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I let out the breath and knocked.

"Si?" the response came, muffled by the door.

I turned the handle with a shaking hand.

Seeing her on the hospital bed, eyes going from quizzical to fearful, was nothing like when I'd walked into her room under the magic's compulsion, but it didn't matter. I had a flash of that moment, her naked, spread on the bed, undulating and cooing me to come closer.

Then I was back here, in this play gray-blue hospital room, a scared cheetah under rumpled covers. The only thing I wanted to do was run away. I held on to the door handle to stay in place. That was over, I told, myself. A horrible time, but in the past. It wasn't going to happen ever again.

"Can I come in?"

She nodded, clutching the covers as if they were the only thing keeping her in the bed.

She was alone in the room. Max had paid for her to have privacy. I guessed that with the kind of money he had, it was nothing for him to do that. There were roses on the side table, red white and pink.

I pulled the chair from the wall, but didn't move it close to the bed. There was no way I was getting any closer to her than I had to. I sat and tried to arranged my thoughts. I knew what I wanted to say, that it was important she knew, but the words didn't want to come.

"You are taking him from me." Her words were quiet, but hit hard.

"No."

She looked at me suspiciously. Belatedly it hit him that her accent wasn't as strong as I'd expected.

"No," I said softer. "But I am going to be part of his life."

"Maximilian said I will raise him, with Martin."

"He's my son!" I snapped. "Not Martin's!"

She moved away so hard the bed rattled.

I forced my muzzle close, tried to stop my tail from slapping the floor. I took a few breaths. This wasn't her fault, I repeated to myself.

As she settled in her bed I was back there, screaming inside my prison brain while my body moved, but this time her cries of pain from giving birth mixed in with her moans of pleasure.

I forced that aside. Those memories did nothing but interfere with what I had to do now.

"Things have changed," I said as calmly as I was able to. "We will share a house. I haven't even began looking." I sighed, rubbed my face. "I guess for the time being you'll keep living with Tessa, but I think I'll move in with Martin. I'm not staying away from my son." I stopped as I felt the anger trying to slip in my voice.

She looked at me, uncertain. I wanted to ask questions, but I was afraid of knowing too much about her.

"Max told me about what he promised you. A new identity, American citizenship. a trust fund so you could go to school, the freedom to do whatever you want, so long as you take care of my son."

"Edwardo," She said, then caught herself. "Or what you want."

I kept myself from replying. I tried to keep my face neutral, but that didn't work, her fear intensified. I was changing everything on her, Shouldn't I let her keep some control? But Edwardo?

"Why Edwardo?"

"My--" she searched for the word-- "abuelo; My father's father. He was dear to me."

I nodded. A link to her past, probably part of what she'd had to give up for this. "Would you be okay with Edward? Edwardo will make him as being foreign and kids can be vicious."

Cautiously she nodded.

I smiled. Little Eddy, that sounded good. Edward Brislow. That sounded dignified even. "Good. Good." I stood. "Look, I know this isn't what you expected. It isn't what I was either. I will take care of him, and you while you need the help, but I want to make something clear. I'm not your husband. We will not share a bed, or even a room. When you feel able to, I want you to look for a relationship of your own." I paused. "I can't even promise you that we'll be friends. I know you didn't initiate this, but your part in it is embedded in my mind, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgiving you for it. If I'll stop seeing that nightmare anytime I look at you."

She nodded, said something in Spanish and was quiet, looking away.

I left her room and breathed easier.

I headed back to the noise of the baby watchers, except for three older men, all guys I knew admiring my son, Edward. William noticed me and headed in my direction, proffering a Starbuck's cup.

I took the top off and breathed in the wonderful vanilla aroma. "You are His most favorite envoy," I said before taking a sip. When I sighed in contentment, he was giving me this odd little smile I'd caught him giving me every so often. "What?"

He shook his head. "I'd have thought you'd be over decaffeinated by now. With all the excitement."

"You haven't looked at the poor selection the hospital offers."

"You haven't gone looking. These are from the Starbuck by the emergency entrance."

"I've been busy here, fielding questions and keeping the most enthusiastic ones from doing into the room to pick up Eddy."

"That's his name?"

I nodded and smiled. "You're the first one to hear it, so use that currency as you will."

William gave me a knowing smile. "I doubt I'll have long." He took his phone out and turned it toward me. Messages were streaming on a chat app, all about me being a father. The name of the room was 'Denton's Orgies' and it had more than a thousand members.

