Chapter 36

Katja~

I 'd never met either Noah or Lochlan Murphy before, but when Maksim had carried me into a makeshift clinic, I'd been blown away by how blue their eyes were. They were this bright cerulean color, and their dark lashes made them look like they glowed. They were as hypnotizing as any witch's gaze, and when they belonged on faces as gorgeous as theirs, the combination could really throw a girl for a loop.

At any rate, when we'd gotten here, Maksim had immediately placed me on a gurney, and Lochlan Murphy had introduced himself before quickly going to work. Maksim and Avgust had remained by the kitchen area, informing Noah Murphy of everything that had happened, and while this entire situation seemed weird when you considered that these men were supposed to be mortal enemies, I just couldn't summon the energy to care.

After Lochlan was done hooking me up to an IV and a vitals monitor, he looked over at Maksim. "Barychev, I need you." Maksim quickly made his way over, and once he was standing on the other side of the gurney, Lochlan told him, "I can put her out for this part, or you can hold her hand. I'll apply a local if I keep her awake, but digging out a bullet isn't for the weak. This is going to be uncomfortable, no matter the strength of the local."

"Wait…why can't you put me out?" I asked, the imagined future pain making me panic a bit.

Lochlan's face softened. "Because it'll be a long while before you wake up again, especially considering all the blood that you've lost, lass. Kotov and Barychev aren't going to be welcomed here that long, and I can't see Maksim leaving you here with us."

My eyes shot Maksim's way, and he immediately confirmed what Lochlan had said. "I will not leave you here, Katja. You are only here so that Dr. Murphy can provide you with fluids and stop the bleeding until I can get you home. We have our own doctor on call that can see to your aftercare."

I pressed my hand against my stomach, nausea threatening to take over. Even with a local anesthetic, I'd be able to feel Lochlan digging around in my leg, and with the way that I was feeling, was I even guaranteed to live? While that might sound a bit dramatic, I knew nothing about medicine, so I really had no idea how bad off I was.

Looking into Lochlan Murphy's crazy-colored eyes, I asked, "Am I going to die? I mean, is there still a chance that I'll die?"

"Not on my table," he replied confidently. "However, there's always a risk of infection afterwards, lass. This place isn't held to the standards as a sanitized hospital or clinic. This place is to save lives in a pinch, but that's it."

"It's going to hurt, isn't it?" I asked like a scared child. "Even with the local anesthetic, huh?"

Before he could answer, the front door opened, and in walked none other than Declan freakin' O'Brien. Now, while I'd never met him, who else could it be? I couldn't think of anyone else that would just walk in here like that, like they knew that they could. Not to mention that he had that fair Irish look about him, and even with the loss of blood that I had experienced, I could still see that The O'Brien was just as gorgeous as the others in his family. Seriously, what was in the water around here?

Confirming what I was thinking, Maksim said, "That's Declan O'Brien."

"I figured," I muttered as I watched the man shake hands with Avgust before heading my way.

With his blue gaze on Maksim, he said, "Not sure what we keep doing wrong here, but I take it that it's done?"

As he asked the question, Avgust and Noah walked over to join in, and it was a very intimidating thing to have all these powerful men surrounding me. They were all tall, broad, and gorgeous, and it also hadn't escaped my attention that they were enemies. While the underlining tension wasn't as thick as you'd think, it was still there, and I knew that there was no way that Maksim was going to leave me here with them after Lochlan patched me up.

"It's done," Maksim replied, though I wasn't too sure what they were talking about.

Declan looked over at Avgust, then said, "Are you sure that he was the last of them?"

"As far as we know," Avgust replied. "However, even if he was not, I cannot see anyone else picking up his cause since it was a personal one."

Declan nodded. "Agreed."

"The scene is also being taken care of," Avgust assured him.

The O'Brien gave him another quick nod before looking my way. "How are you feeling, lass?"

"Like I've been shot," I muttered.

Declan grinned, and he really was gorgeous. "It's not a fun feeling." Then he looked over at Lochlan. "What are all the injuries?'

"Bullet in the leg, fingers on her left hand were sliced up a bit, but that's the worst of it." Cocking his head in my direction, he asked, "There was blood on your face before I gave you that washcloth, so is there some dental damage or something else that I'm not aware of?"

My face turned beet red. "No…uhm…that's how I got away."

"What do you mean?" Maksim asked.

I looked over at him. "He wanted to…he wanted to make another video of me…of him in my mouth, and so…well, when he put it in my mouth, I bit down and…and that's how I got free."

Every man in the room winced.

"Everything's on my phone," I said, and then that's when I started looking around. "Where's my purse? My phone?"

"The guys have collected your things, and they will be returned to you when we get home," Maksim answered, his voice sounding raspier than before.

"Yeah, so…uhm, if I put her out to extract the bullet, then she'll be out for a while," Lochlan announced, his voice sounding a bit strained. "Barychev isn't too keen on leaving her here with us."

Declan smirked. "Understandable."

"I'm giving her a local," Lochlan went on to explain.

The O'Brien's blue eyes slid Maksim's way. "Are you sure about this?"

He nodded, speaking for me. "She'll be fine."

Returning the nod, Maksim grabbed my right hand, knowing better than to grab my left one. Then, looking me straight in the eye, he lied to me, saying, "It is going to be fine, lyublyu."

"That's easy to say when you're not the one that's getting a bullet extracted from their leg," I retorted, trying to hide just how nervous I really was.

"Awe, lassie," Lochlan drawled out. "I'm pretty certain that every man in this room has had a bullet removed at one time or another." He grinned sweetly at me, his voice back to normal. "I know for a fact that my brother and The O'Brien have."

"If left up ta my wife, I'da had a couple o' mere," Noah Murphy remarked, and holy freakin' hotness on that accent of his.

"You will be fine, Katja," Maksim repeated, his dark gaze narrowing at my newest fascination with the Irish accent. "I would not put you through this if I did not think that you could handle it."

"We'll give you some privacy, lass," Declan added. "Kotov can keep me and Noah company by telling us all what happened."

"Thank you, Mr. O'Brien," I replied quietly.

"I'm going to cut your pant leg off, then I'm going to disinfect the area, give you the local, and after it sets in, I'm going to do my best to extract the bullet," Lochlan said, speaking to me like I might become hysterical at any moment. "Once I remove the bullet, I will sew you up, patch the wound, then send you on your way with some very effective pain medication."

I gave him a tight nod before looking back over at Maksim. "What am I supposed to tell my grandfather?"

"I will handle your dedushka , Katja," he promised. "Let us just get this done."

I let out a heavy sigh before looking back at Lochlan Murphy. "I'm…okay, I'm ready."

He let out a soft chuckle before he put on a pair of gloves, then went to cutting off my pant leg right below the tourniquet that Maksim had fashioned for me. When he was done, he slid the fabric down my leg, letting it pool at my ankle. Maksim nor Lochlan spoke as Lochlan did his thing, and even Avgust was keeping his voice down as he told Declan and Noah what had happened. The entire thing felt oddly uncomfortable, but probably because these men weren't supposed to get along. I supposed that was why I was feeling more and more unwelcomed by the second. Though the O'Briens had been nothing but kind to me since we'd gotten here, I still felt like my association with Maksim made me an unpleasant inconvenience.

After Lochlan was satisfied that the local anesthetic had done its thing, Lochlan began to dig into my leg, and I immediately turned towards Maksim, holding onto him like a lifeline. It hurt like a sonofabitch, though still not as badly as I'd expected. However, it still hurt, and after the kind of day that I'd had, I deserved for someone to comfort me, and that someone was going to be Maksim Barychev, even if I was still mad at him.