“How will this work? Like, what do I have to ask permission for?”
Lucan walked in from the kitchen and sat down on the couch where his feet were, and put a warm hand on Sando’s ankle. “I don’t think you need our permission for anything, kitten. You’re a free man. All we ask is that you’re honest with us and talk to us.”
Sando swallowed. “That’s a lot of freedom.”
“Nothing more than you had before your father came back. Your grandfather, I mean.”
“But I didn’t know it at the time. I was in shock, and just when I was starting to realize how happy I was of being free, he came back. Now it’s different. And what about Lidon? He’s still my alpha guardian, so do I need his permission for anything?”
Lucan and Maz made eye contact. “I wouldn’t disturb Lidon right now, kitten. Palani is declining fast, and they need to spend their last bit of time together,” Maz said quietly. “So if you want to ask someone other than me or Lucan, ask Bray or Kean. They’re in charge of the pack now.”
Thinking of Palani filled him with sadness. He’d been nothing but nice to Sando. They all had been. When he’d shown up out of the blue, they’d welcomed him with open arms, and not once had they made him feel like a bother or a nuisance.
“It makes me so sad.” He sighed.
The alpha wrapped his arm around him tightly and kissed his head. “I know, kitten. It’s not fair. He didn’t deserve this, and neither did his men and their son.”
Sando leaned into his embrace. “Life isn’t about fairness. It’s random. We want to attribute reasons to events, humanize bad things that happen, like it’s personal, but it’s not. It’s nature. Cause and effect on a molecular level that has nothing to do with whether you’re a good person or not. Palani having a brain tumor is a matter of his body having the predisposition for it…and then his cells going haywire. The scientific equivalent of bad luck… But it still sucks.”
Maz’s smile was sweet and full of sorrow at the same time. “That, it does.”
10
A gray cloud hung over the pack, causing them to speak in low murmurs and hushed tones. No laughter rose, no jokes were heard. People trudged around, their faces tight and withdrawn. Even the babies were subdued, barely making a sound. Everyone knew. Palani was dying.
They’d closed the clinic, even for emergencies, and Maz was in his room with Lucan and Sando. The little omega had slowly recovered from his exhaustion, and they’d picked up all his research from his grandfather’s cottage and had put it back into Sando’s old room in the clinic. But even Sando, who usually had to be pried away from his work with a crow bar, was in no mood to work.
All they did was hang out, snuggle, kiss. Maz and Lucan hadn’t even had sex since Sando had moved back into their room, but the weird thing was that they didn’t miss it. Maz’s sex drive was gone, depleted in a way he’d never experienced before. He wasn’t tired so much as in that he wanted to sleep, but he just needed to be with his men, feel them, know they were alive and near him. Nothing else mattered.
And so they spent time in their room, chatting and cuddling. Sando had shared stories about growing up, and Maz sensed that he needed to talk about his past as part of his process to understand and come to terms with everything that had happened. But he’d asked questions too, and Maz and Lucan had talked about their experiences when growing up, in school, and in college. Maz had told Sando about his parents and how much they had fought, and Sando’s sadness for him had been palpable. He had such a tender heart, even if it was still finding its way in his new reality.
“We should get some sleep,” Lucan said late that night.
Maz checked the clock—just before midnight. “I’m not tired, but I feel antsy, restless.” He didn’t say it, but he suspected it was the anticipation of bad news. How could they go to sleep now?
“It’s a full moon,” Sando said.
“So?”
“A full moon affects us.”
“That’s a surprising statement from a scientist like you.”
“Why? The influence of the moon on various natural phenomena is well documented, like on the tides, planting and harvesting of crops, and more.