Lachlan

Maybe unsurprisingly, Magnus' mood was all over the place this morning – both before and after his fight with Opal. He swung through both positive emotions (elation, relief, excitement) and negative ones (anxiety, doubt, self-recrimination), and he swung through them too fast for me to keep up with. Not that I could blame him, but it did make me feel powerless to help.

The fight ended barely too late for us to catch the last morning flight out to Albuquerque, so Roy booked us the flight that would get us there the soonest. We had to rush to the airport, and even so, we would land a little before five. It would take some time to get off the airplane, but we didn't bring suitcases so we could at least skip baggage claim. Still, the timing was too tight. The doors to Magnus' hearing would shut at 5:45 and the drive between the Summit's building and the airport took a little over half an hour in good traffic.

It all added up to this: it was technically possible that we could make it to the hearing in time, but it wasn't likely. We got on the plane anyway. We had a connection in Denver and got through it okay, but that was about Magnus' limit. He would have been stressed out already, but it really didn't help that we'd had to go without Felix. He had refused to leave just anyone to stand guard over Opal and her mate on their last night in Tourmaline. I understood why he didn't trust her, even if Opal had played entirely by the books up until this point. She didn't have any legitimate cards left to play. The only way she could possibly turn around the situation in her favor would be by breaking some rules. So, Felix stayed.

That left me and Magnus on an airplane without any other support with nothing left to do but wait. The second flight was our longer one, with almost three hours spent in the air, and Magnus slept through all of them while I flipped through photos on my phone as a distraction. When I ran out of photos, I dug Magnus' phone out of his pocket and played some of the games he had downloaded onto it. It wasn't a great distraction, but it was better than nothing.

As someone who had spent a great deal of his life traveling, I had a lot of coping mechanisms for the monotony of it all. I usually had a small bag dedicated to distractions and amusements – snacks, puzzle books, even knitting projects when I felt in the mood for them. We were in such a hurry to get to the airport – a necessity so we wouldn't miss our flight – that we didn't go back home after the fight to fetch our bags. We had our wallets, keys, and phones. We could handle the rest once we got there. After all, Jason had a home in Albuquerque and Mel had insisted that we were welcome there and that he would make sure we had what we needed for the night.

I didn't even have a phone charger, so I put Magnus' phone away after an hour to save the last twenty percent of his battery and resigned myself to staring out the window. At least I was accomplishing something during this flight: Magnus was sleeping against me, slouching down so his head rested on my shoulder and his body tucked snugly against my own.

I carefully shifted so my head rested on his and shut my eyes, hoping to catch some sleep, too. Instead, my mind replayed our hectic morning.

Opal's challenge, the desperate search for the pack doctor, and that fight. I had started out alone, gripping the fence railing in front of me hard enough that my knuckles still ached. It had been hard to watch Opal charging at Magnus like she had, especially the first time. I thought I knew Magnus' body, but I never knew he was capable of moving it like that. His speed and agility were impressive, yes, but so was the grace with which he dodged and spun and rolled before returning to his original stance almost effortlessly. He hadn't looked like he was exerting himself for most of the fight – until they started grappling on the ground.

Then I experienced a whole different kind of fear. Felix stood beside me with Everett on his other side. His eyes didn't leave Magnus except to blink, but Felix kept leaning toward Everett and murmuring to him. I still wondered what he'd said. Luin came to stand on my other side, and he rested his hand on mine, which was still gripping the fence like a lifeline.

"He is safe," Luin said softly. I heard him clearly, though, and I remembered wondering in the back of my mind whether Luin used some kind of magic on his voice to make himself heard even when he was quiet.

"How do you know?" I asked once I managed to unclench my jaw enough to speak. My eyes couldn't leave Magnus where he and Opal were still wrestling for dominion.

"I know," Luin said simply. His words sent a shiver up my spine and usually I would trust Luin when he said something with such certainty, but not now. Not when it was Magnus at risk.

Maybe the worst part was when Magnus finally had Opal pinned down. His voice was hard and firm when he told her to yield, and I almost sighed in relief that it was over.

