[NIKITA]

"It\'s been three hours! Are you cooking my intestines y\'all?" Carrie whɨnėd when the boys didn\'t seem to want to come out of the kitchen. It was almost like they were cooking crocodile skins, but even that surely wouldn\'t take so long, no?

Carrie was hungry.

It was almost like she hadn\'t eaten when they had been eating before she got the boys to head into the kitchen and prepare a meal for her and Natalya because they were extraordinary women. Then again, three houses was a long time for a woman who was used to eating like she was being paid to.

All her free time was spent either eating or in the gym, so it was almost hard to know whether she had gained or lost weight, but damn, she was Carrie.

"The audacity," Nikita said as he hopelessly watched Qiao and Andrew make the food. He had been watching them for the sideline like he was the prince of doom.

He still insisted on his hands being steady, but they all knew it was an excuse. So even when Qiao and Drew screwed up more than three times, all the young Pavlenko could do was scold and scowl at them like he didn\'t know what needed to be done.

"Shut up," Qiao said as he put food on the table and walked back to the kitchen to get the rest of the food, considering his best friend was an ȧss, and his mate was still acting like they had not both realized they were destined to be together.

Two strong warriors who were trained to be strong and dominant males were now stuck with each other. Both of them were thinking the same thing, asking themselves the same question that always risked the male bonds.

The fact that there was a chance they never expected their mates to be male. But what could they do now anyway?

However, as he neared the kitchen, Qiao stopped. He could hear Nikita making a conversation with his mate, and he was curious. Had Nikita noticed how weird their interactions had been? Was the doctor suspicious, and if so, what the fuċk were they even supposed to do then?

"You\'ve been too quiet," Nikita said to Andrew, who just continued doing what he was doing. He wasn\'t ignoring Nikita, but it wasn\'t like Nikita\'s statement needed an answer. The good doctor continued, seeing as the man wasn\'t going to respond.

"Look, I get that you\'re weirded out by Qiao Xi; he\'s a crazy-ass, more than I am, but don\'t tell him that cuz I might end up sleeping on the floor today," Nikita said, and Qiao couldn\'t help but smile at that.

Of course, Nikita would try to make a tense situation less tense in all the ways he could. It was a skill he had learned from dealing with the children who had cancer on his floor.

It made him a good man, a kind-hearted person, but that was something that couldn\'t be auctioned, so it just had to be real, all of it. And Qiao knew it.

His brother was a good man, a pain in the ȧss, sure, but at the end of the day, when things were cruel and shitty, Nikita would always step forward, and he would always be there for them.

"I always am weirded out by him, honestly. But you guys are acting weird. If it helps, Qiao isn\'t a bad boss, and you\'re safe," Nikita added, making Andrew laugh.

Qiao then realized that he hadn\'t heard the man laugh since he had seen him this morning, but then again, it was his first day on the job. Surely he didn\'t expect the man to be all buŧŧerflies and roses on his first day of work, no?

Even then, it was their first day at Pavlenko, all of them, at a time when Nikita wasn\'t there to joke around and even make them feel like they were home or shit.

"See, he is a fluffy bear," Nikita said when Qiao walked in with a pout on his face. He couldn\'t stay out for long because the hungry tigress on the other end was so ready to tear through his skin if he didn\'t get them food. Together, they carried what was left of the dishes to the table.

"Finally, we can now eat. Damn you three men for taking hours in the kitchen preparing—" Carrie trailed, unsure of what she had expected.

On the table was literally everything that had been in the kitchen. Some of it was burnt like they had been competing on who would succeed in burning the Pavenko house. Nikita, on the other hand, was fighting back a laugh because he knew he wouldn\'t get to hear the end of it.

"Make me understand, Natalya. Please help me look at this. What the fuċk have these boneheads brought us in the form of food?" Carrie said to Natalya, who wasn\'t sure how to respond. Instead, she decided to take a jab at the woman who looked like she wanted to fire the gun in her pockets.

This was insanity.

This wasn\'t what she had expected for three grown-ass men who had eaten their whole lives. Hadn\'t they ever seen how food was made? And who the fuċk emptied an entire kitchen for a five-people meal?

"I think that\'s chicken and rice, sausages— Don\'t tell me you cooked everything in the kitchen—" Natalya said, and she didn\'t need to hear their voices to confirm that this bunch of idiots had not known what they were supposed to be eating.

"Wow," Natalya said, fighting a laugh. This was hilarious, and she was looking forward to seeing how Carrie would handle the situation. It was almost like they were in Jurassic Park, but hey, no one was complaining, right?

"It\'s edible; why are you complaining? That\'s the work of three grown-ass men," Qiao said, but Nikita cut him short.

"Is the food really terrible? If it\'s terrible, blame it on Qiao and his driver, Andrew, for being weird in the kitchen. I was giving the emotional support—" before Nikita could say anything, a throw pillow smacked his face, and he hopelessly fell on the floor with a thud.

"Y\'know what? I\'m too hungry to deal with you right now," Carrie said, deciding against shaking after the doctor. They always did this. Trying to kill each other when it was clear they couldn\'t kill each other anyway.

"Perfect choice," Natalya said as she dragged Carrie back to her seat. Even though Andrew sat the farthest away from everyone, the boys also sat down.

"Come closer to you," Nikita said, and Andrew sat closer. He didn\'t want to weird out Qiao. Besides, he was still processing the possibility of Qiao Xi being a wolf, and only a wolf would know what mates meant.

Drew wasn\'t worried that Qiao would reject him, and he had way too many questions even to start focusing on things that didn\'t matter.. That evening, he couldn\'t help but wonder who Qiao Xi was.