“Yes,” Mason said. “Hunt’s mate is a member of Jackson’s pack.”
“Who is he?” asked Mac.
“Fionn! A fucking dragon!” Hunter snarled. “A mate who has a humongous cave filled with gold!”
“When did this happen?” Mac asked Mason, ignoring Hunter. “Did he know his mate was here?”
“No, Hunt found out yesterday when we arrived,” replied Mason.
“Then why is he claiming hehada mate?” asked Mac.
“Because he’s upset right now. Fionnishis mate,” Mason said.
“And Fionn has a hoard?”
Nodding, Mason said, “Hunt’s wolf is going a little crazy because Fionn took off for his hoard, but he’ll be back.”
“Will you two assholes stop talking as if I’m not here?” Hunter shouted.
“Yup, as soon as you stop being a snarlpuss,” Mac said.
Laughing, Mason asked, “Where did you get that word from?”
“Snarlpuss?” Mac asked, grinning. “When I was doing my pediatric rotation, I heard a nurse use it with a pup who was throwing a temper tantrum.”
“Hunt, listen to me,” Mason said. “Whether we make a deal with Dire Enterprises or not, won’t matter diddly to Fionn. From everything you told me, he needs love more than anything else and that, my brother, you have an abundant supply of. Luckily for you, it’s the one thing no amount of money can buy.”
~/~/~/~/~
Cody held his brother until Carson’s tears abated, not exactly sure what had triggered their triplet mind link, but his brother’s absolute feeling of desolation had raised an alarm. Quickly handing the twins over to Dylon, he’d called Colton, while rushing to Carson’s office. Now, with his brother in his arms, he asked, “Hey, are you okay now?”
Wiping the lingering wetness from his face, Carson nodded, embarrassed his brother had witnessed him ‘losing it’. “Yeah, thanks.”
“What’s the problem, Carsy?” asked Cody, using the nickname Dakota gave Carson when he was a toddler. “Is it about Mom?”
“Maybe, in a way…” Carson said, finding it easier to talk about that instead of his failure as an Alpha. “I mean, I’m all confused about it. How fucked up is that? I should be jumping for joy and yet I’m scared shitless. What if she never wakes up? Or what happens if she wakes up but isn’t the mom I remember? Or what am I supposed to do if she wakes up and doesn’t know who I am?” Shaking his head, he felt more tears well up in his eyes. Roughly dashing them away with his hand, he continued, “My mind keeps going over all the possibilities…like what if she wakes up and doesn’t want to live anymore because some of her pups didn’t survive. Or what if she blames me for surviving when my younger brothers and sisters didn’t. Or what if she…”
“Stop!” Cody said. “Look, the possibilities are endless, but there isn’t any way of knowing which one it will be. All we can do is hope everything will turn out all right. I know it isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s the only choice we have at this time. Maybe tomorrow, after Ian reviews her test results, he’ll have some news that’ll give us more information.”
Hanging his head, Carson stared at the floor, thinking about what his brother said. He knew Cody was right, but that didn’t help him stop the carousel of possibilities going around in his mind every time he thought about her. All last night, he alternated between wanting revenge against Josiah and crying over the loss of the rest of his siblings—again. For a split second, when Jackson announced their mother had survived, his heart leapt for joy, thinking if she had, then his younger siblings must have also. Then, his joy was cut with a dagger straight to the heart, leaving it bleeding as he struggled with guilt—survivor’s guilt, Colton had explained to him.
“Have you seen Mom yet?” Cody asked.
Shaking his head, Carson said, “I know I should, but I keep thinking it doesn’t matter because she won’t even know I’m there.”
“Maybe…but I’m hanging on to the belief our mother will know. When I asked Colton what would be a good time to visit today, he told me I should talk to mom, as if she was awake because it’s a good possibility she could hear me.”
Glancing up at his brother, Carson asked, “What are you going to talk about?”
“Everything that’s happened to me since the massacre…I figure if she was awake, that’s what she’d want to know,” Cody replied. Then bumping his brother’s shoulder, he said, “You can tell her about your job and your promotion. I bet she’ll be very proud of you.”
“But I don’t have a mate…or pups,” Carson groaned.
“Yet. You don’t have a mate yet, bro, but you will,” replied Cody. “Is that the reason you want to leave?”
Tilting his head back against the wall, Carson closed his eyes, wondering how his brother figured out the real reason he’d been crying.Of course, that’s how Cody knew…damn our triplet link!Snorting, he remembered how cool he thought it was when they were pups, but now it had bitten him in the ass. “Is Colton going to show up too?”
“Not unless you want him to,” replied Cody. “Have you seen Jackson lately?”
