I put an icepack on the man's forehead as Verando returned with a towel, tossing it to me before placing one on the floor to clean up the water. He already knew exactly how I felt about his actions; it was clear enough on my face. 

Placing the towel over David's shoulders, he thanks me with a chuckle. "Sometimes, I forget how dangerous these things are. They look so much like us, it's hard ta remember they're freakin' murderous. Nicolas... how d'you manage" 

I hesitate, pulling my lips into a thin line and glancing towards my breakfast longingly; what if I had just let him drown? I'd be enjoying a lovely breakfast, have a beautiful man between my legs, and I'd be none the wiser. 

"Comments like that make me feel less bad for you." I retort shortly.

As someone who came from a time full of racists, it wasn't jarring to me that he felt lycans were less than him. 

"Mr.Malcom, if we're going to continue a working relationship, then we need to establish some respect. Verando is a very accomplished veteran, as I'm sure you've now come to realize. You are only alive because he was doing me a favor; you would do well to remember he would have killed you, and I truly can't blame him for wanting revenge.

Lycans have a culture based on fairness, tit for tat, and you've committed atrocities against him and his friend. Now, try to keep that in mind in the future. Understood?" 

After some deliberation, David nods, averting his eyes from my looming warlord. "I think I remember having this conversation before."

Verando scoffs, and I shoot him a glare. 

"What are you doing here, Mr.Malcom?" I press on. 

The quicker I get him out of here, the faster we can get on with our work, and I can revisit the offer of a morning romp.

"I'm here to find you. We hadn't heard from you since the hurricane; I was worried something had happened to you. Your friends said you'd been missing. Seeing as you're here, I'd say only one of those bastards was being truthful, and they probably all knew exactly where you were. I was hoping I'd find ya workin', not- whatever this is?" 

"Breakfast," Verando tells him shortly. "Something that you rudely interrupted. So if you don't mind, I'd like you to leave. You've seen he's alright; he'll contact you shortly." 

It's one of the first times I've seen David Malcom look slightly sinister, as if he were capable of things such as resentment. He didn't even look unnerved that the man had tried to kill him. It's almost as if the whole thing had been a test, curiosity to see just how in control I was, yet how could he have known I was going to come to his rescue? 

The slight smile curls onto his lips as he watches the annoyed lycan. 

"I really get unda ya skin, don't I? Funny thing, ya know—when we did all that 'testin,' nothin' seemed ta bother ya. Nothin' set ya off. For weeks, we poked, prodded, shocked, jolted—cussed ya out, did just about every trick in the book to piss ya off. An' now? Look at ya. What is it—'cause I sold ya?" 

Uncomfortable with the conversation, I frown, crossing the space to put myself between the gray-haired man and this official, for I could feel the build of anger from across the room. Alpha was too close to the surface; if I wasn't touching him, there was no way I could stop him.

 "You told me it was out of your control. Are you saying you authorized it?"

Not even bothering to look at me, David exhales. "No. I didn't. It came from over my head, but that doesn't mean this one isn't blaming me for it."

"The amount of value you give your person is the most amusing thing about you; I'd like to remind you, Mr.Malcolm, that you mean very little to me. I left you in a closet to drown in solitude; if you mattered in the slightest, I would have given you the decency of looking into your eyes as you died.

But no, I left you in a snare, like a rabbit. An insignificant, fragile little rabbit." Verando retorts sharply, placing his hands on the counter to ground himself. 

I found myself entirely unprepared for someone like David to challenge the man who just tried to kill him.

Turning my attention from my warlord and to David, I take a calming breath. "Mr. Malcom, I think we should talk about this later. Please do not stop by here again, I have a phone-" Somewhere. "I suggest you call me on it in the future if you wish to speak." 

Reluctantly, David nods, standing to leave, and I put my hand on his back to usher him to the door. It's a move that almost seems to electrify my lycan lover, making him flinch, a level of possession I'd hardly seen in the man. Even touching David sent him over the edge, but if I didn't push, I feared he'd never leave.

With a final glance over his shoulder, David spots Marisol, who had appeared from around the corner. 

