“Dammit,” Slate said, opening the cell door, rushing in to help Pablo. Once he calmed him down, Slate, left the cell to order Pablo’s meal. “Call me if he has anyproblems breathing,” he said to the guard stationed outside the cell door. Walking away, he heard Pablo call to him. Turning he growled, “What now?”
“How can I get a different sentence? My sister’s husband was killed several years ago and I’m her only means of support.”
Fuck, save me from stupid assholes.Slate looked at Pablo. “My advice…give me the names of the guys who hired you.” Pablo stared at Slate, slowly comprehending what he was being asked. Then he said, “They were…” and stopped. Getting no further response from the prisoner, Slate turned and left, leaving Pablo to his own thoughts.
~/~/~/~/~
It was near lunchtime when Jackson and Steel walked into the great room and found Logan and Cody waiting for them. After sitting with Steel on a sofa, Jackson looked at his brothers and said, “Stop worrying. I’m fine. So tell me what’s happened since I was held captive by Colton and Ian.”
Logan quickly glanced at Cody before turning to examine his twin. “What do you mean you’re fine? Steel told us last night Ian thought you had a serious condition related to the pregnancy.”
“The tests came back positive this morning…”
“Yeah but what the fuck are you doing upstairs? Shouldn’t you be in the hospital? Steel, is this how you take care of our brother?” asked Cody, worriedly.
Steel growled at Cody’s accusation but before he could answer, Jackson rested a hand on his thigh and squeezed gently.
“Cody, apologize. Your accusations were uncalled for especially since you didn’t let me finish,” admonished Jackson, using his Alpha voice.
Cody tilted his head, exposing his neck to Jackson.When did my brother get this surge of Alpha power?Cody straightened up and said. “Sorry, Steel, I was wrong to make that accusation when you’ve never shown anything but devotion to Jackson.”
“Apology accepted,” said Steel.
“As I said,” Jackson continued, “the tests came back positive and Ian explained there’s medicine I could take but he and Colton wanted to try our brother’s natural healing ability first. So Colton did his voodoo and I’m now healed.”
“Are they sure? The pup is healthy?” asked Logan.
“Yes, the additional tests they did after Colton’s treatment showed no evidence of the condition. And yes the pup is healthy and kicking up a storm.”
Logan jumped up and hurried over to Jackson. Bending down, he hugged his twin and whispered, “Thank the Fates you are okay. I was so worried; I sat up all last night and put the crib together.”
“Why did you do that?” Jackson asked, pulling Logan down next to him.
“Superstition mainly, I guess. If the crib was waiting for your pup, then nothing could happen to you or him,” Logan said sheepishly. “Cody helped me put it together while Carson read the instructions to us.”
“Did you hear that, babe? Logan and Cody assembled the crib for you.”
“I could’ve done it.”
“Sorry, Steel,” said Logan, “I didn’t realize you wanted to do it. I was so nervous last night thinking about Jackson and the pup, I just needed something to do.”
“Believe me, Logan, my mate really appreciates your efforts, don’t you babe?”
Before Steel could reply, Cody spoke up, “Hey, there’s still plenty for you to do…we only did the crib.”
Steel groaned as Jackson laughed at his mate. “Aww, that’s so nice of you bros and I know my mate is very thankful you left the rest for him to do. Now babe, when would you like to start on the furniture?”
Then Cody remembered. “Steel, Zane wants to see you as soon as possible. I told him I’d pass his message on to you if I saw you first.”
“What does Zane want you for?” Jackson asked.
“I gave him Pablo’s phone to see if he could find anything,” Steel said. “Is he downstairs in his tech cave?”
“Yeah, he said he was running his databases looking for something.”
“Babe, do you want to come with me to see Zane?”
“Yup, let’s see what our geek has been up to.”
