Page 114 of Beautiful Exile

“Fight for it,” Linc growled. “I know my vicious girl battles like no one else. Fight for it with me.”

And I knew he meant more than an orgasm. He meant he wanted me to fight for us. To make this something real. Something that could mean forever.

Terror swept through me, but I didn’t stop fighting because he was with me. My finger circled tighter, sweeping across that most sensitive flesh and sending me spiraling. It wasn’t a light and airy fall; it was a violent plummet. The orgasm racked my body with a fury that took us both down together in beautiful agony.

Linc cursed as he emptied into me, lengthening the fall with each thrust. But he never left me. We fell together. And as his forehead dropped to my shoulder, his breathing heavy, I felt all of him.

“Like nothing else, you and me. Like I can be whoever I need to, and you’ll take me just as I am,” he whispered hoarsely.

My throat constricted. “I know,” I croaked. Because I felt the exact same way. And it scared the hell out of me.

“Do we have to leave?”Linc asked, pouting like a little kid as late-morning sunrays cast shadows over his face.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “We don’t have to, but I think we’ll be hungry by tonight,” I said as I tightened the strap on the saddlebag, but the truth was, leaving was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Can’t have my girl getting hangry on me.” Linc stuffed the last of our camp’s trash into the bag we were packing up.

I crossed to where we’d set up camp, bending to check my pack. Satellite phone, first-aid kit, snacks for the trip back, plenty of water. “You definitely do not want that,” I said with a chuckle.

Linc moved into my space and wrapped his arms around me. “Thank you for giving me this. For knowing me well enough to give me exactly what I needed.”

That foreign feeling in my chest shifted again. “I wish I could really fix it.”

Linc brushed the hair from my face. “Well, you did offer to challenge my dad to a fight to the death. That’s good enough for me.”

My lips twitched. “I’d take his ass down.”

“I have no doubt.” Linc gave me a quick kiss and then released me.

I bent to lift the pack just as a crack sounded. It was almost like a tree branch snapping in the wind, only therewasno wind today.

My brain tried to put the pieces together, reason out what it was, when Linc’s body hit mine full force. Just as another crack sounded. And that’s when I registered the sound.

Gunshot.

41

LINCOLN

I hitArden like a linebacker taking down a running back, the force of it sending a sound of protest out of her. Or was it pain? Panic swept through me. Was she hit? Hurt? Something worse?

I kept her covered as another shot rang out. One of the horses whinnied, something snapped, and then Whiskey was running in the direction of Cope’s property.Hell.

Brutus growled, then barked, and Arden yelled out some order in German. The dog instantly lay down, but the growling didn’t cease. The shots did.

Other than Brutus’s snarls and Stardust’s sounds of protest, the world went eerily silent around us. No more shots. No nothing.

“Linc,” Arden whispered.

“Not yet,” I clipped. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was waiting for. Another shot? Pounding hoofbeats, letting us know the shooter was fleeing? It certainly wouldn’t be the sound of sirens, not out here.

That’s when I heard it. The faint sound of an engine. If I hadn’t been focused, I would’ve missed it. But it didn’t sound like a car. More like a dirt bike or an ATV.

Still, I waited.

When the sound of the engine disappeared, I rolled off Arden, my hands instantly roaming over her in search of injuries. “Are you okay? What hurts?”

Arden started to nod, but then all color drained from her face, her skin bleaching white.

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