by L. P. Maxa
Linc nodded, not taking his eyes off his packmate. “He’ll heal fast.”
“I started to call an ambulance but he stopped me.” Madden smoothed the hair back from the boy’s face and Linc growled in response. She didn’t move her hand. She wouldn’t give into that crap. “Stop it.” She was a nurse. This was her job. Her passion. And she’d be damned if Linc thought he could keep her from it.
“I can’t help it,” he gritted out through clenched teeth.
“Well you need to fucking try.” Bonded male or not, she wouldn’t give up her job. She wouldn’t give up her independence. And he was delusional if he thought otherwise.
“This is me trying.” She met Linc’s eyes at the sudden pleading in his tone. “We haven’t completed the bond and his scent is all over you. You think I want to be this person? Riley is like my little brother. In my head I love that you are taking care of him, but I can’t control it.”
She didn’t know what else to say, so she stayed silent. Luckily, Baze walked in mere seconds later. He was breathing hard, like he’d sprinted the whole way over from the athletic building. “What the hell happened?” He shut the door behind him, locking it so that they wouldn’t be interrupted.
Linc shook his head. “We don’t really know. He’s weak, in and out of consciousness. Once he actually goes under, he won’t wake for hours. He has a lot of healing to do. I only wanted to ask him once.”
Baze came over, standing beside her and Linc, peering down at Riley. He reached out and squeezed his hand. “Hey, kiddo, you need to open your eyes for us.” His freckled forehead wrinkled, like he’d heard Baze but he couldn’t do as he was told.
Madden wanted to demand they take him for an MRI, but she knew her plea would fall on deaf ears. Riley had already told her he healed too fast. “He has a concussion. He’s not going to be able to come around on demand like that.”
Baze sighed. “He has to. Once he goes into a healing sleep he’ll be unreachable. We need to find out what happened. We need to make sure no one else is hurt. No one else is in danger.”
Linc and Baze shared a look, then Baze grabbed Riley by the shoulder. “Wake. Up.” He said it with so much force, a demand that couldn’t be ignored. She wanted to roll her eyes and say I told you so, but to her surprise Riley started to blink. Was that some kind of wolf pack command trick? “Tell us what happened and then we’ll let you sleep.”
Riley attempted to talk but nothing came out. He cleared his throat and tried again, this time managing a harsh whisper. “I was walking toward the field and someone jumped me. I never even heard him, so he had to be shifter.” He worked to swallow. “He put a pillow case over my head and pulled me behind the field house. Kicked my ass and then told me…” Riley hesitated and all three of them moved closer. “…that Franklin said hi.”
Baze muttered a few different choice words and Linc punched a hole in the wall. Madden’s eyes went wide as drywall rained down to the floor. Who the hell was Franklin? And why the fuck did he want to beat up a kid?
“You can’t tell Corey. She can’t get worked up. It’s not good for the baby.” Riley’s words were starting to slur now.
Madden shoved Baze and Linc away from the kid. “That’s enough, you got what you wanted. Let him rest.” He needed a scan to check for any brain bleeds or skull fractures. Well, if he was a regular kid he would. But Riley wasn’t a regular kid, was he? He was a supernatural being, and she knew nothing about what it would take to make him better. That thought made her feel helpless, which was a feeling she tried to avoid like the plague.
Linc wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her close to his body. And she let him, even though she wasn’t sure she should at this point. She was still unsure what to think. His jealousy was unsettling, to say the least. She refused to be owned. “He’ll be fine. He’ll heal while he sleeps.” He looked over her head at Baze. “But he’s right, we need to keep Corey away from him. This is going to set her off. It’s not good for the baby.”
Baze stood in the corner, arms crossed. “We should bring him to our place. Corey never comes there.”
Linc nodded.
“Madden can come when she’s done with work, help us keep an eye on him.”
Baze spoke like she didn’t have a choice in the matter. Not that she would refuse to help an injured kid, but still. He wasn’t the boss of her. Was that pack life? Everything was decided for her? She couldn’t live like that, with men hovering over her, expecting her to be who they wanted her to be.
