way Katya looked at the door with longing for these five weeks when his nephew had tried to hold on in a place that was meant to ruin people like him.

Zhenya had watched Katya become composed under so much pressure and horror, and he knew his brother’s son had been well trained.

And for holding on for so long without giving himself up, Zhenya had given his nephew the reward of communication. It didn’t matter that it would take Sergei weeks to find this place.

Or even the fact that no one was supposed to know of the existing bunker.

The fact that those two lovebirds were miserable without each other was it.

Perhaps that was also why, as Zhenya injected Katya’s mark, this time he injected a nano-tracker inside Katya’s neck. He knew it was the probable ultimate betrayal, but he was getting tired of seeing his nephew’s miserable face each time.

The details of the nano-tracker went through with the data Katya had initially transmitted through his watch. But this time, it was Zhenya himself who sent the details to Sergei.

The tracker details.

The design.

The bandwidth and everything that Sergei needed to get his husband.

With all that, if Sergei wasn’t able to get Katya under here, then Sergei was a lost cause.

And Zhenya...

He left for the presidential palace.

Boris needed him for something anyway.

’I’m only helping because your husband has been a model prisoner, and he actually tried to best me. The coordinates he sent you are accurate. Just like the pain you’re about to feel in your mate bond.

’You have two hours to come get him, or you might lose your window for the next six months given what Boris is planning ~ Yevgeniy.’

Sergei stared at the text.

At the coordinates he’d gotten through his watch.

At the body temperature readings.

At the spiked temps later.

And for a moment he thought he was dreaming. Because there was just no way. Sure, he knew Zhenya was on their side, but it had been five weeks.

Five weeks without Katya.

Five weeks without seeing him or breathing his Katya air.

Maybe he was hallucinating. So he moved from his usual seat at the back of the minivan, hopped over the seats, and settled beside Rastenkin.

"Uncle... please tell me you see this too," Sergei said to Rastenkin, reaching out to the man with a title his teenage self had sworn he’d never use on Rastenkin. And one that for over forty years he had not bothered to use.

Now...

"Sure, kid," Rastenkin said, checking the details he was being shown.

They were consistent. They were real, and Rastenkin checked the data on his laptop. The details matched. More than anything, he looked up at the tired man who was just surviving on spite and murder.

"Katya reached out, didn’t he?" Rastenkin said carefully as the van came to a sudden stop, hurling them all forward because they apparently didn’t like the concept of seatbelts.

Even Sergei was pulled forward from the sudden braking.

"Elara!! Are you trying to kill us?!" Reeves screeched, glaring at the woman who just raised her hands in surrender. She didn’t have much to say because they had all heard what Rastenkin had said.

They had all felt the sincerity in the man’s voice.

If this was true, then they did not need to go torture themselves at the psych ward anymore.

If this was right, something, then Katya Romanov was bound to be saved.

As if on cue, Sergei felt his mate mark swelling again. It happened whenever Katya was being tortured, which right now seemed like the worst of times.

But Sergei was motivated.

He had something to hold onto.

Something to keep his endurance high and wasn’t about to lose it just because there was a chance he had been played.

"Thank you," Sergei said, and Rastenkin just nodded.

Then Sergei stepped out of the van like he always did.

"I’ll go check if it’s true or not. I’ll be fine," Sergei said, and Rastenkin got off right after him.

"Absolutely not. You are being manipulated already with that mark on your neck; who knows what button they will press that will leave you vulnerable?" Rastenkin warned.

Sergei stared at him grumpily, like this wasn’t the time for whatever the hell Rastenkin was playing at. But the man was determined, and he wasn’t about to let Sergei go alone.

That much was obvious.

"The six of us are coming along, or you’re not going anywhere. I still have seven horse tranquilizers, and I don’t mind emptying them on you," Rastenkin warned, and Sergei sighed.

On one hand, he knew Rastenkin was right and that he would be in his most vulnerable state, and his choices would be narrowed down to Katya or Katya, which wouldn’t be as strategic.

He needed people watching his back.

People he could trust with his life if things ever went sideways in this daring hunt.

On the other hand, Sergei was already thinking that taking people with him would slow him down.

It was quite ironic, seeing as he had been telling these people that they were about to go to war against the Moon Goddess herself, and now suddenly they were not equipped?

Oh, but Sergei was losing his mind.

Thankfully they could see it too, which was why they didn’t sound as offended when he glared at Rastenkin for even suggesting that they all go together. It was a lost cause, or was it?

"You stubborn old man," Sergei huffed before getting back into the van.

Maybe this time it wouldn’t be bad if he went with them, right? Besides, they already had weapons in the van that they could use, not to mention they were alphas, and if they had to, they would use their pheromones.

And so the seven alphas drove off, with Sergei hoping to the gods that this wasn’t false. Then again, Zhenya Levin had to have sent that. But at the same time it was right to be skeptical.

One thing he would not do was leave it all to chance as a fake alert and ignore it. They would go. They would see that place for themselves, and then they would decide whether it was worth checking out or not.

The drive there was rowdier than they had had all those five weeks.

Elara drove like someone was shooting her and like she had no brakes. She drove them worse than any supplier would have driven sacks of sand.

But this time there weren’t that many complaints save for Meera cursing Elara in all the nineteen languages she knew how to speak and turning the madness into entertainment.

"You are not getting behind that wheel again. Rahim, you’re our driver when we return. If you drive us worse than Elara, I will not talk to both of you for the rest of my life," Meera grumbled as they got off at the old mill.

It looked dead, but the coordinates were right.

So they just had to look around properly and identify a possible point of entry.

Maybe it would work, but even if it didn’t, they could take care of each other, right?

Sergei, on the other hand, was in unbearable pain.

He knew Katya was in pain too, and honestly, that was his only motivation to keep looking. Because if it was true that this place was what Zhenya had said it was, then he would get his mate here.

And he couldn’t compromise no matter what happened along the way.

"Guys..." Reeves spoke suddenly, and the rest of the team that was already walking around turned to him.

"What did you do now?" Meera huffed tiredly.

"Maybe...err... stepped on a... landmine?"

"Awesome! I always wondered what your insides would look like if you were blown to bits!" Meera cheered before she looked at Sergei, who was just staring flatly.

"Disarm it. The rest of us will keep going," Sergei said to Meera.

And they didn’t wait.

Until the first sniper shot was fired at their feet.

"We’re definitely at the right place," Rastenkin said before the alphas readied themselves to fight with their pheromones.