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“This is Six, your new bodyguard,” Stratt states matter-of-factly as soon as they’re inside the lab, forgoing any greetings.
When they entered the room, Ryland Grace was hunched over a microscope. Neither their arrival nor Stratt’s announcement makes the scientist abandon his work and face them.
”Awww, does Carl not like me anymore?” Ryland asks while still looking at his sample and Six sees the smallest of smirks appear on Stratt’s face. Six would be amused if he wasn’t ready to jump out of his skin awaiting the moment Ryland finally does pay any attention to him.
It was barely minutes ago that Six first learnt the name of his new charge. He knew it could be a coincidence however the possibility that it’s his Ryland was eating away at him up until this very moment. Now, even though he hasn’t truly laid his eyes on the other man yet, he feels it deep in his tattered soul that cheeky voice and messy blond hair can’t belong to anyone else.
Last time they saw each other, Ryland was fourteen years old and they were stargazing together. Not even a full day later Court shot his own father and was taken away. To this day, Six remembers all the stars Ryland taught him to recognise that night. If he wasn’t so terrified right now, he would laugh at the irony of that stargazing boy now being the genius scientist studying an alien organism
”Carl is needed elsewhere,” Stratt offers without going into detail.
”Wait, did you say ‘Six’? What kind of name is—“
Ryland Grace finally turns towards them and meets Courtland Gentry’s eyes for the first time in thirty years.
For a heartbeat, Six wonders if Ryland is even going to recognize him. But the sequence of emotions that crosses Ryland’s face leaves him without a doubt that Ryland knows very well who has just walked into his lab. He takes in a deep, shaking breath but once the first shock dissipates, anger blooms in the lines of his face, overwhelming the unshed tears that Six knows he’s spotted in the corners of his eyes.
Six’s soulmate mark is burning and only his years of service stop him from rubbing at it to try to elevate the feeling. He remains unmoving under Ryland’s scrutiny.
”Why do I even need a bodyguard anyway? Aren’t we in the middle of the ocean?” his voice is strained and the teasing tone falls flat. Stratt raises a brow at the scientist’s reaction but doesn’t call it out.
”You know every lab gets a bodyguard. You insist on working alone so you get your own,” Stratt shrugs. “Everything good here?”
Ryland smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Then he gives a thumbs up. Stratt’s gaze moves to Six, he didn’t expect her to care what he thinks about the assignment but at her expectant look, he reports:
“Everything good, ma’am.”
Stratt is already leaving at that and doesn’t see how Ryland flinches at the timbre of Six’s voice.
Once they’re alone, Ryland takes two steps closer towards Six and examines him again. Six allows it, remaining in parade rest next to the door. After a minute of tense silence, Ryland shakes his head. He inhales as if he wanted to say something, but then his eyes shift towards the camera in the corner of the room, and he returns to the microscope without a word.
After an excruciating hour of observing the scientist’s back as he continues working in silence, Ryland abruptly gets up and starts stomping towards the door.
“Walk me to my room,” he throws at Six, without sparing a glance at him or slowing down, so Six follows like the obedient dog he is.
Six wouldn’t be able to recall any of the corridors they cross to get to Ryland’s quarters. He’d say it felt like being walked to an execution except he knows what that’s like—and this is more nerve-wracking.
Once they’re both inside the room and Ryland shuts the door close, the silence continues for another extensive minute.
“I don’t know why I expected you to say anything now after you were the one to stop talking to me in the first place,” Ryland sighs and then takes a stand right in front of Six, his arms crossed against his chest in a defensive posture. “Because it is you, Court, isn’t it?”
Six makes himself really look at Ryland, take in the stubborn set of his lips and the hurt reflected in these unmistakable blue eyes. Fuck, he is beautiful.
“Courtland Gentry who promised me he’ll always be by my side and then disappeared?”
His own name sounds foreign to himself after being in the gray for such a long time. But hearing it from Ryland’s mouth makes Six’s breath hitch and finally breaks through his facade.
“I went to prison, Ry…”
“And I wrote to you every week!” Ryland counters, anger boiling in his tone by now. “And you don’t get to call me that anymore.”
It hurts but he has every right to dictate the terms of their current working relationship.