“We need to check on Jasper and Jace. If Franklin sent someone after Riley, it’s because he knows the kids sold him out to the Feds.” Linc was rubbing her back, but speaking to Baze.
Who the fuck were all these people they were talking about? And the Feds? Sold who out? “What the hell is going on?”
Linc kissed her temple. Which melted her insides, which in turn, irritated the shit out of her. “I’ll explain it all tonight when you get home.”
When you get home. He did it again. Wherever they were together, was that home to him? Because according to Baze she wasn’t going to her home tonight; she was going to theirs. Madden had barely had time to wrap her mind around this mating stuff, and in Linc’s mind they were already one.
Baze pulled the curtain closed around Riley’s bed, blocking him in case anyone walked in. “We’re due in Dom’s office in ten minutes. If we don’t show he’ll come looking for us. And I don’t want him to have to lie to Corey.”
“Because they’re mates?” Madden spoke into Linc’s chest—he’d yet to let her go. And she’d yet to make him.
Linc snorted. “Because he’s bad at it.” He loosened his hold on her and she took a step back, instantly missing his scent.
When Baze grabbed her by the shoulders, Linc snarled and pushed him off, shaking his head. “Don’t touch her, man. I can’t handle it right now.”
Baze kept his hands by his side, but got down to eye level with her. “Under no circumstances do you leave this room. We can’t move Riley right now, and no one can find him like this. Do you understand?”
Madden nodded even though part of her wanted to scream at him to stop ordering her around and talking to her like she was his employee.
Baze pointed toward the door. “Keep the door shut. If anyone needs anything, direct them to the trainer’s office and we’ll take care of them.”
Baze was a pushy asshole. She stood up straight, lifting her chin. “I have a list of kids that I have to see today.” Madden glanced toward Linc; with his possessive behavior she really didn’t want to say it out loud. She took a small step forward and spoke as quietly as possible next to Baze’s ear. “Physicals start today.” She doubted Linc heard her over the growl vibrating in his throat at their close proximity.
Baze scrubbed his hands down his face, hiding an amused smirk behind his hand. “Okay, just get it done, quickly.”
Linc reached over and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her against him. “Mates don’t tell secrets.” He nuzzled her hair, inhaling deeply.
Desire stirred in her core. She couldn’t help her reaction to him, just like he couldn’t help his jealousy. Riley was a few feet away, healing from a horrible beating. Baze was standing right next to them. Her emotions were a big jumbled mess. But she still wanted Linc to push her against the wall and fuck her like there was no tomorrow. The thought pissed her off. She glared at him, full of fire. “Then it’s a good thing we aren’t mated, right?”
Linc grabbed her hair, wrapping it around his hand. He pulled her head back and claimed her mouth. The kiss was intense and inappropriate, dominating. But damn it felt good. When he finally let her go he made her meet his eyes. “Don’t push me, baby, not right now.”
Madden watched as he and Baze left her office. She had to hold on to the edge of her desk to keep from going after him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Linc
Today had been hard as fuck, just like his dick. He’d avoided Dom and Keller,
which wasn’t easy considering they worked down the hall from each other. Baze had driven his truck across campus to pick up both Madden and Riley. Linc had wanted to go with him; he’d missed Madden all damn day. But Baze had given him a to-do list a fucking mile long. He knew his friend was trying to keep him busy, trying to keep his mind off of what could be going through hers.
Linc turned off his computer and then headed to the parking lot. He’d waited in his office until Dom, Keller, and Corey had all left for the day. He didn’t want to run into them and then have to make some excuse about where he was going or why. Corey could sniff out a lie like a fucking hound dog ninety-five percent of the time. All he really cared about was getting to Madden. He needed to see her, to touch her. He needed to know that she was safe. He sped the whole way home, which wasn’t so different from how he usually drove.
