“Don’t do it.” Flint stepped forward, his voice low, a rumble in the back of his throat and one Victor hadn’t heard in a long time.

It was full of cold, dark menace. It would make most men slink away with dread in the pit of their guts, but not Quinn Alexander. He barely spared Flint a flick of his eyes before he looked back at Victor.

“I won’t answer that. Just as you wouldn’t if I had said those words to you.” Quinn’s jaw clenched as he obviously fought for control. Amaya rushed to his side, her hand stroking his back and her glorious eyes shooting daggers at Victor her lips pursed together in silence...which was a first.

He expected a blow out from her with a mouth full of expletives, but none came. Instead she stood at her mate’s side, strong and regal with her eyes blazing but not a word passed her lips.

Kimber sprang from the table coming to him and standing beside him as Amaya had gone to her mate…her arm snaked around his waist and she couldn’t get closer to him if she tried. Her show of solidarity made his heart soar, but he wished she’d stayed where she was. Just in case things went sour.

“I had to ask, Quinn.” Victor canted his head, shrugging. “You know you would’ve done the same if you were in my shoes.”

“Aye,” Quinn slipped into his native brogue, “I do, which is why I’ve not reacted as I would normally to that slight, Victor. I trust Ace and Thorne with my very life and that of Amaya...which tells you all you need to know.”

Victor’s hand shot up, halting Quinn before he could go on.

“Wait, Quinn, you misunderstood. It’s neither Ace’s or Thorne’s loyalty I’m questioning. I would place my life and Kimber’s in their hands. Don’t doubt that for a minute. I’ve fought beside them, and they are men I know and I trust. However, you have brought strangers here to shore up the defenses of your vast property. Can you, in all good faith, tell me you trust them like you do Ace and Thorne? If you can then I’ll say no more on the matter.”

He stepped back, giving Quinn space and time to absorb what he’d said. His words hung in the air like a thick blanket of mire between them. One that Quinn had to sift through and that was anything but pleasant, evident by the distasteful sneer that passed over his face quickly followed by a lip curl that showed everyone present the tip of a fang poking through his gum. His fists bunched at his sides with his knuckles chalk white for long moments until he finally gave a sharp nod. One only, before his eyes lifted to meet Victor’s.

“I would say we cannot be one hundred percent certain. How could we be if they’ve not been in my employ for decades? How could you be? It’s impossible. They’ve been checked out as much as we could…Ace and myself have looked into these men with microscopic detail, Victor. But, and it’s a huge but, with the correct training nowadays it is possible to circumvent any database and corrupt details…is it not? There could, and I say could, be a few that I am not as comfortable with as I would like to be. But they were not privy to the details of what we had planned, and they certainly had no idea of who the guests were going to be. So, Victor, how do you explain that?”

Victor saw the strain in Quinn and how much it must’ve taken for him to admit what he just had. Hell, he wasn’t sure he could have done so in the same circumstances. But Quinn had, and Victor gave him kudos for doing so.

“I can’t.” Victor threw his arms up in the air, filled with exasperation and anger at everything…the whole fucking lot of it. “I’m clutching at straws here but it’s worth a shot if Ace and Thorne check them out a bit more. Don’t you think? And I’m going to call Jana to let her know what’s happened and that we think she’s got a leak. I’m sure that’s the most plausible explanation and maybe she can help. If we know the who then maybe we can figure out the why. Right? If so, then we should be able to stop them, and we can get on with things as planned.”

Kimber seemed to agree as she nodded to the table and her food. “We can take this to go. I’d rather you made the call now.”

“It’s all right, baby, you can eat here. I’ll make the call from right over there.” He could feel her rising uneasiness but there was more. She was desperate for him to make the call, so he would. He raised his eyes, motioning to the corner of the room nearest to where she’d been sitting, knowing she’d be able to hear him from her place at the table.

It was the least he could do after everything else. After he’d dismissed her concerns and they’d ended up in this mess in the first place.

“Kenzie and I are going for a walk around the Lake and later I’m going to go and have a chat with Ace and Thorne.” Flint threw after them as they were leaving. “Maybe I’ll do a little investigation of my own, go out and scout around and see if there’s anything I can find. You never know there might be something I can ferret out.”

“Be careful,” Victor threw over his shoulder, knowing his best friend relished getting into the most dangerous situations he could.

“Yeah, yeah,” Flint threw back at him, but his words were empty, and Victor knew he didn’t mean them.

Not one bit, especially with the glint in his eye and with the way he was still playing with the knife in his hand. Steel and blades were second nature to Flint, and Victor knew he would not be out scouting around. His friend would be hunting. Plain and simple. He’d have weapons every place he could plant them on his body, and he’d be hoping he did find something. Or rather...someone.

If Flint did, Victor didn’t want to know the outcome. His friend could be a bloodthirsty fiend when it came to doling out justice, or when questioning suspects. He’d witnessed it firsthand and it was never a pleasant experience no matter the circumstances.

Kimber didn’t acknowledge them as they left, her eyes on him while she went back to her place at the table and he tugged his phone out. He felt everyone’s eyes on him as he walked to the edge of the room, flicking through the screen until Jana’s name appeared; taking a deep breath he pressed the screen and lifted it to his ear, while he listened to it ring impatiently.

