I think I’m due.
CHAPTER 10
LINUS
Ididn’t mean to rip the bandage off quite like that. Jesus.
Duncan jumps out of the truck and runs to the back where Makayla is sprawled across my lap. Fuck, is she Quinn now? I never told her that my name has always been Linus. It was such a unique name, Bret decided to eschew his usual rules of changing the omega’s name.
There’s a lot about her past I don’t know. She communicates in single words or by writing on my skin with her finger. I don’t know if her words will come back to her.
I hope they do, I love the sound of her voice.
Duncan pulls open the door to the back seat as if he’s trying to tear it off, and I gaze down at the beautiful girl in my lap.
“She’s okay,” I murmur, my fingers running over her throat until I can check her pulse. “That was a lot.”
“You said to pull off the bandage,” he hisses, making my lips twitch inappropriately. Duncan is two hundred pounds ofmuscle, and I have a feeling he can handle anything. Makayla may be the exception.
“It may have been too abrupt,” Callum says, his face strained as he stands in my now open door. “Let’s get her inside. Someone please tell Adira we didn’t fuck this up already.”
I’m starting to get curious about who this girl is as Duncan scoops Makayla into his arms and I follow him out of the truck. Pack Dresmond piles out of their SUV, gazing at the omega in Duncan’s arms.
“Did she ever wake up?” Morris asks, looking concerned.
“She did, and then I fucked up,” Duncan mutters. “I told her we were scent matches with both her and Linus, which overwhelmed her.”
“Quinn passed out,” Callum says, leading the group to the front door. “There’s just so much we need to talk about, but it all feels really?—”
“Big,” Kane grunts.
He still has a baby carrier strapped to his chest with what I can now see is a doll. It was mentioned that Adira is pregnant, is he trying to get ready for the baby in this way? It feels very strange.
“If I was returning to my life after twenty years, it would be easy to feel anxious as I learned about things I wasn’t here for or unaware of,” Kane adds.
He’s oddly self aware, and I don’t know what to think about that.
“You’re so good with Adira, I have no doubts that you’ll be able to figure things out,” Demon murmurs. “I expect there will be big emotions for a while.”
Callum unlocks the door, pushing it open as he pops his head in.
“Maybe she’ll get mad enough one day to talk to me,” he says, softly enough that I almost miss the words.
“That’s not why she doesn’t talk,” I interject as we walk into the house. “I think it’s deeper than that. She doesn’t say more than a word or two to me either.”
“Hmm,” Duncan says before a girl with chestnut curly hair and midnight blue eyes comes around the corner.
“You’re back,” she says, her eyes moving over everyone to make sure they’re all in one piece. There’s a barely veiled anxiety in her movements, her worry palpable to me. “No one’s been shot or stabbed right? I didn’t feel anything, so I expect everyone to be okay.”
“We’re fine, Short Stuff,” Duncan says.
“Minimal casualties on the way out were reported,” Morris adds.
“The baby even made it out fine,” Kane says excitedly, making Adira smile as he rubs the doll’s head.
It’s clear that she has a very special bond with these men. Her pack walks over to check on her, ensuring that she’s been eating, sleeping well, etc. God, what is it like to be loved like that?
“I swear, I’m fine,” she says with a false glare before ducking under Jed’s arm to walk over to me. “Since Quinn appears to be resting, I’ll introduce myself quickly before I get out of your hair. I’m Adira.”