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11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Quinn

T hey are late. I lean against the tree and cross my arms, trying not to scratch them. My skin is vibrating with the need to be with my mate. I hated leaving her. I want to be near her constantly, but I have to do this.

Kade and Cash arrived last night. I received a text in the middle of the night. They crashed at a hotel for a few hours before sending another message this morning informing me they were in place outside the bakery. I know they will protect her with their life if necessary.

I narrow my eyes when I see movement in the trees. Heath saunters closer, his shiny black shoes stepping through the grass as if he's in the city. My old acquaintance is wearing a black suit with a blue tie. It is rare to see him dressed any other way. He smirks when he comes to a stop ten feet away.

"Hello, old friend," he says. He tilts his head. "You didn't scold me for using that word." He squints suspiciously.

I shrug. "What's the point?"

"Hmm…" He slides his hands in his pockets.

The air moves, and Micah stands between us. "Brothers," he rumbles. He's wearing what he always wears: ripped jeans and a T-shirt. His hair is a mess and blowing in the breeze .

"Good to see you, Micah," Heath says.

"It is," Micah agrees.

"How have you been?" Heath asks.

"You know I'm doing well. Did you not think I noticed the men you have follow me periodically?" Micah grins.

Heath tips his chin. "I knew you would. It was my way of saying hello." He wiggles his fingers.

"I figured. How's business? As shady as ever?"

"I've had to clean house. There were too many fuck-ups lately," Heath hisses.

"That will happen when you are trying to build an empire," Micah says dryly.

I look between them. "Are you fucking done?" I snarl. They look at me blankly. "We are here for a reason. Did you secure your phones?"

"Of course," Micah says. "Are we amateurs?"

"Don't answer that," Heath says. "Only you would drop a pin in the middle of the forest."

"I didn't want to be followed. At least out here, we would hear anyone who tries to come after us," I point out.

"Do you have any idea who it could be?" Micah asks.

"I can think of numerous people who want revenge on me and us." I drop my arms and step away from the tree. "I don't care who the fuck it is—all I care about is my mate."

"Obviously." Heath rubs his chin. "Who's the top of the list?"

"Anyone who was a relative of the people we killed," Micah says plainly.

"I agree." I rake my hands through my hair. "It's going to be a long list."

"But all of those people deserved their sentence," Heath says .

"Doesn't matter," I say. I turn away from them. "Family will defend each other."

"Not in my experience," Heath mutters.

"In most families," Micah clarifies.

"I need both of you to make a list of all the jobs we did together. We need all the information we can get on them and their families," I instruct.

"Did you find anything with the phone number?" Heath asks.

"Not yet." I turn back. "I need a list as soon as possible," I repeat.

"We understand." Micah steps close. "Have you told her?"

"No." I grit my teeth. "I wanted more time."

"I'm afraid you are out of time," Heath says helpfully.

"No shit, asshole," I snarl.

"She's your mate. She'll listen," Micah says, clasping my shoulder.

"You think so?" I shake my head. "You didn't hear her talking about her experience in the Games."

"No, but from what I have heard, she's a strong woman. The universe clearly thinks you are meant for one another," he says.

"Fuck, I hope so," I whisper.

"She will," Heath says seriously, and we look at him. "Quinn, you are one of the best men I know. You have always had good intentions. We had to do everything we did for a damn good reason. We kept everyone in this fucked up world safe. Because of us, they can walk around in ignorance of the world that we live in. It pisses me off when you devalue the jobs. All three of us live with our nightmares because of the human race. Micah gave us a family. The three of us are brothers. We went through hell, but we had each other. No one else could have walked away after the things we did." He steps closer.

"I understood why you felt like you had to walk away from us. You thought you had to protect yourself. Now, I'm over it. Don't fucking walk away again." He eliminates the rest of the space between us. "We are on your side; we always have been. You don't need to protect yourself from us." He cups my neck. "I will make a list. We will protect your mate and your grouchy ass. Not many people like me; I would like to keep around the ones that do."

