Page 51 of Natural-Born Cullers

Brennan gripped his arm, keeping him still. “Pupils are dilated. You’re in Domspace, or the culler’s version of it, so what would you fucking know? Trust my aftercare as a Dom to call it, because your head’s still too stuck in the scene.” He prodded at the wound, and Gray winced. It marked length-ways down his old scar, almost mimicking an X for a sealed with a kiss. In this case: Martin’s kiss. “It just needs some butterfly stitches,” added Brennan. “Nothing more. We’ll get it sorted in the infirmary.”

Gray levelled a look on him. “I’ll sort it. No one else.”

Brennan frowned, and holding a tissue he’d brought over from the conference table, he pressed it against the wound. Gray took over and let his shirt fall down his side. Blood stains dotted here and there, and he gave a hard sigh. He was going to need a new shirt before getting back to work.

Martin tilted his head, his look on Gray’s wound, and he tutted after a moment, the contentment in his look saying he liked his mark a little too much.

Brennan looked at Halliday a second later. “That could have gone so much worse.”

“Point being, it didn’t,” Martin said flatly to him. “Neither of us registered anything but each other in the heat, therefore proving that because we don’t see anyone elseinthe heat, we wouldn’t be a threat to you, not unless you’re stupid enough to walk into the line of fire.Proving…” he said back to Halliday, “you’re a common psychopath’s victim, but not a culler’s. Gray only plays with psychopaths, those who kill. Which I don’t. Call it… political immunity between us two.”

But then Martin looked at Gray. “A warning. You tell them that if they ever lie to me again over why you’re here, I’ll discipline my way—no rules in place. Because from what I’m reading between the lines, this is fuck all to do with any disciplinary panel.”

“We—” Brennan started to say, but Martin levelled a hand in his direction.

“I don’t care about you. The Doc being here would have thrown Jack’s head out of synch, which riled him, which then riles me as I’m forced to think fast and hard why I’m here. Jack walks back through those doors, you learn to recognise the switch and be bloody straight with me when I ask you to fill in the blanks in order to ease aggression. It’s basic fucking care where Jack’s concerned. If I have the details, I’m less likely to piss all over you and—” Martin stopped, his look resting on Brennan. “Oh youcunt—”

Gray pulled him back as he suddenly went for Brennan, but Gray saw why Martin’s anger spiked in that moment. “Did you want Jack triggered today?” Now Brennan had all of Gray’s focus. “Did you make the call to me when you knew I was with Jan because you knew Jan’s next call would be to Jack? You knew he’d—”

“No.” Halliday came in close. “Shaun wouldn’t play Jack like that. I certainly wouldn’t. Remember, I told you that I didn’t know if the second question would find a way to voice itself. Jack knows the MC and its rules: if you were here for a disciplinary meeting, he would have been invited. No invite, no disciplinary panel, his presence is not requested. He should have been able to work it out for himself that he wasn’t needed today.”

“But you didn’t remind him verbally either,” Gray said flatly. “And you knew something like this would up his stress levels, get him here.”

“Jack isn’t sectioned any more, Gray. He’s never been more comfortable with his disorders, you’ve seen that with how Jack and Martin work as a pair to keep each other safe. Jack, like Martin, has a right to figure out his own way in and out of daily stresses. It’s part of his therapy, you know that.”

“Fucking here,” said Martin. “Don’t talk as though I’m not.”

Halliday nodded. “Apologies.” He focused back on Gray. “Walking back through those doors is going to up Jack’s stress levels, and he needs the space to work out his own coping strategies, which the rules and routines he’s used to should be a good base place to start. He just chose to ignore them today, which is something I’ll discuss with him.”

“But you didn’t stop him coming through that door either when he got here,” Martin said flatly.

“Security was told to allow him through if he came,” Halliday said quickly. “Keeping him out would have only made him worry more, so we agreed beforehand to allow him entry if he came. But because of the sensitivity to this meeting in particular, no texts could have been sent to Jack’s phone. And where we don’t discuss MC business beyond these doors,” added Halliday, “we certainly don’t whisper in Jason’s ear about culler business and have him explain what’s going on in here to Jack. But besides all that, if Jack needed to be here, we in no way wanted to leave him facing a locked door.”

“Oh bullshit,” Martin said flatly. “You could have avoided all of this by talking to Gray and getting him to explain to Jack what was going on here today.”

Halliday smiled down to his feet, just briefly. “And you think Jack would have stayed away, even knowing the details?” He looked at Martin. “Your strongest bond is aggressive protectiveness over the place and people closest to you. So if Jack knew this was culler business today, the switch could have come long before you reached these doors, maybe triggering Jack to get in a car and drive when his licence has been revoked. And then what would have happened? As talented as you are, Martin, you don’t know how to drive properly yet.” His look softened at Martin. “We can anticipate moves, nothing more.”

“Yet you anticipated Martin both ways,” Gray said to him quietly. “You had no issues with then planning to disrupt him and hand him a dagger. It’s still exploitation.”

Halliday shook his head. “Like Jack, it’s trusting Martin to work through his own stresses. It’s acknowledging his way of looking at life, yours, but mostly it’s letting everyone else see here what you two already know: that if Jack’s triggered here, you two work together to protect what’s yours. You protect each other, with Jack and Jan always there in the mix with both of you.”

Gray eased down, and Martin seemed to do the same. This had been as much about seeing if Martin could be trusted behind MC doors as Gray on the culler side. Halliday was looking long-term when it came to Martin being in Jack’s life, and perhaps that calmed Martin more. There was no threat here to push him out of Jack’s head space and get him contained. He existed in his own right, with his own stresses and struggles to figure out. And in a way, Martin had acknowledged that himself, in how he’d said that if Jack ever was triggered here, that he needed to be told quickly why Martin found himself standing in MC halls, all to ease aggression levels.

A care plan away from MC psych unit and the manor, but for both him and Jack, with their own individual needs in mind.

Halliday watched Gray for a moment, then gave a small nod as if confirming something in his own head. “The MC is at your disposal, Gray.”

Gray nodded, a little unsettled at just how well Halliday had played this, but as Martin rubbed at his head again, Gray went in and eased his jaw up to get a look into his eyes. “Just how bad is your head?”

Martin tried to pull away, but Gray kept him there. “Talk to me.”

Wincing at the light, Martin screwed his eyes shut. “Fucking dizzy.”

Halliday came over, and Gray looked at him. “I put Jack through a pretty intense scene a few days ago, but his head didn’t hurt this morning.”

Halliday nodded. “Might be the drop in blood pressure levels from Jack’s high anxiety to Martin’s. Martin needs lower levels in order to counter and read the scene he finds himself in.” Halliday briefly looked Martin over from a distance, the marks at his neck. “That and trying to work out what’s going on with his body. I need to get his BP checked either way.”

“Really not in the mood.” Martin was back to rubbing his head. “Not here.”

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