Page 23 of Quadruplets for the Vipers

I’m about to tell myself that it’s just my overactive imagination when I hear it. The faintest creak of a floorboard.

Someone is inside the house.

Someone who is trying very hard not to be heard.

Stealthily, I move to Leah’s side, gently waking her and placing a hand over her mouth so she doesn’t cry out. I try to keep her calm, speaking soothingly.

“Leah, shh, it’s okay, it’s me, it’s Axel. Don’t speak. I need you to stay calm,” I say in a hurried whisper. “Someone’s inside the house.”

Her eyes grow wide in the pale light that’s cast on her face through the slit in the curtains, but she nods and remains silent.

“I need you to hide in the bathroom for me. Wait inside and don’t come out until I tell you to,” I order her, gently pullingthe sheets back, noticing how her fair skin goosebumps in the cold.

She nods and quietly does as she’s told. I can tell that she wants to ask more, but the protective hand she presses against her stomach tells me our priorities are the same.

The unmistakable sounds of footsteps are coming up the stairs, and I can tell that there are at least two intruders. I don’t have a gun with me, so I quickly search the room for anything I can use as a weapon. My phone is downstairs in the living room, forgotten in the passion earlier, and I can’t call the guys for backup.

The door of the spare room opens, the room I should have been sleeping in tonight. There’s a moment’s pause, followed by strange ruffling sounds. Then I hear a man’s whispered words of surprise.

“It’s empty. She must be in the next one.”

I don’t have time to consider who these men are or what they want with Leah, but it’s safe to assume that people breaking in in the dead of night aren’t here for a friendly social visit. Considering they’re still moving around quietly, they most likely don’t think they’ve been heard, which means the element of surprise is on my side. I have to act fast if I’m to maintain the upper hand.

I stand so that the door blocks my body as the first man enters, pistol drawn. Using my bodyweight and the door for momentum, I’m able to quickly and easily disarm him, grabbing his gun as I slam the door shut against his arm. What I didn’t account for is the man’s trigger-happy accomplice, who somehow, in his surprise, fires off a round into the skull of his friend. The first man drops down dead, blocking the entrance,while the other, in his panic, continues to fire blindly into the room, not seeming to realize he’s in essence fighting himself.

I return fire. Seeming to realize the predicament he’s found himself in, the other man turns tail and runs. I give chase, trying to take him down without injuring him so badly that he can’t speak. We need to know who these bastards are and what they want.

While he might be a terrible shot, he’s fast, and he manages to escape me, jumping onto the back of a waiting bike that tears off into the distance before I can stop him.

“What the fuck?” I ask myself breathlessly as I watch the taillights disappear.

At that moment, Rider, Jace, and Knox arrive.

“What happened?”

“We heard shots?”

“Are Leah and the baby okay?”

They ask in frantic succession.

“Leah’s okay,” I reply exhaustedly, heading back inside.

They follow closely behind, weapons drawn as they quickly check that the house is empty.

“Axel?” I hear Leah’s frightened voice from the top of the stairs. I look up to see her peeking out over the banister. Any irritation I feel that she ignored my command to stay inside the bathroom until I told her to come out is overridden by the sight of her safe and sound.

“Leah,” I choke out, taking the stairs two at a time to reach her and pull her close.

“I was so scared…” she chokes out, her tears dampening the hair on my chest.

“I know, they’re gone now,” I soothe.

“What the fuck happened?” Knox asks. “Who were those guys?”

Any trace of his earlier drunkenness has gone from his face. Now, he seems alert and sober, his brow knotted in concern as he rushes over to Leah to ask if she’s okay. I push down the irrational jealousy I feel when I see him place his hand on his stomach and whisper to her soothingly. It’s not like me. Knox is my brother, same as Jace and Rider, we share everything, including women. I have no idea how Leah would feel about that. While she’s open minded, I don’t know if that would scare her off.

“I recognized the one from earlier, it was one of the friends of the guy you decided to beat up,” I say, looking at Knox.

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