Chapter 13

After five dayswithout seeing his mate, drinking too much coffee and working to secure the entire system without causing disruptions for users or raising suspicions with staff, he had done it in forty-six hours. Which also meant he hadn’t slept in close to forty hours and he was exhausted and hurting in a way he wasn’t familiar with.

There was an ache that he couldn’t soothe, and it was because he’d been ignoring Quentin. Hell, it was probably his mate’s hurt that he was feeling. He had tried to push something comforting through the bond—when he took a break and remembered to—but he didn’t know what he was doing, and Quentin had only gotten ahold of his magic three hours ago, so perhaps nothing had gotten through.

He read through Dalmon’s email again, as well as the attachments, to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. The good thing with companies was that the names of the directors and major shareholders were public record, which meant they now had a list of people, and Dalmon was digging. So far, Everest had confirmed that three of them had been at various Shadow Board parties.

As suspected, they wanted shares and seats on the Board, and Everest’s handler had also been in contact.

With the lockdown of the company operating system, and Dalmon stalling negotiations on the purchase—which is why Everest”s handler had been in contact to get him to speak with his uncle—tomorrow Malcolm was going to walk into the Coven office opposite the bar where Quentin worked.

If nothing else, that should bring any Shadow Board operatives in the kingdom out into daylight.

He rubbed his eyes.

A knock on his office door had him wishing he’d left already. “What?”

He should’ve left hours ago but had been tying up loose ends because the last thing he wanted was a too clever employee, finding a thread and thinking that the company had been compromised when they hadn’t been, and it was just protection. They couldn’t reveal their hand yet.

However, the acquisition had to go through because the shareholders had already voted on it. Having a private company was much easier. Everest—King Sebastien in his last life—had thought it a good idea to make one publicly listed and keep the other one private, so it’s not to have all their eggs in one basket.

It was as though all the actions they’d taken over millennia to keep their secret and be safe had been stripped away. How long until someone revealed they were phoenixes?

Orion opened the door. “He wouldn’t leave until he’d seen you. And I thought carrying him out kicking and screaming would make too much of a scene.”

Quentin glared at Orion and then at him. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was scowling hard enough that it had to hurt. “You’ve been ignoring me.”

Kaine glanced at Orion. “Shut the door. We won’t be long.”

The Komodo dragon shifter did as he was asked. He didn’t need to be told to stay on the other side.

“You could at least tell me what I did wrong. Or if you’ve changed your mind or something.” He took three steps into Kaine’s office, which left a vast distance between them.

Kaine stood and stretched. His back cracked, and for a moment, the idea of shifting was very tempting. When he was flying, nothing else mattered. Or that was how it had been. Would that feel different now he had a mate?

He walked around the desk towards Quentin. “I have been working on an imminent security breach. So it was not my choice.”

Maybe a little?

Because while it had been fun in the hotel room, beyond that sanctuary, he was surrounded by danger, and having a mate seemed like the biggest security breach of all. The thing that could bring him, and his brothers, down.

Quentin’s lips remained pressed together, and his arms tightly folded. “I’m used to hearing excuses. I thought you would be different. I have done everything you asked of me.”

“I know. I was updated.”

“It’s been five days, and you couldn’t spare five minutes to stop by and say something?” Quentin snapped.

It was no longer an ache inside of him. It felt as though something was tearing away and leaving him breathless and bleeding.

“Firstly, I can’t be seen with you on the street. Once was a hookup, a chance encounter. If we went out again, then anyone watching you would be aware that you have been compromised. If you are compromised, you are expendable. And the Shadow Board doesn’t care how bloody their hands become.”

“I have spent plenty of time in this building—is that not a risk?”

Kaine stood in front of him. If he reached out his hand, he would be able to run his hand up Quentin’s arm. Touching him seemed like a bad idea right now, even though it’s what his skin craved. “Your comings and goings have been protected. The staff do not know why you are here. They do not know who you are.”

“Am I going to be your secret forever? If you’re done, just say so.”

Kaine considered him for several heartbeats. “Why would you think I was done?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” He looked away and closed his eyes. “I’ve been ignored and brushed aside, unwanted, my entire life, and for some reason, I thought this would be different because we’re fated mates and magically married. I should’ve known better.” He drew in a deep breath and squeezed his eyes closed tighter. “Shit.” He swiped at his eyelashes. “Why the fuck do I care?” He glared at Kaine. “Stop staring at me.”

“I would have loved to have taken this entire week off and spent it with you on my estate. However, you needed to learn your magic, and I had to work. I agree, it’s not an ideal start. But I tried to use the bond to reassure you—though it’s a new magic to me and I don’t know if it worked. Maybe it didn’t because you didn’t understand your own magic and so couldn’t sense it.”

“I did sense something today. I thought I was imagining it.” Quentin scowled. “You could have texted in the previous four days. You could’ve done anything…instead, you left me with Mr. Surly. Who knows exactly what’s going on, by the way.”

“That’s why he’s the one I assigned to you. He’s ex-Coven and has a mate. He also used to work Shadow Board cases.”

“You say that like it’s meant to mean something to me.”

“They are the bad guys. They call themselves that because they run a shadow government in England.”

Quentin blinked. “A shadow government?”

“As in they are rich and powerful and titled witches who can sway the government to do what they want. What they want is to expose all paranormals and lay the blame for the world’s ills at the shifters” feet. You may not be familiar with paranormal history, but there was a time when witches would bind shifters, usually in their animal form, and then drain them of their magic. The Board still does that; they traffic shifters, and they want nothing more than to seize global power and bring shifters to heel. So, when I say I’m working on a security breach, it’s a big fucking deal that I can’t hand off to my staff because I don’t know which of my staff have been compromised. And those that have been, I have left in play because I don’t want to reveal how much we know. It’s why you’re living at home with your father instead of me. It’s why you’re going to work instead of looking at some of the dead languages that I need translated. I have an entire fucking library of ancient books and scrolls and such that I’m sure you would love to get your hands on…but I can’t give you any of that because it’s better if you seem to be a human uni student.”

Quentin’s mouth opened, then closed without a single word being spoken.

Kaine huffed out of breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice. I’d like to blame my lack of sleep and the anger and hurt I can feel through the bond, but I should know better.” He needed to do better. Quentin was his to look after, and he was doing a piss-poor job of it.

“If it’s new to you, why should you know better?”

“Because I understand how it works, even if I’ve never had it before.”

“There’s a difference between understanding how something works and doing it…trust me. I’ve spent the last five days unsuccessfully, understanding what I’m supposed to do and not being able to do it until today. Hoo-fucking-ray, because now there’s harder stuff to learn. Your thoughts are hot, by the way, and your butterfly is burning.”

Kaine snorted with laughter and then covered his mouth. “It’s not funny, but I kind of got an image. And I’m not sure what butterflies have to do with it.”

Except butterflies flew, and when he did, he was also on fire, which meant Quentin was very close to working out what kind of shifter he was. And since the Shadow Board probably knew, what did it matter if he told his mate?