Page 86 of Brazen King

37

NATASHA

The Kings Lance called into action rush Killian back to his mansion and lay him on the kitchen table like a corpse on a slab. And I watch in tight-lipped horror as his sister gets to work slipping a tube into his chest cavity to release the air trapped from his collapsed lung. Then she sews up his side with surgical precision.

She looks young, but she has such a steady hand and unshakeable calm, I almost believe she can save him. But he’s lost so much blood. His lips are chalky white, his cheeks almost blue they’re so pale, and his pulse was terrifyingly thready by the time Lance and his men carried Killian through the front door.

But all I can do is stand by and pray that he survives.

Because if he doesn’t, I don’t know how I’ll go on.

He risked his life to protect me.

And now it might be too late to tell him that I love him.

But God, I do.

I love him so desperately, it hurts. And it took the very real possibility of losing him for me to realize I can’t live without him. I don’t want to. Not for a single day of my life.

Tatiana stands with me in mute silence, her arm around my shoulders as we bear witness to the impromptu surgery.

And all around me, I see the tight-knit devotion Killian’s men have for their boss. The lengths they will go to for him. Like my father’s Bratva is a brotherhood, the Kings are truly like a family, the men banding together to establish a semblance of order in the wake of their boss’s absence.

Finally, Quinn steps away from her brother and releases a heavy breath.

“Well?” I ask shakily as she goes to the kitchen sink to wash her blood-stained hands.

The look of devastation she casts over her shoulder makes my heart plummet, and tears sting the backs of my eyes as I look back at Killian’s deathly still form.

“He’s alive. But he lost a lot of blood. Thankfully, I’ve made these idiots stockpile as much as I can drain from them as often as possible for this exact type of situation. Still, he’s not out of the woods yet. I won’t really know the extent of the damage until he wakes up…”

I hear the way her sentence tapers off. The silentif he wakes upthat she’s not willing to say.

“We can bring him to his room. Make him more comfortable,” Lance says.

Quinn nods. “Just be careful not to jostle him. I had to put in a lot of stitches. I don’t want any of them to pop.”

Lance nods, and he and two other men ease Killian onto a makeshift stretcher.

“Can I stay with him?” I ask, anxious to let him out of my sight.

Quinn’s face softens, her shoulder relaxing, and I see an understanding in her eyes that surprises me. It makes me wonder if Killian might have told her about me—even after he swore to keep me secret. And for some reason, that breach inour agreement doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I like the thought that he spoke to his sister about me.

“Of course,” Quinn says. “Stay as long as you’d like.”

I follow the men as they carry Killian from the kitchen, and Tatiana joins me. But before I take the first stair toward his bedroom, she grasps my forearm and pulls me to a stop.

“I need to go,” she says softly, worry and pain playing equal parts in her devastated expression. “I need to rally our men and get the situation under control. See where we stand now that Papa’s…” She swallows convulsively, her eyes glassy with unshed tears.

“I understand,” I murmur, squeezing her hand. “But I can’t leave him…” My eyes follow Killian’s retreating figure, my heart torn because, once again, I need to choose between him and my family.

And my family needs me desperately right now. Tatiana needs me.

But if Killian slips away and I’m not here…I could never forgive myself.

I can’t leave him after he risked his life to save my life—and Tatiana’s.

“I know,” Tatiana says softly.

---