Linus nearly balked when he was assigning tasks to each of the band members to complete during their brief stop over in the small farming community of Brinegrasp. He hadn’t been able to banish the images of a glowing, pregnant Skye for days now after seeing him with children at Athelney and even now, they surfaced unbidden in his mind. The last thing he wanted was to invite his mind to conjure up even more images by accompanying the omega, but he was his mate, so the task fell to him. The very fact that thought didn’t alarm him as much as it did the first time was, in itself, alarming. Thankfully, so far, the only ones who had visited their makeshift clinic on the village Millvalley were all beyond their teenage years. They were a cautious lot here, mostly untrusting of strangers, and Linus didn’t blame them. Brinegrasp was technically counted in the

 Linus stretched having just awoken.The sounds of quiet activity greeted his ears as the early risers set about organizing breakfast. The distinct sound of Urkane snoring quietly off to the left and the faint light tickling his eyelids suggested it was still too early to be up just yet.He stretched again, working out more of his muscles but stopped at a sleepy protest beside him.Glancing down showed Skye curled up on the sheepskin, eyes closed with a frown on his face as he tried to move back into his place against Linus’s chest.The alpha smiled at the image, feeling oddly warm at the unconscious desire to be close to him that his mate showed.They had curled up together early the evening prior, Linus deciding that maybe the comfort of the soft wool under his cheek wasn’t such a bad thing. Skye had certainly seemed to find comfort in it, which was exactly what the devastated omega needed af

 Skye frowned down at his charge as he reached out with his healing to assess how the wound was doing.The few hours he had rested brought little change to the alpha, other than a heightened fever, but that wasn’t unusual.The body could take a long time on its own and Dyllen was still too weak to heal again.Brite had kept a cold compress across Dyllen’s forehead and a sharp eye on his features, looking for any of the tell-tale signs that he was deteriorating, but so far, he had remained stable. That was a plus, at least.The biggest problem now was that all they could do was wait.In the past, when he was training in Aldea, he would have other patients or some task that needed his attention to occupy his time. Now though, they were all stuck until Dyllen was well enough to be moved and that would be at least another day or two.No one seemed to mind, other than Caige who keeps mak

 Dyllen’s fever broke that night.It had gotten worse during the afternoon, to the point that Skye was truly fearing for the alpha, but thankfully, he pulled through. For the first time since that morning, he slept peacefully, undisturbed by lucid dreams.He had healed the wound further as well, so it looked like Dyllen might finally be in the clear. Of course, they couldn’t be fully certain until the wound healed all the way but the omega was feeling confident now.Only once he had told the rest of the band, watching them visibly relax bit by bit, did he realize just how tense they had been under the façade of normality. He had been too stressed himself to notice.The omega was changing the bandage on the alpha’s thigh, gently pressing in a healing compress to help his body along while keeping the wound infection free, when a gravelly voice interrupted him.“Fuck that hurts,&rdqu

 Linus didn’t reply, only gave Dyllen a look that told him he thought he was being stupid.It would take a lot more than him scolding him for being an idiot to get through that thick skull, especially after what had happened to him in the past.Dyllen had to nearly die to even begin to accept Skye, what would it take to get him to believe he was worth more than dirt?Although Skye’s sudden anger and backbone towards Dyllen would go a long way to earning his respect.Companionable silence fell over them and Linus took a moment to enjoy the soft breeze ruffling through his hair. The easy banter of the band, the laughter and jokes made a nice backdrop for their travels.While it was possible to have a private conversation on the road, it was rare that anyone chose to and as such, someone was always butting in. It made their travels far more interesting and fun though, a far cry from his time as a