“We wrote to each other for two years and it wasn’t the same but you were still there… And then you were gone, no letters, no phone calls, accepting no visitors,” Ryland’s accusatory tone turns into something trembling and he wipes his eyes with his sleeve in an abrupt motion. Six has to physically restrain himself from stepping closer and offering comfort to the other man. He must remind himself he’s not welcome in Ryland’s space.
Six’s soulmate mark is searing under his clothes again.
He suspected the fox in his mark symbolizes Ryland since he was seventeen years old and it first formed on his skin. He longed for it and resented himself for that desire. Now, with the mark stinging for the first time in forever as he’s standing in front of crying Ryland Grace, he wishes he was never right about this. What kind of misfortune it is to be Courtland Gentry’s soulmate… Does Ryland even know how fate has burdened him?
“I’m sorry you must endure my presence, I didn’t know you’d be here,” Six doesn’t even know where to start apologizing for hurting the other man so it may as well be for here and now. In response, Ryland snorts derisively but it doesn’t really land the way he intended with how red his eyes are by now.
“Then get transferred somewhere else!” Ryland’s arm points to the side as if he was showing Six where to go.
“I don’t have a say in where I’m assigned.”
“What, they tell you to jump and you ask how high?”
“Yes,” is the solemn response. That throws Ryland off enough to frown in confusion instead of anger.
“What happened to you? How are you even here? Why are they calling you a number like you’re some kind of secret agent?” Ryland piles on the questions but it sounds more like he’s spiralling out loud than expecting to get answers. “Actually, no, I can’t do this.” He takes his glasses off his face and rubs at his eyes. “Please, just go.”
Six knows when he’s not wanted so he nods, even though Ryland isn’t looking at him, and moves to exit the room. He stops for a moment in the doorway, there are words trying to push out of his mouth.
I missed you. It’s better like this. I’m sorry. I wish I could see your smile again.
But he only grinds his teeth to stop himself from speaking and leaves.
✧✧✧
After their first confrontation, Six fully expects to be informed he’s been reassigned first thing in the morning. But no such news arrives and he finds himself back in the lab with Ryland.
The scientist doesn’t acknowledge him at all throughout the day and Six treats it as a forecast for the rest of his time here. However, it’s the following day, when they return from the canteen after lunch break, that Ryland speaks to him again.
“Are you going to eternally stand there like this for fudge’s sake?” he gestures towards Six’s parade rest as if it offended him. Six can’t help the surprised raised eyebrow upon hearing the scientist’s censored language but he doesn’t comment on it.
“It’s my job to guard the lab, Doctor Grace,” he responds simply and he catches the slight wince when Ryland registers Six addressing him with full honorifics.
“Can’t you sit down or something? I feel like you’re hovering over me.”
Six isn’t sure how he can be ‘hovering’ from the other side of the room but it’s not his place to argue. He grabs the nearest unoccupied stool from a desk close to the door, that’s holding a very important looking machine that Six would never be able to name, and takes a seat.
Ryland gives him an approving nod and goes back to writing down a report. Six dares to take out a piece of gum and pop it into his mouth as he ignores his rapidly beating heart.
✧✧✧
For the next week, Six treats the conversation about his ‘hovering’ as a fluke. While Ryland no longer outwards ignores him, he doesn’t really speak to him outside of greetings in the morning and other basic pleasantries.
Then, something shifts around their second week. One of the days finds Ryland obviously frustrated with his findings, murmuring to himself and pacing around the lab. Even though Six knows nothing about science and didn’t even graduate high school, he’s attentive enough to notice that he’s comparing the same two samples over and over again.
“Can you take a look at this and tell me if I’m seeing things or there’s a slight discoloration here?”
Six doesn’t react at first, already accustomed to being an unaddressed presence in the room. But then he catches Ryland’s expectant gaze and gets up so quickly that the stool he was sitting on rolls away and thuds loudly against the nearest desk.
He approaches the scientist’s desk warily and listens with the entirety of his attention when Ryland points out the spots he’s been having doubts about on his screens. Six shares his exhaustive observations in simple words but his lack of academic vocabulary doesn’t seem to matter. Ryland beams and lets out a relieved sigh.
“Okay, yes, this is great. Now I can share this with the other team without feeling like a loon,” he says and then grabs a small pack of Skittles from his desk and throws it at Six. He catches it out of reflex and then stares at the candy questioningly.
