Page 113 of The Enemy to the Living
“Fuck, sit down, would you?” Sam grouches. He’s lying on the sofa, his head in Adam’s lap, and doesn’t look inclined to move on my account. “You look like you’re about to pass out or something.”
“Sorry,” I mutter and take the free armchair when Kieran waves a hand at it. Lucien gets out of the other, though Kieran glares at him—for moving, I think—before taking the now-free seat.
“What can I do for you, Asher?” Kieran asks. There’s a gleam of amusement in his eyes. “I take it you’re not here on official Hunt business.”
“No.” I clear my throat and then bare it, noticing the way Sam immediately sits up out of the corner of my eye. “Forgive me, alpha. I should have come to you before now.”
“Oh? Why’s that?”
“I should have spoken to you before Quinn and I—” I frown. We’ve not performed the rites, at least, and it used to be that the alpha gave their permission—which they always would in the face of a true bond—but I don’t know how things work anymore.
“It’s not up to me,” Kieran says, leaning forward. His eyes are entirely serious now, expression almost grave. “It’s up to you and Quinn. No one else.”
He frowns a little on the final three words. No one else. The Huntsman, he means, but even he has decided against interfering in this.
“It is not in the nature of the fae to deny a true mate bond,” I say, and Kieran nods, mollified. “I cannot join your pack.”
I brace myself for protest, for insistence that I should do it anyway, but Kieran is simply silent for a few seconds. Sam watches us both curiously.
“Okay,” Kieran says.
“W-What do you mean, okay?”
“Okay.” Kieran shrugs this time, settling further into the chair. Lucien’s hand drops to the back of his neck, a gentle, grounding touch. “As long as you’re respectful when you’re here and don’t do anything to harm the pack, I don’t care if you’ve fully joined us or not.”
I scowl. “You should…” What? Run us out? The words die before they can fully form. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t join the pack, but Quinn is my mate, and that means I will still look out for each and every one of you. Above all else, I must serve the Wild Hunt and our Huntsman, but wherever I can, I will keep you and yours safe and I will always,alwaysprotect Quinn.”
Kieran smiles. He tips his head back to look up at his mate. “I suppose we can’t ask for more than that, can we?”
“No, my love, I think not.”
“I’ll go get him,” Sam says and brushes a kiss against Adam’s cheek before he hops off the sofa and out the door. I watch him go.
“Where is he…?”
“To fetch your mate,” Adam says. The smile he gives me is lazy and tempered with caution. He doesn’t quite trust me yet, which is fair. “You did come here to see him too, didn’t you?”
“I—”
The door swings open again, and Quinn is standing there. Drew is at his back and I’m glad to see them together again. They were clearly such close friends, and I would hate for someone such as Tamesis to truly come between them.
“What’s going on?” Quinn asks. He’s not panicked, not really, but I get to my feet all the same.
“Your mate came to ally himself with our pack,” Kieran says and my head shoots around, gaze locking with his.
“I did?”
Kieran raises an eyebrow. “Did you not?”
“I-I did.”
Quinn smiles. “Really?”
“Yes. I can’t join your pack, but I’ll always keep you and the people you care about safe.”
He trembles all over like he’s going to leap into my arms but catches himself at the last second. Drew and Sam slip around him, into the flat, and Quinn reaches out instead, tangling his fingers with mine.
“Whenever you want to perform the rites, let me know,” Kieran says, startling me again. “Deacon can help you choose a place, or if you want to go out of the city, he knows some packsacross the country, too. Though I bet you have some ideas in mind, don’t you?”
