"What?" Seb grabbed the phone and stared at it. "No, that's not possible. They were there. Dozens of them." Seb tapped away at Hudson's phone, his eyes going wide. "The address was here. In your contacts." He looked up, pleading. "I'm not making it up."
Hudson took his phone and returned it to his pocket. "I believe you." He paced the cell, his heart breaking. "What are we going to do?"
"We?" Seb shook his head. "You're going home. This was my choice, and now I'll face the consequences of my actions. If I'm lucky, the judge will go easy on me. It would have been worse if Trent had been a regular citizen. Since we're both THIRDS agents, the fact I have training shouldn't be used against me. He could have fought back, but he didn't."
Hudson stopped pacing to face Seb. "Haven't we paid enough?" His voice broke, and he closed his eyes. He was so tired. All he wanted was to live a relatively normal life with his mate. Was that too much to ask? They were both quiet as they waited. And waited.
"Why haven't they booked me yet?" Seb asked, looking around.
The rest of the private cells were empty, and the usual agents on duty were absent. Hudson agreed it was odd. Seb should have been processed by now. The THIRDS had Seb's personal information along with his fingerprints, but agents would have taken a mug shot by now. His personal property should have been confiscated, recorded, and stored. Not that Hudson was in any hurry, but it was certainly not the usual. Of course, the usual would have meant a cellblock filled with detainees.
"You should have taken me up on my offer. This could have been avoided."
Hudson started at the familiar voice. The cell door opened, and Sparks stepped inside. Bloody Felids. Wait.... He looked from Sparks to Seb and back. "What offer?"
Seb didn't reply, so Sparks answered for him. "To join TIN as an associate. He would have been trained, his knee given the best medical treatment available. He would have been protected from all this."
Hudson considered her words and read between the lines. With Sparks, one was often forced to really listen in order to hear what wasn't said. "If he joins you, would this situation be... cleared up?"
Sparks cocked her head, her piercing blue eyes studying him. "It's too late, Dr. Colbourn."
It couldn't be. Hudson wouldn't allow it. After years of heartache, of needing his mate, he wasn't going to lose him now. This was his mess too. Seb was here because of him.
"You can have me, and not as an associate. I'll join TIN as an operative."
Seb jumped to his feet. "Absolutely not."
"You have no say in this, Sebastian," Hudson snapped. "It's my decision." He was already in bed with TIN through Dex. Why not make it official? He couldn't let Seb lose everything because of him.
"The hell I have no say," Seb hissed, taking hold of Hudson's arm. His expression softened, fear and panic in his eyes. "You're my mate."
"And what good will that do us when you're in prison? I won't let them come between us. Not this time. Trent was the one who acted reprehensibly, and I'm supposed to sit back and watch them punish you? What you did was wrong, Sebastian, but what Trent did, what he was going to do, what he's gotten away with?" He pressed his lips together in an attempt to calm his rising ire. He'd allowed others to dictate his life, and what had it gotten him? He'd lost what was most important to him. He'd been bloody miserable. This was his life, their life. For years he'd fought against his family, refusing to have his path chosen for him, only to arrive in the States and end up in the same position, submitting to his guilt and the will of others. He'd had enough.
Sparks shook her head at him. "That's not how it works. You don't simply get to become a TIN operative because you feel like it."
"You asked Dex and Sloane."
"Yes, but I don't see what--"
"Then you can ask me," Hudson insisted. "I'm valuable, and not just because of Dex. I can be a trained operative, as well as one of your TIN medical examiners or medical specialists. I know I can be of value to you, to TIN." Whatever it took to have some semblance of a life with Seb, Hudson would take it. At least he wouldn't be on his own with TIN. He'd have Dex and Sloane. That would be enough for him. Sparks seemed to give it some thought.
"What if you get us both?" Seb asked.
Sparks arched an eyebrow at Seb. "I'm listening."
"If you make this go away, and you take Hudson... you get me too. But we're a partnership, just like Dex and Sloane. We come together or not at all."
Hudson swallowed hard, his nerves somewhat eased when Seb's hand slipped into his and gave it a squeeze. After what seemed like an eternity, Sparks turned away from them.
"Agent Jones. We're done here."
Apparently, Spark
s wasn't the only TIN operative working undercover inside the THIRDS. Hudson had suspected as much. Were Stevens and Rodriguez operatives as well? The huge tiger Therian approached, and Hudson took a step closer to Seb. Please don't take him from me. Agent Jones opened the cell door and waited. Sparks spoke quietly to him, but loud enough for Hudson and Seb to hear.
"Get Agent Hobbs cleaned up, and cut him loose. Protocol Poppy Fields."
"Both of them?" Agent Jones clarified.