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“You need some bubble wrap,” he muttered.
“For what?” She gave him a bewildered look.
“So you don’t harm yourself anymore.”
“I never harm myself.”
“You fell this morning. Did you hurt yourself?” He reached out to grab her hands, turning them over. He frowned at the raw scratches. They looked red.
“I thought you patched her up,” he said accusingly to Judd.
“I did. Why?”
“There are no bandages on her. They look like they’re getting infected.”
“They’re not getting infected,” she said, curling her fingers up.
“Don’t argue with me.” He pulled her fingers out.
“What?”
“Don’t argue with me.”
“What? Ever?” she asked.
“Yes. Ever.” He gave her a steady look. “Don’t ever argue with me.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Of course it is.”
“How?” she asked.
“By always agreeing with me.”
“Okay, I’ll do that.”
“Good.” There. That was easy. He knew she would see sense. And it didn’t make any sense to argue with him when he was always right.
“Uh, I was being sarcastic. I can’t agree with you all the time.”
“It’s easy. Say, yes, Owen. That’s all.”
“That’s all?” she asked in a strangled sounding voice. He hoped she wasn’t coming down with anything. He’d never taken care of someone when they were sick. Judd tended to do that. He could be a real mother hen sometimes.
“Do you have a sore throat?” he asked.
“What? No. Why?”
“You sound funny.”
“Probably because she was biting back the urge to tell you that you’re insane,” Hux provided.
“My baby girl wouldn’t tell me that, would you, baby?” Owen drawled.
“Who me? Nope. I don’t know what’s happening right now.” She ran her hand over her face and he noticed that it shook. He didn’t like that.
He patted the top of her head.
“Man, what has gotten into you?” Hux asked incredulously.
Owen ignored him. He didn’t give a shit what anyone else thought or said about him. As they parked by the palace, he decided that she was going to come back to their house with them. That was the only way to care for her properly.
That idea was thwarted as the backdoor opened and Caleb stood there. “Are you all right?”
Great. Now he had to act normal.
“I’m fine,” he replied. “Thanks for asking.”
Caleb shot him a strange look.
Right. He hadn’t been asking him.
“Hux?” Caleb asked. “You good?”
“Yeah, man. Chloe needs looking over by Obian, though.”
Caleb crouched down, looking past him to where Chloe had buried herself into Owen’s side. He had his arm wrapped around her. Caleb’s eyes narrowed as he took them in. He gave Owen a querying look, but Owen wasn’t giving him anything back.
“Hi, Ms. Reed. I’m Caleb Pierce. I’m the head of security here at the palace. I want to apologize personally for what happened.”
Chloe stirred. He wanted to warn Caleb off. To tell him to back away. Not to look at her or talk to her.
But that wasn’t rational behavior.
His level of possessiveness surprised him. He certainly wasn’t worried about one of his brothers being near her.
In fact, the idea made him hard. Watching them with her . . . yeah, that would be hot.
But he felt murderous at the idea of anyone else touching her, coveting her.
Caleb has his own woman. Chill.
So he let her draw back. But he watched Caleb carefully.
Any threat to her . . .
“It’s not your fault,” Chloe said. Owen turned to look down at her. She had a calm look on her face. Just a quick glance wouldn’t reveal how traumatized she really was. But he could feel her trembling against him.
And he fucking hated it.
He was going to hunt down every one of those bastards and annihilate them.
None of them had any idea of who he was . . . but he was coming for them.
“Owen?” Caleb queried.
Shit.
“Yeah?”
“Are you getting out so Ms. Reed can move? Are you hurt, Ms. Reed? I have the doctor waiting in your suite, but I can arrange for you to be transported through the palace if that’s necessary.”
Yeah. Owen thought not.
Caleb had his own girl. He didn’t need to be touching theirs.
“What? No. No, I’m fine. I don’t even need to see a doctor.”
He tightened his hold around her. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. She was getting medical attention. Even if she hadn’t been hurt by that crowd, there were the scrapes on her hands and possibly a sore leg from what Hux had said.
He wasn’t happy with Judd for not insisting she get seen by Obian this morning.
“You need to see a doctor,” Judd barked from behind Caleb. Judd and Hux had already gotten out of the car. “That’s happening so don’t argue.”
“Judd!” Caleb snapped. Which was unlike him. He was actually a pretty decent guy. Which was high praise from Owen. But Judd did have the ability to get on people’s nerves.
Owen slid from the car ready to help Judd if things grew heated. Generally Caleb had a lot of patience. He needed it to put up with Wolfe.
