Page 176 of Broken Dreams

“Yeah, old man?” he replies, smirking at the way Cian growls under his breath.

“Feed your girl. I’m afraid I’m dragging her away from her breakfast,” Cian says mildly.

Callum glances at me with a sigh and brings back a plate that has the exact amount of food that I’ll eat. I don’t know how he manages to do that.

“Here, beautiful,” he says. Pulling out a knife from the waistband of his pants, he tucks it into mine. “Let me know if you need me.”

Cian grumbles under his breath because he’s no longer considered someone I feel comfortable with and Callum is being loud about it in his own way.

He walks outside onto the patio, and I follow, curling up on a couch to eat. It’s warm now, the breeze is cool, and I’m not wasting this delicious food.

“I’m extremely angry with myself,” he begins, sitting across from me. “Everything kind of blew up quickly, and I heard that you were speaking all of a sudden. I didn’t stop to think about the miracle it was, I simply jumped to conclusions.”

“Not perfect,” I mumble. “The words… they still get jumbled.”

Cian’s gray eyes are intense as he gazes at me. “I heard you took control of a pretty stressful situation,” he says. “Did you intend to be used as bait?”

“Yes,” I say simply, continuing to eat.

“But why? There was all of this security around,” he says.

“That’s the point,” I say. The more worked up I get, the better the words seem to fall from my lips. “My father made it a point to tell me I wasn’t safe. Why put all of this effort into remaining inaccessible when eventually someone would grab me?”

“So you wanted to make it happen on your terms,” he murmurs.

“I was loaded for a bear, may as well go hunting,” I say.

“Fair enough. You’re going to give your alphas gray hair,” he says. “I apologize for jumping to conclusions. That isn’t like me. I’m really on edge.”

“Why?” I ask, polishing off the last piece of bacon on my plate.

“I hate that there are people in my city who shouldn’t be here,” he answers. “I’m used to having the answers, problem solving, and disposing of those who get in my way.”

“I hear there’s going to be a candle lighting ceremony,” I say slyly. “I think you should stay for it.”

Chuckling, he nods. “I don’t think I’ve been to a ceremony quite like this one before,” he admits.

It’s silly to speak in code, but it also lightens the mood.

“I’m sorry for hurting you, Quinn,” Cian says. “Sometimes I make decisions for others that I have no business making. I should have told you about Christian’s appearance at that meeting.”

“Thank you,” I murmur. “Don’t keep shit from me. Is there anyone other than Bret here?”

Cian blinks as he realizes that I have some blank spots in my information. “Of course you don’t know yet. Fuck, it’s been a busy few days all around,” he says. “Riley Lynott was found at the edge of the property by Bentley Rivers. They’re keeping her on ice in the basement. When Damon began clearing the house, he started pulling people to find Riley, Sadie, your dad, and that piece of shit that was helping Riley. I caught some of what happened from Adira over the last few days.”

“Did you find my dad?” I ask.

“Not yet,” he sighs. “He’s currently in the wind. However, Rory Kelly is being detained.”

“Shit,” I murmur. I know Callum and Duncan have been trying to prepare themselves to deal with their father, but I still hate how weak-willed he is.

“Sadie is being removed from her parents’ home where she’s been hiding as we speak, and the hired asshole that was working with Riley was shot on the lawn by Jed,” Cian continues. “I think you’re all up to date now.”

Duncan pops his head out the door, clearly checking on us. “Everyone good?” he asks.

At my nod, he grunts, “Good. Do you want to come downstairs, or wait for us to handle this? It’s completely up to you. Linus is worried he won’t be able to handle it. He said he just wants to know he’s dead.”

“That’s fine,” I agree. “I’m coming. I need to know where Slick Dreams is so we can dismantle it. Do you think Omega’s Haven has room for an influx of people if they decide they want to come to Minneapolis?”

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