Chapter 47
Lincoln
Thankfully, help arrives pretty quickly.
My shoulder is hot and bleeding, and it hurts like a bitch, but all I can really think about is Harper.
Every time I look at her, I get hit with a wave of relief that she’s safe.
I think about how terrified she looked when we got here, and I see the red marks on her wrists from the ropes she was tied with, and the thin cut on her neck from Geoffrey’s knife being pressed there, and I can only be grateful that things didn’t turn out worse.
Someone cuts my shirt away from my shoulder to look at how bad it is, and I can see Geoffrey being hauled out of the pit he fell into and taken into custody, but none of it feels real. Until I say the thing that I need to say out loud, it’s not done yet.
“We need to take him to the hospital,” one of the paramedics is saying to Everett. “It’s not a critical wound, but it can get infected, and we need to get the bullet out.”
I barely hear what they’re saying as they talk, and I don’t even wince when they put pressure on the wound, pressing down hard. I think someone says something about loading me into the ambulance they came in, but I keep a hold of Harper’s hand like I’m afraid to let go.
“We need to move you, Mr. Daniels,” a paramedic says.
“You’re going to be all right,” Harper murmurs. She strokes the back of my hand and then lets go, and I feel the loss immediately.
Luckily they let her climb into the back of the ambulance with me, while Cash and Everett follow in the truck. They turn on the siren and we get back to town in record time.
I don’t really pay attention to them getting me checked in and all that, just waiting for the moment I can be alone with Harper, so I can tell her. Because she needs to know. That’s the only thing I keep thinking. She needs to know.
Nothing like this can ever happen again, but life is unpredictable. It’s hard to know what’s coming, and if either of us is ever in a situation where we can’t get to each other, I don’t want there to be any doubts about my feelings.
A nurse helps me settle into a bed and promises the doctor will be in soon to assess my wound. Soon turns out to be about thirty seconds, and a harried-looking woman with greying hair comes in to poke and prod at me.
Harper tries to step aside so the doctor can work, but I grab her hand with my good one and pull her back. I need her close right now. I need her to hear this.
“Harper,” I say, my voice low and urgent. “Wildflower. Listen to me.”
“What is it?” she asks, her eyes bright with concern. “Are you okay? Does it hurt?” She scans my face, clearly worried.
“It’s not about that,” I tell her. “It’s just that…
” I take a deep breath and let the words come out in a rush.
“I’ve been scared to let myself feel anything for anyone for a while.
Outside of the pack, I’ve kept people at arm’s length.
I thought that was safer. Easier. Loving anyone felt like something too big to even admit, and I wasn’t looking for it.
I was just trying to keep my head down and get through the days without falling apart.
But then you and Cora came into my life and nothing has been the same since. ”
“Um, in a good way?”
I smile at that. “In an amazing way. I love you, Harper. Desperately. Totally. Completely. I love your kid too. I love getting to spend time with her, I love that she trusts me. I love that you trust me with her and with yourself. It means so much.”
Harper’s eyes go even brighter, swimming with tears that well up and then spill down her cheeks.
She presses one hand over her mouth to keep back a sob and then smiles at me.
“I love you too,” she says through her tears.
“I love you. All of you. Cash and Everett, and being here with you all. It means so much to me. You mean so much to me.”
She says it like it’s been inside of her for a while. Like it’s a truth that’s always been there, just waiting to be said out loud.
I hear footsteps in the doorway, and look away from Harper just long enough to see Everett and Cash in the doorway.
“We love you too,” Cash says, his grin bright. “Since we’re being sappy now.”
Harper’s head snaps around to stare at them, and her cheeks flush for all of a second before she laughs.
“Really?” she asks, her eyes bright.
Everett nods. “Really. You’re a part of our life now. You’re ours, and we’re not letting you go because we love you.”
Before the moment can go any deeper, the doctor smiles and steps back. “We’ve got the OR prepped, so we’ll have to take Mr. Daniels up to surgery,” she says, looking between my pack and Harper. “It won’t be a long process, and someone will come find you when you can come see him again.”
They step back and let the doctor and nurses wheel my bed out. Normally I’d be antsy, knowing I’m about to be put under, but the whole time, all I can think about is the fact that Harper loves me, and nothing seems so bad.
I go out like a light when they drug me, sinking into the darkness.
Everything is quiet when I wake up. It’s dark in the room, just the low glow of the machines I’m hooked up to and the hallway light spilling under the door. I turn my head, blinking in the darkness, and recognize the shape of Harper there, sitting at the side of my bed like she never left.
