Page 35 of Secrets at Dawn
“How are you going to do that, baby?”
“I’ll find out who’s blackmailing me and kill them.”
“Blackmailing you into doing what?”
“Magicking away Kinnison Ransome.”
Riley’s mouth fell open, and then he scrambled to get his phone out of his pocket. He stepped out of the room. No doubt he was calling Cass or Dad.
“That explains a lot.” It confirmed what Griffin already knew. Someone wanted control of the pack. It also brought out the truth about Toby’s abilities. Griffin wasn’t sure what Toby meantby magicking away, but for now, it was enough of the truth to keep Kinnison from getting hurt. First, he’d help Toby heal, and then he’d help him put an end to the problem.
Chapter Eighteen
He was so done with being in the hospital. A day and a half of doing nothing but watching television and lying in bed was about all he could handle. But he wasn’t well enough to leave yet. Not until the poison wore off and he could shift.
The doctor called ittheir goal, as if they were experiencing it together. He was pretty sure the doctor had been nowhere nearby when Giant Dickwad beat the shit out of him. Fucking bastard.
Griffin raised his eyebrows when Toby growled. “What’s going through your pretty head, baby?”
Toby huffed. “You’re the pretty one. Not me. And don’t disagree. I’m in a shit mood.”
Griffin had the nerve to chuckle. He stood and closed the distance, sitting on the side of Toby’s bed instead.
Toby raised his eyebrows when Griffin boxed him in.
Griffin smiled in the way he did when he thought Toby had done something cute.
Toby rolled his eyes, but he really wasn’t annoyed. He loved it when Griffin looked at him like that. “You’re one of those people who like punishments, aren’t you?”
“You mean a masochist?” Griffin grinned.
Toby shrugged and averted his gaze. “I don’t want my bad mood to rub off on you.”
Griffin raised his eyebrows and leaned forward. He kissed Toby, keeping it just a press of lips. “Hold on to me around my neck, baby.”
Toby did as Griffin said.
Griffin lifted Toby off the bed, taking the blankets with them. He even grabbed Toby’s IV pole.
Griffin carried him across the room to an uncomfortable recliner chair. It had wheels and stretched out. Griffin had slept on it two nights in a row so far. As painful as the chair was, Griffin hadn’t complained once, and he refused to go home for the night.
“I’m not leaving you,” he’d said, and he hadn’t. He even used the bathroom in Toby’s hospital room, which Toby was pretty sure the nursing staff didn’t want him to do.
“Are you in any pain, baby?” The blankets covered them from neck to feet. They probably pooled on the floor around the base of the chair a bit, too, although Toby was too comfy lying against Griffin’s wide chest to find out for sure.
“Not even a little.” His lack of pain was partly because of the pain meds. But Toby had needed them less and less. He was sure he was healing a little faster than he had before. And last night, he thought he had dreamed about his fangs dropping. The dream seemed real.
“That’s good because I think what you really need is to relax.” Griffin pulled the blanket up around his shoulder, creating a tent around them.
“I feel relaxed.” And Toby was, but he still wanted out of the hospital. As soon as possible would be preferable, but he understood the doctor’s reasoning for not releasing him. What if the poison left him with half of himself missing in the darkness? Or, gods forbid, the poison causes some other situation in his body. But understanding why didn’t make lying around any easier.
“No. I meanreallyrelaxed.” Griffin pulled out a bottle of lube seemingly from his ass because where else could it have come from? It was in a similar type of bottle as the other toiletries in the wash basin. Toby had washed his body but not his hair yet because of the concussion. He hoped he’d be able to soon. “I snooped around when they wheeled you out for testing yesterday and found this.”
Toby met Griffin’s gaze and nodded. “Okay. Yes. I want to. Whatever you want. Of course.”
“Help me squirt some onto my hand.”
Toby fumbled to get his hands above the blanket, but he did as Griffin said. He winced when the bottle made a farting noise. The last thing he wanted was for the nurse to come in and catch them. How embarrassing that would be.
