“I’m fine.” Cade frowned.
“Sure you are,” Tane chuckled, shuffling Cade to the side. “So fine, you’re just in here beating up Grey’s coffee maker.”
“Oh, does that thing make coffee? Looks more like a spaceship to me. I mean, what’s the silver thing on the end for, anyway?”
“It’s for steaming milk.”
“And that, right there, is the problem.” Cade nodded. “Who puts fucking milk in their coffee?”
Lucy did.
As the memory of Lucy in her tiny pajamas and silky robe curled up on the bed next to him with her milky coffee and her laptop flooded his mind, Cade had to take a deep breath. And another, rubbing his sternum to quell the ache blooming in his chest.
Damn, he hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye.
“Hey.” Tane snapped his fingers in front of Cade’s face and Cade’s eyes shot to his boss, who was frowning. Those hazels of his full of concern. “Why don’t you go sit down and let me handle this.”
An order, not a question. Great. Just fucking great.
“I’m not an invalid, you know,” Cade said, hobbling over to sit at the table. He had to admit, though, it did feel pretty damn good to get off his bum leg.
“Yeah, yeah.” Tane blew him off. “We all know how tough you are. Getting your hip shattered and walking around like a damn hero.”
Though Tane was giving him shit, Cade could see the smirk on his friend’s face, and it made him smile.
“You know, you’re not that bad of a boss, old man.”
“Not that bad of a—” Tane grumbled, turning away from the machine. “I’m an incredible boss. Look at me making you coffee when I should be putting you on probation.”
“Probation?” Cade scowled. “Why the fuck would I—”
“Oh, let’s see. You don’t check in,” He started counting on his fingers. “You let a human handle you, you resisted basic care, you lied about your injuries, you got on a conservation officer’s radar, you spent the night playing a house pet, and did I mention you didn’t check in?”
“I tried checking in, I asked Ash to—”
“I’m your Chief.” Tane barked. “You report to me first. Now, I get Asher is your friend, but—”
“He’s also our Beta.” Cade pointed out.
“I’m going to pretend my second didn’t just interrupt me.” Tane said calmly, turning back to the coffee machine. “I’m going to pretend he has the intelligence to keep his fucking mouth shut when I’m calling him out.” He glanced over his shoulder with a hint of a smile. “I get you spoke with Ash, and he did check in with me.” He went back to the coffee. “Told me you asked him to, and that’s better than nothing. But in the future,” Tane turned to face Cade again. “You tell me yourself. Especially something like this. You fucking tell me yourself, we clear?”
“Yes.” Cade nodded. “Listen, Tane, I wasn’t trying to blow you off. I had a hard time connecting to the link yesterday, especially right after the collision. When Ash came through the line, I just went with it. He told me to stay put.”
He’d also given Cade shit about playing a house pet, but Cade wasn’t going to share that part with his boss.
“That’s fair. But you could have at least told me you’d found your mate. What the fuck, Cade, I have to hear it second-hand?”
“My mate?” Cade shook his head, frowning. “No, no. I—”
He hadn’t claimed her. Hell, he’d barely touched Lucy.
He hardly knew her and he’d been in wolf form, for fuck’s sake.
“Growled at anyone who came near her, including our Alpha and Healer.” Tane shook his head. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“What?”
This was news. Cade knew he’d growled at that veterinarian and his team, but—
