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The man sighed. “I’ll wait until the doctor is done with you, make sure you have your meds, then head out.”

Aria looked at M. “I’ll go with Lyric now, then come back for you.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. I can’t wait to hear what happened to you tonight.”

The man behind the curtain poked his head out again. “It’s best if you not say anything about seeing him here. It’s safer. For him. Can you do that?”

Aria glanced from the man to M, then back again. “If Lyric says it’s best, then yes.”

Lyric didn’t bother to look at either man. “Please, Aria. We never saw anything.”

Aria gave her a nod, and Lyric knew that was a vow her sister would keep. “Off we go. No time to waste. See you soon, M.”

Lyric stared at M until the nurse pushed her away and she couldn’t crane her neck anymore to see his steady gaze as he watched her go.

The last thing she heard his friend say was “This is not good.”

She didn’t know what he meant by that, but she planned to find out when she was finally alone with M again.

Chapter Eleven

Viper sat through all the stitches, his mind on Lyric and not the poke and pull of the needle going in and out of his skin. He didn’t care about his own injuries but worried about hers. “Her fingers were so pale.”

The doctor cut the string on the last stitch. “I’m all done with you. Time to go see what the scan shows. I’ll send the nurse back with your discharge papers and the prescription for your meds. You can get it filled at the pharmacy before you go.”

Nick took the seat the doctor vacated. “You can’t tell her what happened tonight.”

Viper glared at his brother. “I know that. She knows I’m keeping things from her. This will either make her end this, or she’ll trust me and wait until I can tell her something.”

“I’m sorry. I was actually going to call her for you, see if she’d stay with you tonight because of that head wound. I’d do it myself, but I thought you’d want her instead.”

It touched Viper that his brother would do that for him when right now wasn’t a great time to have a civilian so close to him. Things were moving toward a conclusion with the Wild Wolves MC, and that meant things were volatile and dangerous.

“I have to know if she’s okay. If she can’t use that hand... it will change everything for her.”

“And you want to be the one by her side through all this.” Nick held up a hand. “You don’t have to say it. You’re more concerned about her than yourself. I saw the way she looked at you. She could give a shit about her own injury. She was more concerned about you.”

“She’s that kind of woman. She cares deeply about those she lets in.”

Nick leaned in and spoke quietly. “And you need that after you’ve spent the better part of the last eight years pretending to be something you’re not and lying to everyone around you.”

“Yes, damn it. I want what we have to be real, not based on a lie. Or hundreds of lies. I’m so close to ending this. I want it so badly to be over and done, and I can finally move on withmylife.”

“Okay.” Nick sat back. “She’s got a gorgeous sister. What’s she like?”

Viper grinned. “She’s smart and tough. You don’t want to fuck with her. She set her cheating boyfriend up to take a public fall. But she’s not mean. She just called him out and exposed him for who he really is. She’s loyal to her family and friends. She oversees the bar’s whole operation, and that place is run well. And if I have my way, you’ll definitely be seeing more of Lyric, and maybe that puts you and Aria in the same room again.”

Nick’s gaze dropped away. “I just think she’s interesting.”

“Uh-huh.” Viper knew that look in his brother’s eyes. “We finish this case, we can tell them both who we are and see what happens.”

Nick kept his FBI jacket wadded up at the end ofthe bed, their guns and badges concealed. “I need to get back to the office and see where we’re at on the arrests tonight and if Spike will give us any new information about the rest of the Wild Wolves.”

“I’ll get back to it tomorrow, looking into Maria’s connection and who else she’s using in the MC. I’d also like to figure out if Lobo is in on the whole thing or completely in the dark.” Thanks to cold temps, he could hide his injury underneath long-sleeve shirts.

“You can’t save them all. Everyone who needs to go down for this will.”