Alec closed his eyes, unable to stop the whimper from slipping out. His chest ached, the small Mark-shaped hole getting bigger the more desperate their situation became. “I understand.” As much as Alec wanted Mark—and he’d given up fooling himself that he didn’t—if Mark didn’t trust him enough to let him in, let him help, then a bond would never take between them.
Without trust, they had nothing.
Cam’s phone rang, startling them both. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the screen before answering and putting it on speaker, since Alec would be able to hear the conversation anyway. “Gareth?”
“Fucking hell, Cam, we’ve found Jason Black, and he’s in pretty bad shape.”
“Where are you?”
“On our way back to your building. We need Tim to meet us there.”
“Bring Jason up to my flat and I’ll have Tim waiting.”
Gareth hung up, and Cam swore under his breath. “What the hell’s going on now?”
Alec swallowed, the hairs on the back of his neck standing to attention. “Jason is Mark and Will’s beta. Tell me that’s just a coincidence.” He watched as Cam glanced down at his phone, fingers hovering over the screen. “Are you going to report it to Newell?”
“We’ve found one of his betas injured and are bringing him to our territory. Alpha etiquette dictates I inform Newell and request permission to treat Jason.”
Holding his breath, Alec waited. As easy going as Cam was, he was Alec’s alpha first and foremost, and Alec knew when to hold his tongue.
Cam raised an eyebrow at Alec’s silence. “You have no opinion on this?”
“Oh I have an opinion, I’m just keeping it to myself.”
The glimmer of a smile appeared on Cam’s face, then faded. “Now is not the time to develop manners, Alec. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I think Newell is the last person we should tell, at least until we’ve spoken to Jason. In fact, I think we should keep his presence here as secret as we possibly can until we know what’s going on.”
Cam hummed but slipped his phone back in his pocket. “If this turns out to be nothing more than an unfortunate accident, then I could be in a lot of trouble.”
“I’d say the odds of this being an accident are about zero.”
“Yeah, agreed.” He opened the stairwell door and gestured for Alec to go through it. “Tim should be back from work now, I’ll call him on my way upstairs. Bring him to my flat and get anything else he needs. Tell him to expect the worst.”
“See you upstairs.”
They parted ways. Alec ran down the corridor, and by the time he reached Tim’s flat, the door was already opening.
Seb stood aside to let him in. “He’s getting his stuff together.” He was bare-chested, wearing jeans that were still undone, and he smelled heavily of Tim and sex. Under other circumstances, Alec would have made a comment, but he couldn’t bring himself to joke about their bond.
Instead, he walked into the living room and found Tim hurrying out of the bedroom, pulling a T-shirt over his head. “Do you need me to get anything for you?”
Tim glanced up and stopped in his tracks. “Cam said it was bad. Do we know how bad?”
Alec shook his head. “Gareth said he was in pretty bad shape. I’d assume the worst.”
“If he’s lost too much blood, he’ll struggle to heal himself. We might need donors.”
Alec curled his lip. The idea of giving blood, especially to a member of another pack, didn’t feel right.
Frowning at him, Tim grabbed a pen and paper off the table. “Get over yourself, Alec. If you want me to save him, then he’s probably going to need help. Here.” He thrust a list of names at Alec. “Since we don’t know his blood type, these lot are all O negative. Bring them to Cam’s flat.”
Alec scanned the list. Fucking hell, Jared was on it. Nathan wasn’t going to like that at all. “Does it have to be Jared?”
“Those are the only ones I can remember that are in pack buildings. Tell Nathan that Cam asked Jared to help. That should smooth his ruffled feathers.” Tim snapped his medical bag shut with effort. He caught Alec staring and shrugged. “Preparing for anything.”
“Fair enough.” He held the list in one hand and his phone in the other. “I’ll send them up to you as I get hold of them.”
