Koios snorted and then groaned. “Ow.”
“And on that note, I’m going to knock my patient out for a little while so he can rest.”
“We’ll keep everyone calm,” Logan said. He turned to Koios. “You want the twins monitoring everything?”
Koios nodded.
“We’ll take care of it. Focus on getting better, and then we’ll get back to work. Alpha’s orders,” Logan said.
The stern look he added didn’t make Koios’s fingers itch any less. He wanted his keyboard, or at the very least a phone. He had questions.
“Don’t worry,” Ben said. “This is an electronics-free zone. Doctor’s orders. Let me know the schedule for who’s staying at the clinic once you have it.”
Koios grunted, but no one looked at him.
“I will,” Logan said. “We’ll probably rotate a pack member with one of his siblings. I’ll email the plan to you once I talk it over with them. Let me know if you need anything in the meantime. Bailey and I are going to get everyone to the warehouse so we can answer questions and get a plan in place. Dasan and Heather will stay in case you need them.”
Ben waited for Logan and Bailey to leave the room. Once the door closed, he glanced down at Koios. “Don’t give me that look. You know they’re going to mob this place if we don’t set up a schedule. It’ll be easier on both of us if we don’t have two packs underfoot.”
Koios couldn’t argue the point. “Tired.”
“I know,” Ben said.
Ben moved to the side of the bed and lifted Koios’s hand. His thumb brushed over Koios’s knuckles before he lined up a syringe and pushed the needle into the IV port taped to the top of Koios’s hand.
“Rest. I’ll be right here.”
The promise made it easier for Koios to close his eyes and let the medication sweep him away.
10
BEN
Ben leaned back in the visitor’s chair, wishing they’d invested in something more his size for the hospital rooms. There were multiple downsides to being over six and a half feet tall. One of them being that he never quite fit on furniture.
When the door to Koios’s hospital room opened, it was almost a relief. Ben sat up and opened his eyes as Nana walked into the room with a loaded tray in her hands.
“You’re my favorite,” Ben said.
Nana laughed. “I know. How’s our patient?”
“Doing well, all things considered. To the surprise of no one, he’s thrown us another curve ball.”
Nana made a curious sound as she set the tray on the sliding table they normally reserved for patients.
“We brought in Ozias,” Ben explained. “Apparently, Koios is cursed, but it’s not exactly a curse. Either way, not even the Prince of Hell can undo the magic keeping Koios’s wings from retracting.”
Nana wheeled the table over to Ben. “Eat before you fade away to nothing. Your belly’s growling like a bear.”
Ben chuckled at the teasing as Nana went over to the bed.
She took Koios’s hand in hers. “He’s been through enough,” Nana said. “If we’d known….”
“But we didn’t,” Ben said. “I know Dad and Papa would have made us a family of twelve if they’d known. Can you imagine?”
“I absolutely can,” Nana said. She looked over her shoulder toward Ben and smiled. “I want a dozen great-great-grandkids running around here. And I’m almost halfway there already.”
“That you are.” Ben laughed and took a giant bite of the steak sandwich Nana had brought him.
