by Sydney Addae
A blue-eyed Theron remained next to him the entire time as he reviewed the test results. She should be awake. Her brain scans and every other test came back clean. There was nothing to explain her being out this long.
Quinn looked at Jackie lying on the bed, and took her hand. Closing his eyes, he sought their link and called. "Jackie. Jackie, where are you?" Waiting for a response, he sought his mate. "Jackie there's nothing medically wrong with you. How can I help you come back?" He waited. A thought occurred to him. "We need you to finish this puzzle, Johnson was more involved that we thought. I don't know how I missed it."
"Litter-mates." Her words floated toward him.
Quinn exhaled and bowed over in relief.
"I don't understand. What about your litter-mates? Are they coming? Is Renee alright?"
"Hurt... Brothers... Never mind..." Her words made no sense. Was she hurt? Or her brothers? What was going on and why didn't she wake up?
"What kind of help should I find? Your father's here with Theron, does he know what you're talking about?" he asked frantic to understand.
"No... Quiet place we go.... Almost done," she said.
Quinn didn't know what to say about that. In a way, he felt slighted that the four of them had a mental oasis to hide and get refreshed while he'd been left fighting for their lives. "I'll leave you to it, then." He pulled out of their link, opened his eyes and met Theron's bluish gaze.
"She's alright?" Theron asked.
"Yes. She's been with her litter-mates. Excuse me." Quinn left the room and went to an empty examining room. He shut down his link to block his thoughts as he removed his shirt, and unwrapped his shoulder. The bullet left an angry mark but it seemed to be healing. He rotated his arm a few times and then unwrapped his calf.
For a few seconds, he stared at the reddish-brown wound in his leg. All this time she'd been hiding somewhere in her mind, ignoring him. He couldn't believe it. Through the smoke and collapse of the house, she'd refused to return to him. He closed his eyes briefly to shut out the mind-boggling fear that gripped him earlier of not protecting her. Until now he hadn’t dealt with how close he had come to losing her or them both dying.
The door opened behind him.
Quinn straightened and didn't turn to face Alpha Theron.
"I don't want to like you," Theron said.
Quinn knew the words were La Patron's and didn't respond. Instead he bent forward and poked the wound on his calf.
"My mate thinks it's because I see a lot of me in you. I don't think so but... she's been right more than wrong so who knows."
Quinn looked over his shoulder at the man and then returned to tending his wound.
"Since my mate doesn't want us to fly to Texas to interfere, I'll need to speak with you through Theron unless you give me access to a link between us."
Quinn heard the hopeful tenor in the statement and realized he didn't want anyone else to know what happened with his mate. He hesitated for a few seconds. Once he allowed La Patron in it was permanent. But so was his relationship with Jackie. "We can link," he said and prepared for the link to materialize. He locked down everything just as La Patron appeared.
"I'll be in Jackie's room while the two of you talk," Theron said as he left.
Quinn nodded.
A second later heat raced through his body. He shuddered from the intensity and crumpled to the floor shaking. Fire surrounded the bullet holes. He bit down on his lip to stop the scream of pain from erupting. Beads of sweat popped on his forehead as he continued trembling beneath the assault. A breeze flowed down their link and spread through his body in a weird cooling sensation Quinn never would've believed possible. As the pain subsided, he watched the mark disappear on his leg. A quick look at his shoulder showed no bullet hole.
Impressive. Jackie had been right thinking her father could heal the pregnant girls.
"Now we can talk without you being distracted."
Quinn nodded and realized La Patron couldn't see him. "Okay."
"You're upset Jackie went to her litter mates when she was in trouble?"
"Is that what happened?" Quinn had never heard of anything like that before, didn't know it was possible. She mentioned sharing energy but a quiet oasis?
"In a way. They're close. When they were pups, we suspected they spoke mind to mind at an early age. There's not a lot of information on half-breeds so we didn't know what was possible and what wasn't. This may be normal. We're watching the others to be sure, so parents will know what to expect."
