Page 16 of Threads of Fate

It’s then that Leo hears his ringtone for Jay ring loudly in the cab, Taylor Swift singing, “But loving him was red!”Gideon puts the SUV back into park when Leo answers and puts it on speaker, “Jay?”

“He’s alive, Leo. He’s in intensive care, but he’s alive. We can’t see him yet, but yeah. He’s still here.” The relief is a tsunami of feeling, but Leo knows the battle is hardly won.

“Thank fuck. We’re on our way. We all want to be there for you and him. We’re coming.”

There’s a long pause while Jay is thinking that they shouldn’t come. All the arguments have been made, though, and Jay has always let them make their own informed decisions. “Okay. They’ve moved us from the staff lounge up to the ICU waiting area on the fifth floor. I’ll send you the security information. See you soon.”

“Jay!” Grayson yells. “Tell Finn we love him. And you too.”

Choruses of “We love you!” sound from the back seat.

Gideon takes a deep breath, and the steering wheel creaks ominously.

“You okay, Gid?” Leo asks, placing his hand on his thigh.

“No. But I will be.Wewill be.” He pops the SUV into reverse.

Chapter Seven: Jay

Jay

Jay isn’t sure how long they lay there in the ER staff lounge, but no one bothers them and, in retrospect, it’s probably because Dennie scares them off. The nurse is Finn’s staunchest supporter. Riordan had once told Jay that Finn inspired real loyalty to his coworkers. Physicians as talented as Finn often knew they were hot shit, but Finn is humble and kind. He sincerely believes that from triage to discharge, patients are best cared for when the team is just that: a team.

Riordan had confided that he hoped Finn would someday be in a position to positively affect the administration of the hospital. Jay’s heart had swelled with pride. No one worked as hard as Finn had to succeed so early in life. Top of his classes at sixteen and always with the dream of helping others. It hadn’t been an easy eight years for him or the pack, but they all knew how badly Finn wanted to be a physician. He had considered a specialty early on, but had eventually decided that general medicine served his purpose best. He rotated through the departments, making strong connections to staff and patients.

Dennie is just one such connection, and Finn serves such steadfast loyalty.

Jay hadn’t been able to sleep, but Finn had passed right out, his perfect nose pressed hard into Jay’s throat. There will mostlikely be a welcome bruise, and it gives him time to think about what the fuck has got them here.

Nix.

It would be a dream come true if his mate wasn’t fighting for his life at the end of Riordan’s scalpel. He’d heard Riordan’s second, Ewan Campbell, paged about ninety minutes ago. Riordan’s mate is in orthopedics, and Jay tries very hard not to think about what Nix has endured to need Ewan’s special skills.

Thinking about it makes his rage boil. Finn shifts at the burning wood scent, and Jay is quick to rein it in and settle him again, “Shhh, baby. You’re okay.”

He remembered the first time he’d met Nix at the beach near their hometown in Clearwater, Florida. Jay had been seventeen and unpresented, but he’d known early on that he was destined to be an alpha. His father, a traditional alpha to the core, didn’t tolerate insubordination, and Jay’s hormones were already surging. The urge to challenge his father had been a constant battle, and he’d worked tirelessly to keep those chaotic impulses in check.

School had been a bright spot for him. He’d loved it and had been popular with both Were and human friends. Near the end of his junior year, he met Ivy Rena. She was funny, cute, and undeniably human. His parents weren’t thrilled, but he’d assured them she wasn’t his mate—so what did it matter if they dated casually? They’d been more like friends than anything romantic anyway. He’d enjoyed her company so much that when she invited him to join her family’s spring break vacation at the beach, he hadn’t thought twice about saying yes.

That vacation changed Jamie’s life—he’d been Jamie back then, not James like his father.

Ivy’s family rented a place at the beach every year, and Jamie had driven his rust-red, beat-up Corolla, surfboard in tow, expecting a week of waves and good food. But when Ivy’syounger brother opened the door, Jamie knew he’d met his mate. The beautiful, dark-haired freshman had been tanned and freckled, with a wide smile that lit up the world. From that very first moment, that smile had become the sun in Jamie’s sky.

After his initial shock, the vacation had proved the best he’d ever taken. Their attraction was completely mutual, but Jamie knew very well that his mate was only fourteen. Jamie respected the unspoken boundaries Nix’s age implied, but Ivy still gave him the “shovel talk” at the end of the week. Said her brother was in love and if Jamie did anything until Nix was eighteen, she would make him the sorriest he’d ever been.

Sofriendsthey were.

They’d spent the summer in arcades and movie theaters trying to stay cool, escaping to the beach on weekends where Jamie had tried to teach him to surf. But only as friends. It hadn’t been easy. Jamie was a healthy teenage boy and soon-to-be alpha on top of that; add in that Nix was gorgeous inside and out, and Jamie had spent lots of time swimming laps to work off some of that energy.

When they’d gone back to school again, Nix could be found sitting in the corner on a grungy bean bag chair while Jamie’s garage band rehearsed, or just as often, Jamie would show up at poetry readings where Nix would share unapologetically romantic odes to Jamie’s heart.

Jay still woke up with memories merged into dreams, where he made love to a grown-up version of Nix over and over. His heart breaking over and over again when he woke to find them just dreams.

The glass door to the staff room slides open, and Dennie’s somber face peeks in. The wall clock shows it’s been two hours since Leo left. Five, since Nix started the biggest fight of his twenty-four years of life.

“They’re almost done, but Austin is stable for the moment. Dr. Kennedy will meet you in the ICU lounge. Do you want to make your way up?”

Finn is awake in an instant, as doctors and nurses often are, and Jay helps him into a sitting position and offers him a bottle of water.

---