Page 40 of Free Me

“That it is.” He deposited his bundle of linens on one of the visitor chairs. The chair nearest the head of Linus’s bed was the type that reclined, often given to the visitors of long-term patients who tended to stay by their side all day. Greco positioned it so its back was even with Linus’s bed, then pulled asquare, foam pillow out of its plastic sheath. Put that on the seat cushion and covered it and the chair with a sheet.

“So right now, you’re sitting at about forty-five-degrees,” he said to Linus. “What I want is for you to keep your left leg as straight as possible and use your core to sit up to ninety degrees.”

“If you say so.” A fine sheen of sweat already coated Linus’s forehead, and he hadn’t done anything yet.

Greco pulled Linus’s blanket and sheet down to the foot of the bed, showing off his good leg and his—Miko blinked hard, his breath catching in his throat. He’d expected there to still be a bandage, but he stared at, well, a stump covered by smooth skin. At the bottom was the scar, a line of puckered skin that was almost a grotesque frown. More than the absence of anything under the blanket, seeing the stump drove it all home in a new, dizzying way.

“I can’t see it,” Linus said. “How does it look?”

“It looks good,” Miko replied when Isa and Liam couldn’t seem to manage. “It almost looks healed.”

“It’s healing beautifully,” Greco said, “but there will still be a lot of nerve sensitivity in the coming weeks. Any sort of surgical recovery is a process, and so is adapting to new circumstances. You’re young and strong, and I’m sure you’ve been told that you can begin the process of fitting for a prosthetic right away. But before you can walk, you need to sit up. You ready?”

Linus curled his upper lip back. “I think so.”

The soft, pained squeal Linus emitted when he did sit up straight speared Miko in the heart. Beside him, Isa growled, and Miko couldn’t imagine how much it hurt the elderly alpha to hear his child in pain. A child who’d already suffered through so much in his short life, but who was so fucking strong. “You’ve got this,” Miko said, a little surprised at his own firm tone.

Linus held his gaze a beat then nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, next step.” Greco helped Linus through the arduous task of dangling his left leg over the bed and swiveling around so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. Linus was panting and red-faced, and Greco was surprisingly patient with him, handing out constant praise and reassurances. Despite the pain Greco was causing his mate, Miko could concede the therapist knew what he was doing.

Miko paid close attention to everything Greco said and did, as he talked about different ways for Linus to transfer himself from bed to chair and back again. He loathed every single grunt, groan and cry that Linus made, but Linus never asked to stop. Never said it was too much. And just when Miko was about to throw up the white flag on Linus’s behalf, Greco said they were finished for the day.

Miko took his first deep breath in thirty minutes, chest tight like he’d just run a six-minute mile uphill, but also so damned proud of Linus he wanted to weep. Isa and Liam radiated identical pride and worry. At some point, Isa had sat in the room’s free chair and Liam was perched on his lap, the perfect picture of an in-love mated pair. And for the first time, Miko felt an odd flare of jealousy over the sight.

I want that, too. So badly.

Maybe he’d never have exactly that with Linus (missing leg aside, he and Linus were practically the same size, so the lap sitting would never be quite so adorably mismatched), but the love. He truly wanted that kind of decades-long love story with his own bondmate.

“Now, before you get too excited about your successes today,” Greco said after he’d gathered up some of the materials he’d brought, “do not get ahead of yourself. If you want to transition to the commode, ring a nurse to help you. I do not want you transitioning alone yet, understood?”

“I got it,” Linus replied. “I’m too exhausted to even think about sitting up again today, much less actually doing it.”

“Then get some rest, and enjoy visiting with your family.” Greco smiled at their trio. “It was nice meeting everyone. Excuse me.”

Once their quartet was alone, Linus released an exaggerated moan. “Good grief, but that sucked so much ass. My leg is fucking killing me.”

“Want me to call a nurse about your pain management?” Liam asked. “They should have given you something before doing all that moving around.”

Linus squinted at them. “I think they did, actually, with my morning meds. Probably when he mentioned I’d have therapy this morning, but I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“You don’t focus well when you’re sleep deprived,” Miko teased, but it was also very true. For all Linus had lived up the university student life in the off-season, when it came to training and playing soccer, he made sure to get his eight hours of sleep every single night.

“Yeah, well, does anyone?”

“I’m pretty sure Demir does,” Isa replied. “I swear, the less that boy sleeps, the harder he seems to work. I don’t know how he keeps up with everything in his life, but he does.”

Linus frowned at his lap briefly, but Miko didn’t miss the reaction, and he made a mental note to ask about it the next time he got Linus alone. “I think it’s pretty obvious how Demir does it all,” Miko said. “Aliens landed and replaced your brother with a robot version that never tires and knows everything.”

That got belly laughs out of all three Higgses. “You need to stop watching those late-night alien-invasion movies,” Linus said. “They’re rotting your brain.”

“Maybe so, but I won’t give up that guilty pleasure for anyone, not even you, Higgs.”

“You shouldn’t have to give up anything for me.” Linus’s voice was light and teasing but his expression held a gravity that worried Miko. Miko wasn’t giving up anything by being here for Linus—not time, not energy, not anything. He was gaining so much by supporting Linus and his family. He also didn’t know how to say any of that without giving away too much.

“You just had quite the workout, Linus,” Liam said. “Are you thirsty? Hungry?”

“I’d kill for a cheeseburger, but my nurse would probably make you put it in a blender first. Liquid diet, remember?”

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