Page 51 of Threads of Fate

Gideon closes the hallway door and turns on the sound dampeners in the room. Jay has never been more grateful for technology than he has been this last week.

“What did they have to say?” Finn asks, still in scrubs, as he pops open a container of takeout Rowan and Leo brought, the scent filling the room. Jay leans down, pressing a kiss to the top of Finn’s head, then does the same for Rowan and Leo before moving to the window. He stands there, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.

Finn carries a container over to Luca, who accepts it with a small smile. When he offers one to Gideon, the larger man shakes his head silently, his focus elsewhere.

Jay covers ‌what the detectives had told them about Dawson Hayes, and a variety of angry scents fill the room. Rowan slams his food on the conveniently replaced table, building up to an explosion.

Luca’s little feet hit the ground behind him, and he’s standing beside Jay, dressed in a t-shirt and socks. Jay is hoping there’s underwear under there. “Did you say, Dawson Hayes? I remember him! He works at Ripley. He’s gross.”

“In marketing?” Leo volunteers around a mouth full of rice. “I remember the name from that photo campaign we trashed last year. You remember the one where they wanted us to wear loincloths?”

Luca adds another piece of chicken to his already full cheeks. “Maybe? I don’t know about now, but he was in the music show program when I started. Don’t you remember him? He’s the one who grabbed Lacy Greg in the restroom. Jay broke his nose and had him black-listed for breaking the morality clause. He’s stinky, smelled like over-ripe fruit—I can’t remember exactly which one it was, though it made us gag.”

“Pears. He smelled like rotten pears,” Finn says faintly and pushes his food away.

“Yes! That’s it! Gross.” Luca sits down on Grayson’s lap. The alpha has yet to eat anything, and Luca offers him a small bite of an egg roll.

Jay remembers there had been a guy who’d assaulted his friend, and he remembers being mad enough to throw hands. But his face? His name? Not at all; it’s completely blank. Sexual misconduct was handled harshly in their program, but it was hardly on Jay who they removed. Once he’d made a statement to support Lacy to the show’s producers, they would have decided all on their own.

“Deserved it, the fucker,” Leo chimes, and Grayson “toasts” him with Luca’s fork in agreement, the clever beta having coerced Gray into sharing his food.

“So, what are we going to do? If we want the maximum penalty, we have to prove Nix is Were, and if we do that, they’ll know he isn’t a beta. But aside from all that, isn’t it Nix’s decision about whether to tell the courts he’s omega? I mean, are they even going to believe us? We thought it was a myth, too.” Rowan isn’t wrong.

Therein lies the multitude of difficulties.

“I think we need to talk to your Dad, Leo. Do you think he would see us tomorrow?”

Leo calls his father, the Founding Partner in a law firm with lots of fingers in lots of pies. Antonio Costas is a leading expert in Were criminal law, with a specialty in Were defense. Known for being hard as nails in the courtroom, he’s still remarkably soft, just like his son, especially for family. He’s the father Jay wishes his own had been.

When he picks up, Mr. Costas is not surprised to hear that the police have finally arrived; his legal firm has a few “spies” in the prosecutor’s office, and the strategy for the case hits close to home. “Come to the office. We’ll have privacy. If we need to file anything, we’ll have easy access, too. Say, tomorrow morning at 8:30?”

“Thanks, Dad. Say Hi to my Moms!”

“Boo-Boo, you should bring your mates home to see them soon. They forget what you look like.”

Finn silently mouthsBoo-Boo?They’d been mates for years, but this was the first time Jay had heard that. While Leo squints his eyes and gives him the finger, Rowan nearly chokes on his wonton in his laughter.

“We’ll see you tomorrow at 8:30. Thank you, sir.”

Chapter Twenty-One: Jay

Jay

The pack had spent the afternoon after calling Leo’s Dad in Nix’s room. Jay and Leo try to work on a track after Leo retrieves his laptop from Long Road Home’s recording studio. They keep it quiet, but it’s still slow going, as there’s too much noise from the hall; parents and pediatric patients keep popping their heads in, curious about celebrities on the floor. But by dinner, Jay is still happy with the beginnings of what sounds an awful lot like a love song.

Finn has gone back on shift, and thanks to some scheduling, he could have his meals with his mates when time allows, between rounds and clinic hours. When it’s almost time to order something for dinner, Jay heads off out onto the floor to find his hard-working mate.

Jay tracks Finn and Rowan to the infant unit, where the latter sings a Long Road Home ballad to the smallest baby Jay has ever seen. The child’s mother is equally smitten if her dazed smile is anything to go by. The young alpha will make a good father someday, and Jay can’t think too much about it right now, or dinner will never get ordered.

He reluctantly pulls Finn away so as not to wake the baby, whose eyes have just slipped closed; Rowan is proud-as-punch at getting the cranky baby to sleep. “Are you guys okay with Umberto’s?”

“Perfect. Rowan and I were just talking about their ravioli. Thank you.”

“It’ll be here in an hour. Will that work for you?”

“I’m done in forty-five anyway, so that works great.” He pries Rowan away from the babies, steering him down the hall toward the nursing station. It’s odd for Finn to need Rowan’s security at work, but Jay’s not going to unsettle his already stressed pack by asking about the doctor’s uncharacteristic clinginess.

Gideon and Grayson are still reading the books from Dr. Spencer when he gets back. Deciding not to disturb them, he quietly places the order with Umberto’s, eavesdropping on their conversation while he waits.

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