But she could go back to Keira and have protection.
What she needed was to be desired, to be craved, to be wanted for who she was.
Who was yelling at her?
Was it the guy who’d murdered Rex?
No. Wait. That was dumb. If this guy was Beltran he’d have just shot her, right? There wouldn’t have been any warnings.
But that didn’t change the fact that this guy was about to shoot her because she couldn’t move her arms.
“I . . . I can’t,” she managed to get out.
Her side burned. It felt like she’d torn it open as she’d fallen off the fence. There must have been something sharp on the ground.
“Patrick!” a sharp voice said.
Relief filled her.
Because even though he didn’t want her like she did him, she knew that Jared would keep her safe.
“Boss? Careful, there’s been a breach. Found this one lying on the ground after throwing herself at the fence.”
“It’s all right, Patrick,” North told him. “She’s not a threat. We’ll take care of her. Although you need to keep her presence quiet. For security reasons.”
“Um, sure. If you’re certain. Do you want my help transporting her?”
“No, we have this,” Jared replied. “Thanks, man.”
“All good.”
And then she felt someone crouch next to her.
“Oh, baby girl,” Jared murmured. “What happened?”
“I assume she fell while trying to scale the fence,” North said.
“I guessed that,” Jared said. “But what hurts? Can you tell me?”
“I . . . I . . .” She couldn’t talk for some reason. The air just wouldn’t come.
“What do you want to do?” North asked as Jared started to gently run his hands over her.
“Get the doctor to meet us at the house,” Jared ordered. “Hopefully she doesn’t need the hospital. It would be risky to transport her.”
Because of Beltran?
“I’m going to roll you carefully, baby girl,” Jared told her.
Wait! No!
A cry of pain erupted from her.
“Fuck. Fuck!” Jared said. “North?”
“I’ve got the doctor enroute,” North said, crouching on her other side. “Where is the pain?”
“Mostly on . . . my right . . . side,” she managed to get out.
