Page 52 of Trusting Her Bear

“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.”

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