Chapter Sixty-One
Spencer
It took every ounce of control to not pounce on Grace–or growl at Brennan–as my alpha instincts threatened to take over. Her scent made my mouth water, as my cock strained against my pants. My hands fisted so that I wouldn’t rip her away from him and fuck her on the conference table.
Mine.
I pushed those thoughts away. Obviously, if she needed Brennan, then she should have him. Her needs were the priority, not mine.
After all, Grace’s fragile world had been shattered–by selfishness, narcissism, and unbridled hatred.
Agent Cora had told me everything, and my heart broke for my good doctor.
All of this was probably driving Grace to seek comfort. As I told Jett, I’d much rather her go into heat than spiral.
The doctor had said that due to the reset, if her body ever went into heat that it could come at any time without warning. Powerful emotions were known to bring on a heat.
At the same time, deep concern tugged at my heart. The reset didn’t guarantee that she’d have a healthy heat. Could her body even take it?
My good doctor just couldn’t catch a break.
“Are you okay, Spence?” Jett inquired.
“We need to get her home.” I remembered how small she’d looked in the hospital bed. How they’d given her countless medicines over and over to help repair everything that had been done to her.
Jett nodded. “I think she’s okay for now. I don’t smell anything like I smelt that night.”
“Good. We still have to be careful with her. Also, we need to care for her heart and soul. I’d promised her that we would.” It would be difficult to do that here.
“We will, Spence. How do you propose that we get out of here?” Jett glanced over at the door.
The more comfortable she was, the easier it would be for her to have a full and proper heat. Not to mention, no one should have their first heat in a conference room at the Bureau of Investigation.
“Spencer.” Brennan looked over at me, surprised.
“I’m going to see if they’ll let us leave.” I’d try reason first.
Jett’s eyebrows rose. “Do you think they will?”
“We won’t know unless we try.” I knocked on the door.
A woman in a dress answered. “Is everything all right?”
“No. We need to take Grace home. She is so upset that it is making her unwell,” I explained.
“Oh.” Her look grew concerned. “Earlier, she cried so much that she threw up, so I brought her here. It’s not enough? I think we can bring everyone else here.”
Mmmm, no, given Riley was with us. Riley. We needed to take her somewhere else. Due to the late hour, all I could think of was the sister pack.
“I think it would be best to let us go. Or at least let myself, Brennan, or Wes leave with her. She needs to be at home. Grace can be… delicate and she needs an alpha.” I wasn’t sure if telling anyone that Grace was in heat would mean anything.
Certainly, I didn’t want to explain specifics about her health to strangers.
“Many like her are. Let me check and see where things are,” she replied.
“Could we have our phones back, please? Or could I at least have mine?” We needed to be prepared.
“I will.” She closed the door.
“Well, that was reasonable,” Jett muttered.
I got the feeling that if you weren’t breaking their laws, they could be quite cordial.
“Spence?” Grace’s hand reached out, searching for me.
“Darling?” Taking her hand, I kissed it. “You’re not feeling well?”
“My heart hurts.” She started to cry.
Leaning in, I kissed her temple, Brennan still right there under her. Not that I had an issue with it, I just wasn’t used to it. But they were my packmates, my family. Given she’d made no secret of wanting all of us, it was time to adjust.
“Someone is checking to see if we can leave.” I smoothed her hair. Her forehead burned, and her scent was still cloyingly sweet, but not sickly.
“I want to go home.” Tears pricked her eyes. “Rosalind hates me so much that she risked her own life because she didn’t want me to be happy.”
“Fuck Rosalind,” Brennan told her. He was naked from the waist down, and possibly still knotted to her.
“Don’t let her live for free in your head, she’s not worth it.” Jett knelt by the couch.
“That’s good advice,” I agreed.
The door opened, and that same woman handed me a bag with phones and purses. “I can give you your communication devices. They’d very much like to keep everyone until we can corroborate stories.”
“I’m unsure that Grace will be okay for that long,” I replied. If this relied on Rosalind talking, we’d be here for too long.
“Noted. I’ll do what I can.” She closed the door.
Jett looked up at me from his spot on the floor. “Um, a weird space agency literally took over the Bureau of Investigation’s building. People will notice as they show up for work in a few hours.”
“If they’re giving us our phones, they either have no idea what we can do with them here, or they’re about ready to let us go and not erase our memories.” Brennan put his pants back on.
“Not erasing my memories would be nice,” Jett agreed.
“Call out of work for tomorrow, and probably Monday as well.” I took out my phone, put the bag on the conference table, and sat on the other couch.
