Bryce rolled his eyes. “God, isn’t that the truth.” He took Dagger by the shoulders, then looked to me and Hunter, saying out of the side of his mouth, “Someone took way too many painkillers. I think it’s time for the hospital.”
Suppressing a smile, I got to my feet and helped Hunter up as best I could. Somehow, thanks to these three, I’d come out of this nightmare the least worse for wear of all of us.
Hunter
The second I stepped into the hospital suite, Serenity was all I could see. She sat in a plush, upholstered chair, her shins tucked beneath her and auburn hair spilling over the arm on which her head rested.
I took an instinctive step toward her, light on the balls of my feet, but when I followed her eyeline to my bedbound twin, I crashed back to earth and exhaled through gritted teeth. With the rough shape his legs were in, I was actually glad he was getting the best treatment. But that wasn’t going to stop me breaking balls. Maybe a little less harshly for tonight. “Bryce, you didn’t have to put him up in the goddamn Ritz of hospital rooms. A closet would’ve been enough.”
Bryce, whose eyes looked sleepy, was lying down on a second bed across from Dagger’s. He shrugged. “It’s only money.”
I flashed a teasing smile. “I’ve heard a few rich people say that.”
“Guy literally gives me his blood, then begrudges me a little luxury,” Dagger scoffed. “Thanks for that. Hope you’ve still got plentyleft. Don’t go fainting for my sake. And thanks, Bryce, sincerely. Not just for this, but… you know.”
“You’d have done the same for me, I’m sure.”
“I would. Not sure where I’d get the blue fire from though.”
Serenity’s nose crinkled as she scooted her chair a little closer to Bryce’s pillow-stacked bed. “Blue fire?”
Bryce’s head turned toward her voice, and when he opened his eyes to find her so close, I saw his nails flash orange on the sheets.
Yet, deep as he stared into her hazel, he only shrugged. “It was nothing, really. Just some New Nebraska madness. It never ends.”
Super rich, super handsome, modest, always the adult in the room, sometimes I wanted to hate him for being so perfect. I couldn’t, of course.
My brother was another matter… Earlier on, one of the doctors, a wolf shifter with thickly muscled shoulders and the usual know-it-all attitude, had suggested a transfusion of fresh jaguar blood, especially twin to twin, would help quicken Dagger’s healing. I’d agreed, wondering if he’d have done the same in return.
“You ever pull any shit again like you did earlier tonight, and I’ll take back every drop. Plus interest.” I let my disapproval of him show on my face.
Dagger clutched his chest, feigning hurt and an English accent. “You wound me, bruv.”
I poked my finger between the closed blinds, their tinfoil tinkle revealing the city in the early hours, sprinkled in neon and streetlights. It almost looked pretty. “I’d say you’ve taken care of that part pretty well yourself.” I scanned the streets, still mindful I’d let those vamp fuckers escape.
Fancy suite or not, there was still that cloying hospital disinfectant edge to the air. Shoes squeaked up and down the polished corridor outside.
I wanted to get Serenity home and cuddled up in a soft, warm bed with me, but she’d insisted on staying the night in the suite tokeep Dagger company and make sure he was okay. That was what doctors and nurses were for, but I couldn’t argue with my mate’s caring gaze.
She was currently sitting between the two beds, plucking clementines from the enormous fruit bowl on the central nightstand and eagerly peeling them for Dagger. Much to his grumbling. And my concealed jealousy.
“Fruit? Ah man. Can’t I get a T-bone? With some Cajun fries on the side. Actually, a couple of cold beers with that would be like medicine right about n—”
“Uh-uh,” she said, handing him three peeled portions and a half liter bottle of chilled water. “The doctor said no mixing alcohol with your pills. The fruit’s good for you, and you won’t find a steak and fries at four in the morning anyway. Come on, have these, and plenty of water. You can get a steak tomorrow.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He took the offerings sulkily and began chugging and chewing.
My brotherneverlet anyone boss him around. Where ultra-violent gangs and axe-swinging psychos had failed, Serenity was excelling. It should have been hilarious, but it niggled at the part of me that still didn’t want my life intersecting with his. At all.
“Actually, I think they would send one up now if I called,” Bryce mumbled, his eyes half-closed.
She peeked round, her smile soft but tone firm. “You’re so kind as always, Bryce, but”—she plucked a banana and began peeling it—“bad boys don’t get steak dinner rewards. Especially when they’ve not apologized to certain people…”
Dagger took the banana and sighed, his stare rooted to its pale-yellow flesh as he mumbled awkwardly for the benefit of me and Bryce, “You’re right. Sorry for all this. It was… unprofessional of me.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Bryce said sleepily, pulling the spotless cotton sheet higher. “Just do better.”
“Pfft! No chance of that.” Smirking, I walked across the shiny cream floor and picked a banana of my own, scarfing it in three mouthfuls. I wasn’t a fan, really, but after the shift to cat form and then giving the blood transfusion, I needed the potassium.
