Chris (Second Wave Book 4)

by Mikayla Lane

  “The place is completely yours. We’re in the villa next to yours, so if you need anything, just call. Don’t worry about being bothered. The guys will be patrolling outside just in case,” Angel said with a wink before she gave Quinn a hug.

  In less than two minutes, Quinn was staring at the closed door completely alone in the huge house. She moved to lock the door and saw there was no lock or way to bar it. She’d never lived in a place safe enough to leave a door unlocked, so Quinn grabbed one of the kitchen chairs and jammed it up under the handle.

  Feeling better, she moved into the living room and did the same at the front door before she looked for the nearest bedroom. She smothered another yawn as she went down the hallway with the bathroom and opened the first door she came to.

  “Oh wow,” Quinn whispered as she looked at the soaring ceiling and the huge, opulently decorated bed in the middle of the room.

  Normally she wouldn’t even think about sleeping in a place that nice, but she was exhausted and ready to drop. She shuffled across the floor and pulled down the silk comforter, revealing the invitingly soft sheets underneath. Using the small stool beside the bed, she climbed in and sighed as she sank into the plush mattress.

  Five minutes later, when she was still staring at the wall, Quinn moved to her other side and again tried to close her eyes and sleep. Finally, after another 20 minutes of tossing and turning, Quinn slid out of the bed and put on the heavy robe someone had left at the end of it.

  Quinn didn’t even realize where she was going until she ended up at the lake where she’d spoken to Chris earlier. Her mind kept running between Chris and all of the information she’d learned from Angel and the others.

  “I can feel your escalating emotions.”

  Quinn stifled a scream as the large black man appeared next to her.

  “What the hell is it with you people and scaring me to death?” Quinn muttered from gritted teeth as she tried to calm her racing heart.

  Mikal only chuckled and folded his arms across his chest as he looked out over the lake.

  “I apologize. I forgot that you aren’t used to all of this,” Mikal offered.

  “I don’t know how anyone could ever get used to this,” Quinn whispered, not wanting to wake anyone else.

  It was so quiet that she was scared their voices would carry and bring Angel and Dree back—or worse, Chris.

  “I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit,” Mikal said with a chuckle, not lowering his voice at all. “You went through four months of what had to be one of the most unusual pregnancies on the planet—kidnapping, rescue, then rescue again. Not to mention transported to a place no one knows exists, and you’re still not pulling your hair out. That shows incredible courage and resilience.”

  Quinn warmed at his words as she looked around to make sure he hadn’t awakened anyone else with his deep voice.

  “No one else will disturb you this evening if you do not wish it. You don’t need to look around; everyone is sleeping or guarding,” Mikal assured her when he saw her nervously looking around.

  “Guarding what?” Quinn asked.

  “You,” Mikal replied.

  “Me?” Quinn asked in shock. “What the hell for?”

  She immediately assumed they thought she would escape and was surprised by Mikal’s reply.

  “To make sure Chris stays away until you’re ready, and so if you came outside, like now, you wouldn’t feel alone or be scared,” Mikal explained.

  Quinn snorted to cover the strange feeling of belonging that his words evoked in her.

  “I don’t think you have to worry about Chris coming by,” she said.

  “He’s been in a meeting since he left here earlier. On each of the four breaks they’ve taken since then, he’s been here. He watches from the trees just outside of the perimeter we set around the house, hoping for a glimpse of you,” Mikal told her so evenly that Quinn almost didn’t believe she heard him correctly.

  “What?” Quinn finally asked when her breath returned. “Why would he do that?”

  “Because he loves you. He just sucks really bad at showing it like he should,” Mikal admitted, giving her a brilliant smile.

  Quinn laughed at him before she had to look away, refusing to get her hopes up that Mikal was telling her the truth.

  “Yeah, if this is his idea of showing it, then he really sucks at it,” Quinn agreed.

