After the bus incident, Morris signed Jaysan up to begin driving lessons so he could transport himself around town. He’d inherited the car Brody and Morgan had shared, and it hadn’t been driven since, so Morris arranged for it to get inspected and be ready for his omega to drive. No more Nosey Neds upsetting Jaysan like that.

Plus, getting around with a baby was easier with his own car, rather than relying on taxis or rides from his friends, because Jaysan had sworn off the bus.

The last day of the work week, Morris woke up with Jaysan snuggled against him, his face practically in Morris’s armpit. They both only wore boxers—Morris wouldn’t have minded sleeping naked, but it was easier in case they had to check on Aeron—and Morris’s morning wood tented the bedsheet. He watched Jaysan sleep and marveled at the life he had now and how precious it was.

Something was different, though. Jaysan seemed warmer than usual, but that wasn’t the only thing. It took him a moment to put his nose on it: Jaysan’s scent had changed. Strengthened with an added sweetness Morris didn’t recognize.

Goddess, is his heat starting?

“Jaysan?” He nudged his mate’s shoulder. “Wake up. Angel?”

Jaysan mumbled and tried to bury deeper into Morris’s body. Morris eased away, and the broken contact woke Jaysan up fully. He blinked bleary eyes at Morris, then grimaced. Pressed a hand against his abdomen an instant before Jaysan grinned. “I’m going into heat,” he said.

Morris whooped, then tackled Jaysan to the mattress. “Oh, this is so exciting. Oh, my gosh, I have to call people. Ronin and Alec need to know. Aeron’s bag is still packed, right?”

“Yes, it is.” Jaysan kissed him hard. “Don’t hurt yourself rushing, we’ve still got time before the first surge hits.”

With another excited whoop, Morris climbed out of bed and hit the upstairs hall phone. Ronin simply congratulated him and said he’d see him next week. Alec wasn’t home from work yet, so Orrin promised to head over and collect Aeron for the weekend. Jaysan emerged from their room with a t-shirt on over his boxers, and he went to get Aeron up and ready—and probably to say goodbye to the little man for the next few days. Morris would, too, when Orrin arrived.

Aeron was in good hands, but this was the longest Morris will have been away from the baby since his parents died.

His adopted parents. Jaysan and I are his parents now.

Papa and Omi.

He tracked Jaysan downstairs to the kitchen, where he had Aeron in the high chair eating mushy baby food and dry cereal. Jaysan had put coffee on, and he kept feeling his forehead.

“Headache?” Morris asked.

“Nah, my temperature goes up by about two degrees during heat. Tracking my progress.”

“So, uh, does it sort of happen all at once?” Morris had taken sex ed in secondary school, so he knew the mechanics and symptoms, but this was his first time witnessing an omega go into heat.

“Yes and no.” Jaysan picked a piece of cereal off the floor and tossed it into the sink. “I can tell it’s coming, because of the fever, and I’m a little achy in my belly because my system is shifting around, my womb is descending. If I ate something, it would probably taste funny. Bland, like unsalted popcorn. But the first surge kind of hits out of nowhere. Insta-erection, the slick starts, and then I’m a ball of hormones.”

“And I’ll know what to do?”

“I should hope so, since we’ve been fucking for a week. The only difference is you’ll stay hard the whole time, like me, and when you come you’ll knot.”

Morris chewed on his bottom lip. “That doesn’t hurt you, right?”

“Goddess, no. All my friends say it’s the most amazing part of heat. Not only being connected so intimately to my alpha, but the knot will press on my prostate until it goes down. The stimulation is actually what creates longer periods of time between the surges.”

“Right.” All that sounded familiar from school. “And you’re positive you want to mate? One knot with no condom?”

“Absolutely positive.” Jaysan put the baby spoon down, stood in front of him and wrapped both arms around Morris’s shoulders. “We’re going to mate soon, Morris Danvers, and I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life.”

Good answer.

Morris kissed him, keeping it clean for the baby, and then started pancake batter. They both needed to eat. Orrin arrived just as Morris flipped the last one onto a plate, and he set them in the oven to stay warm while they said goodbye to Aeron.

“We’ll treat him like a prince,” Orrin said when Morris had a little trouble letting go. “Call whenever you like.”

“Thank you,” Morris replied.

Jaysan gave Aeron’s forehead one last kiss, before Orrin took the baby, carrier, and his packed bag to the car. They both watched from the living room window as their son was driven away for the weekend.

