"You're mine, too, Jay. You, Jenson, and Jordan. You've all stolen my heart and I don't want you to ever give it back."
"You have no worries over that love. We're going to hold onto your heart for the rest of our lives." Jay kissed her one more time, then tried the watch on and smiled happily at his woman.
The smile she graced him back with had his heart overflowing with love and happiness.
He tried to ignore the warning niggle in his gut and the itching at the back of his neck.
Chapter Seventeen
Feng got out of the truck and glanced at the one the Triad leader's goons who had followed him in. It was dark, since they'd waited for the day to pass slowly. For some reason Lei decided it would be better to search for that bitch close to dinner time.
He'd wanted to argue but had held his tongue. He wasn't stupid and knew when to keep his mouth shut. Decha had acted like the big man all day long, giving him orders and expecting him to carry out every command. He was getting sick of how uppity his boss was behaving in front of the Triad guys, but he wasn't about to rock the boat until everyone had what they wanted.
When all this was done, he was leaving. Once Decha was back in Bismarck, Feng was going to disappear.
"We will eat at the pub first," Wang Fang, Lei's second in charge stated.
Feng nodded before he started walking down the street toward the pub. There was a knot of anxiety in his gut and the hair on his nape was standing on end, but he tried to ignore it. There was no way he was letting on how trepidatious he was feeling to the members of the Chinese mafia. He needed to play cool, calm, and collected, even if he was feeling anything but.
He had a feeling everything was going to go to shit. If it did, he was getting the hell out of Dodge and never looking back. He'd insisted on driving, so he could pocket the keys. He wanted to have a quick getaway if he needed it, and for some reason he thought that he was going to need to get out of here sooner rather than later.
Feng wasn't about to get locked up if their plans didn't pan out. He'd rather die than be locked behind bars for the rest of his life.
Jenson couldn't believe how busy they were. More than they normally would be on a Friday night. The last time they'd been this busy was when Emmy and her mates had held a music convention on a weekend months ago. He had no idea what was going on, but he didn't like it. His panther was antsy, prowling, yowling, and pacing restlessly. He suspected his brothers were feeling a little aggravated, too, because they'd all been snapping at each other.
He felt guilty for having a hand in upsetting their mate. He winced as he remembered her exasperated sigh just before she testily asked, "What is wrong with you three? You're brothers. You should be helping each other, not snarling and snapping."
"I'm sorry, sweetie." Jenson hadn't been able to resist hugging her. He'd held her for a full minute before she'd drawn back.
"I don't know what's going on, but you all need to sort out what's bothering you. I'm going to take a break and I expect you to have whatever is going on, off your chests by the time I get back. Is that understood?" She'd met each of their gazes, awaiting a reply.
"We'll try, baby," Jordan had replied. "However, since I have no idea why I'm feeling so aggressive, I don't know if I'll be able to fix it."
"Have I done something wrong?" She'd frowned.
"No, honey," Jay had answered immediately. "You haven't done a thing wrong. Please, don't think you have. Maybe we're all a little pissed because we're so busy. I was hoping to get out of here at a reasonable hour tonight, so we could spend some alone time with you."
"You'll still get to spend time with me outside of work, Jay. There's no reason for you all to bite each other's heads off."
"Go take your break, sweetie. Maybe when you get back we'll have curtailed all of our aggression."
"I hope so. I hate seeing you all like this." Kenzie had hurried out of the kitchen without looking back.
Jenson had wanted to follow her, but decided against it. She needed time to calm down. He'd been able to feel her stress through their mating bond. "Do you have any idea why we're feeling like this?" he asked his brothers.
Jay rubbed at the back of his neck before moving to the sink to wash his hands. "I have no idea."
"Me, either." Jordan nudged Jay out of the way and proceeded to wash his hands, too.
"Something's not right," Jenson said.
"Yeah, we get that dumbass, but what?" Jay snarled.
"Fuck off, Jay." Jenson shoulder checked Jordan as he passed him on the way to the sink to wash his hands, as well.
"What the hell is wrong with you three?" Declan asked as he stormed into the kitchen. "Your mate is so upset, she's nearly in tears. Emmy's sitting with her trying to calm her down."
"Fuck!" Jordan growled and started for the door.
Declan stepped in his way, blocking him from leaving. "You're not going out there. I don't want you upsetting Kenzie more or doing something that will alert one of the humans currently eating dinner in the dining room. You three need to get your heads out of your asses and lighten up. You're all lucky enough to have found an amazing woman to love you, though God only knows why when you're all behaving like kids. Get your shit together and for fuck's sake keep your voices down." Declan left as abruptly as he'd arrived.
"Kenzie are you okay?" Emmy asked.
Kenzie shook her head as she took a seat at the bar. "Can I have a glass of wine?"
"Sure, honey." Emmy turned to get her a drink, but Brooks must have heard and had already poured her favorite white wine. He handed it to Emmy who then placed it in front of her on the bar.
Kenzie picked up the glass and took a sip. She'd just placed the glass back on the bar when a loud bang echoed over the loud din of conversation. She startled so badly she almost fell off her stool.
Just as she turned to see what was going on she was lifted from the stool and set down on her feet. She looked up to see Brooks scowling down at her. "You and Emmy need to go to the office while we deal with a few idiots."
"What's happening? What was that noise?" Kenzie sniffed the air and crinkled her nose when she smelled what she thought could have been gunpowder. "Did someone shoot a gun?" Fear skittered up her spine and a cold sweat broke out over her skin.
"No. Some fucking idiot just let off a firecracker." Brooks nudged her toward the end of the bar and the hallway where Emmy was waiting for her. "Go one, love. You don't need to see us dealing with dickheads."
As Kenzie hurried over toward Emmy, she gazed toward the shadowed corner in the back of the room and sighed with relief when she saw that Declan and Jett were already hauling men to their feet. She followed Emmy down the hallway toward the office, wine glass in hand.
When she saw her mates were all trying to get through the doorway of the kitchen at the same time, she giggled. They looked ridiculous as they pushed and shoved to get out.
"Don't get your boxers in a twist," Emmy said. "Some imbecile let off a firecracker. Kenzie's safe. We're going to sit in the office for a while."
Kenzie smiled at her mates and nodded to let them know she was fine. They stopped shoving at each other and after gazing up and down her body to make sure she wasn't hurt, they turned back toward the kitchen.
Once she and Emmy were comfortable on the sofa, Emmy leaned into her and sniffed at Kenzie's neck.
"Uh, what are you doing?"
Emmy giggled as she sat back. "Sorry, that was probably kind of creepy, huh?"
Kenzie nodded.
"I was just sniffing to see if you were in heat. If you had been, that would have explained why your mates are acting weird."
Kenzie frowned. "Women don't go into heat."
"We call it ovulation."
"Oh. Well?" She quirked her brow.
"You're not in heat."
"So why do you think their acting that way?" Kenzie asked.
"I have no idea." Emmy shrugged. "They should be settling down some now that you're fully mated."
"Do you mean the sex?"
"No." Emmy sighed dreamily. "I hope my mates' high sex drive never slows down. I love making love with my guys."
"Me, too." Kenzie blinked when Emmy burst out laughing and tried to work out what she'd said that was so funny. "Shit! I meant my mates, not yours."
"I'm aware." Emmy drained the rest of her drink and rose with a sigh. "I'd better get back to it. There's no rest for the wicked."