Inevitably Yours

QUINN

Michael drove haphazardly on the way home from dropping his mom and brother off. She arranged to stay with an old friend about three hours away from Stary when she decided to come out of hiding. I could feel his frustration and disappointment through the bond.

“M, it’s okay….” I tried to tell him. “ She is closer and safe.” He continued to drive and did not answer. I fiddled with my hands in my lap, not sure exactly what I could do. Claire seemed about as thrilled to see me as the day I came by the packhouse to see M. She asked questions about Nic but ignored my existence during the drive.

I looked out the window at the landscape racing by. Claire’s attitude didn’t exactly make me feel pleasant about things but I really hoped it was more about the former Alpha. After a minute, M reached over and gripped my hand. I looked at him, and he returned it with a tight smile. “I’m not mad with you, promise,” he said.

“Be mad at her; just don’t hate her, okay?” I requested. He raised an eyebrow, and I knew what he was thinking. That meeting had not gone the best, and his mom was clearly not my biggest fan so why defend her? I was not doing well in the parent department between her and my own.

“It has really only been a few weeks, right? She’s been hiding with your brother for a while and she was scared of him for so long. She might still need time to really process it all. From what you say, your Mom and Dad’s bond never repaired fully either,” I explained.

Michael sighed. I gripped his hand and covered it with my other one. If we weren’t in a moving car, I would crawl into his lap and hug him. The compulsion to seek him out and touch him still hadn’t waned since he marked me.

“I guess I am just upset because I did it for you but also her. I got our home back and thought it would fix everything,” he admitted.

“Just give it some more time. Maybe once we get the packhouse in better shape and can put some of the pack traditions back in place, she’ll feel more at home,” I offered.

“I love you,” he said with a small smile.

“I love you too, M,” I replied.

–

“Baby, come back to bed,” M whined, nestled in our covers.

Our room was still pretty bare. Lawrence had trashed most of Michael’s and Tyler’s rooms when they left, probably in a fit of rage. The three of us chose two rooms on the other side of the house that were clearly unused for a long time. The furniture and mattresses were intact, so we could air them out and make them work. We now had an old comforter and mismatched pillow cases. We only had three pillows, but I used M as my pillow most of the time, so it wasn’t a big deal. We found a dresser for each of us and collected all the unbroken hangers we could for everything else.

“M, I have to go; it won’t be much longer. She’s been interviewing,” I promised him. He pouted at me in my favorite way. It was so cute that it made me want to bite him.

“You want to bite me, don’t you?” he teased as I pulled my sweatpants on. He already had a few marks on his chest that were fading from last night. He wasn’t playing fair, laying there looking disgustingly cute and ignitably sexy in just his boxer briefs with the covers tangled in his legs. His endless training showed in every rippling muscle that I spent many hours tracing the contours of.

“So much,” I g*****d, turning away from him. He chuckled, and I could hear him moving. “No, no. no,” I said, darting to the door with my tshirt in hand. He caught me before I could get there, grabbing me up by the waist and swinging me around. I laughed hard.

When he stopped, he set me down and rubbed his nose behind my ear. “You know, I am the Alpha. I can tell them my mate isn’t working today because she’s too busy screaming my name,” he whispered.

“Michael,” I whimpered, and he laughed. I could feel it in my back where he held me to his chest. His laugh always sent shivers through me.

“Alpha tax,” he teased. I turned around and pouted at him.

“You got rid of all the taxes in the pack except this one,” I said.

“Is my Luna feeling sassy today?” he asked, his voice lilting. I just reached up on my tiptoes and kissed him.

“I’m just saying, this tax seems a little unfair. I’m the only one who pays it,” I teased back.

“Okay, if you can’t handle the burden, then I can find someone else to pay the -” I didn’t let him finish his sentence. I pounced on him, kissing him again. He smiled and hugged me tightly.

“I love making you jealous,” he laughed as we parted. I just rolled my eyes as he let me go.

“A whole day off from training. Whatever will an Alpha do?” I said as I went back to getting ready. He went to his dresser and started pulling out some shorts.

“I’ll be stopping by the ice cream shop for a milkshake and k****s before I leave for tonight,” he said, a little more quietly.

“Wait, leaving?” I clarified.

“Um, yea. I have something to take care of. I probably won’t be home tonight,” he said, not looking at me.

“Well, where are you going?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you that, Blue,” he said, pulling on his shorts. I just stared at him. “I need you to just go to work and come home tonight. I don’t want to worry about you on top of everything else. You and Nic can hang out or something.”

“Wait, so you wait until I need to leave for work to tell me you are going on a mystery trip that is confidential and demand I come home, be good, and play with Nic?” I asked, my voice rising.

“Baby, please don’t make this a huge deal. I have to take care of this, and I want you out of it,” he said, finally turning to me. I crossed my arms.

“We’re mates, Michael. We’re equals,” I said.

“I know, I know. This time though, I need you to trust me,” he said. I turned my head, looking at anything but him.

The tension hung between us as silence settled. I spent a long time trusting him and waiting for him; I could admit that it was worth it, but it selfishly felt like I shouldn’t have to anymore. I was tired of secrets being kept from me.

“This isn’t because I don’t trust you,” he said quietly. “I just have to do something.”

“I don’t know what it could be that you couldn’t tell me,” I said. I told him everything; he knew the parts of me that I didn’t want him to. He kept things very general when he told me about Lawrence and his life. He only gave me a few details here and there, but I didn’t press. I got the big picture and knew he wasn’t ready to talk about it. I didn’t talk about my stuff; he didn’t have to talk about his. But Lawrence was gone now; there shouldn’t be anything he needed to keep from me.

He came over and turned my head toward him. I intentionally lowered my eyes. He sighed and kissed my forehead. “Let me protect you,” he whispered. “Please give me this.”

“Fine,” I said. He could have today, but he would tell me eventually.

“Thank you, Quinn,” he said, pulling me into his chest. I rubbed my face into his tanned skin, breathing deeply. I savored his smell; I wasn’t coming home to it for the first time since being marked. “I will be back as soon as I can.”

“Make it faster,” I told him.

“Okay,” he agreed.

MICHAEL

I watched Quinn walk down the packhouse driveway. She didn’t mind walking to work to save on gas and make sure our car was available for me to use. I tried to pick her up when she worked late, at least, so she wasn’t coming home in the dark. I knew she was a big girl, but I wouldn’t leave the possibility open for her to get hurt if I could avoid it.

I hated watching her walk away and couldn’t wait until the day I could give her everything she deserved. She was doing a good job slowly cleaning up the packhouse. With my help, we already removed a lot of the broken furniture and placed everything that could be repaired in the garage. One day, we would have the home she wanted and deserved.

I could still feel her sadness and unease. Leaving her just wasn’t an option. I waited too long already. That scum was living on borrowed time, and I was ready to collect.