Muscle and bone, p.26
Muscle and Bone, page 26
“Probably, yes.”
“Totally different situation than Linny and Imogen sitting in the car like lobsters in a tank waiting to die.”
“What’s going to happen to Imogen’s family? Do you know?”
“Your mate’s brother…Stone, is that right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so Stone went to see Imogen’s folks, and he put together some sort of financial plan that involves him taking over the selling of their home and giving them a small loan until that occurs, and then realigning assets. The important part is that Imogen’s parents will be able to live and take care of their other daughters, though they will no longer be members of the… jarl? Am I saying that right?”
“Yes.”
“So yeah, your fiancé, he’s like, you know, a scary black ops fixer guy. He goes around saving people and rearranging their lives like it was never bad in the first place.”
“And Bridget and the others?”
“Daw has a younger brother, so since his father has another heir, Daw’s being castrated.”
I could only stare at my partner.
“I think that might be the exact same face I made when I was informed of Mr. Abernathy’s punishment for his first-born son.”
“Holy shit.”
“I had no idea that wolves were so—I mean, it’s stunning to me that his own father could just order that done.”
“Wolves take honor and their position in the hierarchy very seriously.”
“Yeah. I would say so.”
“What else with Daw?”
“Well, after he loses his balls, he gets to go live on a piece of property his family owns in Lucerne, under guard, until he dies of natural causes, a long fuckin’ time from now.”
“Switzerland is beautiful.”
“Nowhere is beautiful if you’re a prisoner for the rest of your life.”
“It’s better than he deserves.”
“No argument.”
“And Bridget and Saoirse?”
“Bridget’s contract was given to a friend of her father’s who’s a widower, and she’s going to live with him in a small town in Wyoming. I couldn’t tell you which one.”
She’d drink herself to death in a year, I had no doubt.
“And Saoirse’s contract was purchased at half the asking price by that alpha Daw was screaming about to Bridget, Gansey Runyon. He’s moving them to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I guess he felt Saoirse had more childbearing years left in her than good ole Bridget.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“It’s horrifying to me, even with what those two women did, that they can be treated like nothing. Like a possession. Kat thinks that with this latest horror Graeme will get even more support for his push for omega rights.”
“I hope so.”
He took a breath, as though girding himself.
“What?”
“I told Graeme, but now I’m telling you; I know you’re an omega. I’m not stupid. I just don’t get why you didn’t tell me.”
I took a breath. “It’s weird. I didn’t tell you when I first should have, because people have an idea about omegas. I mean, look at Bridget and Linden, and…I just never wanted you to think of me as weak. And then, by the time you knew me and I could have told you, it just seemed like you might feel betrayed that I didn’t tell you in the first place, and it was just a mess in my head.”
He nodded. “You should always tell me everything because I know you Avery. I know the kind of man you are and I know all about your heart.”
Yes, he did.
“So don’t hide anything else.”
“No, sir.”
He grunted.
“And Lucas?”
“Lucas is the only one Mr. Mills was pleased with, and as a result, he’s being sent to work for his brother in Los Angeles, who has two sons, both omegas, who need a bodyguard.”
I shook my head. “What a mess.”
“Lucas could be brought up on charges of obstruction and tampering with evidence in a murder case, not to mention assaulting Remy Talmadge, but all of this amounts to lupine-on-lupine crime. Highmore’s family wants nothing to do with this case; they just want to grieve alone. Graeme said his cousin won’t be charging Lucas with anything, so…we’re done.”
We certainly were.
“There is punishment for the guilty, but not how I thought. I hope that Graeme can push for that legislation for omega rights. None of this would have happened if they had a voice and options and could make their own choices.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“You said you watched the video of Bridget attacking Highmore?”
“Yeah. Lucas turned over the footage.”
“I’m sorry you had to watch that by yourself.”
“We don’t have to have all the same nightmares, buddy.”
No, we did not.
Later, leaving Graeme in the room under Kat’s watchful care, my mother and I went down the hall to Linden’s room. Slipping inside, we found him facing a mountain of food, and Corvina fluffing a pillow behind him. Wade was asleep in a recliner beside the bed.
“You think you have enough food?” I asked as my mother hugged and kissed Linden, leaning back to brush his long strawberry blond hair out of his face.
“It’s not my fault that Corvie thinks I’m thin,” he assured me, as surly as ever.
“You’re far more than just thin,” Corvina assured him as she walked around the end of the bed and cupped my cheek. “And so are you, love, but Francisca will make sure you’re fed, and you’re the only one who will eat her food without whining about it.”
Moving in close beside Linden, I waited several moments while he ate before he finally turned and looked at me.
“Yes?” he snapped in that high-handed manner he had.
I was quiet, studying the bruises on his face that, even after two days, were still healing, and realized I was in better shape than him, even being shot three times, only because of my mate. Graeme was the only reason I was alive.
I was so blessed.
“Either speak or get out.” Linny clipped the words.
I could go home at any time; him, they were still keeping for observation. For the attack to still be showing on him, it had to have been savage. I couldn’t help sucking in a breath.