But Opal didn't seem to have it in her to give in, even when she had clearly lost. And each time Magnus added more pressure, the wall between our minds had cracked further. By the end, I could feel his emotions as clearly as though they were my own, and I knew how much it was tearing him up to have to hurt her like this. The pain was intense enough that I couldn't even be relieved that he would clearly win without any real damage done. Even when the match was over, Magnus was in such a dark place over his actions and was so confused that I lost my own excitement far too soon.

After the hearing, I promised myself, Magnus and I would celebrate. We would go out for a nice dinner and he'd come home to the most romantic atmosphere I could manage. Candles and flowers and... hell, I didn't know. What else did people do for ambiance? Music? Magnus liked pop rock and folk songs, and I liked hard rock and grunge. Those probably weren't exactly right. I'd have to ask my cousins for advice...

And I jolted, almost jerking myself upright but catching myself at the last second so Magnus wouldn't wake up. I never called them back to let them know everything was okay. The last thing they knew was that I needed a tracking spell. They didn't even know Luin had come through on that already. I was going to be in so much trouble when I got my phone off airplane mode.

Only, I didn't get a chance to call them in the mad rush to get to the hearing in time. Magnus woke up as the plane was landing, and since we had taken the last two adjacent seats on the plane, we were toward the back. I turned my phone back on to arrange a taxi to be waiting for us, which was expensive but necessary to save time. The meter started running as soon as he hit the curb, since I ordered ASAP and demanded that the driver wait for us. Meanwhile, Magnus clutched at my arm and texted on his phone.

When it was finally our turn to head down the aisle, we still had a hard time making progress. Single-file lines down narrow aisles are a recipe for frustration and we had to wait as person after person took their sweet time, some even collecting bags from the overheard storage nowhere near their seats.

We broke into runs as soon as we made it off the aircraft, earning a couple of "Slow down!"s from airline employees, but we just kept running. Once we made it outside, I found our taxi and then, it was another waiting game outside of our control.

I grew more nervous as I watched the clock tick. We were cutting it so, so close. It was 5:26. We had nineteen minutes before the doors shut on Magnus' hearing, with or without him. The GPS I had up on my phone said we were eleven minutes away. We were actually ahead of schedule, but one wrong turn or traffic jam was all it would take to set us back too far.

As I grew more anxious, Magnus calmed. "It's going to be okay," he assured me quietly, which I had to laugh at.

"Shouldn't I be calming you down?" I asked him wryly.

Magnus shrugged. "I'm okay, Lachlan. If we make it, great. If we don't... well, we did everything we could. And you know Jason will do his best for me in there. I don't know how much I'm going to help my case. I didn't even have time to dress in a suit."

I winced as I realized he had a point. Magnus was wearing dark slacks and a black t-shirt – not too bad as far as casualwear went, but definitely not what he should be wearing to the Summit. "They'll have to understand that you were dealing with a challenge this morning," I said, though I wasn't totally sure that was true.

Magnus shrugged. "If we had planned better – like by leaving yesterday instead of this morning – Opal wouldn't have been able to challenge me the day of the hearing. Honestly, I should have seen this coming."

I squeezed his hand in support, but Magnus just shrugged and smiled down at me. "I'm okay," he promised. "Just saying, I could have planned this better. We knew Opal would challenge me at some point."

Except, I recalled, Magnus hadn't been totally convinced of that. He really walked the line between virtue and flaw as far as his faith in people was concerned. It was incredible that Magnus always saw the good and offered the benefit of the doubt, but there were definitely times he took it too far.

Not that I wanted him to change. On the contrary, I was usually way too judgmental. It was nice to have Magnus in my life to balance me out.

We pulled up to the Summit building and I pulled out my wallet. Magnus waited at my side and I said, "Go in! I'll be right behind you as soon as I settle the bill."

Magnus was clearly reluctant, but he ran into the building. It was 5:39. The cabbie's credit card reader struggled hard with my card and he had to swipe it several times before it finally worked. Seconds ticked by painfully quickly as he took his sweet time closing out our transaction, and when he finally handed me back my card, I was out the door before he had a chance to finish saying "Have a nice evening."

