Page 62 of Mysteries, Menace, and Mates

Dellan had a chance to change the future for a great many shifters.

CRANK TOUCHEDSaul’s shoulder lightly. “Take a break. Get some air. You’ve been sitting there for three hours.” Not thathecould talk. The only things to drag him away from Vic’s bedside had been the need for coffee and the subsequently greater need to pee.

“When he wakes up.”

Crank stroked Saul’s head. “Look at him. They’ve given him baths, he’s on a drip…. He’s a million times better than when we found him.” Vic’s skin was healing already.

It had to be a shifter thing.

“It is.” Saul managed a smile. “I always tease him about how quickly he heals.”

“It pisses you off, you mean,” came a murmur from the bed. “Your teeth marks never stay long enough for me to show them off.”

Crank beamed. “Hey, you’re awake.”

Vic chuckled, then gave a harsh dry cough. Saul picked up the cup of water and held the straw for Vic, who drained the cup. Crank quickly refilled it.

“I wastryingto sleep, but with you two around? Even your thoughts are noisy.”

They each took a hand, careful of the tubes. “We were so scared.” What shocked Crank was the hoarse, broken sound of his own voice.

“That fucker Theron. He enjoyed it,” Vic rasped. “Psychologically torturing me was a kink for him. But please… tell me you didn’t kill him. I wanted to be the one to do that.”

“We wanted to,” Saul replied. “We were ready to tear into our friends to get to him.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. I wouldn’t want him to have the satisfaction of knowing how close he came to breaking us.”

Saul let go of Vic’s hand to run his fingers through Vic’s hair. “Hey, you,” he said softly.

Vic smiled. “Can’t get rid of me that easily.” He glanced at his room. “Where am I?”

“In a clinic north of Manchester. Aelryn had you brought here. He said it was the least he could do after everything you did for him.”

Crank recognized that soft gleam in Vic’s eyes. It usually spelled trouble. “And what just crossedyourmind?”

Vic casually rolled one shoulder. “Nothing. It’s… well, I’ve heard there are some great BDSM bars in Manchester. Maybe we can check a few out while we’re here.”

Saul snorted. “I might’ve guessed. I should never have taken you to that club in San Francisco. It’s given you ideas.”

Vic grinned. “Yeah, but reallygoodideas.”

“Well, you can forget it. You’re confined to the bed until the doctors give you the all clear.” Crank ran his fingers through Vic’s hair. “But we can come back, if you want.”

“No, I just want to go home.” Vic’s sigh came from someplace deep. “That mission to meet the leaders seems like a century ago. So where did I end up?”

“Lancashire, in the UK.” Crank grinned. “And do we have news for you. Since you’ve been gone, mates have been crawling out of the woodwork.”

“Oh?”

Saul glared at Crank. “He needs to rest.”

Vic scowled. “No, I need to catch up. What have I missed?”

“Sleep. You’ve missed sleep. Now shut up,” Saul insisted.

He smirked. “I swear, it’s like you two don’t know me at all.”

Crank settled in the chair next to Vic’s bed and filled him in about Jake and Doc, and Eve, Hashtag, and Roadkill, loving Vic’s comical expression of surprise, especially when Saul revealed Eve was capable of wiping the floor with both her mates, probably at the same time. When Crank told him about Fielding’s death, he went quiet for a moment.

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