I hope so. No, I will.
My brain is still mostly offline, my emotions swirling around, but after their encouragement, I’m pushing myself to shut down Victor and listen more to the new, smaller voice inside me. It feels right, but feeling right comes and goes, made better and worse because of the way they so easily see me. I’ve never had someone to take care of me, and it’s as scary as it is precious.
I grab their hands, doing a weird shuffle until I can hold them all. Being like this, with them, is completely disarming. I don’t want to be a slave to my designation, but if they’re my masters,I see more and more it might not be as arduous as my trauma sometimes lets on.
I stick to what I know—I want to be a pack with them.
Also, I do trust them. I just haven't had much experience with trusting people. Especially with my story. I close my eyes, and this time, instead of getting freaked out by their scent and presence, I lean into it.
“I grew up in a different world. Everything is polished perfectly on the surface level, and underneath it’s a viper pit. I did things I’m not proud of doing to survive, but there are other things I did I am immensely proud of. I became a different version of myself, and as part of that, I changed my name and started using my grandmother’s name because no one remembers her. I have a sister, but all the records of my birth have been changed so we’re sisters in blood only now. Only a few people know who I actually am.”
“Who are you, bebe?”
“I’m Dr. Quinn Garcia, and Ambassador Victor Hernandez is my father. And I’m going to kill him.”
I stay tucked in my safe space, a little scared to see the fallout. A heartbeat later, it starts, and I pick up on it instantly. Their presence starts to ebb away; their scent follows until only my own perfume remains. Even their touches feel lighter.
I open my eyes but keep my gaze down low, staring at our hands all touching, wondering if I went too far and told too many secrets. I hear myself whine in the silence.
And it triggers a landslide.
They were holding back, but now they’re back bigger, bolder, more obvious than ever.
Theirscent is so intense, even the dogs get up and prowl around, searching out the threat.Theirpresence invades me, leaving no room for me to question where their focus lies or howprotective they’ll be. But they’re still deadly quiet, and it spurs my own scent to leak from me, wanting them to be okay.
I get a growl in my ear. “Bebe, you spoke of not coping with parts of whoyouare, and now we’re hearing what our beautiful, strong mate has been subjected to, by herself. It’s hard to accept. I need a minute to wrestle back control of my more dominant side.”
“Jesus, Quinny, I don’t even know who he is, but apparently Santiago and Aleksei do.”
“Youshouldknow. Or not you, but Interpol, the police, the government. I tried to tell people how terrible he was and what I caught him doing. No one believed me.”
The air gets even more saturated by the scent of distress, drawing the two dogs into our huddle. Roshka pushes his way right in, situating himself between me and whatever is causing Aleksei’s mood to sour.
“I’m okay,” I say, wrapping my arms around his back and burying my face in his fur.
Aleksei finally starts talking. It’s in Russian, and it’s directed at Roshka. It sounds like an angry bark, full of threat and warning, but he’s talking directly to me, via our bond, and that is blistering with promises. Of safety. Of retribution.
Kade moves slowly, tipping my face up, urging me not to hide. “Hey, you. You’re still my favorite whore, okay? Who he is doesn’t change a thing about us.”
“It kind of does. If he finds you with me, Kade, he’ll ruin your career with Interpol.”
“Do you really think I’m worried about my job? Hell, Quinny, you are my job.”
“Someone didn’t want to mention thishuiis fucking Interpol?”
“Whatever the fuckhuiis, I’d never sell Quinn out. We kind of had other, more important, things going on, like your dipshit brother!” Kade snaps back ferociously.
Aleksei laughs. “True. But you just remember what I did to my brother. No warnings, Kade. If I think you’re doing anything shady, I’ll find your badge and shove it down your fucking throat for you to choke on. My wife comes before everything.”
“Okay, okay,” I placate, squeezing his hand while rubbing Kade’s, being reassuring to both. “No threatening each other. Honestly, Victor is going to do that and more. I think Santiago’s and Aleksei’s experiences in the underworld gives them the one-up on this one, Kade. But Victor is similar to the Cartel and the Russian mafia, he’s just wearing a suit and hiding behind a title. He will stop at nothing if he thinks someone is on to him. He’ll target your family first.”
“My family will be standing with pitchforks, ready to eviscerate the bastard.” And then Kade stops talking, and something about what I said shifts his thoughts. He groans. It’s full of pain and understanding. “Jesus. If what you said is true…”
He’s stopped mid-sentence by a ferocious sound of warning from both Santiago and Aleksei. Aleksei is the one to speak, and without looking, it sounds like he’s talking with his jaw clenched. “Did you miss where she said no one believed her? No more warnings, Kade. None!”
Kade inhales sharply. “Oh my god. I’m so fucking sorry, Quinn, it’s a questioning technique left over from my time working. Of course I believe you.”
The atmosphere is volatile, the dogs are restless, and their influence is back to being huge and consuming. I throw my hands up, making a sign of timeout. It’s all I can think of doing.
