Page 31 of Dark Destiny: The Fates' Bargain

She pouted. "I'm taking care of you because you don't care for yourself."

The woman had infinite patience, but taking Petrov on as a case was too ambitious even for a saint.

Two men walked up to the van as Dimitri got out, and even though they weren't wearing anything to distinguish them from civilians, it was obvious they were Guardians from the way they carried themselves.

He'd watched these immortals in the submarine, and even though they were physically similar to the Brotherhood soldiers, there was something about them that was markedly different, and he had no trouble distinguishing them from the other type of immortal fighters. It was in their expressions, their bearing, the way they looked at each other and at the civilians they had just rescued. It was almost as if they had 'Good Guys' tattooed on their foreheads.

"Welcome to the keep," the taller one said. "I'm Arran." He offered a hand to Dimitri.

"Doctor Dimitri Volkov." He shook the male's hand.

When Arran continued to shake hands with Mattie, the other Guardian introduced himself. "I'm Rhys. Arran and I are here to help with the equipment."

Behind him, Dimitri heard Petrov grunting as he maneuvered himself out of the van.

"You're hurt," Rhys said. "Let me help you." He offered Petrov a hand.

"I'm not an invalid," Petrov grumbled but took the offered hand anyway, pressing his other one against his side.

The moment his feet touched the concrete, he let go of the Guardian and immediately swayed, reaching out a hand to steady himself against the van.

Anita was next to him in an instant, sliding under his arm with her usual ease. "Lean on me, Konstantin. Not on your pride."

"I can't lean on something that is structurally unsound."

Mattie chuckled, leaning against Dimitri's side. "At least he still has his sense of humor."

"There is nothing humorous about my situation," Petrov grumbled. "I'm just stating the facts. I have no pride left."

"At the moment." Anita adjusted her grip, taking more of his weight than she let on. "You will have it shored up soon enough."

Petrov didn't even try to fight her. He was either in really bad shape or had given up on arguing with Anita. The man had taken a bullet clean through the flank during the extraction, in and out without hitting anything vital. Julian had patched him up, but Petrov had lost a lot of blood, and a wound like that meant a lot of pain and a long recovery time, especially for someone who hadn't been in great shape to begin with.

"The equipment is in the back," Dimitri said. "There's a lot of it, and some of it is fragile. Please handle it carefully."

"We'll treat it like it's made of glass," Arran said. "We will just put it in place for you to unpack later."

"One thing." Dimitri held up a hand. "The refrigeration unit needs to be carried right side up and as level as you can manage, and to be connected to power as soon as possible." He walked with Rhys to the back of the van and showed him which of the boxes contained the refrigerator.

"Consider it done." Rhys pulled out a pen and marked the box.

"Thank you."

Dimitri had calculated how many hours the compounds inside that unit had before their stability started to degrade, and they were cutting it dangerously close.

"Do you need our help?" their driver asked.

"We've got it covered, Robbie," Arran said. "Your job is to get our guests settled in the penthouse."

They were led inside through a door that was labeled as maintenance, continued to a bank of elevators, but didn't stop there. Robbie and Callan took them around to another elevator.

"This one goes straight to the penthouse," Robbie said as he pressed his palm to the scanner.

"There is food waiting for you up there," Callan said as they waited. "Also fresh clothes, so you can shower and change."

"Speaking of." Anita shifted her hold on Petrov. "He needs his bandage changed. Do you have medical supplies?"

"All taken care of," Robbie said. "Julian called ahead. Told us exactly what to get."