Inevitably Yours

QUINN

s*x with no strings attached was a different experience. After that night, Michael didn’t push it to happen again, but it did. We all agreed that this needed to stay between the three of us. While we were comfortable with each other, we knew this was not something we should advertise as the pack’s leadership. It could brand us in ways that would be detrimental to everyone and invite unwanted attention.

Nic would tease and flirt with me, but she never tried to do anything without Michael’s permission. It was a boundary I was happy she respected. She wasn’t my fated, and she couldn’t feel what I felt. Michael usually knew when it was okay for me and when it wasn’t. Nic and Michael also made it clear they had no interest in sleeping with each other and leaving me out; they were only interested in having fun altogether. They went back to their general cuddling and affection if I wasn’t interested or in the mood.

Judy probably had some idea about what was happening, but she never commented. Luckily, we could keep it away from everyone else who was regularly at the packhouse. Since the rejection, everyone assumed Michael was just more protective of Nic, and we let them think that.

Michael continued his professional development. It took him a few months and various training courses, but he soon gained the licensing and knowledge to provide bodyguard services alongside our other security and training services. While at one of these classes, he met a lovely older gentleman who was already a veteran in the field. He and Michael became fast friends.

“You’ll never believe what just happened,” M said, coming upstairs. I was trying to get Belle and Junior to play cooperatively, but Belle wasn’t having it. She sat on the floor, being a monster. Melvin got us this baby prison thing that could be used as a long wall to gate them in. With some creative rearranging of the furniture and use of that, I could leave the two to play in our living room while I sat at the table to work next to them. Michael got distracted when he saw his little girl being fussy. He stepped over the baby wall to get her. As per usual, she brightened when he picked her up.

“So are you going to leave me guessing?” I asked, trying to get his attention again.

“Guessing about what?” he asked, tearing his eyes away from Belle to look back at me. “Oh! Right. Thomas just called. He is offering me a client.”

“Offering you a client?” I asked in disbelief. “Why?”

“I guess he just can’t take care of him currently. Thomas said that he brings a lot of high-end protection work to him, and it would probably follow to me,” Michael explained. I furrowed my brow.

“I know I haven’t finished my business degree, and tactics isn’t a class, but why would he just hand you a high-end client with potential further clients with no strings attached?” I asked.

Michael shrugged. “Goodwill? He hasn’t been able to hire and train any more officers to work these details, so he is letting that client down,” Michael said.

“Okay, so what are we looking at?” I asked, pulling my notebook toward me. This would require some work – contracts, billing information, and client background check.

“Going rate is quadruple our normal rate for anything scheduled 60 days in advance,” Michael said excitedly. I dropped my pen.

“Quadruple?” I asked in disbelief.

“It gets better. Fifty percent more for anything scheduled with 15-60 days’ notice, and it’s double the going rate with less than 15 days’ notice,” Michael smiled.

“Wow…” I said, shock ringing through my head. We had decent clients at the moment, but they had negotiated for slightly lower billing rates than we would have liked because of our overall inexperience. We could only fix that with time. “That is a ridiculous deal for us. Who is this guy?”

“Some human sports guy,” Michael shrugged. I rolled my eyes but smiled. Michael barely paid attention to human sports. He wasn’t typical in that way. The only thing that sparked any interest in him was combat sports.

“So, is there something coming up?” I asked. Michael sat down next to me, sitting Belle on the table in front of him. She grabbed for my pens.

“That’s the rough part about the deal. I have to leave on Saturday,” he frowned.

“M, that’s in three days!” I exclaimed.

“ I know, but I don’t have to tell you what this kind of billing would do. Plus, it’s a two-man team,” he said. “I’ll take Wesley with me, and we’ll almost match a month’s billing in 8 days.”

I sat back in my chair. Michael made faces at Belle. Junior came over to the baby wall and tried to look over it. When Belle pointed to Junior, Michael scooped him up too. He stood with a pup on each of his h**s, tempting me.

“Alright,” I sighed. “But I want terms written into the contract that we can refuse any service requests with less than 30 days’ notice.”

Michael smiled. “This will be really good,” he promised.

“We might need clients like this if we’re going to afford the commercial office you and Wesley want,” I told him. “Office space isn’t cheap.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Michael said confidently. “We always do.”

“Wait, don’t you have the test with the little warriors on Saturday? Adi is determined to get you this time,” I realized.

“I’ll have to push it until I get back. I’ll tell her she gets extra days to practice,” Michael said.

“That girl has been waiting since the very first little warrior class to graduate. I don’t think she will be happy about waiting longer,” I told him.

“Maybe her Luna will bake her favorite cookies to ease the blow,” he smiled. I shook my head.

“Cookie?” Junior said, looking around for them.

