“Sounds good. Take care of everyone. I’ll be in touch if there’s anything else.”
“Will do. You, too,” Leo says, disconnecting.
Finn wastes no time checking Jay and Nix’s biometrics again to self-soothe. He can’t help that his black currant scent ismusty. What he sees—or doesn’t see—causes his eyebrows to go up, and he’s on his feet to follow them out the front door.
At his mad scramble, Gideon asks, “Everything okay, Puppy?”
“Jay’s microchip just went offline.”
Nix’s is fine. Logic dictates he wouldn’t be if Jay had been struck down.Again.
Spinning in the chair, Gideon pulls open the curtains.
Finn heaves a sigh of relief when he sees Jay stomping through the yard, arms flailing and face red. He’s got his fangs down and his claws out, too—like his anger has manifested beyond his normal human constraints.
“Probably damaged from the surgery, or maybe when Gray healed him up?” Finn knows he sounds disappointed. Not being able to see all of his mates is just one more thing he’ll have to worry about. “Was there another microchip? A backup?”
“They all have to be individually calibrated,” Gideon says, shaking his head.
“Grayson recalibrated on its own when he…uh…leveled up.” Back at the hospital, after he’d blown up the MRI. It was still Grayson, though—even if he was more than before.
“We can always hope it’ll come back online. But even then, I left the whole kit at the apartment.”
And they won’t be going back there until this is all over.
Moving away from the window, Finn leaves Jay and Nix to hug it out and turns back to the room, where Grayson has Luca swaddled in a big pink quilt. Their beta has the enigma’s finger in his mouth, and his red, puffy eyelids are at half-mast.
“Leo, what are we going to do about Carnell’s invitation?” Rowan asks. “Hey, could this be your way in?”
To Finn’s surprise, Leo is perched in Rowan’s lap, but his arms are like steel bands around their beta’s chest—as if he’dwrestled him into submission to prevent him from hunting Carnell down in retaliation for a decade of manipulation.
Leo turns in Rowan’s arms, his jaw still clenched in anger. “That’s a good idea.”
Pulling a phone out of his pocket, he texts Margot to ask for a copy of the attachment Carnell had sent electronically.
It must be the phone Jay and Gideon had, because Finn hasn’t seen Rowan using one since yesterday morning. It makes sense, given that Rowan’s wolf “suit” doesn’t exactly come with pockets. It makes Finn wonder where the phone is.
“Rowan, where’s your phone?”
The enigma’s eyes go wide, and Finn can almost see the wheels turning as he thinks back to the last time he had it in his hand—or mouth.
“Fuck, I think Winnie might have it?”
“I should call her and make sure. We don’t want to have it lying around.”
Finn dials Rowan’s phone, and it rings and rings.
Nix had made sure they had her number so they could coordinate their move to his parents’ house. Ansel had been awake when they’d left, so they hadn’t wanted to distract the siblings from their relieved reunion, but Nix had said they would be in touch today.
Finn feels his love surge along the bond. It’s unbelievably kind of Nix to offer his family home to help Winnie and Ansel. It’s a selfless gesture, given he’d just found the house himself—even if Nix insists it really isn’t selfless at all.
Hey, I can hear you thinking sweet things about me, Dr. Merritt. Are you okay?
It’s not that Nix can really hear the specifics of Finn’s thoughts in the same way Finn can hear Nix, but he can tell the quality of his emotion. He is determined that someday, Nix will hear Finn sayI love youon this wavelength.
A few seconds later, Nix is pulling an exhausted, still steaming-mad Jay through the door, and once the angry alpha is seated in the chair with his head in his hands, their omega puts his strong arms around Finn’s waist for a hug.
“You called?” he says, with a kiss to Finn’s chin.
