“No fucking way! Holy shit! Who is it?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t have time to sort it out because I was too busy dealing with Kieran and my Mom. I promised to introduce Hunter to him after I told my brothers that Mom’s alive,” Jackson said.
“I wonder who it is?” asked Steel.
“Well, obviously not any of my brothers,” snorted Jackson.
“So, that leaves Theo and Norm. Oh, shit! If Hunter is their third, I don’t see that going over well with Norman.”
“Nope. Norm won’t be willing to move aside so Hunter can assume the Alpha position,” Jackson agreed.
“Then there’s Fionn or Adam…” Steel mused.
“And either one is a major problem…Adam is here to help David, and Fionn is tied to me via his white dragon…”
“…and Hunter will want his mate to leave with him when he goes back home,” Steel said, finishing Jackson’s sentence.
“Exactly! No matter who it is, there’s gonna be nothing but trouble.”
Giving a low whistle, Steel agreed with his mate’s assessment. “Then, it’s a good thing only your brothers and their mates will be there to meet with Hunter.”
“Absolutely! C’mon, time to get this meeting over with.”
~/~/~/~/~
Packing his backpack with enough food to last him a while, Fionn was grateful Theo didn’t ask any more questions about his plans. Excused from the pack meeting, he doubted anyone would notice he was gone until breakfast tomorrow morning and that was just fine with him. There was way too much tension in the air, and it reminded him of what life with his father was like after his mother died.
“Do you want water or juice to take with you?” asked Theo.
“Water is cool,” Fionn replied, adding the bottles to his bag. “Thanks, Theo, I appreciate it.”
“Honeybunch,” Norm called from the dining room, “Jackson wants to talk to us.”
“Coming,” Theo answered before asking Fionn, “Anything else you need?”
“Nope, got it all. Go ahead. I’ll see you later.” Fionn waited until his friend left, then, zippering up his bag, slipped outside using the back door. Wasting no time, he disappeared.
~/~/~/~/~
“Hi Doc,” Kieran grinned, looking up from the floor as Ian entered Hope’s bedroom. “I’m awake and okay, butmacushlawon’t let me get up, even though the floor is hard, well, not that hard because it does have a carpet but it’s harder than my bed which is where I’d rather be. I wanted my mate to take me to our bedroom but he saidyou wanted me to spend the night in the hospital but I don’t think that’s a good idea because I’d get less rest than I would in my own bed because I feel more comfortable there and I know you want me to get lots of sleep, so you can see why it’s better for me to sleep in my own bed and I’m glad that’s all settled andmacushlacan carry me there now. Are you going to take care of Hope? Isn’t that the perfect name for her? I wonder how her parents picked that name. That reminds me,macushla,we need to think about a name for our pup. Have any ideas? If you don’t, I do.”
“Ahh, I think Kieran is back to normal,” Colton chuckled.
“So it would appear,” Ian smiled.
“What do you think, Ian?” asked Logan. “Mac…I mean Dr. Evans has been checking Kieran’s vitals since you left and there hasn’t been a problem.”
“Here,” Mac said, handing the clipboard to Colton. “Aunt Hope’s on the first page and the Shaman’s on the second one.”
Passing it to Ian, Colton looked at Mac and said, “We haven’t been introduced but I’m your cousin, Colton. Thanks for taking care of Mom all these years. It mustn’t have been easy, especially knowing what you could do to help her was limited.”
“No thanks are necessary. She’s my family, too,” Mac murmured.
“Well, Doc, can I go now?” asked Kieran.
“Uhh,” Ian mumbled, looking at the numbers Dr. Evans wrote down. “Maybe. Will you promise to stay in bed until tomorrow morning?”
“Absolutment!” Kieran replied.
