Page 135 of Elite Metal: Warriors

Ming Kow stared at her for a heartbeat, a dribble of red on his forehead, and then he crumpled.

In the resonant aftermath of her fatal shot, silence echoed.

It was then—in the realization that Ming Kow was dead and gone, in the realization that Nat was safe—that Cooper’s pain returned. All of it, as the adrenaline faded, welled up and threatened to claim his sanity. He slumped to the ground—so he wouldn’t suffer the indignity of swooning—and pulled back to look at his wound. Blood welled on his chest and it hurt like hell, but he knew it wasn’t a fatal wound…or he’d be dead by now.

He closed his eyes because his lids were far too heavy.

“Cooper?”

Nat’s voice hovered somewhere around his head. “Hmm?”

“You’re shot.”

“I am.”

“Darling. Look at me.” He thought she shook him, but he wasn’t sure. Maybe the world was just spinning. “Cooper?”

“Is he dead?” A high-pitched voice asked. Surely that wasn’t Gregor, was it? Coop forced open one eye and focused on a beautiful face with enormous brown eyes.

“I’m not dead.”

Surely that tiny face did not look put out.

“Does it hurt?” Someone poked him…just where it hurt and he groaned.

Another tapped him on the forehead.

Yet another pinched his nostrils closed.

“Now, now, children. Give him some room.”

“He’s bleeding,” Someone said in what sounded like a gleeful voice.

“Do you think he’d going to die?”

Cooper frowned. “Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake saving them?” As children went, they seemed fairly bloodthirsty.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Nat said. “Close your eyes. Rest.”

He did. He tried to, but Gregor’s voice roused him. “He got himself shot, I see.”

His tone made it clear that in the same position, Gregor would have managed to avoid the bullet. Cooper tried to snarl at him, but lacked the strength.

He lacked the strength for much of anything. Felt his consciousness slipping away. But somewhere in the deep well of his soul, he knew it would be okay to let go.

Because Nat was here with him.

He wasn’t alone anymore.

* * *

The hardest thing for Natalia was sitting by Cooper’s bed at the hospital and waiting for him to wake up. The doctors said he would be fine…other than residual aches from the tissue and muscle damage, but she couldn’t relax until he woke up.

Gregor and Vasili had taken care of everything else. They oversaw the clean-up at the warehouse with their contact from the Chinese government, disposed of the bodies and collected more intel from the warehouse office. They’d even taken Donovan—the bastard—into custody, which pleased Natalia to no end. He would enjoy his time in Chinese prison, she was sure of it.

Gregor had even gone so far as to install the children in a suite at the hotel and given them free rein of room service. No doubt they were happy at the moment. She couldn’t conceive of sending them back to the orphanage though.

They’d only been confined together for a few hours, but Nat had come to adore them already. She saw herself in them. She saw the girl she could have been if someone had saved her in time.