Page 7 of Threads of Fate

So, without preamble, Finn sets the joint to rights, and his human eyes clench tightly with the pain, but he doesn’t make a sound. He hands Austin an ice pack and gets a look at the two obviously broken fingers on his other hand. Maybe hewouldcall Gideon, after all.

“That’s better already Doc, thank you,” Austin says softly, still breathing heavily, even if he tries to hide it. Noticing Finn’s attention, he quickly covers the digits with his other hand and tries to push off the bed as if wanting to leave.

“Austin, you can’t go yet. You have glass in your knees, and they will get infected. If they do, you’ll have to come back.” That seems to convince his mate to stay seated. Finn will have to work fast and be convincing to get Austin to come home with him, or at the very least help him find sanctuary, but first things first. “Let’s get your pants off.”

Gray eyes once again go shiny with mirth. That he can hurt and still find light in an untenable situation makes Finn’s heart sing.

Austin smirks. “Hot doctor says what now?” He giggles. “You should at least buy me dinner first.”

It is Finn’s turn to be wide-eyed and pink-cheeked, but it doesn’t stop him from purring, “I’ll think about it. Where do you want to go?”

Austin grins and raises an eyebrow.

“Dammit, now you’ve got me acting familiar. It’s my turn to be sorry. That was unprofessional.” Finn shakes his head andgestures for Austin to stand up. “I need your pants off so I can see your knees, please. Forget what I said before. It was highly inappropriate of me to say that to a patient.”

“I don’t mind,” Austin says, standing up to get his pants off. Finn offers him a thin hospital sheet, hoping to save his mate’s modesty andhissanity, but the injured human can’t manage with the injuries to his shoulder and fingers. Finn will make sure to check them and his head before they leave.Together, if Finn has anything to say about it.

“May I help you?” At Austin’s small nod, Finn grasps the frayed waistband of his sweatpants and slides them down. Crouched at Austin’s feet, he looks up, imagining he might someday be in this position for an entirely different reason, and it makes his skin hot and that electric feeling in his belly bloom.

He wants to lean forward and dig his teeth into the soft, milky thighs and bury his nose in his favorite spot: the juncture between hip and thigh where his mate’s scent would be strongest. But of course, now is not the time. He’s ashamed to be thinking of pleasure when his mate is in pain.

Finn is clearly not the only one affected by his position, though he can’t be sure exactly what’s going through the human mind. His mate is trembling, and his hand twitches as if he wants to bury it in Finn’s hair. Carefully pulling the sweatpants away from the slowly seeping wounds in his mate’s knees, he holds back a grimace.

He wastes little time in lifting the smaller man onto the bed gently, something he would never do to a patient otherwise. Austin gasps at the easy show of strength.

Deciding to put a stop to the self-recriminations, Finn sets about his task. He’ll save those for later; after he’s gotten his mate to safety.

“Okay, Austin. Again, this will hurt. No. Don’t tell me you’re used to it. My heart can’t handle it anymore. Please. Just let meknow if you need me to stop.” If the human is surprised at his doctor’s familiarity, he doesn’t say it. Maybe he, too, has decided to just go with the flow.

“Okay, Finn. I will. I trust you.” Finn’s wolf preens at the praise, wagging his proverbial tail. He tries to focus on treating the wounds. It still takes another fifteen minutes before he’s gotten all the glass out of the wounds, flushing them out and applying bandages. A few more minutes and he’s finished his concussion exam as well.

It’s cold in the ER and even when he’s replaced the torn sweatpants with the smallest pair of scrubs he could find, his mate shakes with the crash of adrenaline. Quickly removing his white coat, Finn tugs off his baby blue sweater to pull it over his mate’s messy blond head, leaving Finn in just his collared dress shirt. The sweater is much too big, but it suits him perfectly, and using his sweater “paws,” Austin pulls the collar to his nose so he can inhale deeply.

His small smile is sad when he says, “Thank you, Finn, for everything. I won’t forget—I’ll just warm up and return this. Then I have to go, okay?” Just seeing his mate in his clothes satisfies a deep-seated need to provide for his mate, and it also helps mute some of the rotten pear scent with his own. Finn can’t be blamed if he stands staring into Austin’s eyes longer than is polite.

Finn insists he stays to eat the sandwich Dennie brings at exactly the thirty-minute mark. “You eat that, Austin, and I’ll go and arrange the x-ray of your shoulder to check for any damage. Also, some blood work for anything else. Do you want hot chocolate? There’s some in the staff lounge. I’ll be right back, okay?” He’s rambling and is loath to leave him, but he needs to get started on the diagnostic requisitions to delay Austin’s departure.

Anything to keep the human here and out of harm’s way, to give Finn more time to even broach the subject of his home situation. His desire to do the right thing as Austin’s doctor and his need to respect him and his privacy are at war with his desire to protect his mate. As much as calling Jay and forcing Austin into his alpha’s car and into their den where they can protect himsoundsideal, Austin has the right to make his own choices.

In the end, the opportunity escapes him.

Maybe he should have known already that Austin would leave while his back was turned, because when he returned, the bed was empty, and the sandwich was still in its plastic wrapper. Austin is gone, like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight. Taking his favorite sweater and a not-so-little piece of his heart with him.

Chapter Three: Nix

Nix

The apartment is silent when he unlocks the door. The sound of the lock disengaging triggers a Pavlovian fear response, just as it does every time. He’d never thought he could be lucky enough to get back to the apartment and into bed before Dawson returns from his nightly visit with his fuck buddy. But the apartmentisstill empty. Dawson must have fallen asleep wherever he spent his evening.

On the rare moments like these, when things go his way, Nix always stops to be grateful. Tonight, Nix shows gratitude for the quiet apartment and a single visit with Dr. Finn Merritt. He lets himself pretend that maybe in another life, he could have had someone like that: so handsome with his black hair, sexy glasses, and the most beautiful smile.

The young doctor hadn’t looked much older than himself, but where Nix was frail, gaunt, and unhealthy, Finn was tall, with broad shoulders, long legs and a surprisingly nice butt. It had been years since Nix felt anything remotely like sexual attraction for anyone, but Finn made his belly warm and tingly.

Gingerly undressing, Nix takes an extra minute to fold the beautiful sweater as carefully as possible. He shouldn’t have taken it even if Finn had seemed so happy to see him wearing it. But perhaps one day, when it has stopped smelling so good, he will drop it off at the front desk with a note of gratitude.

The shower is scalding when he climbs in, grateful again because the minor discomfort is better than the fiercely empty, aching place in his chest that had only gotten worse after he’d left the doctor at the hospital. Every step he’d taken away from him was an exercise in discomfort. Nix puts that down to the caring physical contact Finn had shown him. The touching Nix experiences these days cannot be consideredcaring.

He’d caught the first red-line bus headed back the way he’d come, and it wasn’t long before he was back at the apartment. Careful of his aching head, he scrubs the shampoo in with his one mostly good hand, washes his body with the same cheap soap, and tries not to see the scars Dawson has left on every part of him.

---