Page 41 of Legally Mated
Laine shrugged and let himself go cold, like he sometimes did before a difficult trial. “Let’s just say that I pointed out a few things they’dmissed.”
“Hmmm,” was all Holland said, but his lips stayed parted and Laine heard the huff of breath that meant that Holland was scenting for things he couldn’t ordinarily smell. “Thankyou.”
It pleased Laine uncharacteristically, as a man who rarely sought validation outside winning or losing in the courtroom. “You’rewelcome.”
Chapter33
After dinner,Holland sent Duke outside with the pups to play again. Duke obediently gathered up the pups and a bag full of toys and herded them out the door. Holland followed him out with a bag of store-bought cookies for bribes, handing them out with a cheerfully evil grin while Duke heaved a sigh of resignation. Laine heard him say, “I hope you’re going to be around to help put them to bed,” and Holland was grinning in broad amusement as he came throughthedoor.
“I have to feed the baby. You can wash thedishes.”
Laine raised his eyebrows at him but went without complaint. He was hunting now, trying to find out what Holland wanted from him, and also to see if he could tease out of Holland what Laine could do to ease the pack into accepting him and his relationship withGarrick.
Holland came back a few minutes later, carrying a baby in the first stages of turning fussy. “I hope you don’t mind him nursing while we talk,” Holland said, a hint of challenge inhistone.
“Not at all,” Laine said, and rinsed another plate before setting it in the drainer and starting on another one. “It’s natural. I’ll just keep washing up.” He caught a glimpse of Holland’s grin and turned back to the dishes as Holland stripped off his t-shirt with one hand. The baby made disgruntled noises as he was jostled, and then there was the creak of a chair and a low murmur from Holland before the baby’s gentle squawks turned to quiet sucking noises. Laine started in on the silverware and waited for Holland to begintalking.
He was moving on to the pots when a sigh from behind him signaled Holland was ready to begin. “So this puts the wolf in amongst thesheep.”
“What do you mean?” He set the small frying pan in the drainer and scrambled to keep one of the tumblers fromfallingout.
“Have you ever slept with himinheat?”
Laine paused with his hands in the water. “What—how would I know?” He turned around in time to see Holland slump a little inrelief.
“You’d know.” He looked up at Laine. “Never mind, it’s not important.” He turned his gaze back down to the baby. “Laine, don’t think I don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do here, I do. Quin does. Garrick’s grown so much since you took him under your wing. He’s not so quiet, he’s more likely to speak up. He’s…happier.” Holland’s tone implied a certain sadness that he hadn’t been able to giveGarrickthat.
“Thank you. It makes me happy to see him happy, youknowthat?”
“I do. It doesn’t make this anyeasier.”
Laine pulled the drain plug in the sink and started rummaging through drawers looking for something to dry thedisheswith.
“Just leave that,” Holland told him. “They’ll air dry as well as anything.Comesit.”
This didn’tsoundgood.
Laine took a chair kitty-corner to Holland and was struck again, in an objective manner, by the beauty of the man in front of him. Romantically, Holland and he would have fought like two cats in a bag, but Laine could appreciate a lovely face and sleek body as well as any man. “You might as well just stateyourcase.”
“Mmm,” Holland murmured. He looked down at the baby and rocked a little on his chair. “All right.” He met Laine’s gaze again. “When Garrick gets out of the hospital, he’s going to come home to Mercy Hills until the doctors declare him healed. He’s also going to have to come to terms with what this adventure brought to light, and the information that was turned up during our trip to Washington.” He frowned slightly and Laine watched the obvious debate going on inside Holland’s head. “I’m asking you to stay away from him for a while, until he has a chance to process this. I don’t mean you can’t text him or call him, but I’m asking you not to make demands on him. To not complicate things as we figure out what an omega should be, and how much of that he wants accept as his right and his responsibility. Whether he wants to drop this masquerade and live a life that doesn’t involve more lies thantruth.”
There was a tone in Holland’s voice as he said the last part that Laine read as referring to the lies about them sleeping together. “You don’t think Garrick should have a sayinthat?”
“I think Garrick’s going to be busy enough for the next while, he doesn’t need the complications. And something like this is what Quin’s been worriedabout.”
A figurative light bulb went on inside Laine’s head. “This is Quin’s decree. Why is he leaving you to do his dirty work?” He regretted it as soon as he said it, but it was too late. Holland’s expression went cold and his posture stiffened to the point that the baby stopped nursing and begantowail.
“You don’t understand anything about us at all if you think I’m just his stalking goat.” Holland resettled the baby, ignoring Laine for a moment. “We’ve been talking about this, ever since things settled down from Green Moon, but your relationship with Garrick made him happier than anyone at Mercy Hills has seen him, so we’ve set aside this problem over and over again, because any action on our part always led to taking that away from him. The problem is that once we go outside our walls, we are vulnerable. Outnumbered, distrusted, disbelieved. How many of us have been beaten without receiving any justice in the time we’ve known each other? Do youevenknow?”
He gave Laine a sharp look and Laine was ashamed to realize that hedidn’tknow. At the same time, though, he had an argumentforthat.
“Then teach me about it. I try, but Garrick doesn’t want to talk about pack politics. He says he gets enough of that at home.” And then he had the opportunity to feel ashamed again, because Holland’s expression flashed through guilt and anger and then a mix of sadness and fatigue and, Laine thought, some determination. “I’m sorry. I know you’re dealing with a lot of stuff. But that doesn’t meant that the rest of us don’t have our problems either. I want Garrick to be happy, to have the things he’s worked so hard for.” And Garrick was right—he needed to stop trying to win here, because this wasn’t anything to do with beating theotherside.
Holland shook his head and stroked the baby’s cheek. “It doesn’t really matter at the moment, anyway. Garrick is coming home with us and he’s going to be months recovering. As soon as he’s well enough to work, he’s going to be buried deep in this challenge of the Segregation Laws—that’s not up for debate. Anything else comes after that. And we don’t know how long that will take.” His expression wasn’t entirely sympathetic. “I know you care for him. So does Quin. But it’s not that simple. Not from our side of things. Not from his either. And your involvement complicates it past what Quin and I canhandle.”
No, he could see that. As much as he paid attention whenever he was around the shifters, he still didn’t think he knew much. Enough, maybe, to understand how cut-throat inter-pack politicscouldbe.
And with that thought, his brain unfurled all the complications this bid to strike down the Segregation Laws would create. Not just from the humans, but from the packs themselves, as fear and anger set in. No legal challenge at that level ever went through without setbacks—thinking back to the controversy about Jason and where he would live, what would be the response of the packs when they hit that first stumbling block? Somehow, he doubted that all of them would just regroup and try againharder.
