Free Full Moon Lockdown by Jackie Nacht Page B

he’ll get it together. I don’t know though, they teach us just the exact opposite. To relax.” Knox stood. “Come on, let’s stick close to our rooms. Lockdown is just around the corner. And I’d like to avoid any confrontation with assholes around here if possible.”
    They walked back into the building, dropping their trays off. Off to the side, Cass and Duke were eyeing them all up. Knox walked the group out of the cafeteria and down the hall.
    “That’s what we don’t need. Hopefully, out of sight, out of mind for them.” Knox led them to their hall.
    Brendan had been a no-show all day, and they went to check on him. There, inside his room, Brendan sat on his mattress—knees up, face covered.
    “Brendan?” Dalton was the first to approach.
    It was then that Colin noticed Brendan was visibly shaking. Knox and Dalton sat down next to Brendan while Oren sat at the foot of the mattress.
    “I’m so fucking scared.” Brendan trembled as Dalton put his arm around him. Colin came over to sit next to Oren.
    “You’ll get through tonight, and we’ll all be there to help you tomorrow.” Dalton played with Brendan’s hair, trying to soothe the terrified Omega.
    “What if I don’t…” Brendan’s unspoken words hung heavy in the air.
    Knox, the only one that had shifted, answered for them all. “You’ll make it. It’ll be rough, but you won’t be alone doing it. Sloan and I will be right there with you, and you'll have a lot of people who care about you to take care of you after.”
    Colin could hug Knox for the kind words. As far as he knew, Sloan and Knox had barely said two words to the Omegas before he came. Not just the Omegas, they hardly talked to anyone but themselves. To see that they were trying to help out his friends made him grateful for meeting these men at such a hard time in his life. Hell, maybe Sloan and Knox needed all of them too.
    They stayed there for several hours, and by the time they left, there wasn’t much time left before lockdown. Colin made one more quick check on his brother, finding him doing better every day. The only problem was that he didn’t have any memory of the night of the attack. Maybe that was for the best. Colin wished he could forget it.
    When walking back with Knox to their rooms, he had about ten minutes before lockdown. Colin knew that Sloan wanted to be alone, but he wanted to do one quick check on him before he had to be separated from him for the night.
    Approaching the bars of Sloan’s room caused a lump to form in Colin’s throat. The fact that Sloan felt a need to lock himself in so early was upsetting. Sloan sat with his eyes closed, head resting on the wall. The man was only wearing a pair of shorts, and Colin could see the muscles strain even when Sloan was resting.
    Colin was about to leave when Sloan’s eyes slid open, offering his predatory gaze. Swallowing, Colin said, “I just wanted to say goodnight to you. I love you.”
    Sloan stood, strong, imposing, muscles rippling as he approached. Did he appear bigger to Colin? Gripping the bars, Colin waited until Sloan’s hands covered his.
    “How you feeling?” Sloan rumbled.
    “I’m fine,” Colin lied. Actually, he was feeling pretty crappy right then, but he wasn’t going to let on about that to Sloan when he would be shifting in less than thirty minutes.
    “You have my music player,” Sloan asked.
    Colin nodded.
    “Then, go get ready for tonight.” Sloan reached through the bars and pulled his head close. Colin’s lips parted, and he closed his eyes as Sloan’s lips met his. The kiss was hard; there was little hope right then for gentle, but it was brief.
    “Love you too.” Sloan turned and made his way back to the mattress. Colin ran across to his cell, his body wreaking havoc on him. He tried to get ready for bed, wearing just a pair of shorts. His body ached, his skin was tender.
    To hell with it, Colin thought. He was going to the hospital. He'd never felt so horrible. He