“You earned it for your extracurricular efforts,” Ryland explains. Then, he grins with satisfaction when Six opens the packet and tosses a few Skittles into his mouth.
✧✧✧
Somehow, over the following days and weeks, Six gets to cherish more and more moments like the one that earned him a sweet treat. It becomes a normal occurrence to have Ryland asking Six to take an ‘uninformed and unbiased’ look at something or simply talking at his bodyguard when he tries to figure out a hypothesis and needs an audience. Sometimes, they both forget themselves and fall into easy banter that flames out as soon as instinct turns into awareness, the shared smiles wiped off their faces as they transition into deliberate silence.
Six have always treasured the memories of his childhood with Ryland but objectively knew he must have exaggerated their connection. When you’re a kid everything seems more intense, and then clinging to these childish impressions like a lifeline must’ve morphed them into inaccurate replicas of what was true. But then there are instances like this, when Ryland forgets he’s supposed to be angry with Six and starts rambling about his latest discovery with pure passion sparkling in his eyes. And the warmth that Six remembers from when they were kids lights up inside him and he could listen to the other man for hours, his lips curving into a smile against his will as he watches Ryland mess up his hair even more when he keeps tugging at it. That puppy love still lives somewhere inside Six despite the servitude that tore everything Courtland Gentry away from him. The admiration for the boy next door who looked at the world with zealous curiosity that made Court himself recognize that there’s more to life than pain and abuse—it’s all unearthed against his will the more time he spends with the scientist.
Except, it evolves.
Teenage Court wanted to venture into their neighbourhood pretending they’re great explorers about to find something no one has yet discovered just to see Ry’s face light up. Lay down next to him on the grass in the Graces’ backyard at night and look up at the stars, their sides flushed together to fight off the cold. He would fantasize about being Ry’s soulmate just because it meant he could stay by his side without coming up with excuses, he would steal all the smiles for himself, guard Ryland from the judging eyes who scrutinized his passions and awkwardness because he had the right to do so.
Now, decades later, Six’s hand twitches to brush his fingers through the blond hair, to grab that slim waist hiding under the lab coats, to learn how sweet his lips taste after all the snacking during his work. He longs to wrap himself around Ryland’s body at night to be sure that he’s safe, to find out what that smooth voice sounds like when he’s gasping from pleasure. Six wants to listen to him talk while he’s close enough to put his mouth on the scientist’s neck to monitor his pulse, discover new wonders of the world Ryland shares with him to the metronome of his own heartbeat.
Life has beaten him into submission but the only person Six ever wanted to serve is Ryland Grace.
✧✧✧
For the sake of not aggravating Ryland with his presence more than is required by both their assignments, Six arranges the time he’s not spending in the lab in a way that minimizes the possibility of running into the scientist. The Vat isn’t a luxurious resort either so it’s a challenge at first not to run into him in the canteen or the communal bathroom but Six figures it out. Even when their interactions in the lab become more frequent and familiar, Six doesn’t change his nightly routine.
His self-afflicted schedule has been working seamlessly for long enough that he’s caught completely ill-prepared when one night he walks out of the showers to the locker-room and Ryland is there, putting his cardigan away into one of the lockers. The scientist is never here this late.
Six is only wearing a towel around his waist and in the shock of seeing Ryland’s crumpled t-shirt revealing a sliver of pale stomach, he completely forgets his own bare chest. And the uncovered soulmate mark above his heart.
Ryland jumps at the sound of footsteps but once his gaze falls on Six it refocuses into something inquisitive and hungry. His stare wanders as he takes in the tattoos and the scars—and then stops once it finds the mark depicting a fox and a wolf curled around each other in a perfect formation, almost as if they were creating a yin-and-yang symbol with their silhouettes.
For decades Six wondered if there’s a matching mark on Ryland Grace’s skin. Now, seeing the mournful recognition in the blue eyes, he has his answer.
Silence stretches between them and despite being well aware where he stands, Six feels a new wave of rejection crush his chest up until he must remind himself to breathe. He’s the one to break their standstill. He grabs his clothes without putting them on and turns towards the exit, the possibility of running into anyone on the corridors in just a towel can’t compare to the humiliation that’s digging its claws into him right now.
“Have a good night, Doctor Grace,” is all he says as he flees the room.
