Page 42 of Legally Mated
But that didn’t mean he needed to give up. “So you’re just asking for time? Until things settle down?” Leaving a loophole he could uselater.
But he’d underestimated Holland again, or at least misunderstood him. “You’re good for Garrick, Laine. And you’ve helped us. A lot. Maybe after this challenge is over…” He shook his head, and lifted the baby away to sit him on his thigh and gently pat his back. “I don’t know. I can’t see that far ahead.” He seemed about to say something more, but instead shook his head again. “Give us some time. And if he still wants you…” The baby burped and Holland chuckled softly. “That was a good one,” he told the baby, then lifted him again to nurse on the other side. “I don’t know. We can’t deal with this now. You won’t be admitted at the gates if you come to Mercy Hills and we’re going to keep him home for a while. He’s got access to everything he’ll need through the law databases and his other onlineresources.”
“You don’t think Icanhelp?”
Holland sent him a troubled look. “I’ve heard that you’re having some issues at work. You need to deal with that before you’ll have any time to help us. I don’t want Garrick worrying about your job when he’s trying to heal.” His tone was firm, and Laine’s long experience with judges and senior partners read it as ‘conversation finished’. Under ordinary circumstances, he might have fought this tooth and nail, but this was the pack and not only did he not have the background and leverage he needed to force the outcome he wanted, trying to do that might be the very thing that put it out of reach. He had no doubt, given the way Garrick talked about pack, that he would put the pack before his own happiness. And Laine wanted no partofthat.
Best course of action at the moment, then, was to surrender gracefully, and lay the foundation for his inevitable return. Because Holland was right—Garrick would be in no condition to work with him on anything, and the Segregation Laws should take precedence after his recovery. He didn’t like being barred from the enclave, though. It felt like being back in high school, trying to convince his date’s parents to let him take her out pastcurfew.
Maybe there was something he could do to encourage an earlier lifting of that ban, though. “What do I have to do to get back in your goodgraces?”
Holland leaned back in his chair and glared at Laine in exasperation. “That’s not what this is about. If Garrick wants you, if we can make this safe for him, I don’t have any problems with it. I doubt very much, Quin being Quin, that he’ll have a problem with it. He sees what I do, how much Garrick has grown, how his confidence has steadied. But he needs to be safe first, before anything. That’s my job and Quin’s job, to keep our pack safe. When you can understand that, then wecantalk.”
Laine stood up. “You know he’s an adult, right? That he’s kept himself safe from your own people for his entire life? That maybe he doesn’t need you todothat?”
“And yes, he’s in a hospital bed right now, recovering from a bullet,” Holland snarled, then caught himself with a glance down at the baby. “We’ve both made mistakes here. Let him heal, and let him choose.” Holland turned his gaze back up to meet Laine’s, solemn and somehow much older than his chronological age. “Once Quin stops having nightmares about this, I’ll let you know and we can discuss how to go forward from there. It’s the best you’re going to get from me at the moment. Are weagreed?”
That, Laine could understand, and work with. “Agreed.” He picked up his bag and his jacket. “I’m still going to go spend the nightwithhim.”
“I appreciate that. It’s good for us to have witnesses in place, justincase.”
Laine nodded to him in acknowledgment and left. He wasn’t even out on the sidewalk before he had his phone out. “Ravi?” he said, when the investigator picked up. “I need some more information.” He couldn’t give Garrick back a whole body, or the years he’d spent hiding what he was. But there was one thing he couldgivehim.
TheBar.
Chapter34
Laine showedup in my little corner of the hospital just before curfew. He and Bram exchanged a few words, and I was relieved to see Bram grin before he left the unit. Leaving me alone with Laine, four nurses, and another dozen patients in the room, but somehow it still managed to feel intimate. “Hi, how are you doing?” He didn’t lean in for a kiss, but I could see on his face that he wanted to. He seemed tense, anxious, and there was something off about his scent and the way he heldhimself.
“I’m good,” I told him. “Stilltired.”
“I talked to the doctor. He think you can go home in a day or two. That the incision looks like it’s healing well, and he thinks Adelaide can keep an eye on you wellenough.”
“Yeah, well, I think they want me out of here too. There’s a couple of nurses on dayshift who get really tense around me. A couple of the medical students too.” I sighed and wiggled myself into a more comfortable position. “On the bright side, I’m not using this as much now.” I held up the button for the for the morphine machine. “And I had real food today. Well, broth, but it’s astart.”
“Good.” He smiled at me, the soft-edged one he only used around me. It made me feel warm and hopeful. “Look, you’re going to be a while recovering, and I know you guys are working on a challenge to the Segregation Laws. Holland and I talked and we agree that’s it’s more important that you work on that. I’m happy to help you with anything you need, but if we’re going to keep this from happening again, Quin’s right—the walls need tocomedown.”
I gaped at him for a minute, until he grinned and told me to close my mouth before a fly got in. “When was thisdecided?”
He leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. I’d only seen him do that in two different situations: when he knew he was going to win, or when he was covering something up and wanted to convince his opposition he knew he was going to win. “Holland invited me over for supper. It was good, we talked a lot. About everything.” He reached out and twined his fingers through mine. “I’ve never been so fucking scared inmylife.”
“Of Holland?” I asked,bemused.
He shook his head, and the emotion in his eyes when he looked at me again took my breath away. “No, when you were lying on the sidewalk and I couldn’t wake you up. I thought you were dying and it was all my fault, that I’d gotten too cocky. I do thatsometimes.”
I couldn’t let that pass. “Really? I nevernoticed.”
He laughed softly. “Yeah, you’re feeling better.” He looked down at our fingers twisted about each other. “I was afraid I’d never get to say all the things I wanted to say. And now I’m too scared to say them anyway.” He glanced out into the rest of the room, but his fingers stayed where they were. "Promise me..." He stopped and frowned, then shook his head and stared down the roomagain.
"Promise what?" I prompted, and squeezedhishand.
He brought his gaze back to meet mine. "Promise me you won't let this stop you. It's something that could have happened toanyone."
That nervous energy beating off him was fear. He was afraid I was going to retreat behind our walls, where he couldn't freely go. "Oh, I know." I wanted to reassure him, now that I understood where this strangeness was coming from. "He was aiming at you first. I don't doubt he would have come for me next, but it was you he wanted most of all. I just wasn't fastenough."
His grip tightened almost to the point of pain. "Don't do that again. If someone's going to shoot me, let them do it. God knows, I probably deserve it. More than you do,forsure."
I laughed, which sent a sharp pain up my side. "Oh, don't make me laugh! Are youstayinglong?"