“Do you want me to say thank you? Is that what you expect?”
His pride was something, but that was probably good.
Leaning in, I kissed his cheek.
He looked away from me, and I noted how he quickly brushed under each eye with the knuckle of his right index finger before slowly turning his head back to regard me. “Your mother’s having your room redone completely, so I hope you’re not sentimental about anything in there.”
I bumped him gently with my shoulder.
“Owww,” he uttered, scowling at me. “You’re such a brute.”
I glanced over at Wade and then back to him.
“Yes, I noticed him too. Hard to miss such a beautiful man, but why is he in here? Did he get lost on the way to your room?”
“My room?”
“Yes, I understand he’s your partner. That’s what he told me.”
I nodded.
“Well, collect him, for goodness’ sake. Don’t leave him in here.”
“He must be worried about you.”
He grunted.
“Did he carry you out of the house?”
“I don’t recall,” he assured me, sniffling.
He had Wade’s scent all over him, so I was guessing Wade had not only carried him but had not moved far from his bedside for long.
“Okay, then, I’ll wake him up and get him out of here,” I told Linden, moving away from his side to walk around the chair.
“You know what?” Linden began, clearing his throat softly. “Perhaps just let him sleep.”
He wasn’t fooling me one bit. He’d been brutalized, and the second Wade was out of his bindings, he’d gone to Linden’s side and been there ever since. Wade made me feel safe when we walked down the street together, so it had to be the same for Linden, having Wade right there, like a sleeping, but vigilant lion. It had to be the safest Linden had felt in years.
“Of course.”
Quick cough. “My, uhm, mother came by to bring me my grandmother’s jewels; she bequeathed them to me in her will. Before my mother handed them to me, she felt the need to remind me that a spoiled, unbonded omega was perhaps not the person to inherit Daniella Van Doren’s jewels, especially not the Queen’s Lament.”
“That’s the pearl-and-diamond necklace, right?”
“It is, yes,” he spoke quickly, his voice pitching.
“Was Wade in here?” I asked, smiling.
“Yes. Yes, he was.”
“How’d that go?”
“Well, he”—Linden took a breath and tipped his head at the intricately carved onyx-and-gold-inlay box that was sitting on a shelf next to the window—“grabbed the box and sent her on her way.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, smiling, “he can get loud.”
Linden nodded.
“Okay,” I murmured, taking hold of his hand, “I expect you at the party we’re hosting to announce my mating this coming Saturday. Don’t even think about trying to get out of it.”
“Oh no, Avery, you can’t want––”
“In fact, you’ll maybe wanna come early so I don’t end up in jeans or something.”
The horror on his face, the way his mouth dropped open, and how he was staring, wide-eyed and thoroughly scandalized, was pretty funny.
“Maybe I should iron, ya think?” I threw that one out, glancing at my mother and Corvina, both appearing equally as horrified as Linden.
It was fun to mess with my family.
16
Graeme
Bringing Avery home from the hospital, eating dinner with him, joined by his family, his parents, his siblings and their mates, my brother and Gigi, was so comforting that I had a bit of trouble holding myself together.
I had called my grandfather and woke him from a sound sleep while the doctors fought to save my true mate, to tell him I was terrified Avery was dying, that his body was shutting down, and I didn’t know how to reach him through our link, the covenant vow that only true mates shared. He told me, quite sensibly, to shut up and listen.
“Go in there, get everyone else out, hold him as tight as you can, and clear your mind. Use what you know, where you think he’d want to be, what he’d want to be doing, and then think about what you, and only you, can give him. A true mate is the other half, the opposite side of the same coin. They provide what you don’t have, what you can’t create for yourself, and vice versa.” He took a deep breath. “You have to think about the one thing Avery can only find in you. Only you, Graeme.”
“Yessir.”
“Your grandmother and I will be there soon, son,” he promised, and hung up.
I knew why they were coming. Either my mate would die and I’d need them, or my mate would live and they’d want to meet him.
Charging back into the room, I made everyone stand back against the walls and leaned over, lifted Avery up off the bed, and wrapped him in my arms. At first I was afraid; I didn’t want to hurt him, but he made a noise when I pressed him gently to my chest, a soft whimper of need, and when I clutched him tighter, his moan startled everyone, as was evidenced from their gasps. His breath on the side of my neck told me that he needed me, his mate, more than anything else.
It terrified me to think I could fail. I had no idea what I was doing; I was going in blind, without a map. I was always prepared, always confident, always in control…except with Avery. I had never expected him, and so was blindsided by this beautiful man who walked into my life and brought the sun with him.
But he had everything he needed, there was nothing he was lacking, and nothing that I alone could…could…
Home.
I was his home.
While he was unconscious, he was reduced to his most primal state, his wolf. Home was a complex idea, but a den, that he would understand. That he would need. The warmth and safety that only I could provide, because I was his mate.
Letting my mind drift, I imagined him running outside, somewhere safe, somewhere cool and lush, a forest that would shelter and protect him. This primal daydream led me to a hill, where I looked out over a valley, ripe and bursting with a riot of color. It was stunning, this Technicolor dream-state, and so perceptible it felt real as I ran down into the meadow.
