The Breed: Nora's Choice (13 page)

            This
morning he had barely found the will power to leave their bed as she wrapped
her legs around him and begged to cuddle for “just five more minutes.” The idea
of bringing a war to her doorstep made him cringe.

            Especially
since she would have to be such a vital part of it.

Her
gift made her absolutely invaluable to them, and in all honestly, he knew that
she was ready for it.

            She had
only been at the Embassy a few short months, but with every day she grew
stronger, more self confident. She
wanted
to be a useful member of the
Breed.

            He rubbed
his temples. The idea of her having to wade through the sewage dump that was a
Hunters mind made him sick, but if that was what his mate wanted, he’d be
damned if he was caught not supporting her.

            The soft
humming of the elevator shaft told him his team was on the way, and within
seconds he was staring them all down.

            “You all
have the right to opt out of this,” he started off, and was met with unanimous
grumbles of disapproval, “we can’t lighten our surveillance on the list of
Hunter compounds we already have, but we also need 24 hour surveillance on
these docks.”

            “You got
it,” Memphis vowed, speaking for everyone.

            “This is
our job man,” Kain replied, “we’re all in.”

            He would
have to push his team much harder than he ever liked to, but if the war was
really headed in the direction he felt it was, this was only the beginning.

            “Alright
then, let’s get to work,” he nodded.

            Quickly
they worked out surveillance schedules, deciding who could be where and at what
time. Calculating drive times and distances between locations.

            The minutes
ticked by and Cass proudly watched his team hash out scenarios and argue over
escape routes and emergency back up plans.

            If Ayla was
betraying them and an ambush was waiting for them, his team at least had a
fighting chance now. 

            His men
were strong and solid, honest and loyal to the Breed. Even Quinn, who had
barely begun his time with them, was carving the name of “warrior” out for
himself.

            The war
would be dark and bloody, but with these men by his side, they would weather
the tide.

~

            As Nora
walked the short corridor to Remy’s suite, the strangest feeling over came her.
Was she actually…. Nervous?

            The week
had flown by at lightning speed. Though he had told her he wouldn’t be able to
come to the defense sessions anymore and would be swamped with work, Quinn
still seemed to find a way to see her every day.

            Twice she
had caught him off in the distance watching her fight on the grounds with the
other girls. If Memphis was busy on watch, she took over the day’s lesson.

            She had
looked up to see him just at the edge of the archery range, arms folded across
his chest, head tilted to the side, staring at her in wonder.

            On the
third day of them being apart she had raced out of her apartment late for her
nursing classes. Her hair was wet from her shower and piled on top of her head,
her mascara running, and a ratty pair of jeans slung low on her hips. In her
opinion she looked like a drowned rat.

            “Hello
beautiful,” he greeted her, then insisted on walking her to class and listening
to everything they had taught her so far.

            She had
called a meeting with the girls originally to mentally prepare herself for
tonight’s date, but the closer she got to the door the more she realized how
excited she was. She did need to emotionally prepare, but in an entirely
different way than she had ever expected.

            For the
first time in her life she was actually looking forward to seeing a man.

            The door
opened before she even had a chance to knock and immediately the girls were on
her, pelting her with questions and helping to drag her duffle bags full of
clothes inside.

            Tessa was
so excited Nora was surprised she hadn’t started to levitate through the room.

            No one,
herself included, could believe that she had agreed to the date.

            Something
about Quinn just calmed the storm that raged inside her. Somewhere in his eyes
she could see a sincerity that she had never seen with other men. He wasn’t
trying to cowl her into being with him, there was no secret ace up his sleeve.
When he said he just wanted her to try things out and see where they went, she
knew that he meant it.

            No matter
what he transformed into, no matter what the Hunters had done to him, he was no
monster.

            She still
wasn’t ready to think about the bond, or any sort of lifetime commitment, but
why not go out on a date? Why not attempt to be a normal girl?

            The PTSD
attacks were gone, and with them went the constant fear of intimacy with Quinn.
If she could be intimate with no negative repercussions, then why the hell
shouldn’t she?

            “I like
that smile,” Remy murmured, and Nora looked up to see the woman’s grey eyes
piercing through her.

            It had to
be the gypsy blood in her that made her so in tuned, she smirked to herself. No
one else would notice such tiny details.

