Page 49 of Bonding the Band

“Meadow is working her magic on Hen,” I told the others.

“Sexually, or…?” Arlo asked with a smirk.

“Medicinally,” I clarified. “Thank fucking god being around her is making him feel better.”

“Hard agree,” Beckett replied. “I’m glad the fix is this simple and he’s not actually dying.”

“Not going to lie,” Arlo said, “being around her made me feel pretty fucking awesome too. Is that some kind of omega witchcraft?”

Beckett shrugged. “It would make sense we’d all get a boost being around her if she’s a scent match. Nothing like Hendrix having the bond, though.”

“I am about ready to handcuff the two of them together if it means he can get high off a bond mate instead of whatever the fuck he’s taking.” I stretched out on my seat, lacing my fingers together over my chest, tapping my thumbs as I considered. His mysterious illness might be taken care of, but his drug problem wasn’t, at least not yet. If nothing else, Meadow might be able to help us keep Hendrix well enough until the end of the tour when we could send him to rehab.

We had brought it up in passing countless times, but that was before an omega and a baby were in the picture. Surely he’d want to be sober when there was a newborn?

Shit. What were we going to do with a newborn in this career? Meadow was only halfway through her master’s degree, and she wasn’t going to want to follow us around forever. The likelihood of her wanting to move to LA was also probably pretty slim, not that we had discussed that with her yet.

“Should we buy a house in Seattle?”

“Isn’t that jumping the gun a little bit?” Beckett asked.

Arlo barked out a laugh. “Beck, she’s knocked up and bonded. I think the gun was jumped a while ago.”

“I guess that’s fair.” He tapped away on his tablet. “Seattle has some pretty nice real estate. I prefer sun, but that’s a small sacrifice to make.”

“I don’t know if this has escaped you,” I said with a roll of my eyes, “but we can afford more than one house. Plus, the flight is only a couple hours, isn’t it?”

“A bit under three,” replied Beckett. “Pretty doable.”

“I think we’re getting close,” said Arlo.

“Fucking finally.” I switched over to the passenger seat, buckling myself in. “Let’s go get our omega.”

Chapter 21

Meadow

July, Seattle to Minneapolis

There was a sadness to packing my things. I loved my home nest, but it was for the best. I didn’t have boxes or plastic bins to put my nesting materials in, so I had to make do with trash bags and old luggage.

“Here, let me take that,” Hendrix said, taking a small purple suitcase full of blankets out of my hand.

“How far away are the others?” I asked. They had left an hour after we did, and I had been packing for almost two hours, so they should have arrived already.

“According to my location app, they’re only a few minutes away,” he said, checking his phone.

“You track everyone’s location? Aren’t you always together?”

“Most of the time, but we like to keep tabs on each other for safety. Can we add you to the group?”

“Uh, sure, if you want to.”

“I don’t like the idea of letting you out of my sight anytime soon, but I know I can’t keep you around every second of the day.” His smile was small and tentative, a lingering sweetness Ihadn’t expected from him. I passed over my phone, watching as he got everything set up and added me to their location group.

“Maybe noteverysecond—” I stuck my tongue out. “—but I’ll be around for most. You’re not the only one who doesn’t want to trigger the bonding sickness again. How long do you think this will last?”

“Beck did a bunch of research on it, and it sounds like, as long as we stick close until the baby is born, it should settle down. The pregnancy makes it a million times worse, apparently. It’s not ideal,” he said with a sigh. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find you sooner so this could’ve ended before we hit the point of wanting to hurl our guts out constantly from being apart.”

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