Page 35 of Soulmate of the Mafia King
Fuck, ithadbeen close. I would’ve given anything to be able to hug Paige right then, but given my hand experiment and how much the laughter had taken out of me, my hopes were low on that front. I twitched my fingers and hoped she understood that was the best I could do.
“Next time, I’m getting the vest with protection on the sides, too,” I said.
“Next time,” Paige repeated.
She didn’t sound happy. She sounded scared. I frowned. Zahur was her last dragon, but there were so many women still to save. I just assumed we’d be doing this together for the rest of our lives. But that seemed to knock her right out of theconversation. She stared worriedly at the tube in my side, not saying anything.
“Enough about me,” I said. “What about you? What happened?”
She snapped back to attention. “Zahur came to the hotel, but I’m fine.”
I shook my head. “I should’ve known the asshole wouldn’t just wait for us to get him. I should’ve known Mostafa would turn on us.”
She stroked the back of my hand. “It’s not your fault, Tom.”
“I guess.” I sighed. “But Killian got there in time? He killed Zahur?”
Paige looked away. “Uh, yeah. He got there in time.”
Something had changed, but through the haze of pain and exhaustion, I didn’t know what. “And Zahur?”
“Dead,” she replied.
That, at least, sounded normal.
She kissed me on the cheek. “Speaking of, Killian wants to see you.”
I wasn’t done seeing her yet. But she walked out of the room, and I had no ability to stop her. A moment later, Killian walked in and dropped into the chair on my right Paige had just vacated.
“I told you,” he said.
“Told me what, asshole?” I asked.
“That we should’ve gotten the vests with side protection.”
“No the fuck you didn’t,” I replied. “You wanted us to get medieval suits of armor. Over my dead body.”
Killian shook his head. “It almost was.”
He looked at me, and I saw the exhaustion in his eyes. He hadn’t left my side since he and Paige arrived, not even to sleep. I’d scared the shit out of him.
“I love you,” he said quietly. “And I’m sorry I didn’t get there in time.”
I blinked. “What? Paige said you did. You killed the bastard, right?”
Killian’s eyes widened as he looked at me, then the door Paige left through. “No, she did.”
CHAPTER 29
PAIGE
Ileaned against the wall in the waiting room and sucked in what felt like my first deep breath since I’d heard Tom was hurt. The doctors here were so talented I could barely keep up with what they were saying, even when they spoke English, but even though they’d promised yesterday that Tom would wake up soon, I hadn’t been able to believe them. I’d fiddled with my phone. I’d texted Sera and Lauren that I was okay, that Tom was hurt but getting care, and I’d been receiving message of support since, but I hadn’t answered any of them. I couldn’t until I knew Tom was really out of the woods. Now, as my adrenaline finally started to taper off, I wanted to hear a friendly voice. I stood and walked to an out-of-the-way hall I’d found then called Lauren. It was midday in Philly, so she’d be at the shelter.
She picked up almost instantly. “Paige! I’m in the middle of a session, can I call you back?”
I smiled tiredly. The work came first. “Course. But when you do, can you grab Sera? I don’t want to tell the story twice.”
“Absolutely.”
