Katya shakes her head. "I'll protect you. I'll make sure they never find you."
Senga gives her a sad smile. "You can never hide from theBratva." Then she whispers, "I wish things could have been different. I'm sorry,sestra."
Two shots ring out almost simultaneously, and Katya and Senga both collapse on the ground.
"No!" I scream out, running to Katya and falling to my knees on the floor beside her. Blood is blossoming onto her white shirt, but I can't find the source. Tearing the fabric, I see the wound — it's only a graze on her left arm.
"Oh, thank fuck," I whisper as I tear off the remainder of the sleeve and tie it around her arm tightly over the wound. She'll be fine until we can get her stitched up.
Opening her eyes slowly, Katya blinks up at me. "W-what happened?" she asks me.
"You got shot, but you're gonna be fine. The bullet just grazed you." I hug her close and whisper in her hair, "Fuck, if I would have lost you…" I allow the words to linger in the air.
I didn't lose her.
She didn't leave me.
We're together.
We'llalwaysbe together.
"Senga?" she pulls back and asks.
I raise my eyes to glance over at Wraith, who is standing above the girl with his gun still drawn. He meets my stare and gives me a sad shake of his head.
"Senga?" Katya calls, sitting up quickly. She crawls over to her sister's lifeless body. A growing pool of red is in the center of her chest, spreading out on her light blue shirt like a rose bloom of death.
"No!" Katya sobs, pulling her dead sister into her arms. "No!" she cries, rocking her back and forth. "I'm sorry,sestra. I'm so sorry!"
I stand and join Wraith near the back of the barn, and we allow Katya some time to grieve her sister. It's clear that Senga didn't want to kill her sister. She missed on purpose. But Katya reacted just like anyone else would in that kind of situation. She thought her sister was shooting to kill, so she did the same.
Katya couldn't have known. It's not her fault.
After a few minutes, I gather Katya in my arms and pull her away from her sister. "No!" she protests. "I can't leave her! I can't leave her here alone like this!"
"We have to go. TheBratvacould be here any minute."
She fights against me, beating her fists against my chest in anger. But I just hold her tightly and allow her to take her anger out on me until her hits become softer…and then she's pulling me closer instead of pushing me away.
"I'm not going to lose you again," I whisper in her ear. "I never want to lose you."
Her trembling fingers grab the lapels of my jacket as she sobs against my chest.
Wraith gives me a worried look, and I nod. "We have to go," I tell Katya.
She nods, and I reach down and scoop her into my arms, cradling her against me as I carry her to the car.
CHAPTER 42
KATYA
ONCE BACK AT the hospital, I get stitched up quickly in the ER. I made up some story about falling while Jax and I were hiking and cutting my arm against a sharp rock. And even though the nurse raised her eyebrow more than once while I spun the tall tale, she stitched me up with no other questions asked.
After I'm done, I join Jax in the mostly empty waiting room. He stands when he sees me, relief etched all over his face. He hasn't stopped hovering ever since we left the barn, and it actually feels good to have someone care about me that much for once.
"Good as new?" he asks me.
I nod, and he smiles a heartbreakingly beautiful smile.