            “I’m just
realizing what a stubborn bitch I’ve been lately,” she shrugged, “Constantly
comparing Quinn to someone who hurt me in the past is just ignorant and unfair
to him. I’m not saying that I think everything is going to be rainbows and
butterflies between us, but I need to cut the bullshit.”

            “It’s about
time you finally gave yourself some tough love,” Tessa hit her with some sass,
as she dumped the smallest duffle bag out onto a gold colored couch.

            “Don’t
think that because you hooked up with the boss around here, that I won’t take
you out back and beat you like an old rug,” Nora shot back and the girls
erupted into a bout of shit talking that eventually ended with Remy picking up
a couch pillow in each hand and swatting them both in the back of the head.

            Nora had
laughed all of the nervous energy out of herself, and was finally ready to
tackle the real problem at hand: what the hell was she going to wear.

            Quinn had
called her hours ago to inform her that he would be taking her to her very
first hockey game. Apparently his home team the Red Wings were having a
pre-season game against the New York Rangers, and he absolutely needed to go.

            Sports….
Yay
,
she thought flatly to herself.

            “I’m
telling you, you’re gonna look like an idiot if you wear stiletto’s to a hockey
game,” Tessa rolled her eyes. 

            “Why
couldn’t he have picked a play on Broadway? This entire date sounds like it’s
going to be painful,” she looked down sadly at the cherry red sky high heels in
her hand.

            “I think
you’re gonna love it,” Tessa argued, “With how competitive you are, I think
this is perfect for you.”

            “You just
think anything to do with your brother is perfect,” Nora rolled her eyes and
rooted through her bag.

            “Wear
boots,” Remy suggested as she lounged on her plum colored chase, nearly
swallowed up by magenta pillows.

            With a
heave she lifted the last enormous duffle bag she had brought and pulled out
two pairs of ankle boots, and a knee high pair.

            After much
serious deliberation, in which Tessa looked like she would spontaneously
combust, it was decided she would wear a hockey jersey, skinny jeans and the
knee high boots.

            “Don’t they
make jersey’s less baggy?” she waved her arms and watched the loose sleeves
flutter.

            “Trust me,
those jeans are tight enough,” Tessa looked horrified, “don’t eat anything or
they’re gonna explode off of your body.”

            Staring at
herself in the mirror Nora was full of self confidence. She looked good and she
felt good. Tonight was going to be a game changer for her.

            Forget
making up plans and scheming to keep her heart safe and her mind guarded,
tonight she was just going to do what felt right.

            She had an
opportunity to have the first real date of her entire life, why spoil it?
Memphis was right, something about their bond was healing her.

            For the
first time, her life was completely under her control. She chose the nursing
classes, she chose to start a life within the Embassy, and now she was choosing
to give her bond a chance.

            She was
finally beginning to regain the sense of control over her life that Billy had
taken from her so long ago. This is what she needed, to take back the reigns,
to start fresh.

            “If you
don’t hurry up, Quinn’s gonna leave without you,” Tessa laughed, “He will not
miss a hockey game, trust me.”

            She took a
deep breath and ran her fingers through her thick luscious curls, teasing her
hair out.

            “Don’t
worry,” Remy blew her a kiss, “everything is going to be great.”

            And with a
wink, Nora was out the door and ready to meet whatever this man had in store
for her.

         
Quinn
closed his eyes and focused his breathing, he was embarrassingly nervous about
tonight, and he could not let Nora catch on to how he was feeling.

            That girl
would chew him up and spit him out, and he refused to let that happen.

            Things had
gone so well for them over the last two weeks that he found himself holding his
breath and waiting for everything to come crashing down around him. He had
built the shakiest house of cards, and was holding it together with nothing
more than pure force of will and a little bit of hope.

            He checked
the time on his phone for the eighth time and wondered if she had stood him up.
Maybe he should send her a text?

           
Absolutely
not. Clingy people texted, grown men waited patiently
, he lectured himself.

            The echo of
clicking heels told him she was finally on her way to him. He suppressed all of
his excitement and plastered on a bored expression.

            “Sorry I’m
late,” she smiled brightly in greeting.

            She smiled?
At him
? If he wasn’t so dumbstruck by how beautiful she looked he would
have turned around to see if she was talking to someone else. 

            “I uh… I
just got here anyway,” he tried to play it cool.

            “So this is
the famous rust bucket Jax was telling me about?” she looked Ole Blue up and
down shrewdly.

“Yep.
My pride and joy,” he patted the hood.

For
a while he had thought about sharing a taxi again, or maybe renting a car, but
why bother?