Inside, I was met with an x-ray machine just like at the airport. I sent my few belongings down the line while the guard did a quick non-invasive pat-down. He took my wallet from the belt and pulled out my ID card, scanning it as he printed out a visitor's badge.

"Magnus Holt told me to expect you," he said as he passed over the badge. "He's been shown to the conference room already. You'll have to wait for the guide to return. It should just take a minute."

But a minute was too long. A man came through the doors and introduced himself as Tyler. By then, it was 5:45 exactly and I knew it was too late for me to get into the hearing.

I skipped my own introduction, jumping right in with what was most important. "Did Magnus make it in time?"

Tyler's hard expression softened and I could have sworn he even smiled a bit. "With one minute to spare."

I sagged in relief and Tyler gave me a moment before he spoke again. "Unfortunately, you won't be allowed into the room," he said apologetically. "I can take you to a hospitality room. It's much more comfortable than waiting out here, and there's catering if you're hungry."

It was a really tempting offer, but what I wanted and needed most was to be close to Magnus. I might not be able to physically be there for him, but I could be there as soon as the session let out. So even though I was hungry and could use a comfortable place to rest after the hustle of today, I asked, "Actually, could I wait outside the conference room?"

"You cannot enter," Tyler said warningly.

"I know. I just want to wait there."

He studied me for a few seconds before nodding. "Follow me."

We went down a hallway full of gorgeous art and the doors were done up in bas-relief, which was something I had never seen before outside of a church. At least if I would be waiting in a hallway, I would have a lovely view. The doors we stopped outside of were even bigger than the others, and as my eyes scanned eagerly over the decorations on them, I realized they told a story.

"I'll leave you here for now, but I'll be back to check on you periodically," Tyler warned. "If you stray from here, you will be escorted out of the building immediately."

"I understand. I won't go anywhere."

I was acutely aware of time passing, and while I did study the art all around me, most of my focus was directed inward, where I waited for Magnus to allow me a link into the hearing. His mind stayed resolutely closed off to mine, though, so I was left completely in the dark about how things were going. I couldn't even feel the smallest trickle of emotion from him. Even when Magnus didn't mean to project to me, usually I could pick up something if I focused hard enough. But not now.

Time passed slowly, even more slowly than it had during our flights. By the time the doors opened, I was sagging against the wall across from them. Almost fifty minutes had passed, which didn't seem like nearly enough, but when I peered into the room as strangers poured out of the room, it was obvious the proceedings had finished. The room felt almost like a Where's Waldo puzzle, with far too many men who fit Magnus' profile at a glance: dark hair, tall stature, dark clothes. It didn't matter, though. As soon as my eyes landed on Magnus' back, I knew it was him.

Jason was standing next to him at a table near the front of the room, stacking papers and tucking them into a Manila folder. Meanwhile, Magnus was speaking to a woman on the other side of the table. If I had to guess, I'd say she was one of the Summit members who had presided over his case. She looked relaxed and warm. That was a good sign, right? If he had lost the case, wouldn't she look... I didn't know. Dour? Disapproving?

I stayed out in the hallway since no one had explicitly told me I could go in and since I had promised not to move. It took a few more interminable minutes, but finally Jason picked up his bag and led Magnus out of the room. Their expressions were impossible to read, but there was a kind of light in Magnus' eyes. Wasn't that a good sign? I knew he had made peace with the possibility that he might lose his case, but wouldn't he look a little bit upset? Or was he really that eager to go back into teaching? Magnus always said he wasn't cut out to be alpha, and I knew how firmly he believed someone else could do a better job.

Losing to Opal would have been way worse than having the Summit strip his title. Depending on their findings and whoever took over Tourmaline, there was a good chance Magnus could lose his position but stay in the pack. I knew he would be happy with that outcome.

And I found that I didn't really care which way the hearing went. When Magnus reached me, he flung his arms around me in a hug, and I could feel in the way he held me that he was happy. Whatever happened in that room didn't matter, not if it made Magnus feel like this.