"How many like you?" Micah asks, grinning.

"Fuck off," Heath says, but his lips twitch.

"I'm sorry," I say as his hand drops away.

"What?" he asks, dipping his head my way.

"I'm fucking sorry, alright? I needed out. It's on me that the time lasted so long," I say.

"Apology accepted," he says. "I want to meet your mate soon. I'll be in touch with that list." He spins around and walks away.

Micah and I watch him leave.

"He was hurt," Micah says softly.

"What?"

"He loves you. You left him. He doesn't have many people in his life who he can trust. He trusted us."

"Fuck," I say, the words filled with regret. "You've been in contact with him for a while," I guess.

"Off and on."

"Why?"

"He's my brother." He smiles. "You are, too. I just had to wait until both of you put aside your stupid pride."

"Whatever."

"I want to get to know your mate. I will get my list together. We won't let anything happen to what you are building here."

"Thank you."

"What are brothers for?" he says. He hits my shoulder and, in the next second, is gone .

Shit. He had to rub in the fact that it's my fault that we haven't been in each other's lives. I shake my head with a grin and start jogging back to the truck. It felt good to be with them again. I felt the need to push them away, but they didn't do anything wrong. I was trying to escape my demons.

I hope Steph hasn't eaten yet. Honestly, I don't care what we do as long as I am in her presence. I have to tell her everything. I fear she won't accept it and will look at me differently.

I reach the truck and jump in, grabbing my phone from the glove compartment. I power it on and see I have several missed calls from Sally. Before I can look at the messages, it rings.

"Sally, I promise I will let you have your first day tomorrow," I say when I answer.

"You need to get here now," she says urgently.

"What's wrong?" I ask, panicked. I start the truck and hit the gas, turning around.

"Steph got a message."

"Fuck," I growl.

"Yes. It's not good."

"Right. I'll be there in fifteen." I end the call and throw the phone on the passenger seat.

I pray my mate has enough trust in me to believe the words I will have to say and love me in spite of them.

"Where is she?" I ask Sally and Breeane as I burst through the apartment door.

"She's in the bedroom. She won't come out or let us in," Breeane says. "What is going on?"

"No offense, but I need to tell her that first." I turn, holding the door open for them. "I need you to leave."

"Quinn," Breeane starts.

"Do you think I'm going to hurt her?" I ask harshly.

"Not physically. But there are other ways to hurt her."

"I get it. I need to explain, and I don't need an audience. I'll have her call you when we are done."

"Come on," Sally says, grabbing her arm. "I'll buy you some ice cream."

I shut the door after them, locking it.

I walk to the bedroom door, take a deep breath, and wait until I hear the front door close, ensuring we are alone. I'm surprised the knob turns easily; I assumed she locked it. The room is dark as I step in, and I look toward the closet.

My heart breaks a little when I see my mate huddled under the blankets, sitting on the floor, her knees to her chest. I take slow, steady steps closer. Her eyes track my progress, but she doesn't move. I stop in the doorway and crouch down, my arms hanging loosely over my knees.

"Will you listen?" I ask softly .

She holds my stare for a moment and then nods slightly. "Yes," she whispers.

"Thank you." I press my palm to the floor and ease to my ass, my back to the frame, my legs bent, my boots on either side of the door. "When my mom left when I was seventeen, I was so fucking angry. I hated everything. I fought anyone willing. I got in so much trouble, not only from my dad but the human police. My dad didn't know what to do with me." I rest my forearm on my knee. "The last time I walked out of a police station, a man was waiting for me. He was big and rough. I still don't know how he knew about me, but since I've known him for years now, I assume he heard things and had me followed.

"He is a vampire, and his name is Micah. He is the one you met. He's been around for a very long time. He offered me a way to channel my anger. The money was a big incentive since I didn't know what the fuck I was doing with my life. I didn't have a lot of experience with vampires, so of course, I was hesitant, but I agreed to listen.