            This is who
he was. Yeah he could dress himself up a little if she really wanted him too,
but at heart he was a blue jeans wearing, “fix my car myself” kind of guy, and
if they had a snow ball’s chance in hell of making it, she would have to accept
that.

            “You came
from a decently well off family, why not just buy a better car?” she kicked at
the front tire as if checking the air pressure.

            “I bought
this car myself, worked hard for it, and put a lot of effort into fixing it
up,” he ran his hand over the hood, “I’ve never been good at taking things from
other people, even my parents. I’d rather just work hard and earn them myself.”

            She nodded
at him, and for the first time he saw respect in her eyes. Was he finally
getting through to her?

Usually
she kept her ‘resting bitch face’ plastered firmly across her features, but
something about her was different tonight.

            He moved
closer to her, and she didn’t back away or put up her arms to stop his steps.
He couldn’t pull his eyes away from her gaze and for once she didn’t look away.

            “I’m not
afraid of hard work Nora, I’m not afraid to earn it, just give me the chance,”
he cradled the side of her face softly, and at last she didn’t tense up.

            Those big
whiskey colored eyes looked up at him and everything in his life was right.
Every. Single. Thing.

The
loneliness, friendlessness, joining the Breed, even being taken by the Hunters,
all of it had pushed him towards this damn girl.

            Gently he
pulled her towards him and without struggle or hesitation, she came. He wrapped
an arm around her waist and reveled in how perfectly her body fit against his.

            When he
nudged her chin up, her lips parted softly and she let out a tiny nervous
breath. After all they had done together, something about this moment felt more
intensely intimate than any of it.

            “I’m
nervous too,” he rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip.

            “Then shut
up and let’s do this,” she laughed and tugged at the waistband of his jeans.

            His eyes
slid shut as their lips met for the first sweet kiss they had shared since they
met in the subway tunnels.

            For once
she was allowing herself to be soft, to feel the possibility of what things
could be between them.

            He cradled
her jaw and resisted the urge to crush her against him.

He
wanted her to know that he could be sweet for her. They had already had so many
intimate moments turn into a frenzy of crushed bodies, he was determined to
show her he could be more than that.

            She gave a
soft little moan and hooked her fingers through the belt loops of his jeans.

            To the
world she was always posturing, throwing around her tough girl attitude, but
tucked into his arms he could feel how small she truly was. With all her loud
boisterous attitude quelled she was nothing but a soft, warm, fragile woman
holding onto him.

            One that he
wanted to treasure and protect forever.

            Her lips
were so soft and luscious against his, he wanted to stay and worship them
forever. The way her waist curved against the palm of his hand left him itching
to touch the rest of her skin, but he resisted. The kiss had to be tender, it
had to be perfect for her.

            Slowly she
began to pull back and he had to fight his own instincts to let her.

            He smiled
down at her as he watched her catch her breath, her eye lids still lightly
closed, her pouty mouth open only just.

It
was a view he could get used to.

            “Alright,
let’s get this rust bucket on the road,” she joked to cut through the intense
moment.

            His arms
stayed hooked around her, but she pulled out of them.

            “Rust
bucket,” he frowned. He supposed that in the almost two years he had been away,
ole blue had taken on some damage. Once he got the time to sit in the same spot
for long enough, he needed to get back to work on his baby.

            Jax had
mentioned a garage that specialized in Breed customers, and when he got time,
he would be paying them a visit.

            “I guess I
need to go to Marco’s,” he sighed.

            “He’s the
best in the business. Even Ghost trusts his precious crotch rocket collection
to Marco,” she smiled.

            Start a
business, fix his car, land his mate, fight a war; the list of things he needed
to accomplish was growing exponentially.

            The moment
Quinn turned the key in the ignition, he knew he was in for a long night.
Immediately her hand shot out to change his radio station.

            “Oh hell
no,” he clicked it back and gave her ‘the stare’.

            “Passenger
picks the music,” she snapped pushing his finger away from the knob.

            “Not in
this car,” he refused to budge his hand as he pulled out of the parking garage.

            “Fine,” she
turned her head to stare out the window.

            The second
he took his hand off the knob however, Lady Gaga was back blasting through his
speakers.

            If looks
could kill, his mate would be in critical condition. She gave him her best shit
eating grin and danced around in his seat screaming, “baby I was born this
way!” at the top of her lungs.

