Page 55 of Bonding the Band

Meadow crept down the stairs in her soft leggings and a blue cardigan, matching slippers on her feet. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea I would be a surprise.”

“I should fire you right now to teach the lot of you a lesson.” Gary looked her up and down, and I fought the compulsion to step between them. “You’d better be a damn good assistant after the stress you all put me through.”

Meadow glanced toward me but simply nodded.

“Get your asses in there for sound check. Now.”

Gary stalked off the bus, and I turned immediately to a glaring Meadow.

“What the fuck, Hendrix?”

“It was stupid, I know. I panicked.”

Meadow’s low growl had goose bumps rising on my skin. “I’m not your assistant. I’m your fucking mate.”

“You could be both,” Phin bravely suggested. “We can get you on payroll, and none of us are going to ask you to do anything.”

Meadow didn’t look remotely impressed by the suggestion. “Why didn’t you just tell him who I was?”

“Gary is…”

“A miserable tight-ass?” Arlo offered.

“Yeah, that. I figured an assistant would piss him off less than a pregnant bond mate.”

Our sweet little omega looked ready to explode. “I don’t care if he’s pissed off about me. He’s the one who told me to fuck off until the baby was born.”

A sensation like ice water poured down my spine. “What?”

“I emailed weeks ago, trying to get in contact, so I could tell you guys about the baby.”

Darkness encroached on the edges of my vision.

“Whoa, Hen, you okay?” Arlo was up and out of his seat, guiding me down to the floor.

“He knew?” I asked softly, bracing my palms on the floor to anchor myself against the wave of dizziness.

Meadow passed me her phone, where the email sat clear as day. He had brushed her off like it was nothing.

“Oh god.”

Phin looked over my shoulder. “Shit. What an ass.”

“Did he actually tell me to fuck off without mentioning a single thing to any of you?” Meadow asked.

I nodded. “We had no idea. We could’ve found you ages ago if he had told us.”

“Do you think he would’ve told us if we had said something about suspecting we had a pregnant bond mate?” Beckett asked.

I shrugged. Honestly, I had no idea anymore. I would have liked to think that Gary would’ve seen my suffering and made the connection to the most obvious solution, but I genuinely didn’t know.

Meadow got onto her knees next to me, the burnt edges to her scent melting away as she reached out, white roses and lilac infusing each breath and pushing away my dizziness. “I didn’t come all this way to let you pass out on a bus. Come here.”

I didn’t protest as she yanked me closer, tucking my head into the curve of her throat, her purr erasing my worries. I gathered her onto my lap and held her like my life depended on it. “I’m sorry. I’ll tell him eventually. He was just so mad, and I didn’t want him to say something about our situation that we would all regret.”

“Hush.”

Meadow indulged me for a couple more minutes, before the others started to get antsy.

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