–

Michael came back excited but ready to be home. He really enjoyed his first protection detail. Belle and Junior got his attention first. Belle had a few new words for him, and Junior wanted to play. Then it was my turn. I distracted the kids with cookies so we could have a moment to ourselves. We enjoyed a few hours of family time, but then it was back to everything.

Adi stormed in that night to demand she get to fight him the next day. Michael laughed but agreed. Andrea tried to scold her and apologize, but we promised her it was totally fine. Adi didn’t like obstacles stopping her from her goals.

The next afternoon Michael let his little warriors fight him yet again. The class was enormous now, but not everyone wanted to challenge him. In the end, he had three pups make it through the sparring round with him without getting eliminated or submitted, Adi being one of them. The three rushed him afterward, asking when they could have a sword. I linked Michael that it was time for him to bless a few more weapons.

When we finally got time to talk about it all, I found out that the job had gone exceedingly well, and Michael had met a few of the potential clients we could be taking on thanks to this one. I was pleasantly surprised to send the invoice to the client and get paid in less than a day.

Claire came for a visit without Tyler. She said he was being moody, so she just left him at home. All three kids were thrilled to have Claire visit. She was twitchy and anxious at first but calmed when Michael promised we didn’t have to leave the packhouse. She was pretty shocked when Michael showed her around and she saw all the changes we had made. She loved the top-floor loft that was just for us.

Michael had to leave again. He started being gone just as much as he was home again. While he was gone, I would see a lot more visitors around the packhouse, from pack members dropping by to visit with me, little warriors coming to check and see if he was back, or Jacqueline, Enrique, and a few of the other leading warriors coming to check on me. Andrea was around every day Michael was gone. Nic helped with the little warriors in Michael’s absence and even pulled me in a few times. On occasion, she and I would train together while the kids were napping or busy with Judy.

Nic and I quickly decided we needed to start pup-proofing the packhouse. The pups were all mobile now, and Junior was very curious about anything he wasn’t supposed to get into. We made the front living room more of a playroom, adding their toys and a miniature plastic table. We put up gates in a few of the doorways to keep them out of areas like the kitchen unless one of us took them there. We also got a couple of folding tables to add to the living room; that way, we had the option of working while watching over the kids when they played. Judy had the idea to add some rugs over some of the tile and wood floors to help with any trips and falls they might have.

Everyone thought the pup-proofing was comical. Jacqueline commented that the packhouse no longer looked like it housed a big bad, sword-wielding Alpha; that we just looked like an odd, giant combined family with too big of a house. When Michael came home, he didn’t seem upset by the changes, thankfully. He told us as they grow, we can just change it again.

Michael returned from his latest job a few days before Belle’s first birthday. Nic and I insisted on a quiet night altogether. Judy and I made a simple but delicious dinner of chicken, baked potatoes, salad, and a pie to go after. After we all ate, Judy left us to go to bed, and we took the kids to the living room. Nic and I curled up on the couch under a blanket together while Michael sat on the floor with the kids. Belle sat in his lap, making him watch her new favorite show while Diane found the hair clips and started giving him a makeover. Junior started lining up all his dinosaurs for a battle.

Diane tired out first as she refused her nap that afternoon. She waddled over to Nic and me on the couch. Nic picked her up, settling her to lie with us. Michael just smiled at us.

“What?” I asked.

“You two are just cute mommys,” he chuckled. “I love coming home and seeing the pups cling to you.”

“Well, Belle is a butt the entire time your gone. She won’t sit with me like that,” I said, pointing to his current situation. His smile only grew at that. He loved being her favorite.

“Dad! Dinosaur death battle!” Junior shouted at him, jumping up and down as he trotted over to get Michael. He grabbed his arm and started to pull him. Belle protested.

“Belly, why don’t you cuddle Mommy? I watched two whole shows with you, so it’s Junior’s turn for his dinosaur fight,” he tried to reason with her.

“She can have the puple one,” Junior offered.

“Purple,” I corrected him.

“Does that sound fair, Belle?” Michael asked her. She just nodded her head, clinging to him still. Nic and I watched as Michael had an epic battle of bipedal dinosaurs versus quadrupeds. At some point, a robot was brought into the fold, then a meteor pillow took everyone out. It was well past bedtime, so Nic took Diane to put her in her room, and I grabbed Belle.

“Ten more minutes with the mini Alpha,” I cautioned him. “But maybe try calming him down.”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“Yes, beautiful,” Michael smiled. I pecked him on the lips as I lifted Belle into my arms.

When I finally got Belle into her bed, I returned downstairs to find Michael and Junior wrestling. Michael was teaching him how to choke someone. “M!” I exclaimed.

He looked at me, puzzled. “What?” he asked, pausing.

“Mommy! I got Daddy!” Junior cheered like he won.