“How is it possible I already miss him?” Jaysan asked.

“I do, too. Come on, let’s eat, okay?”

“Sure.”

Jaysan mostly picked at his pancakes, despite heaping them with butter, syrup and sliced strawberries. Morris made sure he finished one whole pancake before giving up. The taste thing was apparently true, so Morris hoped he could tempt his omega with all the rich food and treats they’d bought to sustain them during the heat.

Once the kitchen was cleaned up, they cuddled up on the couch to watch TV until…well, something happened. After an hour, Jaysan started pacing. Eager pacing, not angry pacing, and it amused Morris to no end. He watched his mate for a few minutes, until Jaysan stopped suddenly, eyes popping wide. His rose petal scent intensified, and the skin on the back of Morris’s neck prickled. His cock swelled. A new, even sweeter scent filled the room.

“Oh, it’s starting,” Jaysan said. “The slick.”

Morris darted off the couch, scooped Jaysan up, and carried him upstairs to their bedroom. Jaysan clung to him, biting and kissing his neck, his erection straining against his boxers. Morris couldn’t believe this was his life. He was about to knot and mate an amazing, strong man he adored.

They kissed each other onto the bed and clothes came off without ceremony. All hands and mouths and limbs and rubbing cocks. Morris wrestled with this new, driving need to be inside Jaysan, to fuck him blind, and allow his first knot to swell. He wanted to get Jaysan off first, to taste his slick, to do so many things other than just rut.

Rutting is good. Rutting is a great idea.

Not yet.

“Need you in me,” Jaysan panted. “Goddess, please.”

“Soon.” Morris dumped his writhing omega onto his back, then swallowed down his cock. Jaysan shouted in his beautifully broken voice. Fingers tangled in Morris’s hair, urging him. Morris licked and sucked, overjoyed that everything about Jaysan was heightened—his taste, his scent, his reactions. Morris lapped up every drop of precome, its sweet and bitter notes as addictive as any drug.

The scent of Jaysan’s slick drew Morris lower. He tilted Jaysan’s legs up and out, spreading him. That lovely pink pucker was now slightly open and leaking clear fluid that smelled like the sweetest nectar, so Morris dipped his head for a taste. His brain exploded a little bit at how delicious and addictive the slick was, so he licked again. And again. He lapped at Jaysan’s hole, pushed his tongue inside, worshipped this spot and its sweet slick, while Jaysan thrashed and babbled encouragement.

Morris could do this forever. Drink down his mate’s essence, make love to his hole, and he mourned that he’d only get this treat every three months. But he had it now, and he tongue-fucked Jaysan into his first orgasm. Semen splattered his chest and neck, and Morris unfolded his body long enough to lick all that up, too.

“Fuck, but you get dirty during heat,” Jaysan said. His pupils were blown, cheeks flushed. “Please, knot me, alpha. Need it. Need you.”

“You’ve got me, angel. Always.”

Jaysan’s heart trilled at the adoration in Morris’s voice. He didn’t remember much about his first heat, mostly the sensation of being fucked and knotted, but none of the emotions. None of the love and lust and joy he felt while Morris worshipped his body. While he drank his slick like it was the most precious wine and drew Jaysan’s first orgasm out of him. While he licked Jaysan’s spend up, not wasting a drop. Every single thing about this heat was special, and he fought hard not to fall into the pheromonal bliss that accompanied heat and surges and instincts.

He wanted to remember it all, especially the emotions.

The love.

Morris grabbed the backs of Jaysan’s knees and pushed his legs back and apart again, bending him in half like he’d done before. Tilting his ready ass into the air. Morris licked from the top of his cleft to the back of his balls once more before lowering Jaysan’s body enough to rest his butt on Morris’s thighs.

Jaysan encouraged him by locking his ankles at Morris’s lower back. “Mate me,” he said.

“Yes.”

The first press of Morris’s cock at his entrance had Jaysan sighing with relief. His slick, loose body allowed Morris’s cock to slide in easily, filling him the way he ached to be filled, until his balls pressed against Jaysan’s ass.

“Oh, goddess,” Morris gasped. His wild eyes met Jaysan’s. “You feel incredible.”

“So do you.” Jaysan clenched and Morris’s eyelashes fluttered. Morris bent over to kiss him. The taste of Jaysan’s own slick and spend, combined with Morris’s unique, basil flavor, nearly had Jaysan coming a second time.