Quinn didn't know what to say. La Patron knew his pups were together but he wouldn't help Jackie wake up? Or was the message Jackie gave him so garbled she wasn’t with her litter-mates?
"Tyrese and Tyrone, my two oldest sons are also breeds and can share each other's energies, thoughts, and can link so tight you can't separate them. They can find each other no matter where, it's amazing what they're capable of as litter-mates." La Patron sounded proud.
"Are they mated?" Quinn wondered how this impacted their mates.
"Yes. There was a problem with Rose, Tyrone's mate. He and Tyrese were linked in such a way; they both thought she was their mate. My mate solved the problem by making them separate completely. Tyrese is mated to Danielle. They all have pups."
Quinn didn't care about any of that. His mate zoned out on him at a critical time and refused to acknowledge his pleas to return. That part hurt the most. He needed to be first with her and he wasn't.
"When the two of you visit, you'll meet them."
"Okay." Quinn refused to discuss what he deemed as a serious communication problem between him and his mate with her father.
"My mate's better at this family stuff and wants me to welcome you to the family. Call me Silas in private, not dad or anything like that."
"Okay." Quinn hoped to avoid conversations with the man as much as possible and the idea of calling him dad never occurred to him. Standing, he grabbed his shirt as he left the room and returned to Jackie who lay peacefully on the bed.
Theron clapped Quinn's shoulder. "If you need anything, just ask. I have them bringing you a meal and exchanging the bed for something bigger so the two of you can rest."
"Thank you, I appreciate it," Quinn said with heartfelt gratitude.
"No worries. The pups are well-loved in this state." He walked out leaving Jackie and Quinn alone.
Quinn sat on the side of the bed and stared at his mate for a few seconds before crawling in next to her. Holding her close he wondered what kind of relationship they'd have if she could leave him so easily.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
"Ow," Adam yelled through the link all four pups shared. "What's going on?"
"Wake up, Jackie," David said sending energy through their link to revive her.
"What's wrong with her?" Renee asked as she sent energy toward her sister. Soon all three sent healing energy to their fallen litter-mate.
Jackie groaned.
"That hurt," Adam said. "Like someone hit my forehead with a wooden baseball bat."
"Let her catch her breath first," Renee said.
"What... Quinn? Where's Quinn?" Jackie asked trying to look around. Instead she saw her litter mates in the small den they created as kids. "What are we doing here? Where's Quinn? Something's happening. I need to get back to help."
"That's a good question," David said.
"Which one?" Adam asked rubbing his forehead. "The one about Quinn or what happened? I vote for what happened."
"Neither," David said. "What are we doing here? We haven't linked to this place in years."
"Can we talk about this later?" Jackie said, desperation to return to her mate coated her words. "I need to get back to Quinn."
"Go," David said. "I'm not stopping you." He looked at Renee. "Are you stopping her from leaving?"
"No. I'm trying to get back to my painting. I'm at a delicate part of the design or I was until I felt Jackie's pain. For some reason, I was pulled here like the rest of you," Ren
ee said.
Jackie looked at Adam.
"I was taking a nap."
Renee snorted.
"I'm going out later and need to be on my game," Adam said. "But it's strange we're here. Especially you, Jackie. I didn't think mates could be separated like this. Not that you told me or David about your mate."
"Sorry, guys. I planned too, things spiraled and the mating heat's no joke." She smiled at him. "His name is Quinn York, a doctor who has a heart for pups. He lives in Tennessee, I met him while visiting Nionis and I need to get back to him."
David opened his arms and she accepted his strong, warm embrace. Next, Adam hugged her. She stepped back. "Thanks for the healing energy guys, it was a hard blow." She pointed to her head. "We're coming to see Mama and Daddy soon, you'll meet him then."
"Will you have a mating ceremony like Vanessa and Ethan?" Renee asked with an eagerness that made Jackie pause.
