Page 60 of Heatwaves

As much as I’d like to fall apart like Ty and Carter are, there has to be at least one of us who keeps their cool. I’m not sure how I’m going to do it, but I’m damn well going to try. I’m going to be strong when my mates can’t be.

I don’t know how long we stand there, with me holding Carter as he cries, but eventually, he quiets. Neither of us moves—at least not until Aidan steps back into the room.

“What are you doing?” I bark. “We can’t leave Ty alone.”

Aidan holds his hands up in surrender. “He’s passed out. I’ll go back in there for a minute, but I need to know what the plan is. We’re losing him.”

“We’re losing everything,” Carter says with a sneer. “All so we could save the damn realms. Fuck the realms. Why do we have to lose everything to save the fucking day?”

Aidan’s eyes widen as he stares at his stepbrother in shock. “Carter?”

Carter shakes his head, pulling away from me to stalk over to the window, ignoring us.

“We’re all having a hard time.” I sigh. “I’ve been trying to figure out what we can do, but I’ve got nothing.”

“I think Ty needs to see someone—a doctor or a therapist or something,” Aidan says with a sharp nod. “A person who works with people who lose their fated mates or are rejected by them.”

I nod slowly. “That’s a good idea. I’ll start looking up names of people and try to get him an appointment as soon as possible.”

“Maybe we should all see one,” Carter admits as he turns back to us. “Clearly, we all need some help. Let’s see if we can’t find someone we can all see, but Ty is the priority.”

Aidan’s smile is tight as he heads for the kitchen. “That’s probably a good idea. We don’t know how this is going to go. There’s still a good chance that she’ll reject us. If it already hurts this much, I can’t imagine how much worse it would be with a rejection.”

My hand goes to my chest of its own accord, rubbing lightly. I don’t want to know what it would feel like to be rejected by Lila. I’ll do anything I can to keep that from becoming our reality, but there’s only so much we can do. It’s really all up to Lila.

“I’m just grabbing a few bottles of water and some snacks. Something tells me it’s going to be hard to get Ty out of bed any time soon,” Aidan calls over his shoulder before disappearing from view.

Deciding there’s no time like the present, I head for my room to find my laptop. I’m surprised when Carter follows me.

I drop into my computer chair and open the laptop before glancing at my lover. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t think any of us are okay.” He scoffs. “I just need to be close to you all. Maybe once we’re done, we can join Aidan and Ty in bed?”

“That’s probably a good idea. We need to surround him with our love—remind him we love him just as much as we love Lila.” I turn my attention back to the computer and begin my search for anyone who might be able to help Ty.

Two hours later, I have a list of people and start making phone calls. I don’t have any luck with the first four places, but I’m finally able to get Ty an appointment tomorrow at the fifth place. When I explain what’s going on, the receptionist, whose name is Terri, also schedules us a group session for next week.

“It sounds like Ty is the one that needs the most help, so we want to get him in as quickly as we can,” she says. “Dr. Gregory always leaves appointments open for just this reason. I assume the rest of the pod will join him tomorrow?”

I glance at Carter, who just shrugs. “We can if that’s what Dr. Gregory thinks we should do.”

Terri hums. “It would be best if all of you come, just in case. Dr. Gregory will want to speak with him alone first. Depending on how that goes, she might ask one or more of you to join her—especially if he won’t talk to her. But don’t worry about that right now. There’s no reason to borrow trouble and add more worries to your plates. Dr. Gregory is one of the best. We’ll see you tomorrow at ten o’clock, okay?”

“Thank you, Terri. You don’t understand how much better this makes me feel.”

She laughs. “Oh, honey, I assure you, I know exactly how you feel. I met Dr. Gregory as a patient. For now, you just focus on your pod mates, and we’ll see you in the morning.”

I say my goodbyes as I stand up. I walk over to Carter and help him to his feet.

“Let’s go cuddle in bed, yeah?” I ask him, wrapping an arm around his waist.

He leans into me for a moment before nodding. “That sounds amazing.”

While we each have our own rooms, none of us sleep in them. We all sleep in the master bedroom and leave the other rooms for when we need some time alone. Right now, I don’t think any of us should be alone—not just Ty.

We pile into the bed, with Carter choosing the other side of Ty while I climb in behind Aidan. There’s a movie playing quietly on the TV as Aidan strokes a hand through Ty’s blond hair.

“Did you get him an appointment?” Aidan whispers.

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