Page 200 of Broken Dreams

“I have this odd feeling, baby. Take a nap if you can,” he murmurs against my hair.

Linus’ feelings are legendary, so I let myself drift off to sleep. It’s been a long day. If it’s about to get even longer, I’ll listen.

CALLUM

I’m waiting anxiously for Christian to come home with Linus and Quinn. Morris and Caelin hit the fucking jackpot and got an address.

“Chill,” Duncan grunts. “He’s pulling up now to the gate, I just let him in. They may be tired, and this takes some finesse.”

“I’ve been hanging out with Pack Dresmond too long,” I complain. “They’ve made me bloodthirsty.”

“Nah, you always had that in you,” Jed says with a smirk. “Don’t put that on us.”

Adira is snuggled against him, dressed in tactical clothes just in case. Funny enough, we all changed when we found out the address, and Morris and I have been planning out our entrance points.

“Fuck off,” I mutter without heat, still pulling data. I have schematics of the house, how many guards, and what the other security details are.

Morris is pulling other information, but this guy thankfully lives in the middle of nowhere. Miles Kellogg will not have policemen at his door because he tripped his silent alarm.

“How dangerous is this going to be?” Ayla asks from the entrance of the living room.

She must have just come out, because she’s been in her room for most of the night.

“If we do this right, not at all,” Adira says honestly. “That’s why the boys are working on research of the property.”

“Are you going with them?” Ayla asks, crossing her arms.

She’s such a maternal figure, worrying about everyone now that she’s back to being herself.

Adira merely smiles a little as she nods, saying, “That’s the plan. I just started showing, so I’m not quite a painted target yet. I’ll wear armor under my clothes too. If I’m not there, I’ll be very unpleasant to be around.”

Ugh, she really would.

“She can definitely carry herself well too. Duncan and I taught her how to shoot,” I say.

“I helped too,” Damon mutters. “It doesn’t really matter because she’s a knife girl.”

“Close contact is my thing,” Adira agrees, smirking.

Duncan leaves the room to answer the doorbell, while Ayla turns to watch her daughter come inside. I can see the anxiety start to drain away, something easing because she’s home.

“Did you have fun?” Ayla asks with a soft smile. She finally gets to watch her daughter go on dates, enjoy her life, and a really odd lump raises to my throat.

I often find myself surprised by emotion now that we have Quinn back, because life felt like it stopped the day she disappeared. Every smile, tear, and laugh is something I fucking cherish.

“The food was amazing,” Quinn says with a grin. “Christian is also a great dancer. We had fun.”

“I’m sure the three of you drew an audience,” Ayla says with a light chuckle. “You three look happy. Oh, and you have luggage, Christian?”

My thumb rubs over my bottom lip to hold back a laugh. Ayla is a trip. She has absolutely no filter.

“Moving in with your gun case too?” I tease him.

An odd look moves over Christian, Linus, and Quinn, and I wonder what that’s about. Does he want to make things official?

“I found myself missing some of my things so I went by to get them,” he says. “Did you find out anything more about Alpha Miles?”

He’s deflecting, but I let him until I can figure some things out for myself.

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