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.”