Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
In the end, they waited for Warrick and his brother’s friend Quinn to show up before they had their meeting about what to do with this new information.
Milo tried not to pace too much, but that was the way he dealt with stress, and he was pretty fucking stressed right now.
Though it was good to have Nolan and Race there.
He shouldn’t have closed them out like he had, and their presence felt like a completion of a circle somehow.
They had all come back together like they were supposed to.
He glanced over at them, where they were not huddled together but definitely presenting a united front. “This Quinn guy, he’s good, right?”
Nolan nodded, baring his teeth in a feral sort of smile. “He’s really good. He’s a good guy and he’s also an amazing hunter. He has a big cat for a mate, too, who has got a sixth sense about ferreting out traffickers.”
“Good. We’re going to need all the help we can get, and if our anonymous cop is right, we can’t trust a lot of people.”
Race gave him a determined look. “Quinn also has brothers. Between the bunch of us we have enough skills to do this, I promise.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“You won’t have to. You’ll meet them soon, I’m sure.”
Nolan finally broke first and came over to him, opening his arms tentatively. “I missed you.”
He stepped into the hug, but what else could he do? He had to take what was offered. He needed his brothers, and he was tired of keeping them at arm’s length.
“I missed you too, both of you, not just when I was gone but even after I got here. Those couple of days we spent together were so nice and then I just freaked out.”
Nolan patted his back. “Of course you did. I don’t blame you. I kind of did the same thing. It’s hard to believe you’re safe, and then when you are safe you don’t want to come out of that space. You want to hunker down and stay so no one can hurt you again.”
“Yes. Yes, exactly that.” Then he kind of laughed, feeling self-conscious about it but needing to get it out. “Seeing me up there with my rifle, I was ready to shoot that guy in a heartbeat.”
“We were ready to come beat him to death with frying pans.”
Race scoffed. “Speak for yourself, Nolan. A frying pan is overrated. I have weapons.”
“Yeah, yeah, we have plenty of them at our house too.”
Milo drew in a deep breath. “What are we going to do?”
Race gave him the side eye. “We’re going to wait for Quinn and his brothers to come. We’re all going to sit down and have a meeting about what we are going to do and then we are going to implement a plan. Nobody is running off half-cocked here.”
“But that’s my strong suit,” Milo teased.
Now Race rolled his eyes. “Yes, it’s also my mate’s. I have to restrain him daily. It has made me far more circumspect, let me tell you.”
“I bet. Bad impulse control can be a real bitch.” And it could land somebody in a cage for years. All he’d been doing was trying to help an omega shifter who was about to get his ass kicked. No good deed went unpunished, he guessed.
Warrick strode back into the room, looking them all over as if making sure they were intact. He also thought maybe he was checking to see that they were all getting along and that Milo wasn’t going to freak out again and run.
He wasn’t going to. He was done running. He wanted this over and done with and he was going to stand up and make it happen.
He got a faint smile from Warrick before he jerked his head. “Let’s all go sit in the dining room. That way we can spread stuff out on the table. Quinn will be here in about fifteen.”
“Cool.” Nolan linked arms with him. “I’m gonna raid your kitchen first.”
“And you’re taking me with you?”
“Collateral damage.” Nolan tugged him along. “We need snacks. You have no idea how long these meetings can last when Warrick and Quinn and Quinn’s brothers and his mate and everyone show up.”
“Fair. I’ve never had to sit in on one.”
“Well, now it’s like a family tradition, so welcome to the chaos.”
He shook his head. It was hard to believe this was Nolan, sad mousy little Nolan, who never spoke up for anybody or said anything that might cause their father to fly into a rage.
He imagined Nolan had been the same way with his first partner, who was not really his mate.
That asshole had been the same way as their dad.
Milo had only ever met him once, and he had not liked the man.
In the kitchen Nolan grinned at him and started pulling out platters and cups. “Can you get in the fridge and get out some meat and cheese and fruit?”
“Wow, you really mean to make a big snack.”
“Wait until you see how much these guys can eat, Milo. Stunning. I’ve always been a little pudgy—”
He cut Nolan off right off there. “You’re not pudgy; you’re perfect. You’re a black bear. We like to eat.”
“We do. And you need to eat more.” Nolan gave him a sadder smile after that.
“Hey, no, getting all down about it. What happened, happened. We’re not going to let it happen again.”
“We’re not.” Something hardened in Nolan’s eyes, and his lips firmed up as if he was ready to go to battle.
Milo dug into the refrigerator looking for lunch meat, cheese, fruit that he could put on the platter.
He hadn’t really explored the kitchen much here.
Warrick tended to bring him food. But that wasn’t fair either.
Maybe he would cook for Warrick later. He knew how.
He’d learned while he was living on his own, and he was pretty good at it.
He’d been pretty good at it. He was sure it was muscle memory. It would come back to him.
He felt like he wanted to make Warrick’s life easier.
It wasn’t a quid pro quo thing. Warrick never made him feel like he owed the man anything, but it would make him happy to provide for Warrick.
It would make him feel like he was doing something worthwhile.
Warrick inspired those feelings in his chest and belly.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get all downtrodden.” Nolan perked up and sort of grinned at him. “So, you and Warrick.”
“What about us?” He wasn’t going to rise to the bait. He absolutely wasn’t. There was nothing to tell right now, not that he didn’t think there would be. It seemed sort of inevitable.
“I’m just saying, it seems as though those grizzlies are irresistible to us little black bears.”
He assembled charcuterie. Well, cheap charcuterie. Lunch meat charcuterie. “It does seem that way. He’s been giving me plenty of time.”
“Do you want all that time?”
Milo glanced at Nolan, keeping his expression blank. “I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”
Nolan held up his hands. “You’re right. It’s not. I’m just being nosy. You know me. I was always the one who filled the silence with words.”
“And I love you for it, and I’m not mad, but what happens between me and Warrick on our time happens.
” He wasn’t going to rush it, and he wasn’t willing to jaw about it right now.
Maybe someday he and Nolan and Race could share silly stories about their bears, but at the moment he was too stressed and too worried, and this was all too new.
Nolan stuck some grapes on the tray. “You know I love you, right?”
“Of course I do, and I love you. Now let’s take some snacks to some hungry bears.”
“Let me get the cookies first.” Nolan added not just cookies but bread and honey to the tray as well before they hauled it back out to the dining room.
Which was when Quinn and his mate Tiago showed up.
Or at least that’s who they were introduced as.
Quinn was a big wolf with long hair streaked with silver and a sharp beautiful face.
His mate Tiago was a dark-haired golden-eyed kitty who absolutely took up more space than he should have just lounging around.
Quinn’s brothers and their mates logged into the meeting via computer, Connal setting up a laptop on the table so they could all see each other.
And when the war meeting started, he was shocked at how quickly things came together…