Page 149 of Broken Dreams

“Nothing will happen”,Quinn says through the bond.

“What did you just do?” Duncan asks, glancing up in the rearview mirror. “That felt…what was that?”

“Pay attention to the road,” I remind him. “Quinn and I wanted to find out what would happen if we bit each other. So we did.”

“This feels very reminiscent of seven seconds in heaven,” he murmurs, making Quinn and I laugh.

“I do not want to know if you’ve done that,”she says through both our bonds.

I can tell she told both of us, because Duncan winces.

“I actually haven’t,” he says. “Callum got forced into it at a party when he was twelve though.”

Quinn grins because how can you be mad about that?

“So, let’s see the war wounds,” Duncan says.

Quinn and I show him our thumbs, and he barks out a laugh. It’s full of happiness and joy. I love my alphas' laughter.

“Matching bites, I think that’s fantastic,” he says. “I wonder what a tattoo would look like there.”

Immediately, I glance at Quinn as I feel her excitement.

“You may have opened up a can of worms there,” I tease him.

“Yeah, I can see that,” he says. “I guess I’m booking a tattoo appointment. I have to keep my omegas happy.”

My cheeks hurt from how hard I’m smiling. It’s just enough to keep the anxiety at bay for now, and for that, I’ll cling to every second of it.

My impending heat feels like a climbing wave, getting taller and taller as it hovers over my head. It feels like it’s taunting me, without even a suggestion of when it’ll crash over my head and drown me.

Fuck, I just want to be normal.

QUINN

Things were easier when people didn’t bother to call me. Now, I swear Callum and Duncan are my personal secretaries in the mafia world.

I’m on the phone with Cian Sullivan, and I’m not particularly happy about it. It’s not him, it’s the topic of conversation that I’m having difficulty with. It’s three days after I had a wonderfulvisit with Wren and Flynn and got to bond with Linus, and now it feels like the universe is fighting for the balance of power.

“The senior members of the families are meeting tonight, and your father is out of town,”Cian says. “We need to put some things to a vote, including the agreement that we will not make any movement to retaliate if your father should happen to die at the party at the Kelly’s home.”

The party is happening in three days. How is that even possible? I feel as if I blinked and time flew by. Duncan and Callum sit across from me as we listen to Cian on the speaker, while I gather my thoughts.

“Quinn has work tonight,” Callum says carefully. He can’t tell if I want to go or not, so he’s trying to give me the wiggle room to get out of this if I want.

Linus practically runs into the room as if feeling my anxiety, looking around for the source of it. Duncan points at the phone, making my best friend snarl at it. I fucking love him so much.

He doesn’t care who’s on the other end, they’re simply the enemy. Walking over to drop down by my feet, he wraps his arms around my waist and lays his head on my lap. Needing something to do, I let myself play with his hair as I think how I’m going to handle this.

“Why?” I ask, not bothering with my tablet. Of all moments, I’m going to try to have a conversation without it.

Quinn Kelly can’t do anything the easy way apparently.

The silence shows that I stunned Cian for a moment. The tablet sounds different enough from my actual voice that it’s noticeable since it's raspy from disuse and full of emotion.

“Ah. Without context, I’m going to give a few answers to that, Quinn,” he says. I’ve thrown the great Cian Sullivan off his game, and I don’t think that happens often.

“It has to be tonight because it’s the only time when we can get everyone together while your father is out of town and Roryis unable to make it,” Cian begins. “I need you there to be able to state your case if it's needed.”

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