"Why the fuck is everyone talking so loudly-" She pauses when her eyes land on the soaked man before me. 

"Ah." David chuckles, smirking his overly broad grin. "There you are. That's why this one was acting like a rabid animal; it all makes sense now. So little kitty, how are you feeling?"

 Verando grits his teeth, a low growl curling from his throat as Marisol grabs the knife off the counter. 

"You look well." David presses.

I hold up my hand to her. "Marisol, stop," I demand as she marches forward. 

"If you had any idea what he did to us, you would get the fuck out of my way." The female practically whispers, her eyes locked on the agent who so calmly stands behind me. 

The longer this takes, the more I think this was a test, and the more I begin to wonder what his real intentions were. But, as much as I feel there is something odd here, killing Mr.Malcom wouldn't help anyone. In this day and age, they would be blamed for their crimes.

I wasn't a king here, we weren't in charge, and there would be nothing I could do to save them if I allowed them to kill this man, and perhaps that is what gave him so much confidence. His death would mean they would regain control of what they considered their lycans; either way, we'd given him what he wanted. 

It makes my chest tighten. "You came here to provoke them." I seeth. "You came here because you regret letting them go, and you knew, either way, this was a chance to get them back." 

With a pull, I retract my hand to open the door, and then with a forceful shove, I use the gathered wind to push him back onto the porch and slam the door behind him. Marisol hits the door as it shuts, smacking the oak with her fist. 

"How dare you let him go! Open this door right now!" She practically screams, "That disgusting bastard!" She pounds on it with her fist, yanking on the handle as I apply pressure to keep it closed.  

"Marisol." Verando sighs, crossing the distance across the main room to get her, grasping her forearms as she fights against him. She twists in his grasp, smacking his chest, screaming into the oak as she thrashes to get free. Verando's face is composed, and yet, the rage is so pure that I can taste it on my tongue. 

The wolf throws me the backlash, asking silent permission to pursue the man. 

One of the strongest women I knew, reduced to raw emotion at the mere sight of this man.

 While he hadn't tortured them directly, he was the one who seemed to be managing us, and now, only me. It was easy to discredit him, fall into the facade that he was a lazy, almost ditzy, man who was working way out of his pay grade, and yet after today's display, I can't help but wonder if he isn't exactly who I'd feared he was from the beginning. 

A professional liar and, more seriously, a real threat. 

"Let me go! He doesn't get to live; none of them do! We didn't deserve this! We didn't deserve any of this." Her body starts to tremble, and she sniffles as she rests her palms on his chest. "You know better than anyone what he did, Doe. Kill him. If you love me at all, you'll hunt him down and kill him!"

"Kitten." Verando breathes, a silent reminder that we were all powerless to go after David Malcolm. Wrapping his arms around her, he tightened his grip until she became still, melting against him with a sob.

 Cautiously, I approach, keeping a measured distance just in case she decides that I'm next in line for having the audacity to release him. My suspicions of her wrath appeared to be correct. Glowering at me, she wraps her arms around Verando's waist and takes a moment to relish what used to belong to her. 

"Whose side are you on?" 

"Your side," I tell her calmly. "But being on your side means that sometimes I have to stop you from doing something you will regret. If either of you kills him, that's it; there will be nothing I can do to save you. They want you to kill him so they can have you back. He came here to prove a concept, to test to see how much control I have. We just have to find out why-" 

Her eyes flicked up to watch Verando's face, and after a long moment, he nodded, releasing her from his grasp so she could turn towards me. 

"You want to know why? They want us because they managed to do what your father had deemed impossible." Eyes reddened, tears streaming down her face, she opened her robes to reveal the small bump, and my heart dropped into my stomach. 

 How many times can I tolerate lies and deception? 

I snatch the knife off the counter, and she quickly cuts me off. "It wasn't his fault!"

"The fuck it wasn't! I think I know exactly how- ... that is made!" I'm pleased he doesn't try to run or hide, as that would only further incriminate himself. "You told me you hadn't slept with her!" 

I'm too angry to cry; how can I feel any other emotion but unbridled rage? 

"Again, Verando? I told you I was going to castrate you, and now it seems like it's for the good of the planet that I do so!"

