Page 12 of Free Me

Without a word, Dad gently took his elbow and led Miko down the corridor—not in the direction of ICU—to a small seating area with a picture window. No one else was there, so Miko didn’t protest Dad guiding him to sit. Dad took the chair next to him and angled his body toward Miko.

“Okay, that was a pretty huge statement,” Dad said in his bestI’m being calm about this, but you need to answer my questions nowtone. “Why do you think Linus is your bondmate?”

Miko studied his cuticles for several long seconds while he breathed, hating the way his stomach was rolling. “Because of what almost happened at the party that night.”

“Which was?”

The memory was just out of reach, teasing him...wait. “We almost kissed.” That was it. He’d finally said it out loud, and it was as if a switch had been flipped. Fuzzy details began to take more distinct shapes. “And it wasn’t just, like, two half-drunkguys making out because we were horny or whatever. We were dancing together for a while, and I just…started feeling things. This connection to him, a possessiveness that I’ve never felt before. I didn’t want anyone else to dance with him, and he had this look on his face like he felt the same way.”

He squinted at the floor as a few previously fuzzy memories coalesced into actual shapes. “Another guy tried to grind on me from behind, and Linus looked like he wanted to go nuclear on him, so we went upstairs to a private room. I know now I was on edge and horny because of the heat symptoms, but at the time it wasn’t that, it was Linus. I wantedhimand no one else, not a single other guy at that party. I asked him to kiss me, and he almost did, but he caught on that I was going into heat before I did, and he stopped.”

Dad’s pensive stare softened into something sympathetic. “Thank goddess Linus was thinking clearly and stopped. I know you two are good friends, but it would have been pretty regrettable if your first time happened because of the throes of heat and hormones, and not because you made a conscious choice to share yourselves with each other.”

Miko blinked at Dad’s calm assessment of the situation. “Yeah. I’m glad Linus stopped us, but the heat’s over and my feelings toward him haven’t gone away. I’ve got this intense need to be by his side, to hold his hand and talk to him, and to fight this thing that’s hurting him even though it’s not an enemy I can fight.”

“I remember feeling that way when I first met Brogan. We felt the bond but were taking things slow because of my mental health struggles. And then he found out about Peyton’s Donal Syndrome diagnosis, and he fell apart. He was emotionally shattered, and all I wanted to do was fight the demons hurting him, but I couldn’t. All I could do was hold him and support him and promise to be there.”

“That’s what I want to do, too, Dad. Even if I can only see him for five minutes. And maybe if I see him, I can try and figure out these weird feelings. If it’s really the mating bond I feel, or if it was just a by-product of being so close to Linus that night.”

“Do you think your heat could have been triggered by Linus’s proximity? Have you guys ever danced like that before as adults?”

“We haven’t, but I don’t think he triggered it. The more I think about last weekend, the more I’m pretty sure I started feeling light symptoms earlier in the day, but I was so worried about the soccer game that I blew it off as anxiety. Not heat.”

Dad nodded slowly. “Okay, then I can completely understand why you’re confused about your feelings for Linus. Do you want me to talk to Isa? Maybe they can sneak you in for five minutes? I know they don’t consider extended in-laws immediate family, but this is a unique situation.”

“Can you please ask him? Preferably before Linus wakes up.”

“Why before?”

“Because he has enough to deal with recovering from the concussion and with his leg, and I don’t want to put this on his plate, too. But it’ll help me if I can try to answer this question for myself without putting it on him. Does that make sense?”

“It does, and it’s very selfless of you to be thinking of his comfort ahead of your own. But if Isa asks, I need to be able to reassure him you won’t?—”

“I won’t put any pressure on Linus about mating during his recovery. I won’t even say anything right away, I promise. If Isa and Liam decide I need to stay away for a while, I’ll do that, too.” It would suck and hurt and be the hardest thing ever if they really were bondmates, but he’d do anything to help Linus’s recovery.

“Okay, thank you.” Dad leaned in and wrapped him up in a comforting, familiar hug. Miko let his sire hold him and soakedin his love and support, hoping it would calm the storm in both his heart and his gut. He didn’t know if he was doing the right thing, but he had to dosomething.

His future happiness might depend on it.

After forty minutes, two phone calls, and a lot of silent prayers, Miko was finally permitted to swap places with Isa Higgs for ten minutes to sit with Liam and Linus. The ICU intimidated the hell out of him, with its sparkling white surfaces, open cubicles, beeping machines, and the solemnity of all the nurses. Isa had told him where to go, but his hands still trembled as he walked to Linus’s room.

Liam stood by the bedside, one arm stretched out, probably holding Linus’s hand, but Miko couldn’t look at his friend yet. He offered Liam the most supportive smile he could muster and said, “Thank you.”

“I know what it’s like to be unsure of your feelings,” Liam replied, his already soft voice more hoarse than usual and barely crossing the ten feet between them. “And I think it would be amazing if both my boys were bondmates to both of Brogan’s.”

“No pressure.” The lame joke fell flat.

Miko took a steadying breath and forced his head to turn. To actually look at the large bed holding his friend. The footboard was some kind of ivory plastic with lights and symbols on it. Farther up was the cream-colored blanket that covered Linus’s legs—well, kind of. He didn’t look at the empty space on the bed next to Linus’s left calf. His brain couldn’t process that completely yet, that a vital part of Linus was just…gone.

So he looked higher, past Linus’s blanket-covered torso, and his bare, bruised arms and all the attached wires, to his neck.A bruise peeked out from beneath his gown and spread upward toward his chin. He hated those bruises, but he hated the ones on Linus’s face more. One on his right temple, a smaller one on the right side of his chin, and his lips were dry and cracked. The sight of his friend—his alpha?—so vulnerable and hurt stirred a new, furious feeling deep inside Miko.

“They took him off the ventilator now that they’re waking him up,” Liam said. “Isa is going to bring back some lip balm.”

He looked at Liam so he didn’t have to keep seeing Linus’s physical agony. “Has he shown any signs of waking up?”

“Not yet. Dr. Westin said it could take hours. You can come inside, Miko.”

“I just…I don’t know.”

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