Page 91 of Bonding the Band

Since she’d been hired, Ellie had been up the asses of both Meadow and Hendrix, always fussing about something. Meadow tolerated it for the sake of the baby, but it wasn’t hard to see she didn’t love it.

“Possibly. Then again, she’s the professional. Shouldn’t she know what Meadow needs?” I asked.

“Hen and Gary did say she came with glowing references.”

“She’s too young to havethatmany glowing references,” I grumbled. Ellie genuinely did seem to know what she was doing and wasveryattentive, bordering on obnoxious, but we’d just chalked it up to her being eager to do a good job. A celebrity reference could get her a ton of new clientele, if she played her cards right.

Phin clapped his hand on my shoulder. “How about we take Meadow for ice cream after the show if she’s up for it? You know she won’t say no to ice cream.”

“That sounds like a plan. Do you think we should find a grocery store and pick up some of those premade protein shakes? She’d probably like the cookies and cream one.”

“She’ll love them,” Phin agreed, turning to the stage where the speakers were starting to blare our intro.

“That’s our cue,” I shouted over the rising music.

Hendrix bounced anxiously before he flipped that performer switch in his brain and transitioned to Apollo, all of us running out onto the stage in unison as the smoke machines started to billow.

Another night, another show.

Before we were even halfway through the show, Hendrix was lagging. His recent energy boosts seemed to have been completely depleted. He was still jumping up and down, interacting with the crowd, but it wasn’t the same as usual. His movements were sluggish. To the untrained eye, it wasn’t noticeable, but to his pack mates and fellow band members, it was glaringly obvious that he wasn’t feeling completely normal, either.

He was sober, so he wasn’t coming down from anything. The only possible cause I could see for his behavior was Meadow being unwell and impacting him through the bond.

If Meadow was ever willing to give us more children, we were definitely going to plan it at a time when we wouldn’t be touring. Touring and pregnancy were obviously not a good mix, even though I felt like we had done a good job at making it as stress-free as possible for her.

That morning, we had asked her if she wanted to watch the show, and she had eagerly agreed; only when the time came, she wasn’t feeling well and retreated to the nest for her third nap of the day.

We needed to have a real pack meeting and discuss the next few months. We were still scheduled to be touring throughout America when Meadow was due to give birth. There was no way in hell a single one of us would be working when Meadow was dealing with a newborn. Gary hadn’t told us his plans yet, but I suspected he either wanted Meadow to have the baby and livesomewhere else while we toured or have the newborn on one of the buses. Neither option was ideal.

An omega’s hormones would be extra crazy post-birth. Their bodies went through so many changes, and there was so much going on, that they struggled to regulate. Meadow would need a stable environment for her postpartum time, and she’d need the support of all of us to make sure she felt safe.

Ideally, that would happen in our California house, with us there right by her side. She would need us. The more hands, the better. Meadow shouldn’t have to lift a finger, other than to spend time with our child. Our job would be to do everything around her to make her life easier.

If there was anything we were unsure whether we could do, we could hire someone. I had a distinct feeling that Clover would be making an appearance at some point, and our families.

No matter what, we would ensure Meadow was looked after.

We were all exhausted by the time we came offstage. The outdoor venue didn’t have air-conditioning, so my T-shirt stuck to my back, thanks to the copious sweat.

If Meadow wanted post-show snuggles, I desperately needed a shower first. I attempted to make a beeline for the tour bus to go check on my omega, but Gary stepped into our paths, grinning.

“Great show, guys! Now, we’ve got a few people who have paid for meet and greets?—”

“There aren’t supposed to be any VIP experiences at this show!” Arlo growled.

Gary held his hands up in surrender. “I know that was the plan, but they just now offered to pay double, and I wasn’t going to let them down like that.”

Money. That’s all that fucker cared about.

As I was about to take a step forward and let him know exactly how I felt about him springing a meet and greet on us, Ellie approached us.

“Hey, guys!” She beamed at Hendrix. “I just checked on Meadow. She’s fast asleep, so if you guys need to work a bit longer, that’s fine. She needs her rest, poor thing!”

Gary nodded enthusiastically at Ellie’s words. “See? You need to do meet and greets now, because your fans will be bummed when they find out Apollo is bonded with a baby on the way. She’s asleep, anyway.”

He was worried about the fans being disappointed? That was bullshit. He only cared about the cash, and he used that excuse, knowing Hendrix would fall for it becausehecared deeply about the fans.

I resisted the urge to growl at the douchebag of a manager. Where the fuck had the nice guy who gave us a chance all those years ago gone?

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