Page 9 of Monochrome (ORCA #4)

CHAPTER

NINE

JULIUS

“Did you want a hand?”

Ethan shook his head.

“No, it’ll be okay. This happens a lot. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

He disappeared down the hall, and I ducked into the hall bathroom to clean up.

When I was done, I found myself at loose ends, unsure where to put myself to wait for Ethan to finish comforting his niece or nephew.

The sobs coming from the hallway had softened but hadn’t stopped, and I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take to get them back to sleep.

I paced the living room for a second until I noticed the pizza boxes and our dishes were still out, and figured I could at least be useful and clean up the mess in the kitchen.

I consolidated the pizza into a single box and made room for it in the refrigerator, then I loaded the dirty dishes and cups into the already almost full dishwasher.

I found the dishwasher detergent under the sink and got the machine running.

At least that would be one less thing Ethan had to do in the morning.

Figuring it couldn’t hurt, I gave the island a quick wipe down.

The kitchen cleanup had taken less than ten minutes, and Ethan still wasn’t back yet, though the crying had stopped, so I straightened the cushions on the couch and sat down.

I knew Ethan and I needed to talk, and I was glad a quick orgasm had helped him calm down enough that he was willing to have a discussion about everything I’d shared earlier rather than throwing me out again, but my mind wasn’t on the conversation we needed to have.

It was stuck on the way Ethan had looked straddling my lap and thrusting into my fist like he needed it to keep himself from flying apart.

And, god, when he’d come, I’d never seen anything so gorgeous, his face open and vulnerable in his pleasure.

If I could, I’d keep that expression on his face every hour of every day.

Then there was the way he’d bitten my neck as he rode out his climax, his hips still pumping his cock against mine in my fist. It was like he’d been trying to claim me, the bite landing in the center of my saddle patch and making me see stars as I came harder than I’d come in a long damn time.

I’d hoped he’d broken the skin so I could officially claim him as mine, but when I’d examined the bite mark in the bathroom mirror, there was nothing there.

Maybe after all this shit with the painting and whoever was trying to set Ethan up to take a fall was over, we could have a conversation about us.

Fated mate or not, I was falling for Ethan Lin hard and fast, and I needed to figure out a way to convince him to let me be part of his little family, because as much as I’d fallen for Ethan, I’d also fallen for Jude and Lily, and I wanted to see them grow into the amazing people I knew they were going to be.

Considering I’d never even thought about having kids before I met Ethan, these feelings were surprising, but like taking care of Ethan felt like my new primary directive, I was equally compelled to take care of the twins.

It had been twenty minutes, and Ethan still hadn’t come back.

Maybe he needed a hand after all.

I could just take a peek into the twins’ room to see if everyone was okay.

On silent feet, I moved down the hall, not wanting to wake either of the kids after Ethan had just gotten them calmed down.

The door to the twins’ room was open, but there was no noise coming from within, and the second I saw the scene inside, I understood why.

Curled up on the rug in the middle of the room was Ethan.

He had shifted into his panda form, his clothes discarded in a heap on the floor, and Jude and Lily were curled up against him, their heads resting against his belly and their hands curled in his fur.

It was the sweetest thing I’d ever seen, and I knew in that moment, conversation or not, that there was no way in hell Ethan had anything to do with the deleted transactions, the shell companies, or the threat facing my family.

Ethan loved his family fiercely.

I’d seen it in every interaction I’d observed between him and the twins.

I saw it in the way he’d broken down in his office, fearing that he wasn’t living up to his sister’s legacy.

And I saw it now as he sheltered his niece and nephew against his body, one large fluffy paw slung over them to keep them safe.

A man who loved like Ethan loved would never betray his family.

Which meant my family and I needed to figure out who was targeting Ethan, and we needed to do it fast.

I grabbed the blanket off Jude’s bed and used it to cover both of the twins, then, because I couldn’t help it, I pressed a kiss to my fingers and touched it to Ethan’s forehead.

Despite looking soft and fluffy, his fur was coarse and thick.

He didn’t stir or open his eyes, so I backed out of the room, folding Ethan’s clothes into a neat pile before I left.

Back in the kitchen, I rummaged through the drawers until I found a pack of Post-its and a pen, and I jotted Ethan a quick note, letting him know I was still ready to talk whenever he was.

I needed to get home so I could get Felix moving in a direction that wasn’t heading toward Ethan as our prime suspect.

Unsurprisingly, Felix was in the basement when I got home, every monitor on the desk lit up as his fingers flew across the keyboard.

“It’s not Ethan. He’s being set up.”

