Page 169 of My Unhinged Alphas
I don’t even care. I throw my arms around him.
It’s not careful. It’s not thought through. I just do it. I feel him go still for half a second in surprise, then let out a breath that sounds like pain and relief getting tangled together.
“Sorry,” I say immediately, loosening enough not to crush whatever’s already broken.
“You should be,” he mutters. “That hurt.”
But there’s no edge in it.
I shut the door fast and lock it behind them while Knox gets him to the bed. Havoc helps lower him down with surprising care, then steps back and rolls his shoulder like he’s worked harder than he wants to admit.
“Sit,” Knox tells Vale.
Vale gives him a look with his one good eye. “Excellent suggestion. Was planning a jog.”
Knox doesn’t react. He’s already opening the medical kit from under the sink like he knew exactly where everything was before he came in. Maybe he did. Maybe men like him always know where the exits, the weapons, and the bandages are.
Havoc leans against the dresser, breathing a little harder than usual, trying to look normal. He doesn’t say anything about the fact that I’m still standing exactly where they left me.
Neither does Knox.
But I notice both of them notice. I didn’t leave.
Something eases in the room because of that, just for a second. Not enough to call it comfort. Enough to feel.
Knox kneels in front of Vale with the kit and starts working.
Vale hisses when antiseptic hits skin. “You enjoy this too much.”
“No,” Knox says. “You just make it difficult to stay polite.”
I move closer before I realize I’m doing it. “How bad is it?”
Knox doesn’t look up. “Concussion, maybe mild if he’s lucky. Bruised ribs. Wrist’s ugly but not broken. He’ll live.”
“That glowing bedside manner again,” Vale mutters.
Havoc’s mouth twitches. “You look awful, if that helps.”
Vale lifts his good eye toward him. “You always know what to say.”
I look between all three of them and then back at Vale. “Who did it?”
That quiets the room.
Knox keeps working but slower now, listening.
Vale stares at the carpet for a second, then says, “I didn’t see him.”
My chest tightens. “But?” I ask.
He exhales through his nose, one hand braced on the mattress while Knox tapes gauze over the worst cut. “I heard his voice.”
No one says anything.
Vale looks up then, straight at Knox first, then at Havoc, then finally at me. “I think it was my father.”
The words sit there for a second without meaning anything.
