Chapter Thirty
Rafe
Given the sensitive nature of the mission at Foxy’s Den – and the fact that, invitation or not, we were operating significantly outside of our coverage area - Colby and his team each wore hidden body cameras during the assignment. Once my Omega had reported in that the mission was complete and the prisoners had been handed off to the United Justice Operations Force – an arm of the COPSD that specialized in cases that involved both humans and shifters – I left the administrative staff to complete the victim statements and headed to my office to download the video. Then, I picked the kids up from the department daycare and headed home.
I was back home, feeding Nolan a bottle of expressed milk while Leia chomped noisily on a plate of riblets that I’d reheated from the stash in the freezer when my cell phone rang. Seeing Colt’s name, I thumbed open the video screen and answered the call.
“Hey.”
“Hey, Rafe.” Colt’s voice was subdued and even in the grainy video I could see that he had dark circles under his eyes.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just tired.” Colt stifled a yawn. “The injured Alpha is awake.”
That caught my attention. I hadn’t sent anyone to the medical facility yet because the initial report on his chances of survival hadn’t been good.
“Really? That’s great.” I set Nolan’s empty bottle on the table and tossed a rag over my shoulder so I could burp him. “What’s his condition?”
“Well,” Colt hesitated. “He’s definitely seen better days, but they think he’ll recover. He’s human so it’s gonna take awhile.” He briefly glanced off screen. “Felder says he’s stable at this point. Unless you have a better idea, I was going to have him taken back to our place so he and Sky don’t have to be separated right away.”
“Y’all have someone to take care of him?” I knew I sounded skeptical, but I was pretty sure they’d lost their main medic when Alrick and I poached Seb. Well, technically, Alrick did the poaching, I just brought Seb into my pack.
“Yeah, I think so. Lee has been taking nursing classes at the community college. I ran it by him, and he thinks he can handle it.” The image on the screen twitched when Colt shrugged. “If it’s too much for him, we can always move him.”
“Is the patient on board with that?”
Colt nodded. “He’s coherent and said that he’d rather be anywhere but in the clinic.”
“Have you debriefed him?”
Colt shook his head. “He’s not strong enough yet and he’s on some pretty strong painkillers. The doctor said to wait a little longer.”
“Okay. You need me to arrange transport?”
“That would be great.” Colt yawned again. “Buzz me when you have details. I’m going to hang here.”
I disconnected the call and set the phone down.
I laid the dozing infant in his bassinet and turned to my daughter. “Ready for your bath, princess?”
“I don’t need one, Papa,” Leia announced, wiggling against the seat belt that held her in her highchair. “I only do that when Daddy’s home.”
I snorted and shook my head. “Yeah, that’s definitely not how that works, kid.”
Serious violet eyes turned to me. “I know where Daddy hid the butterscotch pudding.”
I laughed. “Are you trying to bribe me?”
Tiny shoulders shrugged. “Yes.”
Honest and artless, she’s definitely Colby’s daughter. The thought simultaneously made me laugh and miss my mate. I scooped her up and headed for the bathroom. “We’ll see what Daddy has to say about that when he gets home.”
Once the kids were both tucked into bed, I stripped out of my work clothes and reached for a pair of my lounge pants that Colby had appropriated during his second pregnancy. Holding them to my face, I drew in his scent before pulling them on. Then, I kicked back on the bed and reached for my cell phone.
“Hey, Alpha,” the tinny feedback through the phone meant that he was using the Bluetooth connection in his helmet.
“Hey, Baby. On your way home?”