“Love you so much,” Morris said as he began to thrust.

Jaysan nearly wept at the physical sensations. This was everything he never knew he needed from heat sex. No manner of dildo, sex machine or beta’s fist compared to this. To an alpha caging him in, hips driving against his ass cheeks with rough slaps of skin. The drag of a hard cock against his slicked insides, nailing his prostate, milking his own cock for drop after drop of fluid. His skin burned with desire for his mate. To be filled with his seed and joined as one to this man.

“I choose you, alpha,” Jaysan panted between hard thrusts.

“You’re mine, omega.” Morris growled. “Gonna come soon. Show the world you’re mine.”

“Yes.”

Morris gently pulled out and rolled Jaysan onto his hands and knees, which, despite being less personal, was their favorite position. It gave Morris all the control to rut and fuck and drive them both to orgasm, and as he pushed back in, Jaysan sighed. In the haze of heat, his body knew this is where he was supposed to be, giving his alpha his body for his alpha’s pleasure and knot. To open for him and take his seed and be claimed.

He pushed back against Morris’s more frantic thrusts, his own orgasm winking on the horizon, but Jaysan couldn’t raise either hand to stroke himself. Not with Morris practically fucking him into the bed. Jaysan loved seeing the older man so far gone on lust and pheromones that all he knew was the urgent need to come.

Except Morris pried a hand off one hip and reached around to stroke Jaysan’s cock. Jaysan shouted nonsense as he came, coating Morris’s hand and splattering the blanket. Morris kept working him, giving Jaysan his fist to fuck into as Morris kept fucking his hole. For all that heat often made alphas quick to shoot, Morris had amazing stamina.

Maybe it was all the practice sex they’d been having.

“Oh fuck.” Morris slammed home with bruising force before pushing in one last time. He held there and on a soft cry, hot seed filled Jaysan’s passage, marking him as Morris’s mate. Joining them for the rest of their lives.

The knot at the base of Morris’s cock expanded slowly, just inside Jaysan’s rim, a glorious, unrushed pressure inside his ass. When it reached Jaysan’s sensitive gland, his entire body shook with pleasure and completion, and he came a third time with a shout. His passage pulsed around the knot, sending wave after wave of pure sensation through Jaysan’s body, feeding the surge and calming his pheromones for now.

Jaysan shivered with joy as Morris eased his own furry body down, urging Jaysan onto his stomach, their bodies temporarily joined. Morris wrapped his arms around Jaysan and rolled them onto their sides, his back to Morris’s chest. The knot kept Morris’s seed trapped inside for the purposes of ensuring pregnancy, and maybe that would happen. Maybe not.

Either way, they were now officially mates, and Jaysan reveled in that while he dozed. Sated, content, and so deeply in love he almost couldn’t stand it. Even after Morris’s knot went down, his erection remained inside Jaysan, connecting them until the cool air and general stickiness forced them into the shower.

Jaysan was exhausted and barely had the strength to stay upright long enough to rinse off. Morris left him on the toilet, wrapped in a towel, while he dealt with the soiled blanket. When he returned, he picked Jaysan up and carried him into their bedroom. Into a warm, waiting bed where they curled up together.

He loved that no words were necessary. Morris simply knew and he acted, the way a good alpha should. The way a good mate should. As they wrapped their naked bodies around each other to nap, Jaysan could see his future with Morris and their children bright as day. A passel of kids with a mix of Jaysan’s dark hair and Morris’s red. Some with freckles and some without. But all of them loved by Papa and Omi.

And it was a future he’d fight tooth and claw to protect.

They made it through the forty-eight-hour heat with the maximum amount of fucking, and by the end, Morris worried they’d run out of condoms. As much as he loved knotting Jaysan, he simply loved being inside him, moving together, more. During heat, he didn’t have to worry about accidentally hurting Jaysan, because his passage was always slick and loose, ready to be taken.

During heat, they could fuck and allow their baser instincts to lead them.

Morris woke from a doze with Jaysan plastered across his chest, snoring lightly. The alarm clock told him they had maybe two hours left before the heat should end, and that made him sad. Sad he’d have to wait three more months to have this again. But also delighted to know they’d have the rest of their lives to sate themselves four times a year.

He skated his fingers down the curve of Jaysan’s bare ass, then into his wet crease. The combined scents of slick, pheromones, and their come permeated the room, even with the windows slightly cracked. His hard cock pulsed against his stomach, encouraged by the smooth, silky slick on his fingers.

