covered, but that was it.”
Lucan waved at Sivney, who was walking up to the clinic’s entrance, then used his keycard to get in. “Am I interrupting anything?” the omega asked, his eyes twinkling.
“I usually prefer a little more privacy for sex than this area where everyone can see us,” Maz said dryly, and Lucan snorted.
“With this pack, you never know,” Sivney said, and god knew he wasn’t wrong. Lucan couldn’t even count the number of times he’d walked in on someone having sex somewhere in plain sight.
“What’s up?” Maz asked.
“Does the name Luciana mean anything to you?”
Lucan and Maz looked at each other, then shook their head. “No,” Maz said. “Should it?”
“Professor Melloni was highly agitated this morning, and he kept asking for Luciana. Yitro finally managed to calm him down, but when I stopped by, he asked me to check with you if you knew who that was.”
“I’ll ask Sando.”
“How is he doing?”
“Better. He was exhausted, so he’s been sleeping a lot. And Lucan has been practically stuffing him with healthy food.” Maz winked at Lucan.
“Dude, his sandwiches are legendary on the ranch, so don’t you go knocking his skills,” Sivney said, and Lucan laughed. The omega had such utter disregard for status it was hilarious and amazing at the same time.
Maz held up his hands. “I wasn’t complaining.”
“Good. Now, you said you wanted to ask me something as well?” Sivney asked Lucan.
“Yes. Do you think Naran would be willing to investigate Sando’s birth mother?”
Sivney frowned. “Sando was adopted?”
“We don’t know. His father has made some cryptic remarks that made him doubt whether he was his biological father, and he’s mentioned him having a mother who is supposedly deceased. But he’s always refused to talk about it, and with his mind slipping away, now seemed like the right time to see what Naran might be able to find out.”
Sivney had listened intently to Lucan’s explanation, and now he nodded. “I’m sure he’d be happy to. In fact, he may already know some things, since Lidon and Palani initially hired him to find Professor Melloni. He must have dug into his background back then.”
Lucan’s mouth dropped open. Why had they never thought of this? God, how stupid.
“I can’t believe we didn’t think of that.” Maz looked as shocked as Lucan.
Sivney squeezed Lucan’s shoulder. “It’s hard when you’re too close to the situation and even harder when you can’t be open about it. If I’d known Sando had questions about his paternity, I would’ve asked Naran weeks ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Lucan said automatically, but Sivney gently shook his head.
“Don’t apologize. These things have a way of working out at the time they’re supposed to. I don’t know all the details of what happened, but my guess is that a few weeks ago, Sando wouldn’t have been ready to walk away from his father. He wouldn’t have been ready for the truth either, whatever that truth is.”
Lucan shared another look with Maz. “True,” Lucan said with a sigh. “But it’s hard not to feel stupid that we didn’t even think of it.”
“He had to walk his own path, follow his own journey. If you force someone to come to you, they’ll end up running away again. It had to be his decision, his choice…and now it is.”
Lucan smiled, then said to Maz, “You weren’t kidding about him dispensing wisdom.”
Sivney’s cheeks grew red, and Lucan loved it. “Shut up, you two,” the omega said, but his words held no force.
Thump. Startled, Lucan spun around. A dazed Sando stood in front of the clinic, rubbing his forehead. What the hell had happened?
“I think he forgot to open the door before trying to walk through it,” Sivney said, then put his hand in front of his mouth and hid his laughter.
“That’s entirely possible.” Maz hurried over to the entrance and opened the door for Sando. “What happened, kitten? Did you hit your head?”
“The door was closed,” Sando mumbled, and Lucan suppressed a smile.
Maz examined Sando’s head, then pressed a soft kiss on what had to be the sore spot. “You may get a little bump. You should be more careful with that brain of yours, kitten. And with the outside because we quite like that too.”
Sando gazed up at Maz with pure adoration. “Sorry? I’ll try.”
Maz pulled him close for another kiss on the top of his head. “I know, kitten.”
He gently led him to where Lucan and Sivney stood. “Hi,” Sando said sheepishly. “I was awake and wanted to see you, so I thought I’d