~ * ~
Conner put his phone off speaker and held it up to his ear.
"You still there, Dom? Did you get all of that?"
"Yeah, I'm here, bro. That poor kid. I can feel Adele's pain from here, man."
Conner heard the ache in his brother's voice. The mating bond must be a strong one if it allowed mates to feel each other's emotions like that. Conner had been paying close attention to his brother and Adele, trying to learn all he could. He was hoping he'd start having dreams soon. Surely his mate would be turning twenty-one soon. He was getting close to his twenty fourth birthday now. He didn't like the idea of a huge age gap, but more importantly he was impatient to meet his mate and start courting her. His brother's voice pulled him from his thoughts.
"How's Adele looking? Do I need to come over there?"
Conner was the current 'guard-cat' on duty; he'd rung his brother as soon as he heard Kelly wake up. He'd put his brother on speakerphone so he could hear the conversation between the girls without Conner needing to relay it all later. He hated relaying conversations. A speakerphone was so much easier--and he couldn't get in trouble for getting things wrong.
He quietly poked his head through the doorway to see what was going on then pulled back out of view before speaking again. He didn't want to disturb either of the girls.
"Adele is on the bed with Kelly, looks like the poor kid has fallen back asleep. Adele's stroking her hair and humming to her. Adele could probably use someone to talk to, and you know I suck at this stuff. You probably should high-tail it over here."
Dom chuckled at him, his brother knew him better than anyone, knew how awkward he was around emotional people, especially woman.
"You'd be fine, Conner, but I'll head over. I have to finish up here. See you soon."
"Cool, see you then."
Conner ended the call, rested his head back against the wall and let thoughts of finding his own mate take him away.
~ * ~
Dominic had been in the office with his Dad drawing up the rosters for the next month when he received Conner's call. As he hung up, he felt his father's gaze. He slipped his phone onto the desk and scrubbed at his face with both hands. What should he do now? Had he and Adele cemented their relationship enough for this test? He really wasn't sure. He hated feeling like this. He was the cool calm one, the one who planned everything out. Suddenly, he felt out of control, nothing was planned and the few things that were, weren't panning out. The fact his mind, body, and soul were all constantly burning to claim his mate did not help matters.
"Stop thinking so hard son, I can hear your wheels turning from over here."
Dominic dropped his hands to his knees and looked up at his Dad with a frown.
"Kelly. She woke up. She's awake." Dominic felt like a tool for not being able to construct a better sentence for his Dad, but his brain was just so busy with everything, he wasn't in the mood for wasting time on grammar.
"Ahh, so the young lass is awake and I'm guessing the lovely Adele was there for the occasion? And you're little brother was playing spy for you?" his Dad said with a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk.
"Hardly spying, Dad, Conner's on guard duty and you know as well as I do he hates having to remember stuff so he can relay it. He chucked me on speaker phone so I could hear everything that was said."
Dominic couldn't stop the shudder that ran through him at the memory of what Kelly had told Adele.
"Care to share with your old man what was said? Don't think I didn't see that shudder that just went through you, son."
Dominic took a couple of minutes to fill his Dad in on the details.
"Well, son, looks like your mate is going to be mighty busy real soon. Why don't you see if Adele will come over to the house for dinner tonight? Your mother has something she wants to discuss with her."
Dominic raised an eyebrow at his father. What was his mother up too this time?
"What's Mum planning? Should I be worried? Or scared?"
Jake barked out a laugh.
"Neither, son, nothing to worry about or be scared of. She's been thinking about the care of young Kelly. You know, since she stepped back from full time teaching last year, she's been looking for something to fill her time? Well, she's thinking about tutoring. She was hoping Adele would let her help get Kelly up to speed and into school, which, I suspect might take some doing. Doesn't sound like she's been out in the world much, if you know what I mean."
Dominic couldn't help but chuckle. "Trust Mum. Neither Adele or me had even thought about that side of looking after Kelly. I'll do my best to get her away from the hospital for dinner. With Kelly awake, it's probably going to be harder than ever."
"I'm sure you'll manage, son. Now, I heard you say you'd be heading over there. You better get a move on. I'll finish up the roster and get it out to everyone."