  “But even when you were just friends, did he ever act like one of those romantic type guys? Or was he always the alpha male type who ‘fixed’ everything for you and showed his affection that way?” Mikal asked.

  The question surprised Quinn a little. It wasn’t the defense she’d expected him to come up with for Chris’s previous behavior, but she was willing to play along.

  “He was romantic . . .” Quinn began then thought about it more. “OK, so it really couldn’t be classified as romantic so much as sweet.”

  Quinn had to admit that in all the years she’d known him, Chris had never once done anything romantic. Sweet, kind, and generous, yes, but nothing that could really be classified as romantic.

  “But . . .” Quinn added. “We were just friends then, so he wouldn’t have bothered to be romantic no matter what.”

  Mikal laughed so loud that Quinn looked around them again to make sure they were still alone.

  “You can’t possibly be so smart and so oblivious at the same time,” Mikal chuckled until he saw that she wasn’t amused. “If Chris didn’t love you, you wouldn’t have been anything for 10 years. He doesn’t have friends; he has his family. You are the only person he’s ever had anything to do with outside of our family in the 150 years I’ve known him. It may not seem like a storybook kind of love, but it’s his kind.”

  Quinn scoffed at that.

  “You can’t tell me he doesn’t have any friends. Besides, you didn’t know about me; there could be hundreds of others you don’t know about,” she argued.

  Mikal’s gaze grew serious, and he turned his white stare on her.

  “It’s OK to be upset over the past as long as you learn from it and don’t allow it to rule your future. Maybe you should spend some time remembering all of the past—not the parts you are choosing to remember in order to justify remaining angry,” Mikal countered.

  Quinn was shocked speechless. Not because she was offended, but because he’d hit the nail on the head, and she was embarrassed at being called out on it. She ran a frustrated hand over her face while she glared back at him.

  “Now I know why he’d get so frustrated with your damn logic!” she retorted.

  Mikal looked truly surprised at her words.

  “He spoke of me? Of our siblings?”

  “You more than anyone,” Quinn said with a snort. “Of course, I had no idea there were a full 23 of you either. I assumed he had maybe four or five the way he spoke. He was always so evasive.”

  “Not too evasive if you knew about at least some of us,” Mikal said, his grin back in place. “Would you really have believed him if he told you he had 23 hybrid alien siblings?”

  Quinn erupted in laughter and shook her head.

  “Yeah, no. Not in a million years.”

  “Then it would have only frightened you over his mental state if he had told you anything more and possibly scared you away. Seems to me he did and said what he had to in order to keep you in his life,” Mikal countered.

  “Then why keep me a secret from all of you?” Quinn asked, hands on her hips.

  She was getting a little irritated that Mikal’s words were chipping away at her resolve to not give Chris another chance. He’d shattered her heart, and she wasn’t too keen on giving him an opportunity to destroy the remains she’d pieced back together for the sake of their son.

  “That is the easiest to answer,” Mikal said. “He didn’t want to share you.”

  When Quinn looked at him like he’d lost his mind, Mikal just shrugged.

  “Who has dominated almost every second of
your time since you were found?” Mikal asked.

  Quinn sighed at the thought of Angel, Dree, Liam, Grai . . . hell most of the family had been in and out of her space from the second she’d been found. There wasn’t even any nighttime solace as Mikal had joined her on the lake shore.

  Mikal chuckled at the exasperated look of understanding that crossed her face.

  “We’re a big family, and we’ve been together for longer than most people have been alive. We are family, friends, confidants, and trusted companions. We’ve spent years having no one but each other. We live together, fight together, and bleed together, and you’ve seen how we suck people into our little vortex. He wanted to be alone with you,” Mikal assured her.

  “For 10 years?” Quinn’s resolve was weakening by the second, and she posed the question as a last ditch effort to maintain her stance.

  “For people who live as long as we do, that’s like a long weekend,” Mikal chuckled, although he was serious.