"I was artificially inseminated!" She shouts over my fury. Her face is riddled with shame. It stopped me, and I relaxed just enough to lower my weapon. Marking the tiniest sigh of relief from Verando, I point the knife at him to warn him I'm not done yet. 

"They... tried.. to get us to do it naturally, but obviously, it's not the most romantic setting, and even with a gun to his head, which, believe me, is a turn-on, he couldn't do it. So they.." She sighs, wrapping her arms around herself as he rests his hands on her shoulders to silently rub them. 

"I think you can put together how it all went. They gave me a shot; my body lacks a hormone to maintain a pregnancy, and it seems to have worked. But, after learning my daughter was born sleeping, I'm sure they're nervous that their investment could die without their intervention."

Her story effectively takes the wind out of my sails. 

Artificially inseminated. 

So she didn't want to be pregnant, and he didn't want to get her pregnant, and with that realization, my hand relaxed, and I dropped the knife. 

"Oh. Marisol.. I.." 

What can I say? My eyes drift down once more, deflating. 

I feel like we've been taken advantage of; he got every bit of information he needed without having to call me or let me in on his plan. Maybe we should have killed him, but where would we have hidden the body? 

I'm slipping; this modern era is making me rusty. It was too comfortable, too easy to give in to distractions. 

"How far along are you? Wait... I didn't see it yesterday?"

Reluctantly, Marisol shrugs. "It was dark. I was holding it in. I'm not exactly proud that my ex-husband finally got me pregnant after swearing to love a man, and it took a lab for me to realize that he couldn't touch me in that way even if he wanted to." 

That part seemed to hurt her the most. 

Thinking back, I suppose there were signs. Her emotions and uncharacteristic playfulness on the beach all pointed to a change. He had been much more protective and tolerant of her as of late; he'd hovered around her, cared for her as one might a close friend. I had been correct in assuming his eyes were on her. 

But, perhaps, for the wrong reasons. 

"Five months, maybe? I'm not sure. It's all kind of a blur." 

They did this while they were still in my possession; they never intended to return them. 

There was no waiting, and I didn't default on my time limit. The minute I chose Helen and Reid, Verando and Marisol had been taken to do whatever they saw fit. 

"They were never going to give you back..." I whisper, my voice fractured, my resolve withered away to dust.

 I should never have left them there. 

"We knew what we were doing when I told you to take Reid and Helen." Verando finally speaks, his voice hollow, reliving those months locked away in the holding facility. "Nobody deserves to go through what we went through, but especially not those two. We knew we would survive; that was what mattered."

The air is heavy with the realization that our dynamic is once again about to change, and I'm unsure how we all fit into that new role. 

How many children would he be denied the opportunity to raise?

 Once more, I'm hit by the familiar ache that this is something I cannot provide him. The pain hits me all over again, yet this is not my place to grieve. I wasn't forcefully impregnated; I wasn't about to raise a child with no husband. She pats his arm as he sits beside me, leaving her behind so that he could comfort me, yet I'm not the one who should need comfort. 

"Are you alright?" He watches me, as if he's expecting an explosion.

Am I that irrational? 

Sometimes. 

"No. Yes? This isn't about me- This is about Marisol."

Marisol snorts, walking into the kitchen to stab a piece of French toast and cram it in her mouth. "Fuck that." She says around the toast. "What's done is done. I don't have time to dwell on this; to worry about the what-ifs and all of that shit. Women have been accomplishing amazing things with a baby on their hip; I'm not intending to let it slow me down. So, don't you dare feel a bit of pity for me. Fuck pity." 

Verando chuckles lightly, shaking his head at her. 

"No one would dare feel pity for you, Marisol. Only for your child."

She puts up her middle finger at him and takes another bite of her toast. "Glad someone made an honest woman out of you. You're becoming a good housewife, maybe we should revisit the topic of who receives? Nic can make a real woman out of you."

And with that, I'm effectively brought out of my funk, back into the reality that we still had a job to do. "This decides it, then. We need to head to Tonya's; she can check you over and give you a better idea of gestation. Has anyone checked on the lycans currently occupying your house?"