Page 97 of Played By Design

My nose wrinkles.

William eats another with a happy hum.

Then another.

Ash folds his empty BLT wrapper into a neat square. “You’re a trash panda, you know that?”

William keeps eating. “And you’re the guy who steals everyone’s leftovers even though Rowan keeps a stocked kitchen.”

Ash’s fingers twitch with irritation. “Food shouldn’t be wasted.”

“Your Alpha keeps your kitchen stocked for the apocalypse.”

“That doesn’t mean I should throw away good food.”

William abandons the fries and reaches for the pile of rejected pickles on my burger wrapper.

My lip curls.

He pauses with one halfway to his mouth. “What?”

I shudder. “Don’t be gross.”

He eats one.

My stomach rolls, and I turn away.

“Trash. Panda,” Ash enunciates.

Their conversation fades to a background buzz as my world narrows to the man in the bed.

Kain’s eyelids flutter.

I lunge forward to grab the bed rail, the workbook sliding from my lap to the floor. “Kain?”

His chest hitches, and his fingers twitch on the blanket. The monitor’s steady beep doesn’t change, but his breathing does, deepening from a shallow, drugged rhythm into a real, conscious breath.

“Hey.” I plant a foot on the bottom of the frame and lean over the railing. “Kain, it’s Reef.”

His eyelids lift halfway, pupils wide and unfocused from the medication. He blinks, once, twice, before finding me.

“Bunny.” His throat gives a dry click, and he swallows. “Wha…?”

I start to climb over, before I remember I shouldn’t and drop my foot back to the bed frame. “You got mugged outside Stackers. Do you remember?”

“No…” He lifts his bandaged hand toward his face.

I catch his wrist before he can touch the gauze. “Don’t. You’ve got an IV.”

His fingers curl around mine. The pressure is faint, a ghost of his usual strength, but it’s there.

The door opens, and Orien slips in without a sound. Rowan appears behind him, his broad shoulders filling the frame. He stays there, one hand braced on the jamb, his dark hazel eyes assessing Kain’s injuries.

Orien moves to the foot of the bed. “How bad?”

“Concussion and bruised ribs,” William reports while Kain struggles to focus. “They’re keeping him overnight for observation.”

Rowan’s jaw tightens, and he touches Ash’s shoulder. The Omega rises, and the two men disappear into the hallway.