Page 51 of Free Me

“I take it you two had a good talk,” Liam said, so perfectly deadpan that Miko relaxed, relief combatting his embarrassment at being caught mauling their son on the living room couch.

“We did, actually.” Linus scooted closer to Miko and tugged him into another sideways hug. Miko melted, so happy to be in that exact spot. “We talked about the mating bond, and I’m not mad you guys kept it from me. I’m actually grateful you let me figure it out on my own. In a way, it gave me something to control.”

“Really?” Liam took off his coat, dumped it and the bag on an armchair, and moved to squat in front of them. “I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do, but I respected Miko’s position as your possible bondmate, and I let him make it.”

“Thank you. Truly, thank you. You’re my parents, and I love you, but Miko was right. He knew what I needed and when I needed it.”

“Good. So you two are obviously together.”

“Gee, what gave us away? Humping on the couch like a pair of newly-mates?”

Miko snorted, as much from amusement as embarrassment over being caught doing exactly that. Even Isa let out a big belly laugh as he walked over to tug Liam up and into a hug. “I told you to have faith in our boys,” Isa said to his mate.

“I do,” Liam replied. “It’s the rest of the world I have trouble trusting.”

“For good reason. But this is something to celebrate, little one. Our youngest has found his bondmate, and I couldn’t be happier with who the goddess chose for him.” Isa’s pale gaze met Miko’s. “You were already family, Miko, but now you are truly one of our sons.”

“Thank you,” Miko said, barely able to get the words out past the thick lump in his throat. “My parents are going to flip out when I tell them Linus finally knows the truth and returns my feelings.”

“Invite them over for dinner,” Liam said. “We’ll celebrate as a family.”

“What about all my brothers?” Linus asked.

“You can tell them whenever you want, but I would love for tonight to just be about the six of us. If that’s okay?”

“Of course, it is. Besides, it’s not like we can do the official mating celebration for at least two months.”

Miko’s next heat would be around the end of winter and the blossoming of spring, and he couldn’t imagine a better time of year to begin their lives as official mates. If they were both ready to mate then, obviously, and that was a conversation he and Linus needed to have in private. Linus would have graduateduniversity in the spring but this semester had been derailed, and he hadn’t mentioned going back yet. Miko was in school, too. Neither of them had a job, and if they mated, they’d both lose their provincial stipends.

So many questions still left unanswered. But they had time, and they had a platoon of family around to help them get through the upcoming weeks, months, even years. And as Miko stood to accept a warm, loving hug from Liam, he’d never felt more blessed or protected in his life.

TWELVE

By the endof the weekend, Linus was well and truly exhausted in both the best and worst ways. The best being all the time he spent with Miko, both alone and with their families and friends, celebrating them being bondmates. The worst being the exact same thing. The few moments he and Miko stole alone were so brief they felt more like dreams than events, and he hoped that they’d get more time once the new work week started.

The first dinner with his parents and Miko’s parents was a calm, joyful event at a fancy restaurant downtown Linus had never been to before. He was a little nervous going out in public (well, a public place besides the hospital or rehab) with his prosthetic. He chose to use his crutches for support, because they were less unusual for someone his age to use them versus a walker.

Linus felt like every pair of eyes in the restaurant was watching his family walk to their table. Of course, that was ridiculous. He’d seen clippings of some of the articles written about his accident, most of which had a university spin on them, because of his position on the soccer team. A few mentioned his infamous parents and one, naturally, expounded on Demir’s cutting edge medical research.

The meal was so freaking normal Linus could occasionally forget that a piece of himself was missing. He still “felt” his leg sometimes, and he’d done plenty of reading on phantom pain, so he wasn’t going crazy. It was normal.

It still sucked.

Miko’s smile always made his mood slips brighten, and Linus occasionally berated himself for not realizing sooner what his entire being now understood. Miko was his bondmate. His future. The other half of his heart. If that accident had happened differently, one or both of them could be dead. The idea was unfathomable, and only now did Linus have a clear understanding of the pain his older brother Layne had gone through during Peyton’s coma.

The next day, when Layne, Peyton and Caleb came over in response to Miko’s “We’ve got news to share” text, Linus hugged Layne tight, and told his big brother how much he loved him. Miko had sent the text to both Emory and Caden, too, and those respective groups stopped by for more congratulations and hugs. No one was all that surprised, as if everyone had put “Linus and Miko are bondmates” on their checklist years ago, so the outcome was predetermined.

After that, word got around. He and Miko both fielded dozens of texts, a few phone calls, and some visits from their expanded circle of friends and family. Aven, Yosef and Tobias came over with a small cake, and while they were cutting into it, Tarius arrived home. Linus had told Tarius the news last night, and Tarius had left not long after breakfast to do whatever he’d already planned for the day.

Tarius showing up mid-afternoon didn’t surprise anyone, but he did surprise Linus by showing up with a plus-one: Branson Cross. No one made a big deal over it, since the Higgs and Cross families were friends, but Linus hadn’t known that Tarius and Branson were particularly close. Other than both being beta,they didn’t have a lot in common, and Tarius was sixteen years older than Branson.

Whatever. His brother could be friends with whoever he wanted.

The only person in Linus’s family who didn’t stop by that day was Demir. His husbands slipped over right before dinner with hearty congratulations and a bottle of wine, and with Demir’s excuses. Patient emergency or some familiar bullshit Linus tried to let roll off his shoulders. But he was sick of Demir’s excuses, sick of other people taking priority over huge moments in Linus’s life.

Maybe today hadn’t been an official mating celebration, but still. Demir hadn’t shown up.

Again.

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