“Yeah. Galen…the EMT says he coded two times in the truck. He’s alive and in surgery now. Fuck! I know Nix can handle himself, but—we have to get them back, right the fuck now.”
Gideon is torn between staying with Jay and the unknown dangers Nix and Luca are facing. The house they’re in isn’t on the beach, but who knows who Carnell has on his payroll? Just thinking about what he could do to Nix, knowing he carries the Rhodes pack babies…and then there’s Luca. Gideon’s soulmate is so brave and, when provoked—so stupid.
“I’ll go.”
Leo bangs the back of his head against the door—once, twice—and then, after a third time, he turns and punches a hole in the drywall beside the door. It’s hard enough that the serenepainting of a waterfall falls to the floor, and the drywall spiders out from the point of impact. “Stop. You’ve done enough.”
“Leo,” he tries, accepting a parting squeeze from Grayson before he sits so he can throw an arm around Finn’s shoulder.
“No, Gideon. Not now.” Leo shakes his head and rubs a hand over his face. The scent of burnt cinnamon wood makes Gideon’s nose burn. At least it replaces the lingering sense-memory of Jay’s blood.
“I’m sorry. My father…”
“I said no.” He looks at Finn and then at Grayson, but still not Gideon. “If they’re okay right now, we wait for Rowan, and then we make sure Jay comes out of this ali—fuck—alive. Then we go and get them back. Together.”
Grayson growls again, and that electricity is snapping in the air, his long black hair shifting in a non-existent breeze. “Our alpha is fighting for his fucking life, and our mates are in real trouble. What are we going to do?”
“I’ll go,” Gideon says again, and he moves toward the door, but Leo meets him chest-to-chest.
“You aren’t going anywhere. Sit the fuck down. I’m done with this grandstanding shit. We are done splitting up. No good comes from that. I am so mad at you, I fucking told you—” Leo growls, pulling at his hair. “Fuck, I told you this was the worst fucking idea ever. So now you are going to listen to me.”
“Leo, I’m sorry,” Gideon tries again. It’s not enough—he knows that—but his mate’s heart is breaking.Hisheart is breaking. Gideon moves to hold him, and Leo holds a hand out to stop his approach but takes a step forward. Good thing Gideon speaks Leo in the same way Leo speaks Gideon.
“You know what? No. From now on, we’ll just know your ideas are dumb. So dumb, and—” Gideon grabs him and Leo punches him in the chest. “The dumbest ideas. We’re always going to do the opposite,” he whispers and clutches Gideon tohim. “You could have died, too. Goddess. What if he dies for good? What am I going to do?” Leo chokes before finally looking Gideon in the eye and begins to cry.
What are any of them going to do?
Gideon needs Luca and Nix to be safe, too. For the second time, he acknowledges that Nix can more than take care of himself—and Luca, for that matter—but he must have felt Jay’s bond break, and Goddess knows what that feels like now.
Regardless, there are parts of Gideon’s heart out in the world in danger, and he needs to have them where he can do what he was born to do, even though until now, he’s done the fucking worst job.
“It’s going to be okay, Leo. I promise. I’m going to fix this.”
Leo wipes his nose on Gideon’s scrub shirt and nods, his furious bravado quiet for a minute.
“Where the fuck is Rowan?” Gideon mutters.
“Why would they take Luca and Nix but leave Ro?” Grayson asks before he groans and doubles over. “Fuck.” Grayson puts his head between his knees.
Shit, the Broken Bond Syndrome. It’s an insult to freaking injury. Luca is going to start feeling it, too, if they don’t figure their shit out in the next few hours.
Gideon’s chaotic thoughts come to a grinding halt when there’s a knock, and the door opens. A nurse in surgical scrubs pokes her head in.
“Jay Rhodes’s pack?”
Finn meets her at the door. “Yes. I’m Dr. Finn Merritt. How is he?”
Her eyes widen, but she perseveres. “He came through really well in the end. The doctor should be here in a few. Hey, would you be the Dr. Finn Merritt from Nashville? I think I just saw the world debut of your seminar on Omegan Andrological Care. I really enjoyed it.” She smiles, and there’s pink in her cheeks.She raises a hand as if to twirl a lock of hair, which is currently underneath her surgical cap.
“Thank you…uh…when did you say the surgeon would come to speak to us about my mate?”
Her face falls as she remembers why her hero is here in the first place—and that he’s mated.
“Um…soon. I’m going to go now…” She throws a thumb back over her shoulder.
Gideon would laugh if he weren’t battling the worst surge of anxiety he’s ever felt. He consoles himself that the nurse hadn’t looked like she was the bearer of bad tidings.
Grayson allows himself a weak chuckle, despite his obvious fear and malaise. “That will never not be funny.”