✧✧✧
In the little downtime Six has for himself, he seeks out deserted corners of the Vat to let himself wallow just for a bit.
He’s currently sitting on the ground behind a huge shipping container, hunched over with his head between his knees. The wind on the open sea offers temporary relief and he takes deep breaths of the fresh, salty air. His skin feels like it’s too small for his body and the burning in his chest doesn’t stop when he leaves Ryland’s side anymore. Their unfulfilled bond is giving drastic signs that they should allow the connection to snap into place, that now that they’ve found each other they should be tied together in the most profound of ways and it’s not right that they haven’t done that yet.
“It’s starting to really hurt now, isn’t it?”
Six doesn't know if it’s because they're soulmates or it’s because his current state is starting to incapacitate him that he didn't sense anyone approaching and only hearing Ryland’s voice made him aware he has company.
Ryland takes a seat on the ground, too, with careful space in between them so that they would have to intentionally reach out to touch.
“Do you want me to ask Stratt to reassign you?”
The question makes Six straighten up and immediately tense up at the thought of having no excuse to at least exist in the same room as Ryland.
“Only if you don’t want me around you anymore.”
Ryland murmurs something under his breath, Six doesn’t catch it with the whoosh of the wind but based on the tone it must have been one of his PG-13 swear words.
“Don’t act like you suddenly care about what I want,” the scientist points an accusing finger at him. “Jesus Christ, you were the one who stopped talking to me back then and you’re the one who doesn’t want this soulmate bond now.”
Six grunts in frustration.
“It was you who saw my mark in that bathroom and didn’t say anything…”
“You think I didn’t know before that?” Ryland exclaims with disbelief. “You appeared back in my life and you stayed this time but you just kept apologizing, you didn’t make any move! What was I supposed to think?”
Six shoves his face into his hands and grunts again. He can’t look at Ryland anymore because he feels like he’s either going to kiss him or jump off the ship. Maybe both, in that order.
“How could I ever lay any claim to you, Ry?” he replies, still hiding in his own hands, the old nickname slipping into his speech unprompted. “I’m an ex-convict who’s doing dirty work for the government. I don't have anything, not even my name anymore… And you are the genius who's saving the world. You’re better off without me and we both know it.”
Then, there’s a brush of fingers against his own and Six whole body shudders. It’s the first time they’ve touched since their reunion and Six swallows a pathetic whine at the sensation. Ryland slowly wraps his hand around Six’s and pulls it away.
“Look at me, Court.”
He’s well-trained in following orders, even if they lead to pain. So he does.
“No more assuming and no more tantrums,” Ryland states. He’s sitting so close now that his yellow coat keeps brushing against Six’s leg as it flutters in the wind. And he’s still holding Six’s hand. “Just answer me this: do you want me as your soulmate?”
“More than anything.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I want the same thing then, isn’t it?”
“It’s not—”
He doesn’t get to finish the thought because just as Six tries to hide away and put distance between himself and Ryland again, the scientist takes more drastic measures. He lets go of Six’s hand but only to manoeuvre them both so that he can take a seat in Six’s lap. The shock of having his soulmate so close is a perfect opportunity for Ryland to put both his hands on Six’s face, cupping his cheeks and keeping his head in place where the scientist wants him, looking at him.
“Am I right to theorise that you stopped replying to my letters when your soulmate mark appeared?”
“Yes,” Six admits. “I thought it would be better that way, easier for you to move on and find someone else if I hurt you.”
“That's dumb. Good thing you're so handsome to make up for it.”
Six lets out an unhappy groan in response.
“I was always too weird and closed off for ‘someone else’,” Ryland admits in a distant voice. “I missed that boy next door who thought I was cool and smart and wanted to beat up my bullies.”
“I’m not that boy anymore.”
“No, you’re not,” one of the scientist’s hands travels lower, stroking Six’s jaw and neck. Six shivers at the sensation, he doesn’t remember the last time he was touched so gently. It doesn’t help that it’s his soulmate—Ryland’s touch is electrifying, addicting, simultaneously too much and far from enough. The gesture is loaded with implication but the scientist breaks the tension with the next mocking words. “You think I’m a ‘genius’ now apparently.”
There’s a blush blooming on Ryland’s face and Six lets his thoughts spill out loud, hoping it would deepen.
“I do,” he says seriously, not allowing his soulmate to turn the praise into a joke. “You got the brains and the looks to make the bullies seethe.”
