Page 15 of Quadruplets for the Vipers (Never Just One #3)

Axel

A n unnatural, unexpected sound wakes me suddenly, pulling me into abrupt consciousness, my nerves on high alert.

The pitch-black room is silent and still.

I can hear Leah’s slow, steady breath as she sleeps soundly beside me.

It’s quiet. Just a dream. It’s not uncommon for the smallest of sounds to wake me, especially in a new environment, yet my instincts tell me to trust my body. Something is not right.

Careful not to disturb Leah, I slip out of bed and throw on some pants. The street outside is still, the streetlights illuminating the empty road. The bar is closed up as it should be.

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 pulling the 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.

“Are you saying this is my fault?” Knox replies angrily.

“No, he wasn’t saying that,” Leah interjects, sensing trouble is brewing.

“What happened exactly?” Jace asks.

“The sounds of someone breaking in woke me up. The two of them came upstairs and checked my room first. When they found it empty, I heard them mention Leah. I managed to disarm the first man, and his idiot friend blew his head off before running away,” I explain, frustrated by the situation.

“Did they say what they wanted with Leah?” Rider asks as he surveys the area.

“No, all I heard them say was ‘it’s empty, she must be in the other one’.”

“It’s a good job you were in Leah’s room then,” Rider says matter-of-factly.

Comprehension dawns as Knox and Jace realize what Rider has already figured out.

If I were in Leah’s bedroom, we must have hooked up.

Leah blushes and tries to cover herself, seemingly conscious of her nakedness.

She’s only wearing a thin nightdress, her pert nipples visible through the thin silk.

I can tell that Knox is pissed as he looks between the two of us.

It seems that he’s been hiding his feelings for Leah, and I’m not the only one who’s captivated by her.

Luckily, he doesn’t voice any objection, though I know it’s something we’re going to have to talk about later.

As incredible as Leah is, I never want a woman to get between me and my brothers.

If Knox is interested in her too, I won’t stand in his way from letting her know how he feels.

As much as I want her, Knox deserves her more.

“Come on, let’s go see who this dead asshole upstairs is,” Jace says cheerily.

As always, he’s impervious to tension and able to make a bad situation seem perfectly normal. The others nod their approval and follow Jace upstairs. I decided to stay downstairs with Leah, there’s no need for her to see the dead man again.

“Are you okay?” I ask Leah, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

She nods bravely, but I can tell the whole experience has shaken her. “I’m okay, thanks to you. God knows what I would have done if you weren’t there… what could have happened…” Her voice trails off as she considers this.

The guys come back downstairs, their expressions grim.

“The dead man had a Hellhound tattoo,” Rider confirms.

“So this was a Hellhound attack.”

“It looks that way,” he confirms. “But we still don’t know what they wanted with Leah. Could be simply trying to finish what they started earlier, or it could be something worse.”

“What could be worse than breaking into my house and trying to rape me?” Leah shudders, running her hand through her hair, her hazel eyes wide and fearful.

I grind my teeth together, trying to hold back the rage I feel at the thought of someone attacking Leah.

I hate how scared she is. She might be safe now, but I can’t be with her twenty-four seven.

I’m grateful that the guys are as invested in her safety as I am.

I slowly calm down as I remind myself of this.

“If they were sent by the Hellhounds, then that means they know how valuable you are, Leah,” I explain gently.

“Do you mean they know about the baby?” she asks with fear in her eyes, her hand protectively flying to her stomach.

“I’m not sure how they would know, but we have to act as though they do, just to be safe.”

“Maybe it was an attack against you, Axel,” Knox suggests. “It’s no secret that we’ve been staying here with Leah. Perhaps they assumed that you’d be in your bed instead of fucking the person you’re meant to be protecting.”

I ignore the pointed judgment in his voice. He’s right to be pissed when I’m the one who insisted Leah was off-limits. “Yes, but they specifically said she’s not here. If they were looking for me, why would they care about her?” I point out.

“Let’s not play the blame game. What matters is that you’re both safe, but we need to find out what the Hellhounds want with Leah,” Jace states.

“Agreed. Leah, from now on, I think you should move in with us. It’ll be far safer with all four of us to keep an eye on you.”

“Some more closely than others, “ Knox grumbles under his breath.

I ignore him and focus on Leah. She nods her silent assent, but I can tell from her shell-shocked expression that tonight’s events are sinking in.

“Come on, Leah, let’s go get you a cup of hot, sweet tea from the kitchen while the guys gather your things from upstairs. It will help with the shock,” Jace says soothingly.

I nod my approval, and he guides her toward the kitchen.

There’s no way she needs to see the dead man upstairs again.

We’ll have to decide what to do with the body soon, but my focus is on Leah right now.

Without saying what I had upstairs, Rider and Knox follow behind.

We silently collect her possessions, stuffing them into a bag as well as a few items I have here.

Although Knox doesn’t say a word, I can feel the anger radiating off him.

“If you have something to say, then say it.”

“What happened to Leah being off limits? We’re supposed to be protecting her and helping her raise this baby, not putting our dicks in her,” Knox spits.

“It just happened. Leah is a grown woman, she can make her own decisions. Sleeping together doesn’t harm the baby. Why should you care? You’ve never cared who I hook up with before, and you haven’t exactly given the impression that you like Leah,” I point out.

“Forget I said anything, fuck who you want,” he grumbles. “Just seems like you told us one thing and did the exact opposite.”

He has a point, but I’m loath to admit it. To do so would be to admit my own weakness when it comes to Leah, that I can’t resist her.

“Look, if you want to go after Leah, by all means do, she’s her own woman and I don’t have a claim over her. It’s not like we haven’t shared before.”

“Fine, maybe I will do if you don’t care and she’s just a hook up to you.”

“Fine.”

Leah’s far from just sex to me, and he knows it. There’s no use bickering over it, though. Knox and I always argue like this, and it eventually works itself out. Sometimes we’re both too stubborn and competitive for our own good.

“If you two are quite done, there’s still the matter of the dead body that we need to deal with,” Rider interjects.

“He’s the boss, let him decide,” Knox says before leaving.

I don’t bother to follow him, Knox is going through a lot right now and he has every right to be pissed at me.

“Looks like you drew the short straw, brother, “ I say to Rider.

“I dunno, compared with dealing with one of Knox’s temper tantrums and an upset woman, I think I prefer body clean-up duty…”

I smile, grateful for my friend’s consistent stoic nature.

If Rider has an opinion on me and Leah hooking up, then he’s not voicing it.

I’m glad to have a job to throw myself into, and that I can focus on why the Hellhounds came here tonight and what they want with Leah, as opposed to thinking about what happened between us tonight.

My feelings are confusing and complicated, and I don’t do confusing and complicated.

Throw in the fact that Knox clearly has feelings for her, too, and this whole situation is a nightmare waiting to happen if we don’t figure it out.

Usually, I simply walk away, but after one night with Leah, I know that’s going to be impossible.

If that man hadn’t escaped or killed his friend by mistake, I’d have killed them both to protect her.

I could tell myself that I’m simply doing what I promised Zeus, but I know my desire to keep her safe is more than just duty. I care about her.