  “So what are you suggesting? That I just up and forgive him and pretend like he wasn’t a bastard who almost got us killed?” Quinn asked, curious what Mikal’s solution would be.

  “Hell no!” Mikal said with a defiant shake of his head. “I think you should make him grovel and beg for your forgiveness. I think you should hold out at least until Christopher is born just to make sure he never forgets what it’s like without you, so he never screws up again.”

  Quinn was floored. It wasn’t what she’d expected him to say at all, but she liked the way he thought.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Quinn awoke the next day feeling better than she had in months. She and Mikal had spoken for another hour after he had surprised her with his idea of how to handle Chris. By the time he’d escorted her back to the villa, Quinn understood why Mikal was the one Chris spoke of the most. He was wise, fair, and kind, and Quinn had to admit that she liked him a lot.

  She heard the whispers in the living room before she even sat up and grinned at how right Mikal had been about his family not leaving her alone. They considered her and Christopher one of them now, and no matter how much she wanted to run and hide, the family would never let it happen.

  Quinn chuckled as she thought of how her prior lonely existence hadn’t prepared her for having a family, but she was thrilled that her son would never have to feel the abject loneliness she’d felt growing up with no one.

  “Let’s say good morning to the family,” Quinn whispered in her best mafia impression.

  Suddenly, the door popped open, and Quinn screamed as she pulled the sheet up to her chest. She leveled an angry glare on Angel, who looked suitably sorry for startling her.

  “One of you will eventually scare me to death,” Quinn muttered as she threw the covers back and slid out of the bed.

  “I’m so sorry!” Angel apologized. “I knew I heard you and wanted to make sure you were OK. We . . . well, to be honest, we have no idea how you’re doing in your pregnancy and weren’t sure if you were getting sick.”

  “And you were going to scare me into not being sick?” Quinn asked as she stretched.

  She wasn’t really angry about the intrusion but figured it would do Angel good to squirm for a minute for doing it.

  “I was coming to hold your hair back,” Angel admitted as a blush crossed her face.

  Quinn’s heart immediately melted, and she walked over to Angel and hugged her before she pulled back and smiled.

  “Thank you. I feel great though! I was sick as hell for the first month, but I’ve been good since then. Are you and Dree OK? Do you normally have problems? How the hell did you get in? I barred the doors with chairs,” Quinn said, looking to Angel’s stomach in concern.

  “No, no!” Angel reassured her. “We’re good. Hybrids don’t normally have any problems. But you’re . . . well, you know, and the doors were easy; I just used my energy to move the chairs away from them.”

  Quinn laughed and shook her head as she put on a robe.

  “You can say it, it’s not a bad word. I’m a human,” she teased as she held her hands up at Angel like claws.

  “Oh stop it! Of course it’s not a bad thing. I’m just saying we’ve never seen a human go through a hybrid pregnancy and a Dranovian one!” Angel whistled. “That is like a virgin birth for our people.”

  “Seriously?” Quinn asked as she headed out of the bedroom and followed the smells to kitchen and much needed food.

  “Girl, you’re like the Rosetta stone to our doctors. They would love to talk to you more about how your pregnancy has progressed and run some tests,” Angel said as she sat on a stool at the island and began filling a plate.

  “What tests?” Quinn asked a little nervously as she picked at the food on the counters, putting little on her plate.

  “Nothing that involves needles or pain, just some time. It would help them learn what to expect if one of my other brothers or hybrids find a human to love too,” Angel said, keeping her eyes from Quinn.

  Angel’s lack of eye contact made Quinn immediately suspicious, and then she remembered that she’d heard whispering when she woke up.

  “Who was here this morning, and what’s going on?” Quinn asked.

  Angel sighed and threw a grape back on her plate as she looked up at Quinn.

  “It was Chris begging to see you. The doctor stuff is true, but Chris was hoping that I could convince you to go to the medlab so that he could see the pictures of the baby as well,” Angel reluctantly admitted.