As expected, Ryland doesn’t acknowledge the compliment even though his cheeks do redden even more.
“What happened to that boy? How do you go from prisoner to bodyguard on a super secret project?” he turns the attention back around to the other man.
Six knew this would come and he takes a moment to lose himself in his soulmate's beauty before he’s deprived of the privilege to do so. Just this once, he dares to brush his fingers through the messy hair. Ryland leans into the touch and the gesture almost breaks Six’s resolve. But he owes Ryland the unabridged truth, no matter the confidentiality or any other oath that means nothing when put against the loyalty to his soulmate. If the man in front of him considers getting bonded to Six, he has the right to know exactly what he’s getting into and choose to opt out.
“In 2003 I was approached by the CIA and offered a deal. They get me out of jail and I become their attack dog. I stopped being Courtland Gentry and became a number, no longer a person but an asset who kills without asking questions,” he reports, feeling detached from his own words. Ryland takes in a sharp breath and Six withdraws his hand from the blond hair as if scolded. “Ry, there may be no bars between us right now but I am not a free man. Or a good one.”
Ryland frowns as he considers what he just learnt, his eyes no longer looking into his soulmate’s but following the movement of his own fingers as he fidgets with the seam of Six’s shirt. But he doesn’t move away from Six’s lap.
“Is that something you’d like to be doing if you had a choice? To be—” he pauses to look for a word, apparently unhappy with repeating the degrading phrases Six used himself. His frown deepens. “An assassin?”
“No,” Six growls, he doesn’t need to think about that answer. But he also doesn’t finish at that, Ryland’s presence is stupefying him and things he wouldn’t normally say out loud just pour out. “I wish I was better at saving people rather than killing them.” The hand that’s still cupping Six’s cheek tightens its hold. ”I’m sorry you’re stuck with me. You deserve so much more.”
“I told you already you’re apologizing too much.”
Six lets out a hysterical chuckle at that and Ryland smiles in response even though they’re tears gathering in his eyes.
”See, I made you cry again.”
”Shut up.”
And Six has no choice but do just that when in the next heartbeat there are lips on his, trembling as they leave a gentle kiss. Their uncompleted soulmate bond soars and then plummets immediately after when it doesn’t find traction, constricting Six’s chest painfully when the connection is still not permitted to be properly established. But Six ignores it and loses himself in the desire for Ryland, one of his hands returning the scientist’s hair and the other grabbing onto his hip. Ryland whines at the touch and Six takes the opportunity to deepen the kiss, licking his way into his soulmate’s mouth with the desperation of a starving man.
Six has led a lonely life and rarely allowed himself the gratification of intimate encounters but he expects that even if he chose to make up for his miserableness by slutting himself out and drowning in sex, he wouldn’t be prepared for the experience of simply kissing Ryland. His whole body tingles with pleasure and it feels like he’ll never get enough. They keep kissing until Six get light-headed and even then he can’t imagine stopping to take a proper breath. When Ryland finally separates their lips, Six lets out an involuntary, needy groan. The scientist stays close, leaning his forehead against his soulmate’s temple as his thumb keeps brushing the skin alongside Six’s goatee.
“Come on, sweetheart, you can let go,” Ryland murmurs against his cheek and Six doesn’t need any clarification to know that he means their untied bond. Six is still holding it back, choking on the raw need to become connected to the man that’s right here in his arms. “It’s alright, I’ve got you.”
Six has never been this scared in his life. But he listens—not because it’s an order but because he always wants to follow Ryland.
The bond finally snapping into its rightful place punches the air out of Six’s lungs. There’s an instant when he doesn’t know where he ends and Ryland begins, their heartbeats synching up for a perfect moment of harmony.
Then it all balances out and he can breathe again. He never thought he’d experience this sense of completeness but here it is, enveloping him whole. They’re still touching skin to skin so Six can feel Ryland’s emotions too: the relief, the euphoria, the adoration, all tinted with arousal. It’s all a mirror to Six’s own state so it doesn’t feel odd to be having this kind of deep awareness of the other person even if logically it seems like it should.
“I can’t believe you’re mine, baby,” Six confesses as he lays a path of kisses along Ryland’s jaw. He realizes he can taste salt on his soulmate’s skin and moves up to follow the trail of tears. Wiping them away with more kisses, Six is grateful that thanks to their new bond he has the certainty that they were not tears of anguish but of joy.