He’d finger-fucked Jaysan several times in the past two days, and he loved how responsive his omega was to it. He had easily taken four of Morris’s fingers, humping them like they were a cock. Jaysan had mentioned fisting had been involved in the beta assistance thing he described last week, and Morris gasped out loud at the sudden mental image of Jaysan taking his fist.

Hot spikes of arousal rolled in his gut. Morris squeezed Jaysan’s ass, and the sharp touch made his omega snuffle. Then he humped into Morris’s hand, his own erection bumping into Morris’s hip. “Time is it?” Jaysan asked.

“Almost eight. We don’t have much time left.”

“Mmm. This has been a perfect dream. Need you.”

Two little words encouraged Morris to slide his hand deeper into Jaysan’s hot crease and brush his sensitive, open hole. Push two fingers inside. Jaysan sighed and kissed his chest. He hooked those fingers to scrape Jaysan’s prostate.

“Oh,” Jaysan said. “More.”

Morris easily worked a third into his body, loving the way skin and muscle stretched to accommodate. Loving the silky slick easing his way. Jaysan climbed onto his body completely so they were chest to chest, his knees on the bed on either side of Morris’s ribs. Opening himself to Morris’s explorations.

They kissed while Morris slowly fucked him with three, then four fingers. Morris wasn’t sure how to ask for what he wanted, or if Jaysan would take offense if he did.

“Wanna see me?” Jaysan asked with a seductive purr he didn’t recognize.

“Yeah.”

After another fierce kiss, Jaysan eased Morris’s fingers out, flipped around so he was facing Morris’s feet, ass presented to Morris’s face, and then guided Morris’s hand back in. Watching four fingers glide in and out of the glistening hole made Morris’s cock twitch and his balls ache. Jaysan lazily jacked him, playing with the foreskin and teasing his balls.

“Use your thumb, too,” Jaysan said, almost too soft to hear.

Blood thundering in his ears, Morris tucked his thumb in with the other four fingers and pushed. Jaysan froze with his hand around the base of Morris’s cock, then let go so he could reach back and spread his cheeks.

“Fuck,” Morris hissed. “Jaysan?”

“Feels amazing. Don’t stop.”

Frantic words from an omega in heat. His inner alpha reared up and demanded he give his omega what he wanted. Morris pressed in, watching Jaysan’s rim stretch wide, white and smooth around his fingers. In a cone shape, his thumb finally pushed through the rim, while his middle finger was inside to the second knuckle.

“Oh, oh, oh,” Jaysan repeated through deep pants of air. “All of it. Oh, please, alpha, please.”

Morris growled his pleasure at the begging. Slick oozed around his hand and dripped down his wrist, and he hated wasting it, but Morris couldn’t stop long enough to lick it up. He couldn’t look away from the sight of his mate’s ass slowly swallowing his entire hand. The final ridge of knuckles pressed to Jaysan’s rim, and Morris paused.

“More,” Jaysan said. “I need it, please. Please.”

Unable to deny his omega this, Morris held his breath and pushed. Jaysan’s shout when his hand popped inside to the wrist might have shaken the house, had Jaysan’s voice been normal. He thrashed and keened, and Morris pressed his free hand against Jaysan’s belly to comfort him. Morris had never done such a thing, never imagined doing such a thing. A flush spread across Jaysan’s back and his shoulders trembled.

Morris didn’t move, waiting for a signal from his mate.

“Feels so…I don’t…oh, fuck yes,” Jaysan sounded drunk, slurring his words. “Fuck meeee….”

Hell yeah.

Morris twisted his wrist a fraction, and Jaysan’s entire body jerked. He pushed forward less than an inch, and Jaysan keened. Then Jaysan came, his ass clenching tight around Morris’s wrist, come drenching Morris’s cock and thighs. He collapsed onto Morris’s legs, chest heaving, and Morris waited. Morris adored this moment, his entire hand inside his very blissed-out omega, and he nearly came himself.

“Angel?” he asked.

“Let’s do this forever,” Jaysan said. “Exactly like this. Guh.”

“Wish we could.” Pride burned in his chest. “Can I knot you once more before it’s over?”

“Yes.”

