Page 63 of How Much For a Life of Lies?

My eyes widened in shock as I watched the scene unfold before me. Now Kozlov stood in front of us covered in her blood and seething with rage.

Kozlov spat a curse at Yuri, his voice laced with venom, and he took a step toward us, but before Kozlov could get close, Yuri turned the gun on Kozlov, his expression cold and determined.

“Is over,” he declared, his voice steady as he pulled the trigger, and Kozlov fell beside Indigo. Yuri surveyed the scene. Around us, the firefight slowed and then stopped. “Is. Over.”

CSOC was there, someone calling in a medic, and I sank to the ground with Kai.

In the dim glow of the security light, I saw the worst of his wounds: cuts, blood, and burns. “Kai,” I breathed, overcome with emotion at the sight of him.

“Hey,” he rasped, his voice barely above a whisper. “I’m not dead.”

I eased him away from me a little, taking in the blood, and the flare of humor in his eyes that clouded as he groaned in pain. He was everything to me, after all this time, with his big stupid heart and his reckless ways. “I love you, asshole,” I snapped, the words tumbling out before I could stop them.

Kai’s response was to try and laugh, but he couldn’t. “Love you,” he whispered.

The medic arrived. Triage was brutal but fast, and as we made our way back to town, with no helo exfil possible, the journey was slow when, despite our best efforts to cushion the ride, the CSOC jeep’s jostling exacerbated his injuries. Yuri stayed with Kai and me, silent and watchful. Kai had called him a friendly, clearly trusted the man, or knew enough not to want to kill him outright, so I had to go with that, not to mention he’d taken out the bad guys. As dawn lightened the sky, we arrived back at the rented house, the CSOC medic and team slipping away until it was only the three of us. The town’s doctor was waiting along with the sheriff and the mayor, huddled together at the kitchen table, their faces drawn with worry. As soon as they saw me, the doc hurried over, and the mayor was on his feet, but I held up a hand to stop Thomas from talking and getting in Doc’s way.

I helped Kai to the living room, Luca hovering and Yuri sitting on the stairs, his gun between his knees. The field diagnosis had been a broken rib, dislocated shoulder, and a bad cut to his head—hence the bleeding. I passed over what they’d said and Doc opened his bag, ordering Yuri to clear a space for him to work.

Someone yanked me out of staring at him, and I whirled on whoever had pulled me—the mayor. He was shouting at me about his town, about protection, but I shoved him away, ignored him, and instead focused on Kai.

“What the fuck happened?” I asked, before the muscle relaxant or pain inhibitor Doc used would kick in.

“Ask Yuri. I’m blurry.”

Yuri said something, and Luca stepped in front of him, barking questions in Russian. Yuri blinked at him, then answered, and for a good few minutes there was this explosion of syllables that meant nothing to me. At last, Luca turned to me.

“Yuri is Kozlov’s nephew.” I stiffened, but Luca held up a hand. “Yuri has been playing the long game to take his uncle out, but to kill him meant kill-orders on Yuri’s family would move into play, so he’s fixed it so it looks like Kozlov double-dealt on the guys who he was delivering to. To a group that got his family to safety, in exchange for the drugs. Only, and I think I’m translating this right, the shit hit the fan when Kai turned out to be a good guy, and Yuri couldn’t kill him and return to base to keep his cover to take out Kozlov and Indigo, so it’s all Kai’s fault. Yuri’s pissed that Kai made him jump out of the helicopter first, also Kai is a pain in his ass and talks too much.”

Luca rolled his eyes, and Kai cursed.

I took a moment to lean down and kiss Kai’s hair. He yawned as whatever muscle relaxant had been jabbed into him did its job.

The doctor stared up at me. “He’ll live.”

Damn right, he would.

We loved each other, and there was no way I was letting him die.

TWENTY-FIVE

Kai

As we soared through the sky in a private jet sent to us, courtesy of Sanctuary’s owner, my nerves were on edge. I couldn’t shake the restlessness gnawing at me, amplified by the dull ache in my body from the injuries sustained during our mission. I glanced over at Zach, who sat beside me, his expression calm and collected as always. We hadn’t repeated our declarations of love, and sometimes, when I first woke up, I almost imagined it was a dream. Or one of those intense moments that only happened at peak-adrenalin burst.

I don’t recall thinking I would die, but maybe my lizard brain did, and that was why I announced I was in love.

To Zach, and in hearing of Yuri, and anyone else in the vicinity.

Three days on, given Zach was focusing on wrapping up what he now labeled as the Kozlov fuck-up, we’d spent little time together, and when we did, he didn’t tell me he loved me, or kiss me, or…

I wanted to know.

Which was why I was being illogical and not saying it first.

Because… yeah…

“You know, if it weren’t for these damn pain meds, I’d be flying this thing myself,” I grumbled, unable to hold in my irritability with my frailties. Not to mention the man sitting next to me who smelled of sunshine and citrus who was treating me like a freaking invalid.

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