"I tried to, but she wouldn't hear it. It's killing me, but if this is what she truly wants, then I know I have to let her go."
"Ah, love. I don't know what to say."
"It's all right. I don't know what I need to hear right now." Dylan sniffled a little, but she was holding herself together with admirable courage. "We spent the day talking - something we haven't been able to do for a long time. It was nice. I told her about you, that I met a very special man and that I love him very much. She's looking forward to meeting you sometime."
Rio smiled, wishing he could be there right now. "I'm sure that can be arranged."
"I talked with her doctor as we were leaving the hospital. He says that realistically, without treatment, Mom probably only has weeks left...maybe a couple of months. They're going to give her medicine for the pain, but they warned us that the time she has left isn't going to be easy."
"Shit, Dylan. Do you want me to come out there tonight? It's almost sundown. If you need me there, I could leave right at dusk and be in the city by around eleven."
"What about the Order? I'm sure you have other things you have to do."
"That's not what I asked you." In fact, he was supposed to be on a mission tonight, but f**k it. If Dylan wanted him with her, Lucan would have to assign someone else to the patrol. "Do you need me there tonight, Dylan?"
She sighed. "I'd love to see you. You know I'd never turn you down, Rio. Do you really want to come all this way tonight?"
"Just try to stop me," he said, sensing her brighten on the other end. In the background now, he heard a truck horn blast. "Are you driving somewhere?"
"Uh-huh. I'm on my way to pick up some of my mom's things at the shelter. We called her friends over there as we were leaving the hospital, just to fill them in on what's going on. Everyone's pretty worried about her, as you can imagine. And I guess some of the shelter clients and their kids made up a special card for her too."
"She'll like that."
"Yeah," Dylan said. "I'm going to swing by and grab some takeout for dinner back at Mom's place. She wants baby back ribs, sweet potatoes, and cornbread - oh, and some fancy champagne, as she put it, to celebrate my newfound love."
"Sounds like you have quite an evening planned."
Dylan was quiet for a moment. "It's really good to see her smiling, Rio. I want her to enjoy these next few weeks as much as she can."
He understood, of course. And as Dylan wrapped up the conversation and promised to call him when she was back at her mother's apartment, Rio wondered how he was going to get through the weeks - perhaps a couple of months - away from Dylan. It wasn't a long time, certainly not by Breed standards, but for a male in love with his mate, the duration was going to seem endless.
He needed to be with Dylan through this.
And he knew that she needed him too.
When he flipped the cell phone closed, he found Lucan standing outside the tech lab doors. Rio had told him earlier about Dylan's mother, and about what Dylan meant to him, how deeply he'd fallen in love with her. He'd laid it all out for Lucan - from the fact that he and Dylan were blood-bonded now, to the offer he'd made her concerning Tess's healing abilities.
Rio didn't know how long Lucan had been standing there, but the shrewd gray eyes seemed fully aware that things were not going well on the other end.
"How is Dylan holding up?"
Rio nodded. "She's strong. She'll get through this."
"What about you, my man?"
He started to say that he'd be fine too, but Lucan's stare tore through that bullshit before the words even left Rio's lips.
"I told her I'd be there tonight," he told the Order's leader. "I have to go to her, Lucan. For my own sanity, if nothing else. If I stay here, I'm not sure what good I'd be, to tell you the truth. She's the only thing that's held me together in a very long time. I'm a wreck for this woman, my friend. She owns me now."
"Even more than the Order?"
Rio paused, deliberating over what he was being asked. "I would die for the Order - for you and any one of my brethren. You know that."
"Yes. I know you would," Lucan replied. "Hell, you almost have, more than once."
"I'd die to serve the Order, but Dylan...Cristo. This woman, more than anything before, gives me a reason to live. I have to be with her now, Lucan."
He nodded soberly. "I'll put one of the other guys on your patrol tonight. You do what you have - "
"Lucan." Rio met the male's gaze and held it. "I have to be with Dylan until she's through this ordeal with her mother. It could be weeks, maybe months."
"So, what are you telling me?"
Rio cursed under his breath. "I'm telling you that I'm leaving to be with her, for as long as it takes. I'm quitting the Order, Lucan. I head out for New York tonight."
"Here's a box for those things, honey." Janet came into Dylan's mom's office carrying an empty copy paper container. "It's nice and sturdy and it's got a lid too."
"Thanks," Dylan said, setting it down on the cluttered desk. "Mom is kind of a pack rat, isn't she?"
Janet laughed. "Oh, honey! That woman hasn't thrown away a note or a greeting card or a photograph since I've known her. She saves everything like it was gold, bless her heart." The older woman glanced around the room, her eyes going moist with tears. "We sure are going to miss Sharon around here. She had such a way with the girls. Everyone adored her, even Mr. Fasso was charmed by her and he's not easily impressed. Her free spirit drew people to her, I think."