Cash and Everett aren’t here, it seems, so it’s just the two of us right now.
I open my mouth to say something to her, but all that comes out is a croaked groan from my dry throat. Harper’s head snaps up immediately and she’s at my side in a second, touching my face.
“Are you okay?” she asks. “How do you feel?”
“Do you love me?”
She blinks, confused. “Yes?”
“Then I’m great.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and she laughs wetly before leaning down to kiss me.
It hits me hard then—a rush of relief and want that I don’t have a name for right now.
I grab on to her with my good arm, pulling her down more so I can deepen the kiss, kissing her the way I’ve wanted to since before all of this mess with Geoffrey started.
Being fresh from surgery doesn’t stop my cock from getting hard in my pants just from being this close to Harper and having her mouth on mine, and she can definitely tell. She starts to pull back, clearly hesitating because I’m hurt, but everything in me screams to not let that happen.
“No,” I say, and it comes out sounding pleading. “Don’t go.”
“Your shoulder, though,” she says. “I don’t want to make it worse.”
“Please. Just… touch me, please. I can’t wait for my shoulder to heal or for me to get out of the hospital, and I don’t want to.”
There’s still hesitation in her face, but she finally nods and carefully climbs into bed with me. She straddles my hips, and I grab for her with my one free hand, pushing and tugging at her clothes.
That makes her laugh softly, and she helps with her two working hands, getting just enough clothing out of the way for what I need.
“Come on, wildflower,” I say, urging her on. “Let me feel you. I need to feel you. I need to be inside you.”
“Okay,” she says, and now I can hear the arousal in her tone as well. Harper lifts up enough that she can grab the base of my cock, holding it steady so she can sink down onto it.
And yes—fuck. That’s exactly what I wanted.
What I needed so fucking badly. The feeling of her, wet and warm around me, dragging a groan from me as I grip onto her hips one handed.
She tips her head back, her eyes fluttering shut as she adjusts to the stretch of me inside her, and then starts to move.
It’s not elegant by any means. It’s messy, urgent, and definitely a little awkward with how careful she’s trying to be, but at the same time, it’s perfect, scratching the itch in the best way.
She rides me, rolling her hips enough that we both can feel it, and I surrender to the pleasure that starts to build.
“Fuck,” I whisper. “Fuck, you’re so good. You have no idea what you do to me, do you? You have no idea how much I want you.”
“I can feel it,” she murmurs back. “It feels so good.”
“Good. Love how you ride me. Love how you look when you’re on top of me. Love you, love you, love you.” It’s like I can’t say it enough, the need to make sure she knows spilling over.
Harper groans, clenching around me just from that.
We don’t have the room or the stamina right now for this to go on too long, and I can feel the beginning of my orgasm starting to spread through me. Judging from how breathless Harper is, she must be close too.
Suddenly, I want her to come on my cock more than anything else.
“Are you gonna come for me? Please. Let me feel it, wildflower. Let me feel you come all over my cock.”
“Yes,” she moans. “I’m so close. I’m—”
She bites down hard on her lip, silencing the noises of pleasure that want to echo in the room and give us away. Her hips move faster and then faster as she chases her bliss, and soon enough she’s sucking in a sharp breath and coming undone just for me.
I’m not far behind, bucking up as much as I can to bury myself in her and spill. I groan her name in a low voice, my knot growing to lock us together.
We’re both left breathless, panting and trying to come down from the high. Harper leans into me, and I wrap my good arm around her, pressing a kiss to her sweaty hair. We stay like that until my knot goes down, and we have to shift enough that my cum doesn’t spill out of her as soon as I pull out.
I smirk as she climbs off me and fixes her clothes before helping me with mine.
We’re just settling back into place when the door opens, spilling light from the hallway into the room.
Cash and Everett walk in, Cash looking like he’s going to say something before he pauses, scenting the air and glancing between the two of us. He looks at Everett, who seems to have come to the same conclusion, and they both smirk.
“I don’t think that’s recommended for your recovery,” Cash says, face splitting into a grin.
Before I can answer, a nurse comes bustling in as well. Her face is flushed, and I realize that the monitor I’m hooked up to must have been going crazy from the exertion. But she doesn’t say anything, so I don’t either. I just hold on to Harper’s hand, feeling satisfied.
I finally said what needed to be said, and finally claimed what’s mine.
A bullet wound seems like a small price to pay for this moment, all things considered.