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“My hands are tied,” Geflin said finally.
Lucian looked at Mia, and she blinked at him in confusion and then looked at Geflin. “Sorry, I blanked out. What are your hands tied about?”
Geflin cleared his throat. “Lucian’s been fired.”
“Yeah. And?”
“You do understand that this is a branch of the military, yes? He’ll never be able to get decent work again with a mark on his record like this.”
Shame settled on Lucian and he didn’t want to look at Mia. She pressed her fingers to his chin and tugged until he faced her. His berserker was hovering under the surface, and he heard her wolf hum.
“I love your eyes,” she whispered. “Fucking sexy as hell.”
He frowned. “Mia.”
She grinned. “Sorry. My wolf is making all sorts of inappropriate comments in my head. You told me in the nest that you were going to be fired for sure.”
“I know, and I’m not surprised, I’m just worried.”
“About what?”
“Being able to be a good mate to you. How can I take care of you if I can’t get a job?”
“What about the security company?”
He sighed. “Mal hates me right now. I don’t know that anything will ever be okay between us again, including the business.”
Resting her forehead against his, she whispered, “Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together. I’m yours and you’re mine. The hunters were a big part of your life, and I know it sucks so hard to lose that. But I get you. And that’s all I ever really wanted anyway.”
Geflin made a noise of disapproval, and she turned her attention to him. “You don’t understand because you’re not a shifter, but when a supernatural creature finds his or her truemate, anything else is just background noise. I know this organization was his whole life, and losing that – no matter how noble the reason – is going to leave a mark.”
Geflin stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Then he said, “You’re right. I don’t get it. But I don’t have to. Lucian, you lied about your genetics when you signed on with us, which means that when you leave today, you’ll be forbidden from ever working for the government again in any capacity. It’s only because of your service that you’re not being court-marshaled or sent to prison. And it didn’t hurt that you took out an entire criminal organization without costing the government a penny.”
Lucian stood and pulled Mia up next to him. “I’d like to say goodbye to my teammates.”
“You’ll have an armed escort. You can clean out your desk. I’ll give you thirty minutes.” Geflin extended his hand, and Lucian shook it.
They left the office, Mia holding his hand as casually as if they were heading out for a lunch date. He liked how easy it was to be with her, even if he didn’t really understand how she could forgive him so quickly. He’d expected to need to grovel for a few months to get back into her good graces again.
Stranger still was how content the berserker was. He could practically picture the monster grinning like an idiot now that their sweet-smelling mate was by their side. The guards were behind them, close enough that he could smell the gun oil on their holstered weapons, but they weren’t crowding them and that was enough to keep the beast from starting anything.
He rounded the corner to his cubicle and found Simon, Neil, and Isaac waiting. A cardboard box sat on top of the desk, but he already knew it would end up empty. He’d never kept many personal items in the office. It was part and parcel of keeping his professional and personal lives separate.
“At least you didn’t get jail time,” Simon said as Lucian sat at the desk and checked through each drawer.
“Yeah,” he said. “It could’ve been worse.”
“On the bright side,” Neil said, “you got the girl, and isn’t that what all of us real action heroes want at the end of the day?”
Mia started to giggle, and Lucian smiled at her. Simon punched Neil on the arm. “Idiot.”
“What?” Neil said, grinning as he rubbed the spot that Simon had hit. “You can’t say it never crossed your mind what would happen if you decided to walk away and start a life outside of all this.”
“I think I’d get out first, andthenI’d start a real life,” Simon said.
Lucian grimaced and glanced at Mia. She smiled gently at him, which made him marvel once more at how gracious she was. And how damn luckyhewas.
Lucian finished gathering his personal items and then went to his teammates, shaking their hands and getting manly, shoulder-slapping hugs from them.