Morris carefully eased his hand out of Jaysan’s ass, thankful when Jaysan did little more than sigh when the widest part popped out. Since his mate was putty, Morris slid his legs out from beneath Jaysan, leaving him on his stomach. Knees on either side of Jaysan’s knees, Morris rolled on the last condom, then draped himself over his mate. Nudged his cock inside with no resistance. It only took a few strokes for Morris to come. His knot swelled, trapping him in Jaysan as sure as his fist had trapped him only moments ago.

He nuzzled Jaysan’s hair, then licked the shell of his ear. “Thank you for this gift.”

“Thank you back.” Jaysan giggled like a delirious drunk. “You’re perfect.”

“Hardly. We’re both imperfect people, but together? We’re a perfect pair.”

“Hmm. What if we made a baby?”

“Then we’ll love him with our whole hearts. You and me together? We can overcome anything?”

“Yeah. Love you.”

“Love you more, my heart.”

When the heat ended an hour later, they silently showered and dressed, and then went downstairs to eat. But the mood was joyful and positive, so Morris didn’t mind the lack of words. They didn’t always have to speak to understand each other, and that was a rare and precious thing. They were in synch, attuned to each other’s thoughts and needs, and it would only strengthen as a mated couple.

After a fortifying meal of steak and eggs, Jaysan curled up on the couch to nap. Morris called the Jensens to confirm Aeron was ready to be picked up. Since Jaysan was fast asleep, Morris left a note—not really expecting Jaysan to wake before he got home, but it was the polite thing to do—then headed for the car. Time to get the other corner of their triangle and put their happy little family back together again.

The doorbell startled Jaysan into nearly rolling onto the floor. He yawned and stretched, still half-asleep and assuming Morris would get the door. They weren’t expecting anyone, but it could be a neighbor or something.

A second ring forced Jaysan to sit up. He spotted a note on the coffee table and snatched it. Morris was out getting Aeron. Okay, good.

Guess I should answer the door.

Now that his heat—his glorious, wonderful heat spent with his mate—was over, Jaysan was dressed and presentable to others, so he strode to the front door, unlocked and opened it. His brain stuttered, because the person he saw couldn’t actually be on the small porch. Jaysan had never given the man his address.

“I don’t like having to track down what’s mine,” Mikel said in a dark, angry tone.

Jaysan blinked dumbly at him. “What are you talking about? How did you find me?”

“I followed you.”

Alarm bells screeched in Jaysan’s mind. Mikel moved at the same moment he did, and he bullied his way inside before Jaysan could shut the door. “I did not invite you in,” Jaysan snapped, good mood from his heat gone.

Mikel stood in the middle of the living room, nose twitching, outrage twisting his face into something dark and ugly. “You said you’d be my mate.”

“I said I’d think about it.” Jaysan pointed at the open doorway. “Please leave. My new mate is due home any second.”

Please, Morris, please come home now.

“I’m your mate.” Mikel crossed his arms. “I don’t appreciate you ignoring my texts and calls, but I already told my parents about you. They’re expecting us for dinner tomorrow night.”

“Mikel, I have a mate. You can smell it. My heat just ended, and I mated my bondmate. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find another omega.”

Is this how Liam felt when Mancini tried to take him? Goddess, please let Morris come home soon. Please!

“You’ve known me for months, Jaysan. You’ve known this other alpha for a few weeks. My claim trumps his. We had an agreement.”

Jaysan grabbed hold of his temper before he infuriated the annoyed alpha even more and made things worse. “Look, I’m really sorry I didn’t get back to you and say I couldn’t be your mate. That was my fault. I’ll even apologize to your parents, but we can’t undo what’s been done. My mate is filing the paperwork as we speak.”

Mikel’s eyebrows furrowed. “It’s the weekend. The courts aren’t open.”

Damn it. “I’m sorry, but what’s done is done. I’m mated, and I’m happy here with Morris and our son. This is my life now, Mikel. I was wrong not to tell you no sooner, and I own that. But I can’t be your mate. I choose Morris, and I choose a life here with him.”

Devastation and fury battled on Mikel’s face, and his chest began to heave. Jaysan didn’t move from his spot by the door, desperate for a quick exit if Mikel lost his temper and attacked him. But instead of moving toward Jaysan, Mikel stormed into the kitchen. Out of sight.

Jaysan couldn’t risk being trapped by this man, who had never given Jaysan a reason to fear him until recently. Unlike Liam’s situation last year, Jaysan was alone in the house with no child hostages for Mikel to threaten. He could easily leave, go to a neighbor’s house and call the emergency line, but this was his house!

