Page 69 of Faith and Fury

Real smooth, Jax.

My packmate, unsurprisingly, is not convinced. “You two friends now?”

“No,” I snap, then lower my voice. “It’s more like … I owe him one.”

“For protecting Faith?”

Just hearing the words makes my inner alpha cringe possessively. I lower my voice further, scanning the ward. Apart from a nurse behind the reception desk, we’re alone.

“If by ‘protecting’ Faith, you mean ‘taking a bullet for her’, then yeah.”

Micah’s jaw drops. “He—I mean—god, is he okay?”

“Had his vest. He’ll be fine. But still, I don’t take that shit lightly.” I run a hand through my hair, begrudgingly adding, “All this flirting—I figured he was just trying to get under my skin. But it’s more than that.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Jax,” Micah reminds me. “Maverick’s on the RDF for a reason. We’re pretty much trained to put our bodies on the line for rogues.”

“He doesn’t just see her as a rogue. Neither do I.” I give my packmate a heavy look. “And neither do you.”

Micah averts his gaze, turning pink. “I don’t think this is really the best time to be talking about ...”

“Yes it fucking is. If we don’t talk about it now—insist on it, now—someone else will get there first.” I huff. “Someone like Maverick.”

“Or someone like Faith’s mate. Who, again, is already her mate.”

“So what? He’ll be our mate, too!” I frown, hearing myself. “Not like that. You know what I mean.”

“Jaxon,” Micah sighs, “I hear you, and I don’t want to invalidate your feelings—or mine—but take a moment to think about where we are right now.” He gestures around the ward. “Is this really the best place to be making courting plans?”

I hate that he’s putting on his psychiatrist voice with me. I hate that I’m acting like a pup, so small and out of reach of what I want.

“Right,” I say at last. “Fine.”

“As soon as we get Faith to the den,” he promises, “you and me will talk to Caleb. Then, once he understands how serious we are about this, I’m sure he’ll reconsider.” He eyes me warily. “Then, only then, do we offer ourselves to Faith.”

I nod, feeling myself calming down. “As a pack.”

Micah smiles. “As a pack.”

It’s not what my inner alpha wants—not right now, at least. But Micah’s right. Storming into Faith’s hospital room and demanding she accept my courtship is only going to push her away.

Not to mention piss off my head alpha.

“I’m gonna find Maverick,” Micah says, standing. “See how he's doing. Know which room he’s in?”

“Uh … medics said something about x-rays.”

He moves to leave, putting his hand on my shoulder. Maybe he feels the tension there, because suddenly he stops, and turns around, throwing his arms around me.

“It’s all gonna work out,” he murmurs. “Promise.”

My arms are slack for a moment before, slowly, returning the hug. My packmate feels warm against me. Stronger than he looks. He smells like citrus.

And home.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Micah

---