“I’m fine, Vincent. I just stay focused on the task and I’m fine.” It was all she had and it was somewhat of a lie. She couldn’t bring herself to drown in grief anymore. She had to focus on this. When it was all over, she didn’t know where she would be or what she would do, but she could focus on this.
“Well, I’m going to tell the guys the plan. They’re all pretty anxious, because we’ve moved in now and they probably expect me to whip them like a slavedriver.”
She had expected it too, honestly, but she was thankful he wasn’t going to. It meant he wasn’t letting it consume him anymore. She wasn’t going to let it consume her either, even though they were both threatened by it at every moment. She had to approach this like every hit, every job, every mission, and every case. Clear-headed and ready for any sign that things would take a step in the direction they needed them to.
She was better at her work now than she was when she tried to leave him and nearly died. She was even stronger than she had been in August. She wasn’t scared of Axel Castello anymore. She was angry, and viciously so, but not scared.
She didn’t say it to Vincent, but she thought it.
“Go on. I’m sure they’ll be excited.” She smiled brightly and waved him along. “I need to organize this mess.”
“Of course,” he agreed, looking around at the things that hadn’t been unpacked for her. “I have to do the same to the office. Jasper is buried neck-deep in the other one. I’ll give you one guess where Quinn is.”
She chuckled, glad this new home was working out for everyone. That was good. It seemed to be helping them heal from the loss of James, and that was so important.
“What’s going to happen to the plantation house?” she asked.
“It’ll be put up for sale on the market. I’ll miss it, but only because it was our first big house together. We’d finally been set up somewhere nice.”
“But?” She knew there was one.
“It was too far from the closest city. It was in the middle of a backwoods area. It was just a pain. It was old, too. Things breaking all the time. You know.”
She did. The AC loved to go out in the summer. She waved a hand, gesturing for him to leave so she could get settled in. He kissed her forehead before going and she breathed a sigh of relief. He was doing so much better. She knew forcing him to distance himself from trying to catch Axel would help. They couldn’t rush this job or he would always be ahead of them. She knew the rules. They had to be patient, play the board right, send the right signals. They had to tell the man they were coming for him without making it easy for him to side-step if they pushed too hard.
And she could be patient. It was frustrating, but she could do it. She’d hoped to get even an inkling of what he was doing and where, but everything she heard was that he was directing orders from somewhere. He wasn’t moving around; he was hiding somewhere, planning something.
And while he’d once obsessed over killing her, none of the moves she’d heard about had anything to do with her. He hadn’t made any public statement about the woman working with the IMPO that used to be his assassin.
Other people were. The public was quiet due to the recent events of New York, but criminals were getting louder. Everyone wanted Axel to say something about her. Everyone wanted her to be dealt with, as all his old places were raided and claimed in the name of the IMPO and the WMC.
And he was eerily silent.
She almost wondered if he was running scared. She didn’t think it was the case, but it was a possibility.
“I should get this done,” she said to herself, looking at the mess in her room from the closet. It would give her a much-needed distraction from Axel and the case, the job she had to do if she ever wanted to be free to choose her own life again. She had a feeling riding out the next four and a half years wasn’t going to cut it anymore. She wouldn’t want to, anyway. If they pardoned her in four and a half years and Axel was out there, powerful and dangerous, she would never be safe. Her men would never be safe. Charlie and the kids would never be safe.
“Oh shit!” she exclaimed. “I live in New York!” She grinned. She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of it yet. It would be easy to drive into the city once a week and spend the night at the gym.
She could go see them. She had to tell the guys. She wanted to make the trip. She didn’t know why she hadn’t while staying in the condo, and Charlie had kept his distance after James died, letting them grieve. He’d only stopped by once to check on Elijah, to see how he was healing.
She was still grinning as she left her room and went downstairs, phasing into Jasper and Zander’s new office. It, like always, spooked both men inside.
“SAWYER!” Zander cried out, angry with her.
“I want to find a day before New Year’s to go see Charlie and the gym. Visit for the holidays.”
They blinked at her until Jasper finally shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
“I mean, I just haven’t been thinking. We live in the same state now. I can go see them and…after everything, I would really like to.”
“Yeah, we’ll make a trip before the end of the week. We’ll take the entire team, if Vincent was serious about letting us finish enjoying the holidays.” Jasper smiled as he kept placing books on his new shelves in the office. “You’ll be able to see them more often, if we’re going to be living up here for a long time.”
She didn’t respond to that, only smiled, showing him that she already figured that out.
“Maybe we could do a class with the kids,” Zander suggested, grinning now as well. “That would be fun. Someone a bit more up to your speed for them to watch with you.”
“Oh yeah, they would love that,” she agreed. “We’ll make the plans. Maybe I can convince the entire team to join in on it. Not all of you have gotten to meet them.”
“Charlie, it’ll be fun,” she promised again on the phone, three days after she had come up with the idea of a visit. The guys had agreed instantly to her request to go visit Charlie. For some reason, having the new home made things seem almost normal again. Now they could settle.
“All six of you, after everything that’s happened. In my gym. Fun. Sure. We’ll go with that.”