"Who the fuck started that?"

"No idea. It's been running for a few months now, after some guys complained they hadn't received your latest invite. Back in October I think, yeah, when you announced you were moving and set up that going away orgy."

"I didn't set that up. You guys just started showing up and next thing I knew, we were fucking all over the place."

William smiled. "Your place, your orgy. That's how it works."

"I'm starting to think you created it."

"I know nothing about arranging these kinds of things, I just take advantage of them."

"You and most of the gays in the city it seems. A thousand? Are there even that many in Denver?"

"Oh, a few of them are from outside the city, the state even. Your orgies have gained quite the reputation."

I sighed and drank more of the wonderful coffee. "I'm surprised you aren't bombarding me with questions."

The wolf shrugged. "The only one I have is why, but I figured you'd tell me in your time."

Why, the one question I couldn't answer easily. Not without revealing things William shouldn't know. "You know about my family right? Not the Brislow, the Rasia?"

"Rich, a lot of them died when you were a kid. You mentioned them when you revealed you were rich."

"Well, as part of gaining access to that money, there was a clause about ensuring that family's name continued. I didn't talk about it because I wasn't interested in raising him, but then I met Eddy and..." I smiled.

"That doesn't bode well for the orgies."

"Is sex the only thing you can think about?"

"You're one to talk, mister half a dozen time in an evening."

I grinned. "I'll figure something out. I have the money at least."

"Denton," Tom called, "I have something to show you."

"I guess that's my cue to go see Eddy," William said.

"He's going to be there after this, come with me, having a 'civilian' will keep Tom from going bonkers on me about whatever he found out now."

William chuckled and followed me. He was one of the few guys who'd been put under Tom's microscope who hadn't been intimidated by the hour-long interrogation.

Tom looked at him as he opened the door but said nothing.

"This is someone's office," I said.

"One of the doctor, I wanted a private place for this."

"And what if they need it?"

"I paid them enough they can manage without it for a while."

"I think I really should leave you two alone for this," William said.

"Stay," Tom said. "Maybe you'll see something I missed." He slotted his phone in the desk and a three-dimensional image formed over the surface.

"Wow." I watched as a building materialized, something large, with a gigantic lawn around it. I'd never seen such a resolution on one of these.

"Medical desks have to be high definition because of the kind of stuff doctors have to inspect," Tom said. "So I figure you're going to need a new place, considering the baby. This is an eight-bedroom house, plus a finished basement which included a playroom, it's set up for all sort of entertainment systems, but we both know what you'll be using it for. It's got a restaurant-quality kitchen, two dining rooms, three family rooms, seven bathrooms. It sits on a ten acres of land, which is already fenced in." He zoomed out and marked the periphery. "It's just a plain stone wall, but it's eight feet in height. Putting two feet of barbed wire on top of that will make it nice and secure. The security system is a Wolanton, so that's decent. I'll want to inspect it, see where the cameras are and make sure all the blind spots are covered. I figure a ten men team will be able to keep the house secure, with another patrolling the rest of the land. Might have to thin the woods to ensure no one can easily hide in them, but I expect there's a limit with what we'll be allowed to do, zoning regulations and all that."

The badger looked at me expectantly.

"Okay, what dignitary is coming to town that we need a fortress like this?"

"You missed the start of his spiel, didn't you?" William said.

"I was looking at this."

"Can I?" the wolf asked Tom, indicating the projection. The badger nodded and William manipulated it, bringing the house in focus and removing layers. "It's the Remington estate, isn't it?"

"Yes."

William nodded. "Built in the nineties, designed by Remington herself, before she made it big. My firm tried to get her to design a building for them, but by then her fee was beyond what they were willing to pay. I'm not seeing any changes to the architecture, so it's a solid house, not counting on time taking its toll. I'd need to do an inspection to judge that."

"How much do you charge?"

"I'll have to get back to you on that, I've never done private work."

"Stop. You two are already talking like I've approved this. Tom, what happened while I was here that requires this."

"I'd think it was obvious," Tom replied.

I sighed. "Tom, I'm not in the mood for games. When I left you, you were taking over the orientation, that was ten hours ago. If a contract came in during that time, I should have been informed."

The badger smiled. "You can be dense Brislow, you know that?"

"Tom," I warned.

"This isn't for a client, it's for you."

I looked at him, trying to understand what he'd said, then the projection William was still manipulating. He was down to the studs now.

"You're kidding, right?"

"I don't kid about your safety, you should know that by now."

