Page 94 of His Temporary Alpha Mate
My Alpha gave me the opportunity to speak to Jason so I could clear my conscience. While shifter lives were precious, none reveled in taking one. This was nodifferent. If he had attacked then left, I wouldn’t have needed to put him down.
Gratefully, Jason understood the action I’d taken, and even sent well wishes to Deke. I knew our pact would remain in place with the pride.
“Deke’s asking for you,” Hiroshi came to tell me. “Aldrin said you could have a short visit. Deke’s out of the woods now. It’s going to take a couple of weeks of bedrest before he’s fully mobile again.”
“He’s going to hate that.”
“Yeah,” Hiroshi laughed. “Go see him. You’ll feel better.”
My boss was lying in a large bed with stark white sheets all covered in runes. Magic to keep him from moving too much, I guessed. I took a chair next to his bed, all the adrenaline flowing out of me.
“Gotta keep me still so my bones reform right,” Deke explained. “Jared really did a number on me.”
“The asshole is dead.”
“Thank fuck. What the hell was that fighting style? Just roll your hulking form over your opponent?” Deke tried to laugh.
“I think he did it on accident.” Looking at Deke was painful. His body was covered in cuts and bruises from the asphalt. His leg was bandaged hip to toes where he’d been bitten.
“Right?” Deke studied me. “Anyone else hurt?”
“Just scratches. A couple broken bones. Nothing major,” I listed them.
No one had been hurt as badly as Deke. Hakeem felt awful about leaving when he did and wanted to apologize. There was little he could have done and he had his family to think of.
The aviary had gone too far, and with them, the mayor. His reputation was already taking a hit thanks to social media posts from the registrar office and bystanders. We were clearly the victims, the aviary couldn’t spin it any other way.
Wanting to lighten the mood, I went for humor. “You know, if you wanted attention, you just had to ask.”
His chuckle was weak. “Fuck, that hurts.” He took a deep breath, wincing a little. “The babies?”
“Perfect, thanks to you. I can’t thank you enough.”
If Deke hadn’t kept a clear head, I didn’t think we could have gotten out of there. I was ready to fall to pieces and I had the training! He was the reason we were all safe.
“Just doing my job.”
“No. You kept us cool under pressure. You are the reason no one is dead.” It needed to be said because it was so true.
“Apart fromthat idiot tiger,” he joked.
“And maybe some birds.” I didn’t care about them. They’d taken the risk when they’d tried to attack us for the crime of being different to them.
I wanted to touch him, to assure myself he was there and would be whole soon. I wasn’t sure my standoffish friend would welcome the touch, with how sore he was.
Deke closed the gap between our fingers and wrapped his pinky around mine. “This makes me godfather, right?”
Epilogue
Dalton
Waiting at home with the babies was hard, but Larken’s place was with our Alpha and the others while he performed Deke’s job. Mine was at home, watching over our family.
Poor Deke. I was relieved he would be okay. Larken had messaged me to tell me the news including the request to be godfather. After what he’d done, getting us out of there safely, risking his life for us, he could have pretty much anything he wanted.
“I should have been the one to go back,” Ingal said quietly as he bottle fed Bima and Brayan. He had them propped up in front of them so he could manage it. He was always teaching me stuff to do with caring for them.
After I propped Reid up, I tried to do the same with Raiden, but he wasn’t having any of it. I had to curl my hand in an awkward angle to get the nipple in his mouth while I aimed the other bottle at Reid.