Even though he said it gruffly and somewhat sarcastic, she knew he was teasing.
“Going to be jealous of all the cool young Magi with the kids? No one is going to want the old man teaching them anymore?” She resisted laughing. Barely.
“No.” It was such a pouty word.
Then she laughed, pulling the phone away from her face as the unstoppable, belly-shaking laughter hit her.
“Sawyer, you could have visited earlier. I’ve been telling the kids you need time to grieve and…” He turned serious on her, which killed her laughter effectively. She was glad he couldn’t see her fidget, growing uncomfortable.
“I need the distraction,” she said softly. “I…Charlie, my entire life for the last few weeks has been grief and trouble. Plus… you don’t know yet and we need to talk.”
“All right. You all can come down whenever you want. My gym is always open to you, Sawyer. Haven’t changed your room at all.”
She smiled. She was going to hurt him with her news. She hadn’t told him yet about Axel. Very few people knew. He deserved to know, though, in case she showed back up on his doorstep, broken and needing help. The possibility was real. Plus, he was publicly her friend. The world knew about Doctor Charles Malcolm and the girl named Sawyer Matthews, once known as Shadow. He could be a target.
She decided she would text Thompson next and have security put on him. Charlie would hate it, but she wasn’t going to let him be vulnerable once the action picked up. And it would. The quiet part of this game was going to end eventually and then everyone would be in danger. This was just another piece of prep for her final game with the older Castello brother.
“We’re planning on leaving in the morning. It’s why I’m calling, you know. I’m going to let you go, though. St
ay safe, Charlie.”
“Get some sleep.” He hung up on her and she sighed.
Every time she turned around, it was another thing to do with Axel. She hadn’t even considered that this trip would remind her to keep Charlie safe. She should have thought of it earlier, she really should have. Feeling stupid, she dropped her phone on the bed next to her. Sombra jumped up onto the bed and curled into her side, a warm comfort.
“I didn’t put you at risk with the Triad,” she murmured to her jaguar, “because I was worried you would get hurt. I’m going to need you for this, though. Are you ready?”
Nothing but confidence in her hunting skills came through the bond. A pure, animalistic confidence, knowing that she once ruled the jungle, sitting at the top of her food chain.
Sombra was ready.
An hour later, there was a knock at her door. Without waiting for her to respond, Jasper walked in. “What did Charlie have to say?” he asked casually, walking towards her bed.
“He says we can visit whenever, so we’re still on for tomorrow.” She didn’t need to move to make space for him on the bed. He stretched out on her other side.
“I’ve been thinking more about it. I’m glad we’re so close. You’ve missed Charlie and those kids a lot since we took you away in July.”
“I have,” she agreed. “It’s going to be so good to see them. I should have visited them while we were in the condo, but…something about having a new home again makes it feel easier to relax and make those visits, ya know?”
He nodded. “I think you’ll be happier in the long run.”
“Me too.”
Happiness was something she needed, even just a little of it. There were so many good reasons for her to be unhappy.
She wasn’t going to let Axel take away the reasons she had to live and smile. Not this time.
9
Quinn
Quinn watched his wolves carefully approach the small children, who cautiously reached out to touch big wet noses. Sniffing was happening on both sides of the stand-off. Sombra was even more careful, belly-crawling to a tiny one that couldn’t have been much more than a few inches taller than her and weighed much less than her two hundred pounds.
“You didn’t say you were bringing wild animals!” Charlie complained, waving a hand at the scene as Sawyer laughed.
“They’re our animal bonds! We couldn’t leave them. They’ll be good with the kids, promise.”
Quinn just nodded. From the bond, he could pick up the curiosity and protectiveness of his wolves. These were Sawyer’s kids. Not her pups, but hers. Therefore, they were pack pups. Pack pups deserved to feel safe and have play time.
Quinn chuckled as Scout’s need to play began to escalate into some bouncing around like he always did as a pup himself.
“What’s he doing?” Charlie demanded, stepping closer. No one else was even concerned, but he knew Charlie was protective over the little non-Magi children, even though he knew animal bonds were safe. He’d met Scout, Shade, and Sombra before, but he never thought they would be around a bunch of four to seven year olds. He’d already made that very clear to them when he saw the jaguar and wolves jump out of their vehicles.
“He wants one to play tag. Or all of them. None of the children will be hurt,” Quinn answered, smiling back at the big male. “It’s okay.”
“Do they know they have to be soft?” Charlie asked, calming down as Shade was finally being hugged by one little girl. Sombra was on her back for a belly rub by her tiny new friend. Two kids began to chase Scout, giggling. Anyone watching the scene couldn’t resist a smile either.
“Yeah, they do. They helped raise pack pups and they know humans are more fragile.”
Quinn’s heart squeezed painfully. There was a time when his wolves were excited to play hunting games with the pup they knew Quinn was going to have someday. They had never had the chance.
They had the chance with Sawyer’s strays, so they were going to take it. They made it very clear to him that he would need to fight to get them to stop playing before they dropped from exhaustion.
“Okay…” Charlie backed off after that.
