“Tell me about yourself,” Franklin said impulsively.“Not about the labs or your ability.Just about you.”
Reed blinked.“Why?”
“Because you’re my mate, and I don’t know anything about you besides the worst parts of your life.”Franklin leaned back in his chair.“Where are you from?Do you have family?What did you want to be before all of this happened?”
Reed looked uncomfortable with the questions, but after a moment, he answered.“I’m from Oregon originally.Small town, nothing special.My parents died when I was young in a car accident.I was raised by my grandmother.”His expression softened slightly.“She was amazing.She’s the one who encouraged me to go to college, to make something of myself.”
“Is she still alive?”
Reed’s face fell.“She died while I was at the facility.I couldn’t even go to her funeral.The only reason I know what happened is that the lab technician who helped me escape told me.She’d tried to contact my grandmother for help.”His voice cracked.“She probably died thinking I’d abandoned her.”
Franklin’s heart ached for him.“I’m sorry.”
“I wanted to be a teacher,” Reed continued quietly.“That’s what I was studying for.I took the lab technician job to pay for school.It was supposed to be temporary, even after mypromotion.”He laughed bitterly.“I guess it was, just not in the way I thought.”
“You could still teach,” Franklin said.“After all this is over.”
Reed looked at him skeptically.“You think anyone would want me teaching their kids after what I’ve done?”
“You could teach at the village.There are always kids who need help with their studies.”
“The mutants might accept me, but the tribe members?The people who used to be prisoners?”
“Some of them will.Moore brought you in, didn’t he?Rikar welcomed you to the village.And I’m, well...”Franklin hesitated, then pushed forward.“I’m starting to trust you, too.”
Reed’s eyes widened.“Franklin.”
“I’m not saying I’ve forgiven everything,” Franklin interrupted.“Or this is easy.But I’m trying to see you as more than just someone who hurt my brother.You’re my mate, and that has to mean something.”
Reed looked like he didn’t know how to respond to that.“I should probably go,” he finally said.“You need to rest.Moore wants to do a final briefing before you leave for the facility.”He made no move to stand, though, almost as if he didn’t want to go.
Franklin leaned close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating from Reed’s body.His lion was rumbling with approval, even though it wasn’t quite enough.
He should move away, but he didn’t want to.
“Thank you,” Franklin said.“For everything.For the information, for caring about Garrett, for being here.”
Reed’s breath hitched.“I’ll always be here for as long as you want me to be.”
The air between them felt charged.Franklin wondered what would happen if he closed the distance and finally gave in to the pull that had been driving him crazy since the moment he’d caught Reed’s scent.
But not yet.Not until Garrett was safe.
* * * *
REED WAS SURPRISED.He hadn’t expected Franklin to want to get to know him, and maybe that wasn’t why Franklin was doing this.He probably did want more information about Reed, but not because he wanted to know, more because he knew that he had to be careful.He’d been saddled with Reed as his mate, and there was nothing either of them could do about it.It couldn’t be easy for Franklin, and Reed wished he could ask him how he was doing, but he was afraid to know the answer.Was Franklin looking for a way to get rid of him?Reed wouldn’t blame him if he was.Knowing what he knew about Reed, he probably wished he didn’t have to work with him.
But he did have to, and he had questions, and Reed was going to answer those questions as well as he could.He owed it to this man.He owed it to Garrett.
Maybe he owed it to himself, too.
He’d never told the entire story.He hadn’t given details.He’d been vague about what had happened to him, but this time, he couldn’t be.This was one time he needed to be completely honest, which wasn’t something he was used to.Being honest while he’d been in the lab would have killed him.It wouldn’t here, although he didn’t know if it would make things harder or easier.He supposed he was about to find out.
“I already told you there was an accident,” he said.
“You did.I’m just not sure what that accident entailed.How did you go from being a human lab tech to being a mutant?You said that they experimented on you, right?”
“They did.Once they realized what I could do, though, they started using me instead of hurting me.Well, they still hurt me, especially in the beginning when I refused to help them.”