"The jobs were dangerous, but so were the shifters we killed." I stare at the wall, afraid to see her reaction. "Not all shifters are good. Just like in the human world, some shifters do the most brutal things you can imagine. There are serial killers who are human; imagine a shifter or vampire with enhanced abilities killing others to satisfy their sick desires. Those people were our missions. We tracked, researched, planned, and killed those of our kind.

"For twelve years, I worked with Micah, but we had another member of our team. His name is Heath."

"Wait," she rasps, causing me to look at her. "The man who used Breeane?"

"Yes. Did she explain his role to you?"

"She did. She was forgiving. "

"Of course she was," I mutter. I turn my head back. "Heath is complicated. He may not always do the right things, but I know he has his reasons.

"We became a family. We trained together. Lived together. I trusted them with my life. When you live in extreme circumstances with someone, the more you rely on them. We didn't find joy in what we did, but we knew the need for it. My first kill was a lion shifter who spent his days stalking human women, kidnapping them, holding them in his basement, and raping them. Over and over, for months. I saw where they lived. I smelled the stench of desperation that clung to them. There were blood stains all over the floor." I close my eyes, my head hitting the door. "I can see it clearly. Out of the ten women he took, only four were left. The sobs ring in my memories.

"I snapped his neck. I didn't feel any regret or sympathy as we took his life, and neither did those women. They will have to live with his actions the rest of their life, so the least I can do is live with the images." I roll my head her way and see the tears welling. "We got them the help we could and moved on to the next."

"They recovered?" she asks.

"As much as they could. We tried to keep tabs on them, but time moves on, and there is always another job. We had hundreds of jobs. We lived nowhere and everywhere. For a long time, my family didn't know what I was doing, but they were grateful for the money I was sending. I was glad I could provide a better life for them. I liked that I could use the money covered in so much blood for something good.

"Time moved on, and the three of us became like brothers. We leaned on each other for everything. We protected each other. The letters in my tattoo you asked about." She nods. "They are all of the letters of our names mixed up. They are buried in the blood of the claw marks, just like we were. We still are," I whisper .

"It was harder when we had to kill shifters who had lost their minds. You know that if we go too long without finding our mates, especially for vampires, we go off the deep end. There were many of those. I hated it because they weren't bad people at their core, but when they passed a certain point, they became out of control."

"I've heard about it but have never seen it," she says quietly.

"It's not pretty. It doesn't happen as often with shifters. We live a long time, but not nearly as long as vampires. They are very hard to kill, and when they are insane, it's even more difficult. Having three different kinds of shifters helped even the playing field." I sigh. "Vampires don't give up easy."

"We were stuck in this bubble of death, destruction, and pain. That was our life. We did value our role, mostly. We were protecting humans and our world. If the shifters were discovered, we would have all been at risk of exposure. We had some close calls with the police, finding the bodies of the victims before we could capture the ones responsible. Having Micah on our side was fortunate in those cases; he could change the memories and protect the secrets that couldn't be revealed.

"You've wondered about my different colored eyes?" I ask, dropping my knee and turning my body to face her.

"Yes."

"It happened on my last job. I was tired. I hadn't talked or seen my family for a year. I was sick of staying in hotels, and some nights in the truck. I didn't want to do the job, but a tiger shifter killed a child. He tried to kidnap a woman, and he didn't know the woman had a daughter close by. The girl attempted to stop him, and he killed her. We had to take care of him.

"I was distracted and pissed off that there were still men like that in the world. We fought, and he stuck his claw in my eye. He must have been able to drip poison from it. Heath and Micah were late, so I didn't have backup yet. They got there at that moment. We got the job done, but I waited too long to shift so it could heal properly. I didn't lose any sight, but it changed the color." I chuckle. "I've had many comments about it, but no one would want to know the reason behind it, so I don't tell anyone."

"I ended my role in the team, the jobs, and our friendship the next day. They didn't try to stop me because I could see their exhaustion. I don't regret leaving. I needed to do it for my mental state, but I do regret leaving them, my family, for so long. I suppose I was pissed they were late and that I let the asshole almost take out my eye."