"I don't know about a full wedding. We'll let you know," Jackie hedged. Anxious to help her mate she tried to wake and couldn't. Closing her eyes, she sought the link with Quinn without success.
"Why can't I go back to my painting?" Renee asked, her voice rose on the last word.
"I can't wake up," Adam said looking at each of them.
"Where's my link with Quinn?" Jackie asked frowning.
"None of my other links are working," David said.
Jackie and the others stared at him. She reached out to Nionis, her father, Cain, Quinn again and sagged against the wall. Trapped in their links? How was that possible? "This isn't good or normal. I'm mated for Goddess sake. We can't be separated." She looked at her siblings, hoping one of them had an answer. They all looked just as confused as she felt.
David walked toward one of the four large overstuffed chairs in their space and sat. Renee and Adam followed suit. "We have a problem," David said what had to be the biggest understatement of the century in Jackie's opinion.
Rather than say anything unhelpful, Jackie nodded.
"A big problem," Adam said. "You guys built this place after dad taught us how to find, I think he called it solace, within ourselves when we have problems. He said it kept him centered for centuries until he found mom."
"I remember linking with Jackie to create a quiet space where I could paint and she could work on her stuff away from the noise in the nursery." She stared at Adam.
"We were kids. Kids play and get noisy sometimes," Adam said grinning. "I try not to be as noisy now, I can't always vouch for my dates."
"Yeah, that was the reason we did this," Jackie said remembering and ignoring Adams' comments. "Later, I pulled David in to help with a debate I was working on."
"He pulled me in sometime after that," Adam said. "But we've always been able to leave."
"We've never almost died like Jackie did earlier. Her pain went through all of us, and pulled us back here," David said slowly as if picking his way through rocky process.
"Wait," Adam said sitting forward. "If one of us gets badly hurt we get dragged here to heal? Until when?" He pointed at Jackie. "She looks better to me."
The three of them looked at Jackie. "How do you feel?" Renee asked.
Jackie thought about it for a few seconds. "Better. Actually, I don't feel anything. Are you still feeding me energy?"
"Not intentionally." Renee placed her fingertips together as she leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. "But I sense a lot of combined energy flowing around here. Shouldn't it be getting weaker?"
"Who knows?" Adam said. "Who can we ask? We're the prototypes, remember?"
None of them said anything for a few moments.
Jackie felt a trickle of energy and sought her link with Quinn. He had to be worried. "Quinn!? Quinn," she called out to him as the energy floated away. "I need to get out of here."
"Is your beast seeking your mate?" Renee asked.
The question made Jackie pause. "Not really." Which made this situation weirder. "I should feel discomfort from the separation, right?"
Renee held up her hands. "Don't ask me."
"I'm not asking, just making a comment," Jackie snapped.
"Chances are you aren't separated from him, maybe a temporary block in your link or something. Maybe it was open when you got hurt or something like that. I can't reach Sarita either and that's only happened a couple times," David said in an even tone.
No one would mention Sarita and David weren't mated or the time Sarita was kidnapped and David went off the rails ballistic, it was the one time she'd seen her normally unflappable brother out of control.
"Does that mean if I get hit in the head or have a bad accident, we get dragged here?" Adam asked bringing them back to the problem at hand.
"Or driving a car," Renee said.
David shrugged. "What we do know is one of us was dying and this is the result. If Jackie's body is still being healed with our combined energy, we can't tell. Maybe when she's out of the red zone we can leave," David said.
"Daddy doesn't know about this," Renee said, her gaze met Jackie's.
"Rese almost died when Rone was shot in the war," Jackie said thinking it through. "Rese saved his life." She looked at them. "Thanks, I appreciate your help." Why hadn't Quinn stepped in instead of her siblings? Wasn't that the way it worked?
"It's what we do," Adam said giving her a thumbs up.
"No, that's not what I meant when I said Daddy doesn't know about this and if we tell him, he'll keep us locked behind the walls of the compound forever," Renee said, a tremor in her voice.
