Page 91 of The Enemy to the Living
I whine again and he carefully helps me out of the duvet. I stay standing on the mattress. Kieran holds his hand near my face and lets out a wet laugh when I rest my muzzle against his palm.
“Feeling better now?” he asks. I’m not sure. Where’s Asher? I whine again, tail thumping against the wall in agitation.
“Quinn?” Drew murmurs. I swing my attention to him, breathing in his scent. The longer the two of them stay in here, the calmer I become. There’s a trace of Asher’s scent in the air and a nascent bond resting just behind my ribs. I don’t know where he is—it’s not strong enough for that—but he’s alive. Safe.
I turn towards Drew and drop onto the mattress, keeping my head low. He whines this time and falls to his knees next to the bed before he throws his arms around my neck and lets out a sob into my fur. “I’m sorry,” he cries. “I’m sorry I didn’t know what was going on with you. I should’ve been a better friend. I’m so sorry—”
I shift back in an instant, and Drew gasps and falls back when I do. I shake my head. “No, fuck, I shouldn’t have said all that stuff to you. I just—” I glance at Kieran, who’s watching us both. Deacon is standing in the doorway, but when I look at him, he only smiles. “I was so fucking scared, you know? I haven’t been able to shift since I-I killed that vampire and I didn’t know how to tell you, and I’m sorry!”
Drew hugs me again.
Kieran comes and sits on the edge of the bed and throws an arm around my shoulders. “I’m sorry too,” he says and huffs faintly when Drew and I both look at him. “I’m your alpha. I should have checked in with you better. I’m sorry you thought you couldn’t come to me, Quinn.”
“No, I—”
Kieran swallows. “If you want to leave our pack…”
“No!” I know I don’t want that. I remember what Asher said—a pack, just the two of us—but that would never be true, would it? And that’s okay. He has the Hunt. They’re like a pack of his own. “I don’t want to leave. Please don’t make me.”
“Quinn.” Kieran blinks quickly and shakes his head. “I wouldnever. You’re always welcome here. I want you here. You’re my little brother too, you know.”
I can’t hold back my tears any longer, and I don’t really want to. Kieran and Drew both hold me while I cry—Drew’s crying too, anyway—and when I take a breath, trying to get control, I realise the room has filled up around us. Lucien sits behind Kieran on the bed, chin resting on his mate’s shoulder. Adam’swrapped around Drew from behind, and Sam is by their sides. Ophelia sits cross-legged on the floor in front of the bed, and Dante is perched on the chair in the corner, mouth pulling in a sad frown.
Deacon’s still by the door, but now Spectra and Sparrow are there, too. Sparrow looks like they’ve been through hell, exhausted and bruised. They offer me a little smile when our eyes meet.
“What happened?” I ask.
“They took your wolf,” Sparrow says before anyone else can. I only freeze for a moment. No. I remember that. Everyone must know, now, what I’ve done. “Asher said we had to go get him back, so we did.”
“You went with him?”
“Yeah.” They frown, and Spectra nudges their shoulder. “I felt bad, you know. If I’d known what they were doing to wolves, I wouldn’t have sent you there.”
“I know.”
“I’m—”
“It’s fine. Enough sorrys,” I interrupt. For now, anyway. I still feel like I owe Asher an apology, maybe, though I’m not quite sure why. “Where is he?”
“Asher has returned to the Hunt,” Deacon says. “It is my understanding that one of these fae twins is dead, so I believe he intends to warn them of the other.”
“Is he coming back?”
“He might need to rest, Quinn,” Kieran says quietly. “Maurice is coming over as soon as the sun goes down.”
“Why?”
“I asked him to. I want to make sure I didn’t fuck anything up when I gave you your wolf back,” Ophelia says.
“You did that? Thank you.”
She shrugs one shoulder, then sets her jaw. “You should’ve told us about the trouble you were having, Quinn.”
“Ophelia,” Sam mutters, a warning, but she just crosses her arms over her chest.
“I mean it. You couldn’t shift, could you?”
Heat floods my cheeks. “No.”