"You never reached out to them?" she asks.

"No. I thought about it every day. I would pick up the phone but couldn't follow through. With my work, I kept tabs on them. I made sure they were safe. Micah continued the work, except he expanded to include humans who are murderers and rapists. He later added Bash to the mix. He takes jobs from Micah."

"What about Heath?"

"Heath does many things. He uses a fighting ring to allow shifters who know they are going crazy to end it with dignity. I don't agree with all of his methods, but I don't need to. He is still my friend. I didn't want to admit that for a long time. I miss having them around." I roll my eyes. "Do not tell them that."

"I won't."

"They are still very dangerous men, but they have a code. They will never harm children or innocent women. I won't lie and say we haven't killed women; there weren't many, but we did come across some who were killing innocents." I shift and lean forward, my arms hanging over my knees. "What did the text say?"

"Do you know your mate likes to play Games, too?" she whispers .

"I swear it was never a game to us. It was nothing like what you went through. I got a message, too. I promise I will find the one sending them. I met with Micah and Heath. They are going to help me. I think it is someone who was related somehow to one of the jobs." I swallow harshly. "It would kill me if you were scared of me. I was going to explain my past, but I didn't think you were ready."

"I wasn't, or you weren't," she says.

"You're right. I wasn't ready. Does my story change things? Do you think differently of me?"

"I do."

My heart falls. "You do?"

"You have the courage and the skills to protect so many people. You are braver and stronger than anyone I know."

I drop my head. "Fuck." I rub my head. "You aren't scared of me?" I ask, looking up.

"No," she says.

I spread my arms wide. "It's your choice." I wait.

She slowly pushes the blankets off her lap and then leaps into my arms.

"Jesus, fuck." I hold her tight to my chest, one hand threaded through her hair, the other across her back. I tilt my head and bury my face in her neck. The possibility of her turning away from me in fear was paralyzing. Her trust is humbling. I've never shared my experience with the jobs with anyone. We didn't talk about it outside of the three of us. I have a hard time talking about my feelings or fears.

I'm grateful she is in my arms, choosing to trust my words.

She pulls back. "Please, don't hide things from me. I went through hell, but that doesn't mean I can't handle your past."

"I'm sorry. I let my fear of your reaction control me. It won't happen again," I promise, staring into her warm, understanding eyes.

"Thank you," she says softly .

I pull on her neck, bringing her mouth to mine, her lips immediately open. I sigh into her mouth, grateful for her openness. I drop my legs, and she straddles me. My back hits the side of the door, encouraging her to tuck in tight. Her arms wrap around my neck, her fingers teasing my hair.

I ease back, pulling on her bottom lip with my teeth before diving back in. Over and over. I don't remember a time I just kissed a woman or took so much pleasure in it. Having her safe on my lap, wrapped up in her warm, sexy body, is the most sensual experience of my life.

I ignore my phone when it rings.

Then it rings again. And again.

"Fuck," I hiss as she ends the kiss.

"That might be important," she says, her breath as heavy as her eyes.

"It better fucking be." She sits back on my legs, and I pull the phone from my pocket. Kade's name is on the screen. "What?" I answer.

"We found someone sneaking around the building."

"Who?" I growl.

"It's a woman. We have her in the trunk. We thought you would want to verify if what she is saying is true," he says plainly.

"Jesus. Who did she say she was?" I ask. Steph is listening intently.

"She says she is your mate's sister, Gabby." I hear pounding in the background.

"My sister?" Steph screeches.

"Shit. Drive around the back so we don't alert the whole block that you are holding someone in the truck," I grit out.

"We're already here," he says. "Are we new?" he asks and hangs up.

"Your friends have my sister in the trunk?" Steph jumps out of my lap, scrambling out of the closet.

I shake my head, pushing off the floor to follow.

This is why I don't have friends .

I hope my mate will forgive me for this, or else Kade and Cash's heads will be removed from their body.

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