He walked in the front door and froze. His apartment was fucking full of male shifters. Riley was stretched out on the couch; Jace and Jasper were sitting on the floor facing the TV. Baze was in the recliner and Madden was on the love seat, her phone in her hands. “Guess you found the twins?” Linc made his way through the room to Madden, kissing the top of her head and then going to the kitchen. He’d stopped off at lunch and grabbed her a bottle of wine. He figured she’d need it after the day she’d had.
“Actually, we found her.” Jasper nodded his head in Madden’s direction without taking his eyes off the TV or the game he was playing with his brother.
Linc walked back into the living room, handed Madden a glass of red and then sat next to her. He threw his arm across the back of the couch. “What do you mean you found her? You went to the nurse’s office today? Pussies.”
Jasper chuckled. “Hell yeah we did. We had—”
“Eye exams.” Baze spoke over Jasper. “They had eye exams today. When Madden recognized their names she sent me a text. I loaded everyone up in the truck and brought them here.”
Jasper was shaking his head, laughing.
Jace pressed pause and looked back over his shoulder. “We stopped by the dorm to pack a bag. Our room was ransacked.”
Jasper rolled his head to the side, facing Linc. “My father’s goons are assholes. They broke my signed Cal Ripken Jr. bat.”
Linc glanced across the room to Baze. “Brooks swore none of this would be traced back to the kids. He promised Corey. He promised all of us.” They would have never agreed to let the kids talk to the Feds about Franklin if they thought they’d end up getting hurt. Hell, that had been the only way Corey had agreed to go along with Riley’s plan.
“I know. We need to call him and find out what the fuck happened.” Baze threaded his hands behind his head. “Keller is going to be pissed.” The last thing Keller would want was Brooks coming back to Haxton. They all understood where the guy’s anger was coming from, and Linc really was sorry for the crap he’d caused…but that man was not well liked by any stretch of the imagination.
Linc raised an eyebrow, remembering another problem they were going to have. “Not as pissed as Corey’s gonna be when she finds out we hid all this from her.”
Madden looked down at her phone. “She’s texted all of us.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I was here with you, that we needed some time alone to talk.” Madden nodded toward Baze. “He told her that he and Riley had gone for a run.” Linc grabbed Madden’s legs and pulled them out from under her, stretching them across his lap. He needed to touch her; he needed to feel her skin. It was a balm to his soul.
“That will placate her ’til tomorrow, but not any longer than that. She’s used to seeing Riley every day during the school year, without fail.”
Baze was right. Linc looked over at a sleeping Riley, sighing. “If he wasn’t so stuck up Corey’s ass, we’d be able to hide him longer.”
Madden nudged Linc with her foot. “Why do Corey and Riley spend so much time together? I know her whole family so I know they aren’t related.”
Corey and Riley’s dynamic would take longer to explain than he had right now. “We’ll talk about it later, okay?” She nodded and shifted her focus back to the twins’ loud war game. “Who’s hungry?”
When everyone except Riley raised their hands Linc opened a drawer on the coffee table. He pulled out a giant stack of takeout menus and plopped them down with flourish. “Dinner is served.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Linc
After they ate dinner, they’d gone straight back to their posts in the living room. They vetoed more video games for the twins and instead settled on the original version of It. Baze got to his feet once the credits started to roll and went to the hall closet, grabbing all the pillows and blankets they had. He tossed them at Jace and Jasper. “I’m going to bed. No porn and no alcohol.” He glared at each one of them in turn, showing that he meant business.
Jasper chuckled. “But I need something to get my mind off that creepy ass Pennywise.”
“Oh yeah? Well I’m sure there’s some homework you could do.”
Jasper yawned dramatically, stretching his arms above his head. “I think I’m ready to crash after all.”
Jace stayed silent through their whole exchange. Pretty much par for the course for the two of them; the class clown and the strong, silent type.
Linc stood, reaching for Madden’s hand. “You can take my bed and I’ll bunk with Baze.”
