Rio raised his head slightly and sent Conner a sickly grin. “Don’t you look a sight?”

Conner grimaced. He had to shift and it was going to hurt like hell. He couldn’t chance being caught as a leopard, not if they were to call in help in the form of a helicopter. And both of them needed medical care. He didn’t wait, didn’t dwell on it—he simply willed the change. Pain crashed through his body, his vision went red, then dark. His stomach lurched and nothing seemed to work. He found himself sprawled facedown in the rotting vegetation and wondered if the insects would eat him alive.

He woke up sometime later. Time had to have passed, as the smoke had dissipated near the ground, although the smell of the recent fire was strong, and clouds of it still hung in the trees. Something moved close to him and he managed to turn his head toward the rustling leaves. Rio pushed a canteen of water into his hands.

“Drink. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

His vision was blurry. Everything hurt. Everything. There didn’t seem to be a place on his body that wasn’t slashed to ribbons. “Do I have any skin left?”

“Not much. I don’t think you’re going to be such a pretty boy anymore,” Rio cheerfully informed him. “The bastard did some real damage.”

Conner peered at him through bloodshot eyes. “I was never a pretty boy.”

Rio snorted. “Oh yeah you were. Your lady’s going to give you hell for getting all torn up that way.”

“And yours is going to be happy?” Conner raised his head enough to drink. The water was warm and brackish, but tasted like heaven. “You were dumb enough to get yourself shot.”

“I’ve had plenty of time to think about how I can spin this to my advantage with her,” Rio said. He stared up at the canopy and the birds gathering there. If they thought they were about to have a meal, they had another think coming. “I’m the hero, see, taking a bullet for you.”

Conner choked on the water and smeared blood across his face when he wiped his mouth. “It didn’t happen that way.”

“But the point, my friend, is that it could have. And now it did.”

“What a load of crap.”

“It could have happened that way.” There was amusement in his voice. “I don’t actually remember it all that well. But I’m lying here with a hole the size of a baseball through me.”

It was Conner’s turn to snort. “Slight exaggeration. You really are trying to think up stories to make your woman sympathetic.”

“I’ve been married longer than you. You come home all beat up, you’re in for a lot of trouble. I’m imparting wisdom here, rookie. Listen up.”

Conner tried to smile but it hurt too much. “I don’t think we have too much to worry about. I’m getting eaten alive by these damn bugs. Another hour and they’ll have picked my bones clean.”

Rio managed a soft laugh. “I activated our ‘come and get us, we’re fucked’ button.”

Conner worked at turning his head to survey their surroundings. “We’re not exactly at the clearing where they can set down a helicopter. No road to drive to us. I’m going to let the bugs take care of me. I swear I’m not moving.”

“Pansy. I always knew you were a wimp.”

Conner laughed and immediately began to cough. He touched his mouth, and his hand came away with blood smeared on it. “Damn leopard. He did a number on me.”

“I was worried there for a few moments. Fight lasted nearly thirty minutes. He was strong,” Rio said. “What the hell went wrong with him?”

“Who knows?” Conner closed his eyes. “That poor kid. Mateo. First his mother throws him away like a piece of garbage because his father can’t bear the sight of him, and then he loses his adopted mother—murdered right in front of him.”

Rio was silent a moment. “I’m sorry about your mother, Conner.” He paused again. “You taking the kid in?”

“He’s my brother.”

“Half,” Rio pointed out. “You’re under no obligation.”

“He’s my brother,” Conner said stubbornly. “I know what it feels like to be unwanted, but my mother, rather than kick me out, left the old man and gave me a good life. I’m not letting that bastard ruin this boy. I want him,” he said fiercely. “Isabeau is with me on this.”

“And if she wasn’t?” Rio asked.

Conner looked at him. His eyes burned bright gold behind the red. “Then she wouldn’t be the woman I thought she was. I’m not leaving him behind.”

A slow smile softened the hard edge of Rio’s mouth. “You’re a good man, Conner.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Well. Probably.” Rio grinned at him. The grin turned into a moan, and Rio put his head down. His face was gray-white.

“You planning on dying on me?”

“If those idiots take much longer,” Rio said. He groaned again. “Damn this hurts.”

Conner didn’t like the way he was breathing. He couldn’t push himself up onto his hands and knees, so he dug his toes into the vegetation and propelled his body forward an inch at a time, using elbows and toes to push himself along the ground to get around Rio to the medical bag. It was the first time he wished certain parts of his anatomy were smaller. Dragging his very sensitive cock along the ground wasn’t a great idea.