Page 61 of Iron

Petra was there a second later, her hand going to my shoulder and giving a slight squeeze. She didn’t move it after and I didn’t want her to. I needed everything she could give me right now.

My hand slowly swiped down over Dade’s face, closing his lids out of respect. I kept my hand there as my head sagged forward.

Charming was the first through the door, followed by Blade, Mason, and B-ry.

Charming rushed to Dade’s side and after checking for a pulse, his hands automatically went to Dade’s chest.

“Shit,” he breathed out as his eyes moved to take in all the blood everywhere.

With a shake of his head, he started compressions on Dade’s chest. Both of us knew it was no use but I knew he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t try.

After a minute, I put my hand over his.

He swallowed hard as his body came to a stop.

Eventually, his hands slipped away as he fell back on his heels.

Blade watched the door.

Mason and B-ry came closer and stood over me with matching somber expressions on their faces.

“Where is she?” a voice called out and I looked up to see Blade ready with his gun raised.

Petra’s hand slipped from my shoulder as she quickly crossed the room.

“Stand down,” she called to Blade. He didn’t look at her but I could see his brow go up in question. “He’s one of mine.”

With awhateverkind of shrug, he lowered his gun.

Garen rushed in, his big body moving quicker than I would have expected.

“Get her out of here,” Petra told him.

Garen didn’t hesitate to head over to Midori. She hadn’t moved from the spot where she’d been cuffed even though she was free. Seeing that she wasn’t going to move from her curled up position on the floor, he scooped her up in his arms. Her eyes were blindly staring at her brother’s body on the floor. She didn’t put up a fight as Garen carried her out of the room and I knew she was in shock.

Mason and Charming pulled me up after carefully laying Dade’s body on the ground.

I swayed on my feet and a sudden wave of nausea hit me.

“Let me see those eyes, Prez,” Charming said while Mason held me steady.

“I’m fuckin’ fine,” I waved him off.

“He’s not fine,” Petra said, her body pressing up against my free side. “He was clocked on the head twice. Hard enough to make him go down.”

I didn’t have to look at her face to know she had that brow raised in a way that said I wasn’t getting out of anything.

“I’m just a little dizzy. I’ll be fine,” I grumbled.

Charming pulled out a penlight from his pocket and without asking for permission, he held my eyes open. The light felt like a million needles shooting through my eyeball as he moved it back and forth in my vision.

“Yeah, need to watch you for a bit. Let’s get him back to the compound.” He gave a chin jerk to Mason.

“I’ll get this taken care of,” Petra said and I knew she was referring to the two dead bodies that not a single one of us gave a fuck about. “I’ll contact Garen and get him to find out if we should expect any more unplanned visitors.”

“Kiss me, Pet,” I told her as I lightly grabbed her arm to stop her from stepping away from me. “Been through hell today. Thought I was gonna fuckin’ lose you.”

Her eyes softened and then without any fight, she brought her lips to mine.