Grace got off the couch and climbed into my lap. “Can I have tomorrow off? I’m tired and want knots and crepes.”
“Anything you wish.” I kissed the top of her head, as I went into the program on my phone and marked Grace, Wes, Riley, and me off. At least today was Friday, and we’d have the weekend. Though who knew how long it would last? I also marked us off for Monday.
Grace curled in my lap and went to sleep, smelling of sex, Brennan, and very ripe peaches.
“We’ll need someone to watch Riley and the chickens,” I said as I rescheduled my meetings.
Brennan grabbed his phone and looked at me. “Don’t the Chicken Tender people come and get them? Like dog boarding, only with chickens?”
“Usually, they come to your house twice a day. Given the chicks are not in the coop yet, it’s best to ask the sister pack to take them.” I added a few basics to my online grocery cart for immediate express delivery. We’d worry about the post-heat feast later.
“Why are we doing this?” Brennan was on his phone.
“Spencer thinks that she’s going to go into heat.” Jett grabbed his phone and sat with Brennan.
Grace looked up at me. “Do you really? What if I get sick?”
“That’s why we need to get you out of here. We’ll tend to you at home, and if you get sick, we’ll take you to the Center, just like we talked about back in the hospital.” I stroked her hair. “No matter what happens, we’ll take care of your heart and soul.”
“I just want dicks and crepes,” she mumbled, pressing her face into me. “You smell good enough to lick.”
I gave Brennan a look as if to say, See?
“Understood.” He got back on his phone.
“Dicks and crepes? That can be arranged," I soothed.
“How do we get home? My bike and Jett’s car have been towed to the repair shop. Is yours still at the restaurant?” Brennan asked.
“It’s here. We might need to hire a car for the others.” We had little time. I could feel the tension building inside her through the bond, like a wire ready to break at any moment.
The moment it did, my cordiality and patience with the Temporal Authority were done. While I was grateful that they hadn’t taken us to another world for questioning, we were on a tight schedule.
A pitiful whine ripped through the room, and her scent exploded into a cloud of need, arousal, and desire. Fuck.
The urge to fuck her over the table returned.
“Shit.” Brennan sat up, expression tight.
I put my phone in my pocket and stood with her in my arms. “Jett, grab the bag of phones. Her purse is in there, right?”
“Yeah. Hers and Riley’s.” Jett got up and grabbed it. “I’d like to get my gun back. They took it when we were brought here.”
I rapped on the door. The same woman opened it.
She frowned at me. “Is she still ill?”
“Yes.” I pushed the door open, clutching Grace, and strode out. “We have to get her home.” I kept moving, not looking to see if Brennan and Jett followed.
All of my instincts screamed at me to get her home and keep her safe.
“You can’t leave yet.” Agent Cora tried to block me in the hall. A couple of large, armed guys who smelled like dogs were with her.
“Agent Cora, she needs to get home before she becomes seriously ill. Get us the others,” I demanded, voice hard, as I slipped past her and kept moving. I didn’t use my bark because I wasn’t sure if it would work on them.
Did I know how to get out of here? Not really.
“He’s right,” Brennan added from behind me. “You can send someone in a few days to follow up. We need Wes, Evan, and Riley, now.”
“Um, Agent Cora, I think you need to let them take her. Or this could be bad,” one of the big guys said.
Her scent filled my nostrils as every part of me ached to get her under me and sink my knot into her over and over again.
Grace whined again. “Alpha.”
“I see. Please try not to leave your residence,” Agent Cora called.
“We might need to go to the hospital,” Brennan called back. “Jett, you get Evan, Wes, and Riley, and meet us at home. Lexi will get Riley and the chickens. I’m going with Spencer.”
Their offices were on the second floor of a government building, and I took the stairs. Footsteps followed me.
“Shit, you’re fast,” Brennan panted.
“Spencer, will you take me home and knot me?” Grace whined, trying to get her hands down my pants as I carried her down to the parking garage.
“Oh, I will, Darling.” I found my phone and activated the alert so I could find my car.
“Can Brennan watch?” She squeezed my dick.
I gasped, looking for flashing lights. There. “That’s up to Brennan.”
“Whatever you want, Grace,” Brennan assured, trying to keep stride with me.
Using my phone to unlock it, I found my key fob in the glove box.
“Grace, sit in the back with Brennan, okay?” I put her in the back and buckled her. Brennan climbed in. I didn’t wait for him to put on his seatbelt before I sped out of the garage.
“Mmmm, where’s my fidget toy?” Grace murmured, leaning over to kiss him.