Logan grabbed Steel’s arm as he started to move towards the stairs and asked, “Will my brother be all right?”
“I don’t know. The only good thing is if Jackson has this condition and they caught it early, the better he’ll be. I’m hanging on to that right now.”
“Can’t Colton use his natural healing abilities to help Jackson?” asked Cody.
“I don’t know. It didn’t come up but I’ll ask Colton when I go back down.”
Logan’s hand fell from Steel’s arm. “Let us know if we can do anything to help,” Logan said softly.
Nodding, Steel left them and made a detour to his mother’s room. After a short knock, he cracked open the door. “Mom, do you have a moment?”
“Sure sweetie, come in. Dad and I were just talking about the wonderful job Logan did in the nursery.”
Steel walked over to a chair opposite their sofa and collapsed into it. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he said, “Jackson is down in the hospital. Ian is keeping him overnight so he can monitor him and the pup because Jackson might have a condition related to his pregnancy.”
“How serious is it?” asked Maximus.
“I don’t really know. Colton told me the sooner it was found the better because they could start treatment right away. I’m staying with him and Ian and Colton will be with us tonight, monitoring Jackson and the pup.”
“When will you find out if Jackson has it?” Oracle asked.
“I think tomorrow.”
“Son, go get some sleep. I know you’re upset but you have two of the best medical people taking care of him. Trust them to do the very best for Jackson.”
“Steel, I will pray to the Fates tonight, asking them to protect Jackson and the pup,” Oracle said.
“Thanks Mom. I appreciate it.” Steel stood. “See you in the morning. Good-night.”
“Good-night son.”
“Good-night sweetie. Try not to worry too much.”
“I’ll try.”
After Steel left, Maximus glared at his wife. “You know what is going to happen and yet offered no words of comfort to our son. Nothing to remove the worry and stress he has right now.”
“Yes, I do know what will happen, but I will not mislead my son with false hope. He has a difficult journey ahead and while I, as his mother, would love to help him through the journey I, as an Oracle cannot. Did you everconsider the price I pay for being an Oracleanda mother? No, of course not.Youonly have to be a father to your sons.”
Maximus was stunned—not because his beloved wife was angry—but because she was right about him not realizing the burden she’d carried all these years.Gods, what an ass I am!“I’m sorry for my harsh words, darling. You’re right about my ignorance of the choices you are forced to make regarding our sons. Frankly, I’m in awe of your strength because I don’t think I could do it.” Leaning over, he gathered his wife in his arms and covered her with kisses hoping to erase his stupid words from her memory.
~/~/~/~/~
After seeing Logan’s nursery design work, Zane headed down to the room Steel had given him. It was as close to heaven as he could imagine. He’d set up his computers and was free to work on the software program he was designing. Tonight, though, he had a different task before him—Pablo’s phone. He snorted when he thought about Steel telling him Dire’s digital team had gone over it and found nothing; he’d bet anything the phone had lots of secrets to reveal and he had some tricks to coax them out.
Getting to work, he spent the next several hours going through the phone’s digital signal footprint for the last four months.What a fucking motherlode of information I have for Steel! Now to close the loop.Zane worked all night tracking the off-shore bank accounts and corporations connected to the phone number Pablo had called.
His hair was a mess from his hands running through it each time he met a dead end. Tiredness lined his face. But eventually he was successful and now was running the information through all the databases he had accessto—some known to the shifter law enforcement community and others they had no idea existed. Leaning back, yawning, he heard his stomach growl and glanced at the time.Holy Shit! Dakota was serving breakfast right now.
Zane ran out and up the stairs just as Dakota was placing the plates of food on the table. Some of his brothers looked at his disheveled state and chortled.
“Looks like Zane pulled another all-nighter,” Carson said.
Looking around, Zane asked, “Where’s Steel? I need to talk to him.”
“He’s downstairs with Jackson. Ian kept him in the hospital overnight,” Logan said.
Shocked at the news, Zane paused, scrambled eggs slipping off his fork, and asked, “Why?”