            The entire
drive to the stadium they spent clicking back and forth through the radio,
arguing over who liked worse music and jamming out to the few songs they could
actually agree on.

            Twice more
he had tried to inform her that the driver chose the music and the passenger
shut their cake hole, but she was utterly undeterred by him.

            As they
snailed through the parking structure he felt like he was a teenager again the
way that they played back and forth; jabbing each other in the side, stealing
tickles and snatching at the stereo knob.

            The sound
of her deep throaty laughter was addicting.

            By the time
they parked, he almost didn’t want to leave the car, but the minute the engine
was killed she was bouncing out her door.

            She had
worn her hair down and natural so that her long curls swayed with every step
she took. He hauled ass to keep up with her as she excitedly buzzed through the
crush of fans headed into the stadium.

Thanks
to Casstiel he had tickets at center ice to present her with.

            With the
New York Rangers jersey she had worn purely out of spite, she
should
have
blended in perfectly with everyone else in the crowd, but with the way her
thick hips moved, sexily rolling with each step, he could pick his girl out
even in a crush of millions.

            A smirk
tugged at the corner of his lips as he thought about stripping that treacherous
jersey from her body later. If things actually went well tonight, hopefully
that fantasy would become a reality.

            Once they
found their seats, the excitement rolling off of her was contagious. He had
been to a hundred hockey games, but none of them had ever made him feel like
this.

            “This is so
awesome!” she buzzed, “look at all these people.”

            “As the
season goes on, all these seats will fill up. Then you’ll see a lot more of
these jerseys,” he snapped his bright red and white Red Wings jersey at her and
watched her nose wrinkle in dislike.

            “You don’t
even know the first thing about that team you’re sporting, you just wore that
to annoy me,” he flicked her playfully on the nose.

            “I know
enough to know that they’ve got to be better than any team you’re cheering
for,” she elbowed him in the ribs and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the
playful smile creeping its way across her lips.

            He could
get used to this.
This
was the good life.

            As the
players skated out onto the ice her eyes grew wide and he could taste her
nervous energy. He decided right then and there that he would take her to every
hockey game he was able to; her enjoyment was worth any amount of money that he
would have to spend.

            The second
that the puck dropped, her adrenaline skyrocketed. She clutched at his arm with
excitement, and he couldn’t decide if he wanted to spend the entire game
watching the players or her.

            “What does
that mean?” she frowned up at him as the refs blew a whistle on her team five
minutes into the game.

            “It’s
called icing,” he smiled at her enthusiasm and began explaining the basic rules
so she could follow along.

            She picked
up on things quickly and soon was cheering and booing just as hard as the real
New York fans.

            Not
surprisingly, as the game went on she became more and more competitive;
screaming in rage and jabbing him in the ribs when the Wings stole the puck.
For some reason, she seemed to feel that he was personally responsible for
everything that his team did, and needed to be punished for it accordingly.

            The moment
the Wings rushed to the goal post, puck flying between them, she grabbed onto
his thigh and pinched so hard his eyes watered up. The goal, however, was
missed, and he was allowed to keep breathing for another few minutes.

            By the time
the first period ended she was so fired up her breathing was erratic and she
was practically bouncing out of her seat. She turned to him and immediately
began talking smack.

She
was so into her wild beratement of his team she didn’t even protest as he
pulled her close and snuggled her into his arms, as she wailed about how the
refs were
clearly
out to get the Rangers.

            “You know,
we can talk about something else besides hockey,” he smiled down at her,
interrupting her rant about what she would be doing right now if she were the
Rangers’ coach.

            She blinked
slowly up at him, suddenly realizing the position she was in and a sheepish
smile lit her face.

            “I get a
little over competitive don’t I?” she laughed at herself.

            “Don’t get
me wrong, I love it, I’m just saying,” he laughed and debated on whether he
should push his luck and pull her in for a kiss.

            “What do
you wanna talk about then?” she looked away as if she knew exactly what he was
thinking.

            “You,” he
responded automatically. 

            “We can
trade questions like we did at the restaurant,” she nodded in agreement, but he
didn’t miss that the caution had returned to her eyes.

            No matter
how well things were going, or how happy she seemed, he would still be treading
lightly.

            “Tell me
one of your biggest regrets?” he started with a question that he felt would be
pushing his luck a tad, but could bring them together in so many ways.

            She chewed
on her thumbnail and watched the zamboni slowly track its way across the ice
twice before she finally answered.