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“It’s like a fucking clown car,” Grayson growls, as Leo’s elbow catches him in the chest. “Be still.”

Gideon doesn’t relax a single iota on the drive after that, muttering about all the ways he’ll disembowel the driver if he doesn’t hurry the fuck up. It doesn’t matter that the driver can’t hear him over the radio and Jay’s chatter, as Gideon’s intent is clear. No amount of jovial small talk eases the tense situation, and he wastes no time in peeling out of the Residence Inn parking lot after he’s dropped them off.

“Don’t start,” Gideon snaps, and stalks toward the side door of the lot without even being told where his babies are, dragging a suitcase behind him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

When they get to the room, which Jay is relieved faces the parking lot rather than the open field in the rear, he uses his knuckles to tap out the Sentinel security code that Logan insisted they learn.

Rowan opens the door as if he’d been waiting on the other side the entire time. Falling on the bags of food as soon as Finn places them on the table, he digs through the bags of hamburgers and french fries from the food court, searching for just the right thing.

“Sugar!” Luca throws himself into Gideon’s waiting arms.

The alpha wastes no time in covering his soulmate in an excess amount of thunder and lightning, setting the beta into a scent-drunk swoon.

Nix is next, and Gideon visibly relaxes when they smell more like himthan the stale motel, despite them being fresh from the shower.

Even the resistant Rowan gets scented, and the youngest returns the favor by adding his wrist to the side of Gideon’s neck.

When Grayson is finally allowed to hold his soulmate, he adds his basil-vanilla to the familiar shower-fresh scent of body wash and Gideon’s petrichor.

Color comes back into his cheeks almost immediately as he crisscrosses his legs and puts Nix’s butt in the cradle of his thighs, drinking his ginger ale and eating the occasional french fry from a bag on the nightstand. No doubt Grayson had been away from his soulmate for far too long.

Next time, Jay will risk Rowan riding with Gideon instead, and may they both survive. Broken Bond Syndrome is no joke.

“When are we going to talk about how Carnell was trying to fucking abduct Nix in a creepy white van?” Rowan asks, offering the food he’d taken from the bags to Nix like he’d hunted in the wilds of the Florida swamp for it himself.

Whatever the criteria had been during Rowan’s search was lost on Jay, as they all smell and look the same to him.

“Thank you, Rowan,” Nix whispers with a smile and eye contact, and opens his burger himself. He accepts the fries Rowan feeds him like a baby bird, while Rowan just watches him chew, taking none of the fries for himself until Nix is done.

When their omega is finished, he offers the last half of his second burger to Rowan in return. It’s a weird food thing that no one has asked about, and therefore no one has explained, but it makes Jay’s wolf proud of his baby enigma for some unknown reason.

“I don’t know what to tell you. I’m glad we’re safe right now, though. Leo, avoid the lobby; our desk clerk is an LRH fan. Nice guy, but…”

Alex had been nothing but accommodating, but they want to reduce the chance he’ll post about it on socials.

Not for the first time, Jay wishes he could text their PR manager, Margot, and give her the heads up.

Jay eats three burgers and a handful of Gideon’s fries, sitting on the floorbetween Gideon’s knees. He’s enjoying his mate’s hand on his neck, and even though the hand is just resting there and not moving, Jay can feel the heat of Gideon’s simmering anger through his palm.

“We should think about where we’re going after this, with no phone, no car, and nowhere to stay. We are sitting ducks like this. That door isn’t keeping anyone out,” Finn mutters from his supine position on the bed, eyes closed, and a tiny frown between his eyes.

He isn’t wrong.

The no phone thing was the biggest hurdle right now, with no way to contact anyone at Sentinel or even Lauren. His cash would only go so far, and even if he had to use ID to get one, he should try to replace his phone. It would be worth the risk to call in reinforcements, he’d just have to separate himself from the pack for safety. Maybe he could do that in the morning.

Jay winces at his hubris in thinking Carnell wouldn’t have known they were coming, and that Jay hadn’t given one iota of thought to a Plan B.

“Don’t sweat it,” Nix says like he can read Jay’s mind. “I called Lauren from the police station. Officer Ted was so nice to let me use his phone, don’t you think?” Nix says, with his perfect mouth puckered up around his chocolate milk straw, as Rowan growls at the mention of the enamored human. “Good thing she made me memorize her number before we left. I mean, who knows anyone’s number anymore? I don’t even know my own. Luc, do you know your number?”

Wait. Seven sets of eyes turn to Nix.

He rolls his eyes. “What? She said she’ll send a car tomorrow. New digs, too. We need to ‘lie low, stay off-grid.’” Nix mimics Lauren’s clipped tones perfectly. “Leo, your moms are the coolest. I mean, Frankie knit those really cute baby sweaters, and Lauren worked for the CIA before you were born. So cool. Do you think I could be a spy?” He asks, making “guns” with his fingers. He leans all the way forward to get the last French fry Rowan had been offering, but has slipped out of range with his surprise.

Leo attempts to sit heavily on the edge of the couch but misses and slides directly onto the floor. “She what?” he asks faintly.

Yes, that…shewhat?