Page 43 of Black Moon

All night since hearing the Groves were going after Brook, I’d pushed the thought out of my head, but now, it was singing between my ears.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

Brook first, then I’d worry about my heat.

“Hey, Doctor Fancy?” I called. “Don’t suppose you have an extra one of your cozy sweaters around here anywhere?”

Linden blinked at me, confused for just a second. But when he realized what I was getting at, he didn’t hesitate for a second to pull a thick, navy pullover out of a drawer at his desk. It looked hand knit, and under the smell of wool and yarn, I could smell the pack hands who’d knitted it, the scent of Linden Grove clinging to the fibers from the last time he’d worn it.

Brook didn’t need to slip back into anything that stank of Reid pack and his own sharp fear. Instead, he needed the comfort and smells of home.

Linden came over and pressed the sweater into my hands. He scowled, but kept himself from peeking around me behind the curtain, where Brook stayed curled up on the firm bed.

“I have some gym pants in the car too. Could you go get those for me? They’re in the trunk.” I pulled out my keys and held them out for him. They were just the pants I wore for guard practice, but they were stretchy and comfortable, and Brook could keep them forever for all I cared.

Linden nodded. “Need anything else?”

“Not this second.”

Soon, Brook was dressed in fresh new clothes, and he seemed to relax a little once Linden took his old ones right to the garbage outside. Finally, Skye slipped past the curtains to the bed and asked Brook a low question—it sounded like something normal, nothing at all upsetting, so I took a second to clear my head.

This wasn’t tenable. My heart hurt for Brook, and it hurt for every omega like Brook, who’d be in danger because dealing with the Condition was only one small part of how much everything sucked.

I wandered over and sat on the edge of Linden’s desk, my palms pressed hard into the corner of the tabletop, and tried to pull myself together. Everything felt too close to the surface, like any second my control would snap.

That was the heat coming on—it blurred logic and replaced it with a flood of feelings that, right then, felt nothing more than selfish.

And still, they were unavoidable.

Skye had taken up a spot on the bed beside Brook, and they were talking about some game I’d never heard of when Linden came back into the clinic. He looked over at them, and when Brook gave Skye a tentative smile, the alpha decided it was best not to disturb them too much.

He leaned his hip on the desk beside me. “He’s going to be all right.”

Even though he didn’t phrase it like a question, when I looked up into his eyes, they were swimming with worry.

I placed my hand on his crossed arm and nodded. “He is. It’ll probably take some time, but he’s going to be okay.”

There was nothing else to say about that—nothing else to hope for—because Brook was hurt. And the amount of strength it’d take for him to recover broke my heart to think about.

“Listen,” I said, glancing out across the laminate tile flooring, “could we talk outside for a second?”

With one more concerned glance at Brook and Skye, Linden nodded at me. He led the way out, and I pulled my jacket closer around me in the August night.

Before I had the chance to say anything, Linden jumped in.

“I know this is a lot. You never should’ve had to worry about this. And—and things aren’t like this, with the Groves. Or they haven’t been. It’s just—you came at exactly the wrong time, and I’m sorry. If there’s anything I can do to help you with your story, or if you want to go home—”

Home? I hadn’t even thought about home.

As much as it sucked complete ass to think about the dangers omegas faced that I hadn’t had to deal with back in DC, I couldn’t imagine seeing Brook like this and thinking about abandoning him. Or any of the Groves.

Particularly not the scowling, anxious, harried alpha in front of me.

“It’s not that,” I said, when he finally ran out of words. “Could you give me a chance to speak? Like, maybe?”

Linden sighed, his shoulders slumped. “Of course. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” I reached out and smoothed my hands down his forearms, curling my fingers around the outsides of his palms for a second. “I get it. Tensions are high tonight, but I promise, I don’t ever need you to try and guess what I’m thinking. I’m perfectly capable of telling you. And everyone.”

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