Page 60 of Out of My Flocking Mind

“Since my second year working as a doctor. We had a patient come in from a car accident. I stabilized him, but almost before my eyes, the injuries started to heal faster than was possible. I called my attending, and they told me not to report it. He called someone else who came to pick the patient up and we removed all the records. At the end of the shift, he took me out to a diner and explained how things worked.”

I did the math in my head, thinking about when Joshua had worked as a resident, when he’d opened his clinic, all of it. “So you’ve known about Spirits for eight years?”

Which meant three more years than I’d known. Part of me felt rather annoyed by the idea that I’d thought myself some sort of expert, only to discover my brother had been a step ahead of me.

Annoying.

“A better question is how you know. Please tell me you aren’t some sort of groupie…” The muscle in his cheek twitched, as though he were thinking about seeing Harrison and I so close together.

“Trust me, I’m no groupie. In fact, I’m pretty sure I hate most Spirits I’ve dealt with. Somehow, the more powerful, the more frustrating.”

“I’m not liking the plurals you keep using. Just how many Spirits do you know?”

“Know is such an iffy word. What does it really mean? Do we ever really know anyone?”

“Grey!” Joshua snapped, stopping my rambling.

“If we’re being technical, you know how I work as a courier?”

“Dear god, please don’t tell me…”

“Yeah, I work for the Justice Department and do deliveries for Spirits.”

“And that’s how you met Harrison?”

“Not exactly. Technically, I’m friends with his sister. Also, we’re sort of both on the Council.”

Wow, it looks like that vein in Joshua’s head might just burst…

“The Council? Please tell me you didn’t just admit to not only knowing those on the council, but to having your own seat there? Wait, I heard a few weeks ago about a new seat being created.”

I smiled, and no doubt it had way too much teeth and too little joy. “Surprise! That’s me.”

Joshua dropped his head forward so he leaned against his folded arms. Sure, I’d seen him do this sort of thing when he’d been a kid and I’d been a teenager doing stupid, teenage things that he was far too smart to do. It had been a while since I’d exasperated him this badly, though. His voice came out muffled from his position. “I knew you find trouble, but even I didn’t think you could work yourself this far into danger. And the fact that you know who Harrison is, what he is capable of, and you still hit him with a stick? He could have fried every synapse in your foolish mind. Of course, even if he did, what would it matter? Clearly you don’t use the brain you were gifted anyway.”

“Harsh,” I pointed out. “Fair, but still, ouch. Look, Harrison is fine. I’ve been working with him for a few weeks to deal with a Cloud issue.”

“And you’re involved with drugs, too. It just keeps getting better and better.”

“Are you going to just keep complaining, or are you going to listen?”

He lifted his head just enough to look across the desk at me. “Both, I’m thinking. I have a feeling that as I listen, I’m going to need to complain. Come on, start at the beginning.”

I blew out a long breath as I went back in my head to where it all started. Fuck, it felt like a lifetime ago. After a moment, I jumped in on the day I’d been changed, then gave him the outline version of the years that had come after. I left out some parts—my bond with Kelvin, the fact I’d slept with Harrison, Galen asking me to be his mate. I didn’t think my brother needed any details about my sex life, after all.

I glanced at my watch when I hit the end of the story, impressed that I’d gotten it out in a matter of about seven minutes. My life summed up in seven minutes. When I thought about it like that, it was rather insulting, really.

Joshua hadn’t interrupted during the story. His expression hadn’t remained nearly so quiet, though. Neither of us had good inside voices when it came to our faces.

Silence hung between us, the story there, my past suddenly exposed, my secrets I’d expected to take to my grave, at least from my family. How would he react? His reaction to Harrison told me he wasn’t a fan of Spirits, so would he see me the same?

What if he distanced himself from me? What if he somehow got my mother to do the same? What if I ended up losing my family because of this?

The idea terrified me, but all I could do was sit and wait and see how he’d react.

After what had to be the longest moments of my life, Joshua finally responded.

By laughing.

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