Jasper stood, grabbing a blanket and throwing it wide to unfold it. “You’re really taking Ms. Cooper’s lecture to heart aren’t you? Don’t worry, Coach, I won’t tell. You can sleep with Miss Madden.” Linc had been forced to give Jasper a “talk” before the end of last school year. He had to convince him that being a male whore was not the right path. It had been pure torture and apparently Jasper was never going to let him live it down.
Linc threw a pillow at Jasper’s head. “That’s ten laps tomorrow, smartass.”
Madden placed two fingers on Riley’s wrist. “If he wakes up, one of you needs to come get me.” The twins nodded. After a minute, she put the back of her hand to her patient’s forehead. “He seems stable, but if he comes to, I want to check his pupils.”
“Got it,” Jace said.
Linc took Madden’s hand in his again, pulling her down the hall.
Baze was standing at his bedroom door, arms crossed. “You aren’t sleeping with me, dude.”
“I don’t trust myself with her.” Linc mirrored his packmate’s posture. “I was already on edge before you filled our apartment with male shifters.” The bond was incomplete, and the shifter in him would no doubt see everyone as a threat.
Madden leaned against the doorjamb to Linc’s room. “I can just head home. It’s no big deal.” She ran her hand down Linc’s back. “We can talk tomorrow.”
“No.” Linc spun toward her. “You leave, I leave.” He wouldn’t make it if they were that far apart. He wouldn’t be able to sleep without knowing she was close. Last night trying to sleep against the door was bad enough.
Baze rolled his eyes. “Hold on, I have an idea.” He disappeared into his room and returned a few minutes later with a pair of handcuffs dangling from his fingertips. He swung them up and around and then tossed them to Madden. “Lock him up tight.”
Madden threw her head back laughing. “How did I know that you’d be into this stuff?”
Linc let out a deep low growl, herding Madden into his room with his body. “Don’t think about Baze and sex at the same time. Ever.” He shut the door behind him, effectively closing them in a dark room. Linc shut his eyes and clenched his jaw. He wanted to reach for her. He wanted to tear her clothes from her body and bury himself inside her, where he belonged.
“Get on the bed.”
He groaned in desperation. “Baby.”
“Get on the bed and put your hands together.” There was no mistaking the lust in her voice. She wanted him as much as he wanted her, but she was smarter than he was.
Linc did what she asked
and seconds later he was expertly cuffed to his iron headboard. “I don’t even want to know how you learned to do that so quickly.” Madden giggled quietly at his comment as she started going through his dresser drawers. “What are you doing?”
“I need some clothes to sleep in.” She must have found what she was looking for because she went into his bathroom and shut the door.
Linc used the time alone to study the handcuffs chaining him to his bed. These weren’t your typical run of the mill gag-gift soft handcuffs. These were all metal, police-grade cuffs. Damn. He knew Baze was into kink, but…His thoughts trailed off when Madden came back in the room wearing one of his St. Leasing baseball jerseys and a pair of his briefs like sleeping shorts. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He pulled against his restraints, making a lot of noise in the process. He’d break the stupid headboard if he had to. She looked unbelievable. Seeing her in his clothes, his last name stretched across her back—it was almost too much to handle.
Madden climbed in the bed and got under the covers. “It’s time to tell me what the hell is going on.” She propped her head up on her elbow. “You want me to be yours? You want me to join this pack? Tell me what’s happening.”
She was right. She deserved to know all of it. How could he ask her to be in his life forever without telling her what she was getting into?
“Back when Corey first came to St. Leasing, her task as the new guidance counselor was to clear the varsity baseball team to play. She had to interview all the players and sign off on their temperament. She came home one day after talking to Jace and Jasper Franklin and told us that she thought something was up with Jace, that he might be a little crazy and a lot violent. A few days later Jace beat the hell out of his brother. In the end, it turned out that Jace and Jasper weren’t raised together. Jasper was raised by his mom and his stepdad and Jace was raised by their aggressive asshole of a father.”