Their lips find each other again and he feels intoxicated but this is so much better than any kind of alcohol or drug. Six moves his hand on his soulmate’s hip just enough to slide it underneath the layers of clothes and caress the bare skin.
“Court,” Ryland moans his name into Six’s mouth and he needs so much more. “We should move this somewhere else.”
It feels like an impossible feat to pull away from Ryland and allow the sea air to fill in the space between their bodies. They withdraw their hands but for a moment longer, Six keeps his soulmate in his lap to commit the sight to memory: Ryland’s lips wet with spit and red from kissing, his sappy smile, the way he’s slightly swaying his hips to seek another kind of relief.
This is definitely a view for Six only, he swallows a growl deep in his chest at the thought of anyone else getting to see Ryland like this. Moving this inside is definitely the right call but that’s why Ryland is the smart one in this relationship.
As they finally get up, Ryland immediately grabs Six’s hand and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise as he gets a fresh reading of his soulmate’s emotions.
“Is that a default setting for you to be this possessive or is it just because we’re horny right now?”
“The former, I’m afraid.”
“That’s hot,” Ryland grins and steals a quick kiss before he starts dragging Six towards his quarters. “First, we’re going to have sex because I can’t think straight, but then you’re moving into my room tonight cause we’ve already wasted thirty years.”
“Of course, Ry,” Six smiles. “Just tell me what you want and it’s done.”
EPILOGUE
Witnessing Hail Mary disappear from sight as it starts its journey into space feels surreal. It’s hard to believe they actually pulled off the whole project and launched all according to plan.
Not that Court contributed anything consequential but he’s been here long enough to start feeling like a cog in this impossible machine. The man without whom this wouldn’t have happened is standing right next to Court and he feels so proud of Ryland Grace that it’s like a physical weight.
Up until the launch, they tried their best not to advertise their relationship. There were some people who knew, of course, but they wouldn’t be caught holding hands out in the open like they are now. Because of their entwined fingers, Ryland must feel the anxiety that fills Court more and more with every minute that Hail Mary’s distance from Earth grows.
“What’s happening?” Ryland steps in front of Court so that they can see each other rather than continue looking over at the spacecraft. “Talk to me.”
“The project is wrapping up. I’m going to be reassigned, Ry, and I don’t know where I’m going to be sent and for how long and when I’ll see you next.”
This is exactly why bonding with him was a mistake. Court should've been stronger and continued keeping his distance from Ryland. It was easy not to think about this moment when they’ve had their honeymoon period for months on end, with Court on permanent loan to the Petrova taskforce. But he’s still just an asset with no say in how he’s being used.
Ryland squeezes his hand and offers a shy smile. It’s not the reaction Court expected.
“I’ve actually been talking with Stratt and she agreed to do me a favour, pull some strings while she’s still the most important woman in the world,” the scientist explains but then he pauses to take a deep breath before he continues. He looks nervous but Court feels excitement through their bond. “You’re the last Sierra standing. You’ve earned your retirement.”
“What?”
The words he’s hearing have individual meaning he understands but they make no sense being put together like this.
“It will still take some weeks for the paperwork to go through but,” Ryland raises his other hand and cups his soulmate’s cheek. “You should start getting used to being Mr. Gentry, again. Put Six to rest.”
Court’s first thought is that he’d rather become a Mr. Grace but this is not the time for this conversation. Not yet.
“You really did this for me?” he asks instead. Knowing how Ryland kept downplaying his own importance in the project, it feels monumental to learn he’d ask for something that requires being in a pretty privileged position to demand.
“Well, I did have some of my personal agenda in it, too,” the scientist jokes. “I’d like to keep my soulmate close after I finally found him. And preferably without any new bulletholes.”
Court gathers him into his arms in a tight embrace and buries his face in Ryland’s neck, unsure what kind of expression he’s wearing right now. They’re still out in the open with the rest of the taskforce that gathered to watch the launch and Court is not used to being so emotional in public. Fortunately, his soulmate doesn’t need to see him to know the gratitude Court is feeling right now. The overwhelming love.
“It’s alright, I’ve got you,” Ryland whispers, echoing their bonding. And Court knows it’s true.