than wolves in it?”
“No,” Logan confessed. “And I’m pretty sure I’m in over my head.”
“Figured that out already, did you?” Vaughn gave his shoulder a squeeze and a little shake.
“How the hell do you do this? I tried for years to avoid it, and now…”
“Welcome to alphahood, my friend. You want my best advice?”
“Yes.” Logan hoped he didn’t sound too desperate.
Vaughn grinned and gestured with his head toward Bailey’s room. “Listen to your mate, and trust your instincts. It’s really that simple. And I’ll be here if you need help.”
“Thanks, Dr. Jerrick.”
“No worries. I’ll move Gideon in with Bailey once his transfusion is done. It’ll help your wolf settle if they’re in the same room. I’m going to go check on my other patients now that the excitement has died down.”
Vaughn went down the hall and disappeared around the corner. Logan hoped that one day he’d have everything as together as Vaughn did. He exuded calm strength, and even though most alphas made Logan’s skin crawl, he didn’t get any negative feelings around Vaughn at all.
The door to Bailey’s room opened, and Scout poked his head out. “Hey. They’re getting restless.”
“I’ll be in soon. Come here a sec.”
Scout slipped out of the room and closed the door behind him. “What’s up?”
“You did good today,” Logan said. He grabbed Scout’s neck and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You thought on your feet and took care of the pack.”
“Thanks,” Scout said. “It freaked me out seeing Gideon down. He reminds me of my brother-in-law, Andvari.”
“But you didn’t lose your cool. That’s impressive, Scout. I’m proud of you. Why don’t you see if you can track down some coffee or something for our human pack. I think they could use a pick-me-up.”
“I can do that. Back in a few.”
Scout scampered away, and Logan ran his hand over his hair. What a day. He wanted to get back to Bailey and the others, but he needed another minute.
Vice headed down the hall and stopped at his side. “Solomon came and got Norman. We’ll have to talk to Jamal since his case just took a major turn and he’ll have a missing cop to handle as well.”
“How did we miss it, Vice?”
“Not sure yet. Solomon will find out. A lot of magic shit is going down right now, but we’re figuring it out as we go. We appreciate your help, even if my alpha hasn’t said so himself.”
“Keep me posted. We’re missing something. According to Taj, Norman shouldn’t have been able to shield himself from us. And he used runes early on. I’m guessing once he knew Jamal had brought in other supes to help, he stopped using them.”
“He would have drawn our attention by using magic,” Vice said. “Since he was involved in the investigation, it made it easy for him to stay one step ahead of you. But he also managed to stay one step ahead of us, which tells me the word is out that we’re spread too thin.”
“My team is here to help,” Logan added. “Call and we’re there.”
“I’ll let Solomon know.”
Vice left the clinic, and Logan went back to Bailey’s room. His mate had his eyes closed, but he opened them the moment Logan entered. “Hey.”
“Feeling better?” Logan asked.
“No. Just kinda stoned. I told Ben not to knock me out. How’s Gideon?”
“Better. He’ll be in here soon.”
“Good. He needs us.”
Logan took Bailey’s hand in his before leaning over the bed and brushing his lips across Bailey’s forehead. “You should rest.”
“We’re gonna have so many questions to answer,” Bailey whispered.
Of course, all his friends clearly heard him. They might be human, but they hadn’t taken their eyes off Logan from the moment he reentered the room.
“I know.”
“We got him, Logan. Didn’t we?”
“We did. He won’t hurt anyone ever again.”
Bailey blew out a breath.
“That trick with the perfume stuff, that was good.”
“I mean, we all kinda stink now, but yeah.”
“We do not stink,” Ashley protested. “Quit saying I stink.”
“Ashley,” Logan said, turning to face her, “you stink.”
Then he grinned when she smacked him in the arm and scooted onto the bed beside Bailey. “Do not.”
“It’s not horrible in small doses, but you have to admit, the whole bottle is too much.”
“Fair point. When are you going to answer those questions?”
Logan shrugged. “When we get home.”
Bailey made a face and turned his head to the side, as if listening to something Logan couldn’t hear. A second later, he smiled and reached for his ear, then with a laugh, pulled out an earbud.
“The oracle