Page 120 of Beautiful Exile

The nurse waved her off as she motioned an orderly in. “It’s a good thing. We need our people to fight for us in the room we aren’t in. That’s you. A fighter.”

Viciousto the bone. In all the best ways.

“Thank you for your help, Bess,” I said as I stood.

Arden moved in as if spotting, and I pinned her with a look. “I’m not going to bite it.”

Bess chuckled. “Precious cargo and all that.”

This would get old quick. I lowered myself into the wheelchair. “I really can walk.”

Bess made a tsking noise. “I’m not afraid to set the fighter on you, Mr. Pierce. You’re going to take it nice and easy for the next week or two.”

I was already twitchy. I wanted a run or a swim. Or better yet, a good fight.

“Good luck with that,” a new voice said, stepping into the room. Cope grinned at me, but I saw the strain around his eyes. “We gotta stop meeting like this.”

“You started it,” I shot back.

“I think you both need to quit giving us all heart attacks,” Sutton said as she moved into the room. “We could all use a nice round of boring.”

“I could be into watching paint dry,” I said. As long as Arden was with me.

Cope chuckled. “Well, you’ll have plenty of time for your new hobby over the next couple of weeks.”

“Week,” I corrected him. “The doctor said I can start light workouts again when the stitches come out.”

“I’m getting his credentials checked,” Arden muttered.

Cope choked on a laugh. “She’s still terrorizing the staff?”

“I’m pretty sure she made Dr. Mathison cry,” I said as the orderly unlocked my wheelchair’s brakes.

“My sister, the hero,” Cope said.

“I hate you all,” Arden grumbled. “Can we just go home?” Cope didn’t answer right away, and Arden stiffened. “What now? Did something happen? Are the horses okay? Brutus?”

Cope held up a hand. “Nothing like that. It’s just that Mom is in full mom mode, and the entire family is waiting for you.”

Arden stared at Cope for a long moment before squeezing her eyes closed.

Cope patted her on the shoulder. “You almost got shot. I think you’re going to have to deal with a little bit of hovering.”

Arden’s eyes opened again. “When I find this asshole, there’s no one-ball castration for him. He’s losing both.”

Sutton looked back and forth between them. “I think I’m missing something.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I muttered.

44

ARDEN

Linc shifted on the couch,and a flicker of pain swept across his expression. I instantly leaned forward, reaching for his pain medication, but Linc placed a hand on my arm to stop me. “I’m okay.”

Brutus lifted his head from his paws as if trying to see if Linc was telling the truth. But I just scowled at Linc. “You winced. That means you’re hurting. And you could’ve taken your next dose forty-five minutes ago.”

Kye snickered from his spot in the chair opposite us. “You thought getting shot was bad. It’s got nothing on Arden riding your ass afterward.”

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