“Oh, hello to you too, Julius. Have you had a nice evening? Mine’s been lovely. Thanks for asking.”

“Cut the shit, Felix. We need to stop looking at Ethan.”

He kicked the chair next to him out.

“Way ahead of you.” He pulled a database screen up on the monitor closest to me.

“Given your connection to Ethan, I was trying to prepare for every possible contingency, including a scenario where we had to plant our own evidence to guarantee Ethan’s innocence, so I went back to the security logs and started watching surveillance footage, cross-referencing the people who came into the building with when they left. Ethan definitely didn’t come back that night.”

“So, do you have a short list?”

“Not yet. There are garage exits and entrances, so I’m still working on getting a full list. Give me until tomorrow.”

“Okay. Any luck tracking down the principal owners on the shell companies?”

“Not yet, but this is interesting and something you need to see.” He pulled up a different screen, one I recognized as a forum on the dark web, specifically one targeting stolen art.

“Someone is looking for the painting again, but they’re using a bullshit handle and bouncing their IP address all over the place. I’m working on a trace, but I haven’t been able to pin anything down.”

“Shit. They know about Amsterdam. Do you think it’s Malveau?”

Felix shook his head, then shrugged, then shook his head again.

“I don’t think so. I mean, it could be, but he got his money, and Marcus has been watching his accounts. He moved the money he got paid to buy the painting to several of his personal accounts right after he left Amsterdam.”

“So, we’re back to looking for whoever paid him off.”

“Yep.” Felix tapped his fingers on the desk.

“Do you think he would tell us who he was dealing with if we asked him?”

“Doubtful. He’s not a shifter, and quite frankly, I don’t like him. We can keep that card up our sleeves if we really need it, but I don’t want to owe Gaspard Malveau a favor if we can avoid it.”

“I agree, so we’ll keep digging. We are going to find something soon. I know it.”

“Hey, Jules. I thought I heard you come in.” Felix and I pivoted to see Quin standing in the doorway.

He was wearing a pair of paint-splattered jeans and a plain white T-shit, and it took a second for my brain to catch up to what I was seeing.

For a long time, Quin never let us see this side of him.

He always wanted to be the buttoned-up, designer-suit-wearing, Hermes-bag-carrying, gallery owner, but since Dimitri had come into his life, we were finally getting to see our brother again in all his artistic glory.

Dimitri had helped him remove the stick that had been perpetually lodged in his ass, a feat for which we were all immensely grateful.

Since we’d gotten back from Amsterdam with Dimitri and his sister in tow, Quin had been much more relaxed, and it looked damn good on him.

“Yeah, I just got home.”

“Oh, right. You were on a date tonight. How did it go?”

“It wasn’t a date.” The protest fell easily from my lips, but it felt wrong.

It had definitely been a date.

“Uh-huh. Whatever you say.” He gave me a genuine smile, which was an expression I was still getting used to seeing on his face.

“I wanted to let you know Athina is interested in the nannying gig. I’m sorry I didn’t text you back. I got, uh, busy.” The way his cheeks went red, I easily interpreted busy to mean he and Dimitri had been fucking in his studio.

Again. Before Dimitri, going out to Quin’s studio meant getting your head bitten off for interrupting his work, so we never did it.

Now, though, going out there meant you were likely to see naked body parts you didn’t want to see, so we continued to avoid it.

Well, everyone except for Cal, who made it a point to harass his twin whenever he could.

“That’s great. I’ll text Ethan tomorrow to let him know.”

“I know you said he needed someone for Monday, but Athina wants to meet the kids if at all possible, so they aren’t surprised when she shows up.”

“Yeah, that’s a great idea. I’ll let you know if Ethan is free this weekend for a meet and greet.”

Quin pushed off the doorframe where he’d been leaning, and I noticed for the first time that he was barefoot.

Dimitri had definitely changed something in Quin, and I honestly loved seeing it.

“Sounds good. If you need me, I’ll be out in the studio. I have things to finish.”

“I’ll bet you do!” Felix cackled as Quin gave him an icy stare.

“Oh, please. Like you and Nero are any better. You’d think the novelty would have worn off by now.”

Felix smirked and waggled his eyebrows.

“Never.” Then he turned back to his computer, and Quin slipped back out into the hallway.

When he was gone, Felix turned on me.

“Since you’re here, you might as well help me comb through some of this security data.”

“Send it over.”

We worked side by side for a while, until Nero came to pull Felix away, but I stayed up, looking for anything I could find that would point to whoever was framing Ethan.

He was mine, and I needed to protect him.