Page 5

Chapter

Five

Q uin stretched, glad he’d had his little nap in his own bed.

Not that the bed he’d been in last night had been a bad thing. No. No, it had been fab, with a down-alternative pillowtop, fluffy pillows, soft sheets, and a hot-as-fire half-Brazilian jaguar shifter who had turned him inside out.

And fed him cake.

But for all that, there hadn’t been much sleep to be had.

And he had to meet Symon, Adrian, Rian, and Eyre for lunch today.

His bi-weekly check-in was always a double-edged sword. Quin loved his brothers, and he adored their mates.

But he also felt like the fish out of water among them. The fifth wheel. The one with no manners and no class. So going to some fancy-ass restaurant and sitting while they discussed his many social, and legal, faux pas was kind of soul-destroying.

But he would do it for Symon and Rian, who had helped him out of many a scrape, and who always came when he needed anything.

He dressed with more care than usual in good dark jeans with a green henley shirt and his clean leather jacket, not the one he wore as armor when he worked and which stank of stale beer and oil from his bike. Then he caught his hair back in a tie and stepped into his boots.

At least Eyre had picked the restaurant, and Fox and the Hen was a great brunch place with good fancy toast choices. He loved a weird French toast or a mushroom parmesan leek stuff on bread. They also had a patty melt that he felt pretty empowered about.

Eyre liked it because it had so many side dishes and he could cobble together a little of everything…

He was a weird little dude.

Quin hopped on his bike and headed over, his ass sore where it landed on the bike’s saddle. It was so worth it.

Rian’s car was already there when he pulled up, and he had no doubt that Symon’s was, too. Symon and Adrian were notoriously early. Rian was punctual, unless there were billable hours involved, in which case he was early.

Quin, on the other hand, had to make sure that he was fashionably late—one, because he wanted everyone to notice when he walked in the door, and two, because it only seemed reasonable that one of them had to be able to break the rules.

The restaurant was nicely busy but not packed, filled with ladies who lunched, older couples out running errands, and the table of his family, and there was him. He was a little cloud of leather.

Eyre waved at him, smiling wide. “Quin! We’re back here!”

Eyre looked happy to see him, and his spirits—which hadn’t been too low—buoyed. He waved back and grinned at the hostess. “That’s my party.”

“They said they were waiting for somebody else. Go on back. There’s a menu back there for you.” She smiled at him, and suddenly, he could see the feline in her. “If I’d known you were so cute, I’d have put my number in the menu.”

Man, was he gonna be like a kitty bar now or something? Had he rolled in catnip?

He could feel her eyes on him the entire walk back to their table.

It didn’t suck.

He went back to his pack and found his seat. “Hey, guys.”

“You’re late,” Rian growled.

“And you’re observant.” He sparkled over at his brother. “You’re lucky I showed at all. It’s only because of your mates. It sure isn’t to see the two of you.”

“Hey!” Symon looked hurt, pouting at him. “I haven’t done anything yet.”

“Oh, but you will. You will, brother.”

Rian gave him a once-over. “You’re in a good mood.”

“Yep, got laid last night. It was fab. How about you?”

Eyre chuckled softly. “He totally got laid last night.”

“Eyre!” Rian barked, and the little fox didn’t even look the slightest bit ashamed. In fact, he kind of wiggled a little bit, and Quin could see his whiskers twitch.

“Yes, mate?”

“That is not appropriate for the breakfast table.”

Adrian bumped shoulders with Quin. “Good thing it’s a brunch table, huh? I, on the other hand, did not get laid last night.”

“What’s wrong with you, man?” He stared at Symon. “Adrian’s cute.”

“I’m fully aware of that. We had a rollout last night, so we were both working. We’re going to go after breakfast, possibly get laid, and then sleep until the day after tomorrow.”

“Oh man, tell me you’ve got somebody driving for you.” He hated thinking of them driving so tired.

“Yeah. He’s having breakfast at another table.”

“Good deal.” He scanned the restaurant, and he picked out the driver in a heartbeat. He could double as a bodyguard, no doubt thanks to Symon’s security guy, Cyrus.

“So, tell us about the getting laid,” Adrian demanded.

“Huh?” He raised his eyebrows. “It was very nice. He had a fancy hotel room. There was carrot cake.”

