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Trinity
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It wasn't long before the others started to come back into the room. Mom didn't have as far to go as Rudy and Alexio, but those two were back first. They were guys though, so all they needed to do was grab handfuls of clothes and shove them in a bag. Men pack so haphazardly compared to women.
“We're ready, Queen Trinity.” Rudy grinned at me. I think he was just excited to be traveling. We had taken family vacations before, and he of course went to protect Talia on them, and he really enjoyed seeing new places.
“Stop being an idiot, you moron.” Alexio snapped at him. “We're going for work, not a vacation.”
“I know that. Rudy sulked for a moment. “I just like new places. Is that so bad?” I knew that Rudy was a good guard. He was an amazing guy. He was even a great husband to his mate May and an excellent father to their son August. But when it came to seriousness, he could never compete with Alexio.
.....
Over the eleven years that they had known me, and Talia for that matter, these men had worked hard to be the best at their jobs. Alexio though, just always seemed to be better at it than Rudy no matter what they did. Alexio was bigger, taller, stronger, smarter and he was better at strategizing. Everything that Alexio did, he made sure that he was the best that he could be. I admired him for his dedication to my daughter.
There was one thing though. Something that I thought might have upset Alexio a long time ago, but he has never seemed to worry about. Over these long, long years, he has yet to find his mate. Rudy has been happy and in love since the day that the quadruplets were born, but Alexio has not been that lucky. Sometimes I wondered if maybe, just maybe, he put so much effort into his work to hide his true feelings.
He always took care of Talia though, so I didn't worry about it too much. As long as Alexio seemed happy and did his job the way that he needed to, then I wasn't going to worry about it. If he started to show that he was not happy and that he wanted to find his mate, then that would be a different story.
As I was thinking about all of those things, Mom came hurrying back into the room. I saw that she had two different suitcases that she was pulling behind her. She had properly packed for a teenage girl. Whereas Rudy and Alexio had only brought one large duffle bag each. As I said earlier, they packed like true men.
“I got everything that I think she will need. She had pajamas, comfortable clothes, dressy clothes, business casual clothes, plenty of unmentionables, her toiletries, and everything that I think she will need. I don't know how long she will be gone, so I made sure that I got plenty of each. I am sorry if it is too much. Oh, and I also got her a couple of books, her laptop, her tablet, her phone, her makeup, and her favorite stuffed animal. And in this bag here,” she indicated a drawstring bag that was slung over her shoulder, “I have her pillow and blanket. I want her to have all the comforts of home. She can have such a hard time sleeping and I don't want things to be harder on her.”
“Thank you so much, Mom. I know that Talia will thank you for this. Especially for BunBun. She always used to have that to sleep. I think she will be happy just to have it with her.” The small pink stuffed animal had been one of the first ones that we had given to Talia when she was born. I remember Reece making a joke about it because he called me Little Bunny all the time. Still, Talia loved it and that was all that mattered.
“I just want my little Tally to be happy. She needs her things. Also, I will call the school and explain things for you. Given that the entire staff is part of the extended pack, I don't think there is anything to worry about. If need be, Talia can be switched to the online classes for the semester. She can be switched back over when you all get back. I just really hope this doesn't take too long. The kids will start to miss you. Well, the rest of them will.” She laughed as she thought about that. One of my kids was already with me and would definitely not be missing me.
“I will hurry as quickly as I can, Mom. But I want to catch these people, so I need to be as thorough as I can.”
“I know.” Mom smiled. “You catch them and make our world a safer place. I love you. And I will call you later with the kids so they can tell you good night.”
Now that this was over, I opened the door into the autopsy room for the second time. This time, Rudy and Alexio came through. They were each carrying one of their bags as well as some of Talia's bags. Alexio had two of them while Rudy carried just one.
“Take me to Talia.” Alexio said the moment that he was on my side of the door and officially in Wales.
“I will, just give me a moment.” I smirked a little. He was definitely hyperfocused on his job.
“Come on, let's get the others, then we can head over to the Alpha's house.” Reece, holding in his laughter, gestured for the men to follow him out of the room.
Once we left the autopsy room, I saw that Dietrich, Shawn, Vincent and Gabriel were waiting for us. They had been waiting there as if they had just been giving Reece and I privacy on the phone.
“I really thought that Eve and Lila were going to be a lot worse than that.” Vincent smiled at me. “Knowing how those two can be when they're angry, it was quite the shock that they weren't screeching at you.”
“Yeah, I thought it was going to be worse too. That's why we came out here. It was safer in the long run.” Shawn was smiling and joking around a little bit. Not as much as his brother usually did though.
“By the way, welcome to Wales Alexio, and you as well Rudy. I hope that you settled in well enough now that you can protect Talia once again.” Vincent offered his words of welcome to the men that had just arrived.
“Better to protect her here than to let her go to school without us. I can never protect her when she is there.” Alexio grumbled.
“Right.” Vincent just nodded and laughed.
There were eight of us now, so we needed two different vehicles to take us back to the Alpha's house. And, needless to say, Cadwal was a little shocked to see that there were more people now than when he left the room.
“You multiplied.” His words came out a little higher pitched than he intended, and with a slight amount of fear in them. “W..w..who are they?” I know he truly wanted to ask, 'what are they', but instead he had kept it a little more polite. I know that he, like most other wolves, could smell that unique scent that they had.
“These are my daughter Talia's personal guards. They are Demons from the underworld.”
“D..Demons?” I could hear the shock turn to fear in Cadwal's voice. Alpha or not, most people are going to be scared shitless when you tell them that they're meeting a pair of Demons.
“Yes. And they have faithfully served my family for years. Please treat them with respect.” I felt the need to point this out. I guess that, with the investigation and the murders, I needed to point out to people that these men were not their enemies.
“Of course. They are more than welcome here.” Cadwal, finally swallowing his fear, gave a smile and the most confident voice he could manage. He did pretty good too, all things considered.
Cadwal and Gwri drove us back to the house. The entire drive, I could tell that Rudy and Alexio were anxious. They were getting closer to Talia, something that they were able to sense rather than smell. The closer that the house came, the more on edge they were.
“I sense death.” Alexio whispered to me in the car.
“There was a murder here not long ago.” Reece pointed out to him.
“No. I sense a dead soul and Talia at the same time. It almost feels as if she is being haunted.”
“That's not the case.” I tried to appease him. “She took two souls to the house to talk to them.” I started to explain where Talia was and what was going on. It didn't seem to calm either of the men down at all.
As soon as the car was parked, both Rudy and Alexio leapt out and raced toward the house. They were following Talia's path with their magic rather than their noses. They weren't wolves like we were.
“Talia! Talia!”
“Where is she!? Talia!? Where are you!?” I could hear their voices as they raced through the house. This was going to be an interesting reunion for them.
Reece and I were hot on the men's heels as they ran into the house. So, when they reached the door where Shane and David were guarding, I knew that they had found their target.
