.Chapter Nine .
Quinn held up the box he”d taken the time to wrap carefully in blue paper with pink ribbon. The sun was almost up. With some luck they”d be closer to stopping the soldier vamp tonight. But for now, his focus remained on delivering this small gift to the soon to be parents who were quickly becoming family.
He”d planned to knock quietly on the door but at the first contact it swung open slowly. ”Harley? Zeven? Are you awake?” Of course, he already knew they were both inside the room. And he could tell they were awake. He could hear their hearts pounding, feel their excitement, hear their whispered words.
It was one of the problems with a shifting sleep schedule. He was ready to head for bed when most of the others were waking up.
Harley called out, ”Come on in.”
They were sitting together on their loveseat. The antique didn”t really fit their personalities. He”d planned all along to encourage them to redecorate however they wanted. But so much had happened that he hadn”t yet.
”Is everything okay?” Zeven stood as if he was ready to run off on another mission.
”Nothing new yet.” He settled onto the chair across from them as Zeven sat back down next to his mate. ”I just brought over a small gift for the little ones.” He passed the gift to Zeven who held it closer to Harley.
”Should we open it now?”
”Yes, go ahead.”
Harley pulled the ribbon and the paper open and then opened up the small box. ”Oh! How cute.” She pulled out the top onesie and held it up. The tiny outfit was a fuzzy little purple werewolf. The second one had the same design in green.
”The bottoms have flaps for tails.” He”d debated getting those ones and so the other outfits were all normal baby clothes. But in the end, he couldn”t resist the idea of them crawling around in their costumes.
”Quinn, you shouldn”t have.” She set it aside and pulled out the next several outfits one at a time, each in a neutral variety of colors. ”You gave us so many. And they”re all so cute.”
”What she”s trying to say is thank you.”
As she pulled out the last of the twelve tiny outfits a black card fell into her lap. ”What”s this?”
Zeven picked it up and held it out to him. ”Looks like you dropped your card in by accident.”
”It’s for you.”
”For me?”
”It seems I”ve been lacking in my responsibility. We never arranged for your official paychecks. This is my way of rectifying that problem. That card is linked to an account registered to Division Eight in your name. Your pay, ten thousand, will be deposited each month. And it is also linked to a credit account so that if an event comes up that you need more, it is always available.”
They both stared at him.
Was it too much? Too little? Or wrong of him to assume this would be something they”d even want?
”Oh, Quinn...” There were tears in Harley”s eyes.
”That account isn”t just for work. It”s for your security and happiness. And for renovations for the babies. I want you to feel like this is your home.”
”I keep saying that you do too much, but you really do too much.”
Zeven caught his mate”s hand. ”At this rate we might have to name one of the squirts Quinn.”
”You already make this place a home. I”m so happy we joined the agency. I can”t even imagine a place that could be better to raise our little ones. And if I weren”t as big as a tank over here, I”d be giving you a hug.”
”Are you ready for the twins? Is there anything else you need? Please don”t hold back.” Maybe it was wrong or maybe he was just getting greedy, but he was enjoying his role as grandfather of the babies.
”I think he”s just as excited as we are.”
”I think you”re right.”
He was sure that if he was the kind to blush, his face would be bright red. Had he really believed that he was being subtle? Clearly, they saw through him easily.
He stood up. ”Alright, enough picking on the poor old lonely man. I”d better get back to work. I expect there will be more business to deal with.”
He made his way to the door and left the two snuggling happily together talking about baby names.
Maybe he was being a little foolish, but it wasn”t as if he could have children of his own. Perhaps it was the same emotion that Father Time was feeling. If so, he could understand the almost desperate need to create a family. Not that it justified the murders. But it might at least allow for a little compassion when they finally caught him.
Him... he kept trying to think of the killer as some unknown vampire, but he was growing more and more certain that the killer was someone much more familiar. The visit with Bella had solidified his concerns. He had not told the boys yet, but he was more than half convinced that Father Time was Bella’s brother, Georgie.