"That's a fortress."

"Exactly."

"Tom, I'm not raising my son inside a prison."

"It's very comfortable, and I've approved enough of your friends that you can still have orgies."

"No. Tom, absolutely not. I don't believe this. A few days ago you talked about putting me in a tower, and now you want to imprison me. I'm supposed to be your boss, not your prisoner."

The badger shrugged. "My job is keeping you safe."

I wiped the projection away. "No. Tom, this is going too far. I was okay with the apartment you found for me because it didn't feel like a prison even though I know it has more security layers than the White House, but you need to rein it in. I have a company to run, so my house is going to be close by, not where ever that is located."

"It could be close," Tom said slyly.

"Ten acres of land isn't available anywhere in Denver, so it isn't--" my phone rang and I answered it because I was reaching the point where I was considering throwing the badger through the door, and I didn't feel like ending up a patient in this hospital.

"Steel Link Security, Brislow speaking." Silence. I looked at the display, unknown number, so I hadn't accidentally disconnected instead of answering. "Hello?" I focused and could make out someone breathing. I froze. "Stephan?"

Tom had his phone out of the desk and was talking on it softly. He looked at me and I shrugged. The other person still hadn't spoken so I--

"Dent?" the voice was weak, a parody of the one the man I knew had used.

"Stephan, it's me. Where are you?"

"I-- I can't tell you. I-- I shouldn't even be calling, but I needed to hear someone else's voice. Theirs never stops. It never stops, I want them to shut up," he growled.

"It's okay Stephan, You can talk to me, you know that. How are you doing?"

The laugh was so broken it hurt. "I'm still functional, so there's that." The way he said it made it sound like he thought of himself as a machine.

"What have they done to you?" I demanded.

"They turned me into a masterpiece," he answered wistfully. "Well, the sketch version of one."

He wasn't making sense. "Stephan, why did you help them escape?"

Stephan was silent.

"Stephan?"

"You can't know what it's like. Your family, they love you. They love you for who you are."

I started to interrupt him. He had no idea how wrong he was. He'd been too busy with his work to know about how I'd been disowned. My dad refusing to talk to me.

"It's not like that for me. They helped me become the man I could be. But if the church got them, it would all go away. You have no idea how horrible that was going to be."

"I would have helped you, Stephan, you know that."

"You couldn't. You couldn't keep me safe from him. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called you."

I looked at Tom who motioned for me to keep going. Fuck how many layers of encryption was Stephan's phone under?

"I have a son," I rushed out.

"A what?" Stephan sounded more present.

"A son, Eddy. Edward he was born this morning. I wish you could meet him."

"You weren't going to have one. You said--" he sounded worried.

"Max and Martin talked me into it."

"No, no, no."

"Stephan?"

"You shouldn't have told me." He sounded angry. "Dam nit, Denton, why did you tell me that?"

"You're my friend, Stephan, why wouldn't I tell you."

"I've got to go." Now he sounded defeated.

"Stephan, where are you? Just tell me and I'll come get you."

"I'm sorry, Denton. I'm... I wish you hadn't told me."

The call disconnected.

I looked at Tom

"He's in Miami. The Slicer's are narrowing it down further."

"Are you going to go get him?" William asked.

"No," Tom answered firmly. "Miami belongs to the Trebellius right?"

I nodded. "But the meeting didn't go well, they're on the isolationist side, I doubt they'll help us."

"Then I'll contact friends of mine and extract him that way."

"Is that safe?" William said. "I mean, do you really want to start something to a drug cartel?"

Tom looked at me. He didn't know what William was talking about since he hadn't been there when I'd spun the story about Stephan getting mixed in with drugs.

"I don't have a choice," I replied. "Stephan is a friend and I'm not going to leave him in their hands no matter how in over his head he thinks he is."

"Brislow, I think I can deal with this," Tom said, eying William meaningfully. "Why don't you go bask in the glow of fatherhood with your friends."

"I have a better idea," William said. "How about I take you home? You look like you need sleep more than anything else right now. If you've kept your pantry full like I begged you to, I can even cook you a decent meal."

Food did sound good, a did sleep right now, but I had a phrase to bypass both. "I should--"

"Leave," Tom said. "You're in no state to help and this is tactical more than anything else. Let me handle that, Brislow. I'll do everything in my power to bring your friend home, you know that."

William pulled on my arm and I found I didn't have the strength to resist. Somehow he managed to get me out of the hospital without any of my friends stopping us and then we were driving away.