The scene changed then, and his scent brought me up short. I saw him in the moonlight, a beautiful wolf, white except for the black marking on the tip of his tail, like it had been dipped in ink and used for a paintbrush. Small, delicate, his paws were tiny compared to mine, but I was a dire wolf, as all cynes were, nature seeing nothing to improve on as dire wolves remained unchanged since before the first ice age.
I wasn’t sure what to do, how to engage his wolf; we’d never run together, but my mate was funny, had a sense of humor, so I teased him. I was playful, tugged on his tail, nipped at his ears until, frustrated, he snapped back. Once he decided I wouldn’t hurt him and came closer, I released my pheromones so he’d know who I was. If the bond wasn’t strong enough, he’d run and I’d lose him, both in the dream and in reality. He could easily die without our connection.
When he whimpered and whined, wanting to be close to me, I howled my happiness to the stars. He had to run with me, followed me all the way back to his body, cradled there in my arms, and it was slow, rough going, a slog, but then he picked up speed, and I felt him getting stronger. Then he leapt home, tethered by the astral cord, into his body, eyes open, flailing, the machines chirping, letting me know he was alive and breathing. And the blood, his blood that had needed replenishing, he had regenerated that himself.
My mate would live, and I cried softly into his hair as, even in sleep, he clung to me.
I could barely keep my eyes open at the dinner table. When I nodded off, Avery helped me to my feet, making our excuses to our family, and walked me to our bedroom. It had been redecorated: black and white with deep maroon, forest green, and sapphire blue accents. He stripped me quickly, and I crawled, naked, into the warm bed, cocooning myself under the new cotton sheets and heavy quilts. He tucked me in, kissed my forehead—no one smelled like him—and promised to be right back. And so, happy but emotionally and physically exhausted, my brain shut down, and I was out.
And I dreamed.
I was falling. I was freezing and wet, pelted with hail as I dropped. When I hit the water, a cold, roiling sea, I opened my eyes as I sank. I could see a room in the deep, and then there was blood and a knife, a white wolf sitting in a pool of blood, staring at me with dead eyes. Avery was swimming toward me, reaching, but the current kept pulling him away, no matter how hard I swam.
I was sinking, drowning but still kicking as hard as I could, trying to rise from the darkening water. I was drowning, and my lungs screamed for air. I needed to break the surface—
“Graeme!” Avery yelled, and I heard him even though he was hoarse, like he’d been yelling for a bit.
“Avery!” I howled, scrambling to sit up, everything spasming at once, my entire body a rictus of pain, and then he was there, on me, his warm body covering mine.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he soothed, hugging me tight, his weight on top of me so welcome, so calming, so settling that I inhaled deeply, making sure my lungs were working.
“You’re okay, baby,” he crooned, kissing the side of my neck. “You’re here with me, and everything’s okay. I’m all right, you’re all right, and everything turned out fine.”
Had I ever had any idea how much I would enjoy being called baby?
“It was just a bad dream, and sometimes, a dream is just a dream.”
Yes.
He cupped one side of my neck with his hand, pressed hot kisses to the other, and I realized, after a moment, that I was naked and so was he.
When I wrapped my arms around him, he shuddered, and I rolled us so we faced each other, chest pressed against chest, close but not on top of him so I could look deep into his eyes, that were shrouded with dread.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, using my thumb to wipe away his tears. “What happened? You were scared, and I felt your panic like it was mine.”
“I’m sorry,” he husked, “I didn’t mean to––”
“Tell me,” I demanded, needing to know, needing to protect him, whenever possible, from all things that could cause him pain. “I could almost taste your fear.”
His hands were all over me, couldn’t stop stroking up over my ribs, my chest, down my sides, mapping my skin with every graze of his palms.
“Avery?”
“I read Wade’s report, and Daw had a gun too, and…if Kat hadn’t been there, he could…he could have…killed you,” he said gruffly, swallowing hard.
“It was scary for both of us,” I murmured, my hand in his hair, savoring the feel of the silky strands on my skin. “But we came through. We both did.”
He laid his head down on my chest.
“Avery, I––”
“Shh,” he hushed me.
I smiled over how serious he’d sounded. “What are you doing?” I whispered.
“I’m listening to your heart,” he murmured. “It’s steady and it calms me and I like to be close to you.”
“I like being close to you as well,” I croaked out, my voice faltering with his nearness. “No great secret there.”
“You’re warm too,” he moaned softly.
His sleek skin was hot, which was terribly distracting, but I needed to extract a promise. “You must take greater care with yourself, as your life is now more than your own.”
“I promise to be more careful,” he said, wiggling out from under me, pushing me over on my back, bending to kiss the side of my neck. I turned my head to give him better access, luxuriating in the feel of his hot mouth on my skin. “And you promise too.”
It was hard to concentrate with his kisses, his tongue and his teeth licking and nipping at my skin. When his hand slipped around my slowly thickening cock, it was all I could do not to arch up off the bed.