He shouldn’t have to leave.

“Mikel?” His stupid voice didn’t carry very far, so he took two steps deeper into the living room. “Mikel, what are you doing?”

The oddest sound carried from the kitchen to his spot by the front door: a sob. Concerned now, Jaysan crept through the living room, toward the kitchen archway. He could only see the kitchen table, the counter beyond, and part of the dishwasher from his position, but the sobbing became steadily louder. Was Mikel truly that upset?

Jaysan poked his head into the dim kitchen. It had two windows, but with no lights on, details were in shadow. He spotted Mikel standing near the refrigerator with a chef’s knife positioned over his left wrist. The big alpha was staring at the knife, his eyes leaking tears, and the sight shot a bolt of terror through Jaysan’s heart.

“Mikel, what are you doing?” he asked. “Put the knife down.”

“I always fail,” Mikel said, as much to himself as to Jaysan. “I failed at university, I failed at keeping a job, I failed at finding a mate. My sire is going to be so pissed. I can’t stand another beating, I’d rather be dead.”

“What?” Jaysan’s pulse raced double-time, and he took a few more steps toward Mikel, who looked genuinely miserable. Not a man putting on a show to trick Jaysan into agreeing with him. “No, Mikel, there’s always another way. You don’t want to die.”

“You don’t know!” Mikel’s knife hand shifted, and he flinched. Jaysan watched in horror as a thin line of blood welled up on the upset alpha’s wrist. “You’ve got your mate. You have a family to love. I was supposed to have that by now, damn it.”

“I’m so sorry you didn’t get what you wanted, but killing yourself won’t fix anything. Let me try to help you, please. Let me be your friend.” For all Mikel had scared Jaysan two weeks ago, Mikel was the terrified one now, and Jaysan didn’t know what to do beyond get that knife away from him before he really hurt himself.

“It’s too late. Doesn’t matter. I fail at everything. I’d make a shitty friend, too.” He looked up with so much pain in his eyes that Jaysan wanted to cry. “Be happy, okay?”

“Mikel.”

Mikel changed the angle of the knife so it would drag vertically down the length of his entire forearm. The instant more blood bloomed on dark skin, Jaysan ran. He tried to grab Mikel’s right hand with both of his and yank the knife up, away. But their height difference put Mikel’s closed fist at Jaysan’s chest level.

“Leave me alone!” Mikel lashed out, probably using his dominant hand out of instinct, and white fire slashed through Jaysan’s chest. “Oh shit.” Mikel dropped both hands and stared at him in horror.

Jaysan stumbled backward until his hip hit the counter, that unexpected fire making him dizzy and a little nauseated.

“Jaysan!” Morris’s voice boomed through the house.

“Help!” Mikel screamed. “Please, I didn’t mean to!”

The world tilted, and Jaysan slithered to his ass, uncertain what had just happened, or why his shoulder hurt so badly. Morris released a furious snarl. A sound like punching made it through the bizarre hum in Jaysan’s ears. He didn’t understand…

“What the fuck did you do to my mate?” Morris asked in a black tone that hurt Jaysan’s heart. Morris wasn’t a mean person, so this must be serious.

“I swear, it was an accident,” Mikel said. “Oh goddess, no.”

“Call a fucking ambulance, you piece of shit. Who are you?”

“Mikel. I’ll explain, I’m so sorry. I’ll call.”

“What’s going on?” Jaysan asked.

Morris cupped his cheeks in two warm palms. “I’m going to help you lie down, okay? Try not to move too much.”

“Why?”

“Baby, you’ve been stabbed.”

He had? Jaysan looked down, shocked to his core by the sight of a knife handle and several inches of silver poking out of his chest on the right side of his sternum. “Oh.”

“Careful.” Morris eased him away from the counter and onto his back on the chilly tile. Morris leaned forward, then was back, wrapping a hand towel around the knife. “Just stay still until help gets here.”

“Okay.” Jaysan’s chest hurt, but so did talking so he didn’t mention the pain. Morris squeezed his hand, wide, terrified eyes never leaving Jaysan’s. Jaysan tried to tell Morris with his own eyes that it was an accident, that he wasn’t scared, because he knew Morris would take care of Aeron.

Mikel was babbling somewhere, and Morris shut him up with some harsh, barked words. Jaysan simply stared up at Morris’s lovely, freckled face until everything got gray.

Somewhere far, far away, Aeron wailed.