Chapter 9

NINE

I wouldn't have saidI was a paranoid person by nature, but something about what was going on with Felix just felt wrong. Maybe it was that I didn't like the fact that, so far, our enemy was faceless and nameless. There was nowhere to channel my rage over someone threatening my mate, and it was making me antsy.

Felix and Julius had retreated to Julius's lair after I'd fucked Felix senseless against my bedroom wall and sent him to meet up with my brother with a little bit of a hitch in his step.

They'd been downstairs for hours, and I'd been doing all I could not to go down there and sit looking over his shoulder. He'd been in my life for two days, but I missed him like he'd been part of my life forever. Even though he was still in the house. Even though I'd be able to hold him in my arms all night.

The soft, squishy feelings I had for Felix felt totally foreign, and while I wouldn't trade him for anything, he made me feel vulnerable. And I didn't like it.

"Stop pacing. That's an antique Persian rug you're trying to wear a hole through." Quin was working on something on his own computer at the kitchen island since his gallery was closed for the day. He pulled out the barstool next to him. "Sit."

I'd already tried sitting. It hadn't worked well to burn off the frenetic energy thrumming through my veins. The only thing I thought could possibly help was having Felix in my arms again. And my brothers out of the house.

"You can't keep your dick in him twenty-four seven." Cal was sprawled across a couch in the great room, his head hanging over the armrest so he could see into the kitchen.

"The hell I can't," I snapped back. In thirty-eight years, I'd never felt so much for someone so fast, and knowing he and Julius were downstairs poking into something that had already painted a literal target on my mate's head made me want to do just that. Just as a precaution. Only to keep him safe. No one could get to him if he was under me.

"You sound like a caveman. Get your head out of your ass." Quin's assessment was completely accurate.

"What am I supposed to do? I feel like he's walking into a trap. Am I just supposed to let him put himself in danger? He's my fated mate, for fuck's sake."

"Who you just met yesterday."

"What's your point, Quin?"

"My point, dear brother, is that you barely know him. Fated mate or not, you need to get to know him."

"And not just in the biblical sense." Cal waggled his eyebrows and smirked.

"You know I hate to agree with anything Cal says, but he's right. You need to learn to trust Felix. If he thinks he can do this without putting himself in harm's way, you need to let him try." Quin looked just as smug as his twin.

"That's easy for you to say. He's not your mate." Even after only a couple of days, I wasn't sure I could survive without him. It felt like half my heart was in Felix's body. My connection to him was stronger than any bond I'd ever felt, and we hadn't even claimed each other fully yet. In the back of my head somewhere, I knew Quin was right. Felix and I needed to build trust before we took that step. Once my mark was on him and his on me, there was no going back.

"That's fair. But we all agreed to keep him safe. You already know Julius is the one behind the screen right now. All Felix is doing is leading him down the same path he took."

It didn't make me feel better that I was potentially putting my brothers in danger too. But I trusted them to know their limits. They'd been playing fast and loose with legal their whole lives. Cal practically lived for danger. With them, it wasn't the same. If something happened to them, I'd be sad about it, sure—some more than others—but it wouldn't gut me like a fish in Pike's Place like it would if I lost Felix.

"You need something to keep you busy," Cal suggested.

"Like?"

"A hobby?"

"I have one of those. I plan creative ways to murder you in your sleep."

Cal scoffed. "Where's the challenge if I'm sleeping? Now, if you told me you were plotting creative ways to kill me while I was awake, that's a legit hobby. The options are really endless, and you'd have to really think outside the box."

"I hate you."

"I've heard I have that effect on people."

"Hell must be freezing over or something because, once again, Cal and I agree. Felix and Julius are going to be holed up down there forever. Did you see all the snacks Julius took? You're going to drive yourself crazy if you hang out around here waiting for some bad guy to burst through the door. If we're going to make ORCA a real thing and not just something we're doing to humor Felix and to figure out who wants to hurt him, then part of the business is going to be bounty hunting. You need to keep up those contacts. See if Jimmy has some low-hanging fruit for you to chase." Quin's grimace told me exactly what he thought about Jimmy and the career I'd decided to pursue since I'd given up art theft as a full-time gig.

