Page 47 of Broken Dreams

“The plan was always to take you with us when we left,” Duncan says. “Pack Dresmond followed us out to Detroit to help, in case we ran into difficulties. Linus, as you may remember, participated in your heat, and we convinced him to come with us.”

“It didn’t take much,” Linus replies. “Where you go, I go. I need you, Makayla.”

I feel as if I’m split in two. Two names as well as lives. The duality is harsh, the lines jagged like the rest of me. Leaning against Linus, I wrap my arms around him the best I can in the seat.

“He carried you through the hallways, after Lucas put Bret in a chokehold to knock him out so we could leave,” Duncan says. “Alesso, Lucas, and Oliver were the other alphas there.”

I appreciate that he’s laying things out for me so I can picture it better.

“I tried to avoid the guards, but Saxon stepped out in front of us,” Linus explains. “He wanted to take you from me so I could work the floor.”

Reminders of that brute make me shiver, though I forced myself to bury the memories of the punishment, just his name has the power to dig them back up.

“Has he done something to you?” Duncan asks.

I’m sure my scent has soured with the memory, and we’re in confined quarters.

“Bret used to use him to punish people when he was afraid he wouldn’t have enough control not to seriously hurt someone,” Linus says. “He hated that Makayla wouldn’t speak to him.”

I don’t speak to assholes, I think. Apparently, I’m having difficulty speaking at all today. It feels as if my vocal cords are frozen completely.

“That’s ridiculous,” Callum says, pulling up to a gate. I see a vehicle behind us and turn to see who it is with alarm. “That’sPack Dresmond. Adira is here at our house. We recently found out she’s pregnant and our house is outside of the city.”

“Their house is safe, but staying alone, it felt better to have her here,” Duncan adds. “We recently added a safe room in case of emergencies. Adira has had enough kidnappings to last a lifetime.”

My lips part in surprise, because it doesn’t seem that life has gotten any safer for omegas while I’ve been “away”.

“Rock Dresmond was a piece of shit, but he got us to install some extra security measures. The safe room is large enough for both you and Linus,” Callum says.

As the gates open, Linus asks the question I’m thinking as I frown.

“What about you?”

“We’ll be happily killing anyone who decided to fuck around and find out,” Callum says wryly. His confidence shouldn’t be so sexy, but even Linus shifts against me it appears he’s affected as well. “Okay, we’re here. We didn’t even talk about everything, but there’s one more thing.”

Callum parks the truck in front of a beautiful house surrounded by trees, but my gaze is on him as I move to sit more comfortably. I would kill for a shower right now.

“Bandage,” Linus grunts as if it’s some kind of reminder.

“Right,” Callum says, taking a deep breath as he fortifies himself, turning to face Linus and I.

Now, both brothers are practically hanging in the space between their seats to talk. It reminds me of a million other times when they’d drive me around for burgers and a shake or to hang out. It’s such a mind fuck to see the similarities.

They have a lot more tattoos now. I can see the crowns on their biceps along with other tattoos since they’re both wearing short sleeved shirts. There’s so much color, I wonder what kind of story the ink tells.

“Quinn,” Callum rasps, getting my attention. “You’re doing so well, baby. I know we’re throwing a lot at you. Stay with me.”

At my nod, Duncan takes a breath.

“Let’s rip off the bandage, then. You and Linus are both our scent matches,” he says. “We always suspected it, and I know you may not be able to recognize it since Linus says Bret has fucked with your biology… Quinn? Quinn!”

Everything is leaning. Why is that?

My eyes roll back as I fall down an interminably long black hole in my mind where I’m unable to respond to Duncan. It’s too much yet not enough. All this time, my scent matches have been two good alphas who I’ve known my entire childhood.

I’ve often dreamed about a life with Linus, and now I get that too? It’s like a child being told Christmas, the tooth fairy, and Easter bunny are all real. Yet I’m no longer a child.

I’m thirty-four years old with apparently an entire life ahead of me, and I’m freaking the fuck out. I haven’t had a good break down in a long time.

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