Page 43 of Free Me

Miko smiled. “I’ll make time for you. I just won’t be able to come until around three o’clock. Call me if you want me to bring you anything special.”

“Just bring yourself.” Linus didn’t care how that sounded, he meant it. Miko’s presence was a special enough treat without Miko bringing along snacks or books or whatever. “Are you sure you’re ready to go back to class?” Miko still had lingering bruises on his face, and Linus swore he sometimes flinched when standing or sitting, as if his ribs still bothered him.

“Honestly? If I wasn’t a few weeks from the end of the semester and I didn’t have such high marks, I’d probably have deferred until next term. But Winter Solstice break is soon.”

Linus swallowed a grunt. He’d have to defer the rest of this semester for sure. There was no way he could concentrate on rehab and his mobility and still give a shit about chemistry assignments. Maybe he could get partial credits based on work completed, given the seriousness of his accident?

Whatever. Not important tonight. He couldn’t do shit with a degree anyway, if he couldn’t first master living with one leg.

“Guess I won’t be dancing at the Solstice Gala this year,” Linus said absently. He’d never been a huge fan of the traditional gathering sponsored by the Constabulary to welcome in the new year, but his family had gone since before Linus was born.

“You might be. It’s over a month away, and Dr. Westin said you can start working on getting a prosthetic immediately. You’ll be up and around in a month, even if it’s on crutches.” Miko grinned. “And when you are, I want the first dance.”

“That sounds like a challenge, Tovey.”

“Oh, it’s a challenge, Higgs. First dance. Wheelchair, crutches, I don’t care.”

Miko stared at him, unblinking, and something deep inside Linus rose to the challenge. He straightened his shoulders then turned his hand so they were palm-to-palm in a semblance of a handshake. “Fine. Challenge accepted. First dance.”

“Good. Now, you need to try and get some sleep, because I’m sure Greco will be back in the morning to continue torturing you.”

“No doubt. I’m sure he’s good at his job, but man, I really wanna punch the guy.”

“I know the feeling. But you did great today. Just keep doing your best, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

“Good.”

“Have you, um, talked to your parents about last night’s fight?” Kind of a dumb question, when Miko had spent most of the day with Linus, but he had left a few times. And Linus hadn’t had a private moment to ask until now.

“Not yet, but I will. I promise.”

“I’m glad. Good night?”

“Yeah, good night, Linus.” Miko rested his cheek against Linus’s, their chests pressed close in a gentle, loose-limbed hug that sent small jolts of joy through Linus. He didn’t understand them and he didn’t care; he soaked it in for as long as Miko lingered there. He really wanted to lean in and kiss Miko, but was scared he was reading too far into things. That him knowing Miko had heated once was confusing him. Linus never wanted to take anything Miko wasn’t willing to give.

“Be safe,” Linus whispered.

“I will, promise. It’s why I asked Peyton to pick me up.”

“Good.” Even though all the kids of their generation had been taught self-defense moves by parents and elder siblings, especially the omegas, Linus didn’t want Miko taking any unnecessary chances. Miko was of-age, attractive, and his scent had become more enticing to unmated alphas since his first heat, and no one was allowed to get too close. Goddess, what if some alphahole cornered Miko at the Solstice Gala?

Linus’s skin prickled with protective rage at the idea, and he swallowed back a growl.

Miko smiled at him, seeming as reluctant to leave as Linus was to send him away. But neither of them could stop the slow creep of the minute hand across the analog clock’s face, inching closer to the twelve. “I’ll see you tomorrow, my al—friend.”

“Tomorrow.”

After Miko left, Linus pressed his hand to his nose. The hand that had held Miko’s for so long that surely his scent had lingered. He tried to find it, to fill his nostrils with that wonderful toasted coconut fragrance. But he couldn’t quite grasp it. Couldn’t be sure if it was real or his brain telling him what Miko smelled like.

Grief stung the backs of his eyes. “Please, let this be temporary,” he said to the empty room. “Even if I never run again, please let me smell again. Let me know my bondmate.”

The room didn’t answer him, and Linus didn’t fall asleep for a long time.

Miko had managed to avoid speaking directly to his parents about anything deeper than “Are you eating?” and “Yes, I’m coming home tonight” all day. They cast him curious lookswhenever they were in the same room or hallway, but they gave him space, for which Miko was forever grateful. And annoyed.

And irritated with himself for his indecision over which he preferred: the hands-off parents who never smothered Miko, or the overly-attentive ones he’d craved his entire life, who pushed to know his every thought and feeling.

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