Four moans sounded. They all agreed on carrot cake. It was like wolf and fox aphrodisiac.

“Hey, you.” The server handed him a menu. “What can I get you to drink?”

“Uh, milk today, I think.”

“You got it.”

Okay. Burrito? Fancy toast? Patty melt? He studied the menu, knowing his fam was staring at him.

“So do I want the patty melt?”

“What you want is to spill the beans about the hotel guy. Come on, we deserve to know.” Butter wouldn’t melt in Eyre’s mouth. “Was he a wolf?”

“Nope.” The guys loved this game.

Adrian tried next. “Bear.”

“Nope.” He never had bear dalliances. Never.

“Damn.”

“Your turn, Eyre.”

“You just don’t seem like the fox type,” Eyre admitted. “Umm. How about a porcupine?”

“Oh, lots of pricks. Really, really cute in shifter form. Not really my thing, although I have to admit, they are super cute.”

“Right? I have this friend—his name is Rich—he is absolutely adorable. He gets all flustered and starts kind of running around and making this weird chattery noise. I love him.”

“You two know everybody,” Rian growled. “Now seriously. Do you know this person? Did you have safe sex? Did he clone anything off of your phone, or, I don’t know, did he steal an organ?”

“Well, I didn’t wake up bleeding in the bathtub with an ice pack on my stomach and a note to call 911, and I left first. Uh, I guarantee you he was asleep the whole time that I was. And, I did not clone his phone. I mean, he did not clone my phone. I would never clone someone’s phone because that is wrong.”

“Oh, you did clone his phone?” Adrian clapped. “Are you gonna send all the information to me so I can decrypt it? Because I would love to know everything about this new person.”

“If I need to.” He wasn’t sure he was going to need to. “And only if I need to, Adrian. I would rather learn about him the hard way if he sticks around.”

“So what does he do?”

Quin pondered that. “I think he must be a PI. He was looking for missing omegas.”

“No shit. And are they really missing?”

“Well, one was in my bar last night. I sent him to the house.”

“So another young guy on his way somewhere, not a kidnap or a runaway.”

“Yeah, but our friendly neighborhood den mother said he was out of money and had sold his phone, so he’d lost touch with his family.”

“That sucks,” Eyre said. He’d been down on his luck and felt for all the omegas they helped.

“It does. The other kid is probably there too. I think she recognized him, but didn’t tell Thiago for sure. Just in case.”

“Thiago. That’s what, Portuguese?”

Quin fought not to roll his eyes at Rian, who was always asking leading questions. Just like a lawyer. “His mom is Brazilian, apparently.”

“So what’s his last name?”

Quin made his eyes very wide. “How would I know?”

“Quin! Anyone who fucks you should have a last name.”

“I’m sure he does.” And it was Baldwin. He knew that. But like he was going to tell Rian so he could background check him.

This was his deal, not his brothers’.

“You—”

The server came back, cutting Rian off. They all ordered, and he decided on the patty melt with a side of pancakes. Late-night cake and snacks notwithstanding he’d worked hard all night, and he was starving.

“Okay, so back to?—”

“What new update did you roll out, Symon?”

“Some security stuff, and a new friendship level on the app. Just for people who want to hang out with other shifters. We found that the app had too much of a leaning toward…”

“Sex?” Quin asked.

“That.” Adrian grinned. “Isaac pointed it out. He wants more people to play video games with.”

“Wow. Pallas kitty for the win.” He liked Isaac and his naturally grumpy face but kinda sunny attitude.

If growling was sunny.

“Yeah. He’s a good guy.”

“Quin.”

“Rian, you are not my dad. I promise, Thiago is not a serial killer.”

“But how do you know?”

“Because I’m not dead.”

Rian growled, half-rising, but Eyre put a hand over Rian’s. “No, babe. It’s his life. I know you worry about him, but this is no bueno.”

“Thanks, Eyre.”

Eyre leveled a steady gaze on him. “And you stop taunting him.”

He chuckled. “But it’s so fun.” Symon stared at him, and he sighed. “Yes, mom.”

“Thanks.” Symon winked. “So, what else has been going on…”

His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out.

When is our next cake date?

was on the screen. And he had to smile.

“Who was that?” Symon asked.

“Cake delivery,” he said, tapping in a reply.

And now the ball was in Thiago’s court.

Then it was patty melts and pancakes.