He meant it. She felt the truth resonate in his words, his mind, and oddly, in his beast.
Relieved but still tense, she waited while he knocked on the door.
A blond woman opened it from the other side. She smiled, looking relieved. “Took you two long enough. Get in here.”
Alex tugged Kennedy with him into a spacious suite decked out with computer equipment and food.A lotof food. Pizza boxes, Chinese food containers, and fruit. She saw bananas, apples, and oranges all over the place.
Bailey sighed. “Sorry. Carter’s on a fruit kick. Move those bananas and find a seat.”
Kennedy stuck close to Alex. “Uh, I’m okay here.”
Bailey took a closer look at her. “It’s okay, Kennedy. I don’t know if you remember me. I saw you guys a few times, but I used to work on the main floor at U-Ground. Now I’m a blond kick-ass weapon and part of these knuckleheads.” She kept her voice gentle. “We’re the good guys. You don’t have to worry about anyone here hurting you.”
“Unless you’re part of Lang’s plan to take us down. Separate us, take us in,” a big man with dark hair and green eyes approached. Unlike Alex and Eli, his eyes remained fixed with a slit pupil. That and his size showed her he was Circ. Other than that, he could easily pass for human, though a large one.
Bailey sighed. “Let’s try again. I’m Bailey. This menacing hunk of male is Gideon, my mate. You already know Alex and Elijah.”
“Eli,” Eli corrected and winked at Kennedy. “To myspecialfriends.” He wiggled his brows.
She felt herself blushing.
Alex growled.
“And I’m Carter,” said a giant of a man. He had dark blond hair and blue Circ eyes, and seemed the most easygoing of them aside from Bailey.
“Hi. I’m Kennedy.”
Gideon gave an exasperated sigh. “Okay, can we cut out all the polite bullshit and find out what the hell happened to you? What can you tell us about Lang?”
Kennedy felt all eyes on her and tried to step closer to Alex, except she was already all but on top of the man, plastered to his side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and his presence helped calm her nerves.
“Guys, please?” Bailey glared at them. “Give her some space. If she’s even used to being around Circs at all, think about what Circs she’s used to. Lang’s animals. Let’s pretend we’re better than that.”
Alex chuckled, the first sign of him relaxing since stepping inside. “Yeah, let’s.”
Gideon growled and stalked to the couch before flopping into a seat. “Fine.”
“This is why Alex and I work the customer aspect of our business,” Bailey confided with a smile. A pretty woman who put Kennedy at ease, Bailey projected a peaceful though firm nature. The command in her gaze told Kennedy not to screw with her, because in this pack, Bailey was alpha right next to Gideon.
Kennedy’s beast wasn’t sure about having an alpha herself, but since Bailey seemed in no way proprietary toward Alex, Kennedy didn’t mind feeling as if on a few rungs lower in the hierarchy.
Eli plopped down next to Gideon. He put his boots up on the expensive looking coffee table, then fiddled with his eyes, removing contacts, apparently, because he now showed the same slit pupils as the others.
He shoved the contacts into a container he withdrew from his back pocket and sighed. “Oh man, that’s better. Bailey, Gideon’s an ass. We all know that.” He talked over Gideon’s growl. “What about me and Carter? We’re personable, aren’t we, Carter?”
Carter looked at Eli’s boots and sighed. “Yeah, but we’re not all housebroken.”
Gideon lips curled. “No shit.”
“Come on, you two. Come sit down.” Bailey tugged Alex, who still had a hold of Kennedy, and nudged them into the loveseat across from Gideon and Eli. Carter sat on the arm of the couch on Gideon’s other side.
“Before we get started, anyone hungry?” Bailey asked.
Requests for food came at her from all sides, and she cringed. “What was I thinking?”
She returned moments later with reheated Chinese food. Eli had found half a cold pizza and was eating straight out of the box. Gideon and Carter shared the reheated food while Alex accepted some energy bars and a plate of cut fruit for Kennedy.
Pleased, Kennedy tucked into the food, embarrassed to find herself still hungry after polishing off a plate. Then Bailey handed her a foot long sub, and the scent of meat had her appetite soaring.
