“I’m gonna need your services, Doc,” I croak to Sara.

“Jesus,” she mutters, draping my right arm around her neck. “Come on, let’s get you to the bed.”

“The sofa’s fine,” I say through gritted teeth, just before I collapse onto it so hard the springs groan in protest.

I’m ruining what is no doubt a very expensive piece of furniture with what is no doubt a very substantial amount of blood, but I can’t find it in me to give a damn. Hell, I can barely find it in me to stay conscious. When I do manage to pry my eyes open again, both Sara and June are hovering over me.

“Knox!” Sara calls to my man standing at attention at the door. “I need some supplies. Go down to hotel reception and get everything they have.”

“Right away, ma’am,” Knox says. A moment later, I hear the door click behind him.

I keep my gaze fixed on June. She’s kneeling by the sofa, her hands floating over my skin without ever actually making contact. I remind myself we’re in the middle of a fight, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was about.

“You’ve been shot three times,” Sara determines as she starts unbuttoning my shirt. “You’re losing your touch.”

“It was me against thirty for most of the battle,” I snap back. “It’s a miracle I walked out of there alive.”

“Sara,” June says, interrupting abruptly, “let me.”

Sara falls back and June continues unbuttoning my shirt. She pushes it apart, exposing the bullet wound to my stomach.

Sara appears suspended over me as she peers down at the wound. “It looks like the bullet is still in there.”

June’s fingers are shaking. It feels like butterflies against my skin. When I glance down, it looks like butterflies, too. Or maybe I’m just losing it. My eyes are swimming with spots and splotches of gray and black and the room is spinning like a top.

“Sara,” June says, looking up at her, “he’s sweating. Is that normal?”

“His body is going into shock.”

“What? He should be in a hospital!”

“No,” I growl through the pain. “No fucking hospitals. Only Sara.”

June’s face dissolves. I blink and it comes back into focus, but her features are distorted. She looks like a dream. Something you’d spy in a puddle. I try to reach for her, but she seems so far away. Their voices are murky. I’m drowning, or maybe they are. I can’t tell anymore.

“Sara, do something!”

“June, stay calm. Freaking out is not going to help the situation. Go get the door. That’ll be Knox with the supplies.”

She disappears suddenly, and all the warmth in the room goes with her. Since I have no reason to see anymore, I shut my eyes. I give into the bliss of oblivion.

I think about my brother.

I think about June.

I think about a faceless woman named Sapphire.

32

KOLYA

“He’s been sleeping for a long time…”