  “Can’t the doctors show him the ones from yesterday?” Quinn replied, knowing she was missing something.

  “Well, yes and no. Dad won’t let them because he says Chris gave up his rights to the information when he abandoned you. So he won’t let anyone tell Chris anything until you think he deserves it, and even though Siggy and Dante could easily hack in and get the pics, they won’t either because they agree with Dad. So, you’re Chris’s only chance to see Christopher, and he came here begging me to try and convince you to go and to let him go with you,” Angel said far too casually for Quinn’s piece of mind.

  “When were you going to tell me?” Quinn paid close attention to Angel’s body language when she asked the question.

  “I wasn’t,” Angel said, looking in Quinn’s eyes when she spoke.

  Quinn was stunned.

  “Why not?” she demanded, wondering if Angel didn’t approve of her and Chris because she was a human.

  “Because I think he needs to sweat for a while, but I do think you need to let the doctors run their tests and have their talk. If your due date is right, they only have a few weeks to make sure they know what they’re dealing with when you deliver. I waited my whole damn life for sisters, and I don’t want to lose one now,” Angel explained, giving Quinn a smile.

  “You really think the baby could be in danger?” Quinn asked, immediately thinking of Christopher’s well-being.

  Angel shrugged her shoulders, keeping eye contact with Quinn so she would know she was being honest with her.

  “I have no idea, but I don’t think you should take any chances. Now Chris, well, Dad could easily keep him gone while you’re in the medlab if you prefer not to see him.”

  Quinn thought about it for a moment and then considered the conversation she had with Mikal last night.

  “No, I think if there’s a chance something could be wrong, Chris needs to be there for his son. Besides, it’s his son too, and I have no right to put Christopher in the middle of what’s going on with me and his father,” Quinn said, adamant that she not let the baby be a tool to hurt Chris.

  “Wow . . .” Angel said, looking shocked. “That’s an amazingly mature and awesome thing to say. He really doesn’t deserve you at all, but I’m damn glad he picked you.”

  Quinn blushed and looked away, unsure how to handle the compliment.

  “So, how do we make an appointment?” Quinn asked.

  “We don’t,” Angel said with a laugh. “They’ve been waiting in town hoping tha
t you’d talk to them. I contacted Lauren and she said anytime is ‘wonderful’ for them. So it’s whenever you’re ready.”

  “Oh,” Quinn replied.

  She’d been thinking there would be more time to think about it before she’d actually have to go back there again and see Chris.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Angel told her.

  “I do,” Quinn said with as she smiled at Angel. “It’s not about me, it’s about my son and his father. I need to know Christopher is going to be OK. So, I’m going to get a quick shower, and we can head there.”

  Angel broke out in a huge smile and shook her head as she handed Quinn a basket of bread.

  “No, first you eat, or you’ll pass out from starvation before we even get there,” Angel said just as Quinn’s stomach growled.

  “Food wins!” Quinn said with a laugh as she took the bread and grabbed a piece before setting the basket between them.

  She spread jam on her bread and looked over at Angel.

  “Where’s Dree this morning?”

  “She’s shopping with Liam. She’ll be back later,” Angel answered.

  Angel kept up a running conversation while Quinn ate, giving her all kinds of information on the brothers and Chris. It was mostly the sister-tells-all stuff any family would share, but in that family, everyone had deadly abilities, and the childhood antics Angel thought were so funny horrified Quinn.

  She was more than glad to take a long, hot shower and let the water wash away any concerns she had regarding her son doing any of the crazy things his father had done with his siblings.

  Quinn saw her suitcase in the corner of the room and was grateful to see someone had gotten her clothes from the estate. She pulled out a large, men’s T-shirt she’d gotten at the thrift store for next to nothing and followed it up with the sweat pants she’d gotten the same day—the poor girl’s version of maternity wear.

  She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed at her reflection. Her short blond hair was in chaotic waves around her head, her feet were puffy, and her clothes made her look like a homeless woman.