“Victor, what can I do for you?” Jana asked on the fourth ring.

“We have a problem, Jana, a huge fucking problem and I think you have a leak. In fact, I’m certain of it because there’s no other explanation for what’s going on here…”

Jana jumped in, “What? A leak here? That’s unlikely, Victor. Tell me what’s going on. Now.” Her tone was brusque and demanding.

“I was just about to, but you interrupted me.” Victor kept his voice calm, knowing if he didn’t it would just rile her even more, and he needed her help. “There have been attacks here. One against a Bloodmated couple and one against Quinn and Amaya. These were premeditated and organized, and they knew that we had Bloodmated couples here. That information is top-secret. The couples had no advance knowledge of that, so they couldn’t have leaked it for the assassins to plan this and we certainly have not leaked the location either. So, Jana, that leads us to think there’s an issue on your end. Could you please look into this for us? We are concerned that there are others out there just waiting for the right moment to strike.”

Silence.

That was a first. Victor didn’t think he’d ever been in a situation where The Directive’s Second in Command had ever been at a loss for words.

Finally, he heard her curse and shout for someone, probably her assistant before coming back to him.

“I’ll find out what the hell is going on, Victor, and get back to you as soon as I have some information. Do you want me to send more Directive guards? I can have some there within a few hours if you want, and if you feel it’s necessary then we can call this off. Whatever you want to do I’ll support it.”

“Hold on.” Victor turned back to face the room, and as he’d suspected everyone was watching him. “Jana wants to know if we want to call this off or if we want more Directive guards sent?”

Kimber shook her head. “I don’t want to call this off. If we do, we’ll never have another chance to do this. They won’t trust us to do this again, Victor.”

“I agree,” Amaya added.

“Indeed,” Quinn put in, “and we have enough men here already. I doubt a few more guards are going to do anything. These men were well hidden and organized.”

“Jana, the consensus is no to both, but if we can find out how they knew about this or who is behind it that might help us.”

“Fine, I’ll get to work then, but be careful. If any of you are hurt, it’s my head that’ll be on the chopping block when I have to go to Magno and explain this.”

“I’m always careful, especially when Kimber is around.”

“Yeah, I know that.” Jana exhaled loudly. “Tell Flint not to get too bloodthirsty either. I know what he’s like.”

Victor chuckled, he couldn’t help it. That was like telling the sun not to rise in the morning.

“If there’s a threat to any of us, especially Kenzie, he’ll do what’s necessary. You know that, I know that, we won’t be able to stop him and hell mend anyone who gets in his way.”

“Fuck, just try and keep the bloodbath to a minimum. If you can keep anyone alive we can hopefully get information from them.”

“I’ll try. No promises though. If anyone gets anywhere near Kimber all bets are off.”

“Understood.” Jana sighed again. “Okay, I’ll go and start my inquiries and see what I can come up with. I’ll keep in touch.”

“Thanks, Jana.”

“No thanks necessary.”

No other words passed between them and he hung up feeling a little better that they had the weight of The Directive now helping them.

“She’s on it?” Quinn asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“She is, and she sounded pissed.” Victor’s eyes found Kimber’s who looked relieved. Good. He hated that she’d been so stressed out and even worse…he felt it had been his fault.

“I bet she is. If she finds out it was anyone on her side, she’ll skin them alive.” Amaya snorted. “I like her, a lot, but damn, I wouldn’t like to get on her bad side.”

“Me either,” Kimber agreed. “She can be scary as hell but I’m glad she’s on our side.”

“She’ll get back to us as soon as she has anything to report. I just hope it’s soon.” Victor ran a hand through his hair, exasperated that they had no firm clues to go on. Yet.

“I’m finished, darling. Why don’t we go for a walk?” Kimber joined him, taking his hand in her tiny one and wrapping her fingers with his.

“A walk sounds good.”

He knew she was doing this to take his mind off of everything that was going on and he was grateful. He just wasn’t sure it would work.

“I’ll call you if Jana gets in touch,” he threw over his shoulder to Quinn as he allowed Kimber to lead him away.

“I’ll be waiting,” Quinn answered, and by his tone, Victor knew his friend would be sitting on tenterhooks the entire time.

Waiting. Watching. Hoping nothing else happened in the meantime.

“I’ll keep him busy. There’s still a lot to do for the Ball…come on, Quinn, you can help me choose the flower arrangements. I’ve got it down to three. That’s not bad. Just three now, baby, I started with ten,” Amaya said.

“Flower arrangements? Really?” Quinn grumbled.

Victor and Kimber left the room, her fingers tightening on his but as soon as they were clear a soft tinkle of laughter sprung free.

“Can you see him helping her choose flowers?” Kimber asked. Her free hand flew to her mouth in an attempt to stifle her giggles.

“No, no and hell no. Quinn Alexander picking flower arrangements? Hell, I can see him picking them up and throwing them through the window.”

Kimber nodded before laughing some more. The sound lifted his heart because she hadn’t looked happy for days.

“Well, at least it will keep him busy for a while so why don’t we go for this walk and see if we can keep ourselves busy while we wait on Jana?”

Kimber smiled up at him, her eyes twinkling like her usual self. “Yes, why don’t we?”