When was the last time they”d even spoken?
Why hadn”t he made a point to stay in contact with those two? Until he”d found Deven, they”d been the only ones he”d considered family. Their maker was long gone. He”d followed Bella to California and then he and Georgie had wandered around America for a while. But when Georgie had left him to head to New York, he”d let him go alone. When had that been? Maybe twenty years before he”d found Deven.
Then he”d enjoyed the twenties with Bella until she”d returned to her vineyard. And then he”d found Deven. That was when he decided to set down roots and take a little time to help the wolf recover.
He”d planned to provide a little support and then leave the boy to fend for himself, but that plan had failed miserably. Once he”d taken Deven in, the boy had latched onto him. It had taken at least a decade before he”d even been able to handle dealing with humans at all. And by the time he”d been able to manage on his own...
He”d grown attached as well. They”d been together for thirty years. Watching Deven heal and grow had given him something irreplaceable. A tether to the world. A place to call home. Family.
He hadn”t even been looking but once he”d recognized it, he understood the value. It had saved him. Sure, maybe he”d saved the boy by dragging him out of that cage, but the boy had in the end saved him just as completely. Without Deven he”d have been drifting around still looking for a reason to exist.
* * *
What the hell was he thinking?
He”d gone into the office to check on Tess and make sure she wasn”t overdoing it and instead they ended up fucking on her sofa. Seriously, that was just messed up. It certainly wasn”t a good way to take care of her health.
And he couldn”t even blame it on being drugged. Nope, this was all them.
In a way it might be considered a reliable test. But if that was a test had they passed or failed? He should probably count that a pass considering just how amazing it had been. No drugs were needed to make their chemistry go wild. Even now hours later when he was back in the training hall, his mind kept reliving the pleasure.
And the stupidity.
He had been in the training hall for several hours in the hopes it would help him work through his emotions. Had he really just walked out with the excuse, ”I need to train.”
He might go down in the record book for that level of idiocy. Then again, how could he have stayed there with her? How could he have looked her in the eye? She was going to expect him to act like an adult and know what he was feeling.
He wasn”t ready for that.
And he damn sure wasn’t about to consider her statement that they were married. He could barely figure out what he wanted. At least his body wasn”t being ambiguous. It wanted Tess, wanted her like no other he”d ever tasted. She was the flame set to his dry kindling. And every single second he was away from that fire, his body... His wolf wanted to know why they were apart.
Why couldn”t he be as straightforward as his wolf? Why couldn”t he just reach out and grab what he wanted? Because he would be lying if he said that he didn”t want her.
Right. He did want her. That much was an absolute truth.
But did he want more than her body?
Yeah, he did. He wanted her eyes on him. He wanted her to care about his wellbeing. He wanted to have the right to... to what? To wake up with her every single day? Was he ready to admit that he wanted her beside him more than just to have sex? If he took a step back and thought about it, it was obvious. They”d already been together for about a year. He was comfortable with her. He trusted her. He thought of her as an important member of his family.
There were really only three options for female roles like that. She wasn”t his mother. Didn”t even get a hint of motherly vibe from her. And she had never felt sisterly in the same way as Harley did. Not even before they”d had sex. The only remaining option was mate.
His wolf gave a mental eye role. As if he”d taken long enough to notice that streams run downhill.
Yeah, okay. He got it. He was being stupidly cautious with this new emotion. But if he was wrong, the fall out could tear their family apart. He wasn”t willing to run into that kind of danger without at least checking his plan for margin of error. He would admit that he had strong feelings for Tessa and that they might be love. But he was not going to act on those feelings yet.
Because what if the feeling was more lust than love? Tossing I-love-you around would only cause unnecessary pain when the passion faded. Instead, he”d hold back, adopt a wait and see approach for the time being. But just until he could be sure of what they had.
Once he was sure... Watch out. He was going to grab what he wanted and never let go.