"Bounty hunting is ninety-five percent surveillance, you know this. I don't want to be away from Felix for that long."

Cal laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing." He laughed again.

"Seriously, what?"

"I was just thinking you could take him with you. This whole thing was his idea in the first place, right? Maybe he needs a little field experience."

Honestly, it wasn't the worst idea, and if I didn't go after anyone high profile, like Valencia, Felix would be safe. Things rarely turned violent while I was chasing skips. Lots of running, yes. Lots of violence, no. My size was pretty intimidating, and if we were anywhere near the water, the fact that I could shift into a giant killer whale was a pretty damn good deterrent.

It would be a good excuse to show Felix my orca form, which I'd been dying to do since I'd recognized he was my mate.

"It might be good for Felix too." Quin's comment broke into my thoughts about shifting into my whale form while Felix was in his otter form. The size difference was laughable, but I had a feeling somehow we'd make swimming together work.

"How so?"

"Once he puts Julius on the right path, he's not going to be able to do much. He's just going to have to sit back and wait to see if Julius gets locked out too. It's too risky for him to be the one behind the keys right now, and Jules knows that. He's not going to let him hack anything until he knows he can cover two sets of tracks."

Quin had a point.

Tuning into my fated mate bond with Felix, I could already feel his frustration. I had no doubt his fingers were itching to be at the keys.

"I guess I could call Jimmy to see if he has anything easy."

"And if Felix doesn't want to go, it's still an excuse to get out of the house. This place is built like a fortress. No one is getting to him here. And with Cal unemployed?—"

"I prefer fun-employed. But I am employed, thank you very much. Remember, I work for ORCA now."

Quin rolled his eyes. "With Cal unemployed, he'll be around, even if you aren't. Julius will likely work from home while he's tackling this, not that he goes into his office much anyway, so Felix will never be alone."

I nodded. Having a way to work out some of my energy would be good for everyone. It would be even better if Felix wanted to tag along so I could keep my promise to McMahon to not let him out of my sight. Plus, if things got really boring, we could make out in the car.

The more I thought about it, the more this felt like a win-win for everyone.

Hopefully, Felix saw it that way too.

"Get down there and ask him before you drive yourself, or me, crazy." Quin was looking at something on his computer, which felt as good as being dismissed.

Sliding off the stool, I made my way around the counter, through the dining room, and down the hallway to the basement stairs. It felt weird to finally be heading down to check in on Felix after spending the better part of the day convincing myself that just having him under the same roof was enough, that I didn't need to hover.

Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

I was almost giddy to see him, and I had to take a few deep breaths outside the door so I didn't seem like I had zero chill, even if that was one hundred percent true where Felix was concerned.

Julius and Felix both had their backs to me. Julius was pounding away at the keyboard while Felix looked over his shoulder. Snack wrappers were scattered among Julius's computers and monitors, and when Felix turned to look at me, there was orange dust around his mouth, so naturally, I leaned in to kiss it away.

"Gross. I'm making a new rule. No sex or kissing in my office. Take it outside." Julius didn't take his eyes off the screen as he offered his admonishment.

I held my hand out, and Felix took it, standing from the rolling chair he'd been occupying in one fluid motion.

"I was hoping to talk to you about something." I tugged him toward the door, and he followed.

"Close the door. I don't want to hear your ‘conversation.'" And to think, Julius used to be my favorite younger brother.

Felix followed me out to the main part of the basement, and I leaned against the pool table, pulling him into my space. I felt better, less like I wanted to crawl out of my skin, just having him near me, and I wondered if that feeling would ever go away. If some of the things my grandmother said were true, I didn't think so.

I pressed my lips to Felix's again, unable to resist the pull I felt toward him.

When I finally let him go, his eyes were glazed over, and his voice was husky. "Did you pull me out here just to kiss the crap out of me?"

