Her Lucky Number Thirteen (The American Soldier Collection 13)

She gasped. “Malayna,” she said and went to push up and cringed.

“No, lay still,” multiple voices said to her. She blinked her eyes and saw her men, and then the door to the room opened and two very large men came walking in with Malayna. She had a bandage on her head, and a swollen lip. The guys moved out of the way and Malayna began to cry. So did Nalia.

She got to the bed and hugged Nalia. “Thank you. You saved my life and I could never pay you back,” she said.

“Sure you can,” Nalia whispered.

Malayna pulled back and looked at her. “How?”

“By being my friend, besides my family.”

Malayna smiled and hugged her again.

“Friends for life,” she said and Nalia smiled then cringed.

“What’s going on in here? She can’t have this many people here.” The doctor came into the room and slowly everyone began to leave. Nalia closed her eyes, feeling so tired and just heavy like she could lay here and sleep forever.

She felt the fingers stroking her hair and then lips press against her cheek.

“You need to rest,” Boian said to her and she gave a soft smile. She looked at all her men who gathered around her now. Viktor stood on the other side next to Chatham and they both had a hand on her arm. Dusty and Boian were on the left side both caressing her skin and Cosivan stood at the end of the bed, arms crossed and very serious.

“I missed you so much. I was so scared that I would never see you again.” The tears fell and her men looked serious and hard.

“We never should have let our guard down,” Chatham said to her.

“No, Chatham, it was out of your control. No one, not even Nicolai, knew about Cornikup and his plan of revenge. I knew you would eventually find me, that you would never give up.”

“Did you really, or are you just saying that?” Boian asked her. She thought about it a moment and gave a wise guy expression. Even though she planned on fighting until she died if necessary, she did hold on to a hope that her men would search and rescue her.

“Hello? You’re my American soldiers. Of course you would find me. Besides, you’re my lucky charms,” she said and closed her eyes.

She felt the kiss to her lips and blinked one eye open to see Viktor. “Your lucky charms? What happened to number thirteen not being lucky for you?” he teased.

“Not being lucky? The number thirteen means everything to me. I was born on Friday the 13th. I found out about my father on my thirteenth birthday. You found me after thirteen weeks on the run. I can go on and on, but the very best is so obvious. It’s the five of you. You’re my everything. The loves of my life, my own personal bodyguards, my American soldiers, and my lucky Team 13.”

She closed her eyes and smiled softly. “Yup, I’d say thirteen is indeed the luckiest number I’ve ever known.”

THE END