“That’s great, honey, but it’s time for bed,” I told him. Junior immediately deflated. His little shoulders sank, and he frowned.

“Go get your pajamas on and into bed. I’ll come to tuck you in,” Michael promised. Junior gave him a big squeezing hug and then ran past me. I didn’t love him climbing the multiple flights of stairs on his own, but I wanted to talk about the fighting.

“M, you can’t just teach him to hurt people like that,” I said, starting to pick up the dinosaurs.

“Q, what are you talking about?” he asked.

“M, he’s a toddler. He’ll do that stuff to Diane or Belle,” I reasoned.

“He’s going to be Alpha one day. He has to be able to fight. He has to be able to command the respect of the pack and lead them,” Michael defended himself.

“Can’t we wait until later? I mean, you started learning after you moved,” I said.

Michael stood and came over to me, stopping my cleaning. He grabbed my hands and kissed both of them. “Quinn, I should have taken over as Alpha years before I did, but Lawrence intentionally stopped that. I didn’t learn anything growing up, even though I thought I did. I was screamed at and barely taught about our pack and how things run. I mean, when we took over, we had to figure everything out ourselves. It’s not going to be like that for him. I want Michael and his mate to feel confident when we do their Alpha ceremony, and I want the pack to believe in them.”

“But Michael, he’s still a baby!” I said.

“And if he grows up with this, we can also teach him young to respect what he’s being taught. He will know that he isn’t learning it to hurt someone but to defend the people he loves and swears to protect,” Michael said.

I bit my l*p, unsure about this. I worried that being the Alpha children would affect the pups as they got older. While we hoped to change the culture that we grew up with, there was only so much we could do. I didn’t want them to feel the pressure of their future responsibilities until it was necessary.

Michael kissed my forehead. “I won’t teach them anything serious for a while—no little warrior training. Just playing with Dad. I promise,” Michael whispered.

I sighed. “Okay, as long as this doesn’t turn into an obsession. And it’s games for now. If he so much as raises a finger at Belle or Diane, Michael, I will-”

“You won’t have to because I will. I would never tolerate any of them using what I teach them to hurt each other. That goes for the girls as well,” he said.

“Alright,” I said. He wasn’t lying, and this seemed important to him.

“Now, I am tired, but there is something that I haven’t been able to take care of since I’ve been gone,” he murmured. My mood dropped; I wanted to crawl into bed with my mate and cuddle. My pillow needed a fresh coating of his scent on it. I was trying to ignore the pile in my inbox.

“I guess I can go wash some dishes or-”

Michael laughed, jerking me flush to him. “I am talking about you.”

–

“We’re all working remotely from home offices. That is mostly working, but it’s difficult to have meetings or do training without a central place for the employees to check into regularly,” Wesley explained. Michael had him come to the packhouse to meet with us. With Michael only being home for a week this time, he didn’t want to waste a whole day going out to the city.

“What exactly do you want?” I asked. We all sat in Michael’s office. Wesley wasn’t a wolf, so he didn’t fully understand what our dynamic was. Michael told him we inherited the house, had a live-in maid, and extra rooms for our friend. “You sent me about twenty different locations. Some are big, some small, some expensive, some dirt cheap.”

“Ideally, space for a few offices, a conference or training room, and a small break room or kitchen. Patrol work starts next month, so some parking would be favorable. Michael should have an office, and so should I. Probably a few more for officers to float between as well. Places where they can come to write reports and such,” Wesley explained. I looked at Michael, who was looking at the packets I printed out about the various available spaces. I gathered as much as I could on each place but wasn’t sure what I should be looking for.

“M?” I asked.

“He’s right,” Michael agreed. “We started good but were growing thanks to reputation. This is a logical step. It won’t be bad to have an office for clients to come to us either.”

They both looked at me. “So, what’s our budget? That probably colors what we can look at the most,” Wesley asked.

“Well, that depends,” I said. I handed him another folder. “You have clients with bills stacking up.”

Wesley flipped through the folder. “I didn’t know it was getting this deep. I’ll get this squared away quickly,” he said.

“So, Q? What are we looking at?” Michael asked. I sat back in my chair.

“If we keep close to the current billable, add patrol services, and get clients caught up on their outstanding accounts? I’d say we can probably go midrange. I numbered them at the top. So, look at numbers 7-14, probably?” I suggested. Wesley leaned over, and they started looking at the ones I suggested. “We are building maintenance money for the cars into the patrol contracts, right? I mean, the insurance quotes made me choke as it is.”

“Yes,” Wesley said. “Still ironing out the final number, but we are in a good ballpark. Profits will stay low for the first six months, I think. On renewal, the rate will go up.”

“Looks like we’re setting up an office in the big city,” Michael smiled.

“Looks like it,” I agreed.