"Yes." Then I immediately corrected. "I mean, no. I wanted to ask you something."

He kept his body pressed against mine. "Shoot."

"Um, you're not actually doing any of the hacking down here, right?"

My mate narrowed his eyes. "No. Why?"

I let out a breath. "Good."

"I'm more than capable, but your brother won't let me touch a single thing. He's taking his vow to keep me safe online pretty seriously. I'm actually getting bored. Hacking really isn't a spectator sport."

Maybe Julius was still my favorite after all.

"I'm really glad to hear that."

Now, he raised an eyebrow. "You're happy I'm going out of my mind with boredom? Rude."

"No. Yes. Sort of." I squeezed his hips and pulled him closer to me, and his annoyed expression melted. "I'm really bad at making a point."

He beamed at me. "You're doing okay. Keep going." He rubbed his body against mine. "I'm on board for anything you suggest."

"I think you should come bounty hunting with me."

"Yes, I'd love to head to the bed—wait. Did you say you want me to go bounty hunting with you?" He pulled back and gave me another narrow-eyed look. "Aren't you supposed to be keeping me safe?"

"Yes, but if there is nothing we can do here, we might as well do something productive."

"This was Cal's idea, wasn't it?"

"Yes, but Quin agreed. We're both going to go stir-crazy."

Felix rocked his head from side to side. "That's probably true. If Julius is as good as he says he is, it's still going to take him days to get to the point I was at before I got stonewalled."

"We won't do anything dangerous. Only quick little cases. Just to keep busy."

My mate pursed his lips, and I wanted to kiss him while he considered. "Any chance I could get a computer?"

"Why?"

"Well, if I'm going to go out in the field with you, you might need me to find out information about your skip. All I need is a laptop and a hotspot. If we're not going to try to catch any big fish, I won't need more than that." He took a step back. "Oh, actually, this is kind of perfect. If whoever is targeting me is waiting for me to pop up, letting them see me work on something that's completely unrelated to Amanda Vanderkaamp might be enough to convince them I'm no longer trying to track her down. It might be enough of a distraction that Julius can slip by undetected."

Letting Felix back online felt just about as risky as letting him outside without me, but I could see his point.

"I can plant a few digital red herrings along the way to really throw them off the scent." There was an excited glint in Felix's eyes, and this was the most animated I'd seen him since we met at the police station. Well, the most animated I'd seen him outside of the bedroom.

"Let's talk to Julius and see what he thinks. I know your stuff is going to need to be replaced, but according to McMahon, you're going to have to wait until they can sort out who is responsible for replacing it."

"Fine." He took a big step back, found my hand, and pulled me back to Julius's lair.

"That was fast." My brother didn't turn when we stepped back into the room and Felix retook his seat, twisting in the chair from side to side.

"Nero is taking me bounty hunting. I need a computer."

Julius had just taken a swig from a bottle of Dr. Pepper and choked a little. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Felix can't do anything to help you right now. It would be good to get out of the house."

"Then go bowling or something. If you really think taking him out to chase skips with you is the best choice, you might be the worst bodyguard I've ever met."

"Hey, that's not fair." The way Felix immediately jumped to my defense made me smile. "I'm not dead yet. I feel like passing the twenty-four-hour mark is a pretty good sign."

"You haven't left the house since you got here." Julius took another drink from his soda bottle.

"Fair, but if we are all going to make ORCA a thing, I need to know what it's like in the field so I can be a better guy in the chair."

Julius considered Felix for a second. "Fine." He spun in his chair, stood, and walked to the other side of the room, ducking into one of the cabinets by the television and pulling out a slim black laptop. He held it out to Felix, who ran his hand over the metal case reverently. "This is my backup. All my programs are on there. If you have questions, call, though as evidenced by last night, you'll have no issues figuring out my system. We're going to talk about that after this is over, by the way."

Felix nodded. "You've got it, and thank you."

My brother looked at me. "Be careful. I don't like this. Make sure you're not being followed."

As if he had to tell me twice. Felix was everything to me, and I'd protect him with my last breath.