The Strength of the Pack (Suncoast Society #30)(77)

He sat up and spotted his phone, plugged in and charging, on the dresser. He hurried over to it and picked it up, finding it fully charged.

It was 3:17 in the afternoon. “Holy crap, why did you let me sleep this long?”

“Dude,” she said, “Cherise is there with him.” She pointed behind her, at the bedside table. “And my phone is on and loud.”

It vibrated against the table. She looked over at it. “Okay, well, f*ck.” She sat up and grabbed it. “False alarm, it’s Leigh, asking how things are.” She scrolled through her messages, then made a point of switching the ringer back on and showing him. “No calls from Cherise.”

He called her.

“He’s fine, bro,” Cherise said by way of answering.

He slumped onto the end of the bed. “Really?”

“Really really. The doctors came by to check on him just a few minutes ago. They’re talking about taking the feeding tube out in a couple of days. How’s Eva?”

“I haven’t called yet.”

“Then text me when you find out. Make sure to get a shower and food. Tilly said you didn’t eat before you crashed.”

He glanced over at Tilly. She’d flopped back down onto the bed again, eyes closed. Like that, she looked vulnerable, aged.

Exhausted.

“I didn’t,” he said.

“Okay. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” He hung up and stared at his phone.

“Peanut doing okay?” Tilly asked.

“Yeah.”

She peeled her eyes open again. “She’s fine, or we would have heard something. Call Leo and find out.”

He did, but it was Eva’s who answered after the third ring. “Nate?” She sounded weak, in pain.

“Baby, I love you so much.” He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as tears rolled down his cheeks again. Relief, this time.

“I love you, too. How’s the baby?”

“He’s good. I just woke up and talked to Cherise.”

“I’m sorry, Sir,” she said. “They had to do a—”

“Shh. Stop. It’s okay. Tilly already told me.” He struggled to pull himself together, to at least sound like a damned Master. “You’re alive, and that’s all that matters. You’re alive, the baby’s alive, and you are my good girl. You didn’t do anything wrong. Is Leo there?”

It sounded like she was crying. “Yeah. Yes, Sir.”

“Let me talk to him.”

He heard her pass the phone off. “Hold on,” Leo said. It sounded like he walked out of wherever it was, probably away from her so he could talk without her overhearing. “Yeah.”

“How is she?”

“Upset and in a lot of pain. Jesse and I have been trying to tell her nobody blames her for this, but you know how she is.”

“Yeah. How long does she have to stay in there?”

“They might move her out of the ICU tonight if we can keep her calm and keep her O2 levels up. She keeps getting upset, and that trips the monitor alarm, and then we have to calm her down. She lost a lot of blood and they’re worried about potential blood clots and infection, too.”

“But…” He couldn’t finish.

“The doctors insist that everything looks promising. You know how they are, they won’t give you assurances. Other than possible complications, so far, so good. It’ll be at least a couple of days before they think about discharging her. We’ve been told probably a week.”

He felt a tap on his shoulder. Tilly had a wad of tissues in her hand.

He took them, nodding thanks to her. “Leo, I…thank—”

“You’re pack, Nate,” Leo quietly said. “She is, you are, and now the baby. You don’t have to thank me. You’d be here if this was Jesse, I know you would.”

“Yeah.” He absolutely would. He felt the tag on his necklace under his shirt, against his chest.

“You’re my brother,” Leo said. “Yes, I love her. I always will. You don’t know how grateful I am that you came into our lives. And that baby up there, I consider him our baby, not just yours. He’s my son, Jesse’s son, her son, your son. Just like I consider Laurel your daughter and Jesse’s daughter. Blood is irrelevant. We can’t do this shit alone. We need the strength of the pack, especially right now. I don’t care that I’m a Master, I’m not too proud to admit I can’t do this alone.”

Nate lost it, covering his eyes with his spare hand, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed. “I can’t do this alone,” he choked out. “I was so scared last night. I’m still scared.”

He felt Tilly move, holding him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him against her as he cried into the phone.

Leo’s voice gentled. “You’re not alone, I promise. And you’ve got Tilly and Cherise up there. Lean on them. Lean on all of us. That’s what pack is for. That’s why we’re better than a family. We’re all here because we want to be here, not because we have to be by blood.”

“Please take care of her, Leo,” Nate said.

“We’ll take care of our girl, and you take care of our son.”

“I love you, Leo.”