“It’s fine. I’ll talk to him.”
“Really?” Jared’s eyebrows rose to his hairline, and Alec sighed.
“Yes, and I’ll even be civil.”
That made Jared smile. “Thank you.” He disappeared into the bedroom, and Alec marvelled at how easy that offer had come.
The thought of being in the same room as Nathan no longer made his wolf agitated, not that he was especially looking forward to it either, but some of the guilt and anger that accompanied all interactions with Nathan had eased.
Even with everything going on around them, or maybe because of it, Alec’s lips curved into a smile, and the weight he’d carried since the day he lost his whole unit got a little easier to bear.
Jared needn’t have worried. There was no sign of Nathan in the hours that followed. The other O-type shifters arrived, and Alec directed them into the bedroom to Tim. Wanting to be there in case Jason woke up, Alec stayed in the living room, his unit coming to him as they organised themselves for the journey to the council headquarters the following day.
Cam still hadn’t given them a time frame.
“Have you eaten?” Tim walked into Alec’s line of sight and stopped, hands on hips. “Because I’m pretty sure you’ve been sat there for the past four hours and I haven’t smelled anything edible.”
Alec looked up at him. “I’m surprised you can smell anything but blood in there.” He motioned to the now-closed bedroom door. “How is he? Any change?”
Taking the seat beside him, Tim yawned and settled back to stare up at the ceiling. “I’ve set his broken bones and closed all the open wounds we found.” He ran a hand over his face and let out a heavy sigh. “Fuck, Alec, there were a lot. I don’t know why whoever did it, didn’t finish him off, but they meant for him to die.”
“Not an accident then?”
“No.”
“But he’ll survive?” Alec curled his hands into fists, needing the answer to be yes.
“Yes.” Tim turned to face Alec but stayed leant against the back of the sofa. “The blood we gave him kept him alive while we fixed his body. Now he can start to heal.”
“How long before he’s conscious?”
“Hard to say. The last time I saw anyone in this state was Nathan, and he had Jared to help him.”
Alec hated not getting a straight answer. “Best guess?”
“I think you’re looking at the morning before you’ll get any sense out of him.”
Something about the way Tim phrased that sentence made Alec sit up. “Is he awake now?”
“Not exactly awake, but—” Tim grabbed Alec’s arm as he started to rise. “He’s drifting in and out of consciousness with the pain. Even if you could make out what he’s saying, you can’t trust it. Wait until the morning. Please.”
“I don’t want to fucking wait.”
“I know you don’t.” Tim eased him back onto the sofa. “But you’re going to have to.”
Alec grunted. All he’d done for the past few hours was wait. Wait for his unit to arrive, wait for Jason to wake up. He glanced down at his phone, sitting silently on the table. Wait for Mark to reply.
That last one sent a stab of longing through him, and he rubbed at his chest to try and ease it.
Tim’s voice was soft when he spoke. “Like Cam said, there’s nothing we can do until we know what happened. Seb’s on his way up with food. I suggest you eat something and then go home and get some rest. You’ll need it for tomorrow.”
“But—”
“There’ll be someone here all night. I promise you’ll be notified as soon as he’s awake.”
“Fine.”
It was going to be a long fucking night.
