Instead of hitting the cool earth, it’s as if he’s falling backward through his mind, yanked along invisible threads, following his bonds until—
He slams back into his body with a violent jerk.
When his eyes snap open, it’s to see his pack surrounding him in the nest, Nix’s face wet with tears.
“He’s back. Thank you, Nimue. Yes…I’ll have him call you later. Bye.” Finn sounds strained as he hangs up the phone, before promptly punching Grayson in the arm.
“Ow! What the fuck, Finn?”
The punch is immediately followed by Finn flopping backward into the nest like his strings have been cut.
With a small cry, Nix throws himself into Grayson’s arms.
“Gray. Fuck, pretty. Are you alright?” Gideon runs a cool hand through Grayson’s hair as if reassuring himself that Grayson is real and solid.
“Where were you?” Rowan asks, his face pale.
“I wasn’t here?”
His question is met with a flurry of shaking heads.
“You were…sort of. Let me start from the beginning, yeah?” Jay offers with a small smile, pulling a pale Leo into his side.
“I’m okay, Leo. Honestly.”
“Yeah, well, don’t do that again.”
He huffs. “I didn’t do it now.” Not on purpose, anyway.
“Nix woke up suddenly, like he’d had a bad dream.” Jay nods at their omega, who has his hands tucked under Grayson’s shirt. He presses closer, their babies resting against Grayson’s belly, his snotty nose buried in Grayson’s scent gland. The burnt vanilla scent making Grayson’s nose tingle.
“I think I have them when you have them, Gray.”
“I’m sorry. I think when I sleep, I can’t control the flow…They’re not all scary, though?”
Nix shudders. “This was definitely scary. Carnell was in a tiny swimsuit.”
No lie. That was terrifying.
Grayson doesn’t like the idea that Nix was there with him, and Grayson hadn’t even known. He needs to understand howthis works, so he can make sure that if he ever runs into Withers again, Nix isn’t collateral damage.
There’s a chorus ofew’s, but Jay continues. “Nix had a bad dream, and he woke me up because you were here… and also not here.”
Grayson is dumbfounded. How can he be here and not here?
“What he means is that you were incorporeal,” Finn says, sitting back up, a bit more color in his face.
“Incorporeal? Like a ghost?”
“It was scary,” Luca whispers. “What did it feel like when you were all Casper-like?”
That’s a really good question. He hadn’t done anything on purpose or with planning. Grayson yearns for the day when he can, because seeing the scared looks on his family’s faces is not on his list of fun things. It hadn’t felt any different than he usually did until he’d put his hand through that hedge.
“We couldn’t get your attention when you phased out. We couldn’t feel you at all.” Finn punches him in the arm again.
“Ow, why are you hitting me? You’re a fucking doctor, you’re supposed to heal me!”
“I have to be able to touch you first, asshole. I could see you, and I couldn’t do a damn thing to help. It scared me, Grayson—badly.”