"What are you talking about?" Adam said.
"Think about what's happening right now," David said looking at his brother. "Can you defend yourself? If you were on the soccer field or driving a car or shopping and Jackie got hit with whatever happened to her, what would happen to you? How do we protect each other from this?"
"Damn," Adam said placing both his hands on his head as he leaned back.
"Is this the downside of linked litter-mates? Our defenses are linked to the point we can all be taken down if one is removed?" David asked. "Rese said he passed out during a mission when Rone almost died but he never said how long he was out of it."
Jackie's heart squeezed as she thought of them being in danger because of her. "I don't want anything to happen to any of you. How do we fix this? If we destroy this place will that fix it?"
"I doubt the place is what brought us here," David said. The next moment the small den disappeared and the four of them stood in a circle looking at each other. "It's our links. We're a part of each other."
"Can our links be changed so that this doesn't happen?" Jackie said thinking fast.
"I don't know," David said.
"Quinn and I were together when I got hurt, now I'm dead weight to him, unable to protect myself. What's the purpose of learning to fight and using someone else's energy if it could put me in a damn coma like this?" Frustration rolled through her. Years of training to learn to protect herself, gone, only to fall victim of something she had no control over.
"Can we break our links?" Adam said into the silence.
Jackie jerked around to face him. "What do you mean?"
"Break our connection." He looked at her, then David and finally Renee whose eyes had grown large.
"No. Just think of something else," Renee said wrapping her arms around her waist.
"Like what?" Adam said.
Renee shrugged. "I can't imagine life without you guys. You've always been a thought away no matter what, I need that." She looked at Jackie and released a long breath. "Sorry this is a problem for you and Quinn but breaking our link isn't the answer. The benefits outweigh this one problem. Maybe we can tone it down or something."
"This one problem can get us killed. Have you thought of that?" Adam asked her. "I thought I was dying when the pain from Jackie's wound slammed into me. If I'd been driving I could've gone off the road, hit someone else, who knows."
"You weren't dying, Adam. I was," Jackie said in a low voi
ce, puzzling through everything. "We haven't fully completed our bonding. Maybe once Quinn and I do that, this won't happen again, at least from my end." She prayed what she said was true.
"I didn't mean it the way it sounded, Jackie," Adam said quickly. "It's just this whole one for all thing isn't as great as I thought it was. None of us realized our links could hold us captive like this."
"Most great benefits have side effects, the pendulum swings both ways. We've never been on this side of the swing before," David said. "I don't think there's anything we can do to change or fix our connection, it's too ingrained. Whatever we're dealing with now will weaken and release us soon. How do we want to handle it from now on?" He looked at Renee. "I don't think hiding something like this from Daddy is a good idea."
Renee groaned. "He's never going to let me go skiing again."
"You've never been skiing," Adam said.
"It's on my bucket list," Renee snapped her eyes shooting daggers at him.
Adam raised his hands and mimicked zipping his lips.
"You'll need to explain this to Quinn," David told Jackie. "But because of the danger it places the four of us in, ask him not to share the information."
Relieved they were coming up with some sort of plan, Jackie nodded. "Each of us will tell our mates before bonding so they understand the possibilities of passing out and the strength of our link. Like I said, once fully mated this may not happen again but it's better for them to be prepared if we go into a coma-like state." Quinn was probably already distraught thinking she was hurt. She prayed whatever held the four of them in stasis broke soon.
"Should I still go to Europe?" Adam asked in a somber tone. "Knowing I could be targeted because of Daddy hadn't really bothered me before. We trained for that most of our lives. With our energies combined I always knew I could fight my way out of any situation and win. Got to admit I felt invincible for a while knowing how hard it would be to take me out. But seeing this, the downside of fighting for my life." He shook his head. "With Rese and Rone, it's just two targets. With us, it's four. Any one of us could be the downfall of the others and I don't want to do that to you guys."