Sawyer was still laughing as the big man walked away. She leaned her shoulder against his. “Sombra loves this. All these unsuspecting people to steal from.” She was chuckling as she said every word, a wide smile on her face.
It was the first one like it he’d seen in a few weeks. She seemed at peace for a moment, even while he knew the idea of Axel being out there was eating her apart. She didn’t let it show. She lived in the moment and only for the moment.
“Yes, I bet she does,” he replied. “Where did the guys wander off to?” He hadn’t been paying attention, because while he trusted their animals, he did want to keep an eye on them. Sombra was still new to being around so many people, and Scout could get too excited if he wasn’t careful. He knew that was why he still had Sawyer next to him as well.
“Zander is teaching a class for the teenagers. Elijah is with Jasper, and they want to talk to Charlie about how they could change up their respective physical therapies. Neither of them really need it anymore. Elijah’s back up to speed, but better safe than sorry.”
“And Vincent?” he asked, glancing at her. A heavy sigh was his reply and she pulled away, nodding towards the front door.
His eyes followed the direction of hers. Vincent hadn’t come in yet. He was smoking outside, staring away from the building. It was almost like he was scared, glancing towards them, looking inside every so often then turning away again.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I have a guess, but I don’t want to push it.” She crossed her arms. “I was hoping this would be some healing for him. A few weeks ago, I considered asking him if he’d want to make a trip with me, but never got the chance. I think it has to do with…”
A nephew. A boy with dark curly hair and olive-green eyes like the rest of the men in his family.
Quinn could understand Vincent’s pain. He’d never even had the chance to meet Henry, and now they were on the case to catch the man who killed him. A brother. A father.
He eyed Sawyer again as she watched Vincent. An old lover.
An enemy.
Axel held many places in the lives of those around him. Quinn only really knew of the man. Sure, they had hunted him. He’d only been in the same space with the evil Magi once, when they fought in that hangar bay and arrested him. Other than that, Quinn was on the outside.
“I can go talk to him,” he offered. He had yet to tell his brothers about his own boy. Maybe then Vincent would find the strength to come inside.
“No-”
“I can do it,” he repeated. Vincent deserved to know his pain and what healing he received from this visit, so that maybe he would be strong enough to confront his own. He left Sawyer there and headed for the door. He saw Vincent’s eyes go wide as he approached.
Once outside, he saw Vincent light another cigarette.
“I’m not in the mood for the kids right now,” he said quickly, looking away from Quinn.
“You’re thinking about Henry, and it’s okay to admit that.”
Vincent flinched at the statement but didn’t say anything.
“You should come in. These kids and people are important to Sawyer. She wants us to do gifts with them later.” He tried to soften it, change it to the present.
“Of course she does,” he said softly. “I thought I could, but I can’t, Quinn.”
“If I can, so can you.” He wasn’t going to let his pack leader hide from his pain any longer. Weeks of this. Lashing out and back-tracking, like there was a festering wound somewhere that couldn’t be treated or healed. He needed Vincent to lance it and let the infection out or the festering was going to destroy everything that meant something to him. He just couldn’t let Vincent do that to himself.
“What do you have to do-”
“My son was killed,” he answered, not letting Vincent finish the question. �
��And if I can go in there and let my wolves play with young ones, so can you. If I can constantly meet children and enjoy their company, knowing my son should be their age… then so can you.”
Vincent dropped his cigarette and cursed as he picked it back up. “Why didn’t you ever tell me you had a son, Quinn?”
“I only told Sawyer while we were in the Amazon. I’ve never even truly told Elijah. Hinted a little, but never said the words. I understand, Vincent. If there’s one thing I get, it’s that.”
“I never even got to know him.” The Italian sighed, flicking his cigarette. “I never got to know him…”
“But you know Sawyer, and she’s told you a lot about him. And she loves these strays like she loved him.”
He saw Vincent’s Adam’s apple bob from a thick swallow. Then he nodded. “Thank you for saying that,” he whispered.
“You won’t feel comfortable the first time, or the second, but one day you’ll look at this as a chance to have the friendships and experiences you should have had with him.” That’s how Quinn and his wolves were going about it. This was another chance, and Sawyer was giving it to them. That made it special.
These children were her second chance, and she was sharing them. With people like him and Vincent.
He wondered what Vincent thought about that as the male looked into the window. Quinn looked as well. Sawyer was watching them and smiled, then a teenager ran up to her, throwing some play punches. She responded in kind, landing a soft blow on the boy’s stomach. Both were laughing as she hugged him close and it was returned.
“Come inside,” Quinn ordered. “Enjoy it, heal, or don’t, but don’t darken this for her. She’s been working hard for you and all of us so we could take the time to get a new home and James settled.”
“That makes it worse,” Vincent said. “I thought I was okay for so long now. Axel was behind bars. I grieved Henry and the missed chance. And now…”
Ah. Quinn could see. Axel being free didn’t just tear open one wound. He tore open all of Vincent’s wounds. He reopened scars and flayed Vincent by just breathing.
The Redemption Saga Box Set Page 140