Page 100 of Tempting Fate

Chapter Forty

Patch

We’re quickly shuffled out of the office once Kieran and Sam arrive. It’s not just them, of course. Nick is waiting outside the building, and Flynn, Dax, and Vince are with him.

Vince hugs Jamie immediately, worrying over his face just as much as the rest of us. Jamie bats his hands away. Dax wanders over to me, standing just at the edge of the group.

“Is he alive up there?” he asks.

“Unfortunately,” I growl and glance over at Em. I picked up the apprehension in his scent earlier. He handled himself so well in there. He took care of all of us. “I don’t want to leave.”

Dax blinks. “I didn’t think you did.”

“No, but I… I don’t know how to stay.”

“We’ll work it out,” he says. He’s being optimistic. Apparently, Alpha Axel and Alpha Deacon are both on their way, but they sent Flynn ahead to wait for me. With the rest of Alpha Kieran’s pack around, it’s not like I could vanish anywhere anyway.

Em is standing at the edge of the group too, though Jamie keeps glancing at him. And at me. He looks at both of us like he’s trying to work something out, though I don’t know that there’s anything left for him to solve.

Flynn sidles over to Jamie. Nick turns to ask Em something, and Flynn ducks in low, lips almost to Jamie’s ear. Vince stays close. He looks amused, even if I’m not sure he can hear what Flynn is saying.

Jamie frowns. He leans back. “Really?” he says, and then he smiles, and there’s a sly, clever edge to it, like he’s had confirmation of something he knew all along. “Yeah, okay.”

Flynn claps him on the shoulder—and I growl because the strength of the move has Jamie slightly leaning to one side—and then slips over to me.

“What did you tell him?” I ask.

“Nothing that interesting.”

“Flynn…”

Dax snorts. Flynn shakes his head. “You can’t think it was that interesting, Patch, or you’d have already had the idea.”

“I… What?”

A car pulls up at the kerb. All three of us wolves jolt when Alpha Axel and Alpha Deacon get out, along with Orion, one of Alpha Deacon’s betas.

“Still up there, are they?” Alpha Deacon asks no one in particular.

Nick looks at everyone standing there silently and grimaces in confusion. “Yes?”

“Good. Thank you.”

He makes his way up the stairs and into the building. Alpha Axel shoots me a dark look before he follows. I sigh and shake my head. “Fuck. I’m fucked.”

“Wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Orion says. He’s hanging back, which surprises me; I expected him to stick with Alpha Deacon.

“Nothing’s changed,” I reply.

He shrugs and settles in to stand alongside us, hands deep in his pockets. When I glance over, Jamie is nestled against Em’s side. He tilts his head in invitation, but I can’t bring myself to walk over there. Vince glances between us all and shakes his head.

About half an hour later, they all come out. Alpha Axel has the man who works for Gideon walking ahead of him, and Alpha Deacon has Gideon by the arm. They both look more subdued than they did even when we left.

Alpha Deacon gets the humans in the back of his car and Orion jumps into the driver’s seat. Then he turns to us. “Emerson, Patch. I expect you both in my office within the hour.”

“Yes, alpha,” I say.

“I’m coming, too,” Jamie says.