Inevitably Yours

MICHAEL

Quinn was heavy in my arms. I could feel her exhaustion, but I couldn’t worry about her getting sick again right now. We needed to get out of this place and get home.

The Fae guards marched us out of the arena. I carried Quinn dutifully, but a small part of me worried that we weren’t being led to freedom. We exited the coliseum and headed down the pathway. At the crossroad, a cart sat with a horse harnessed to it. Arathorn was petting the animal.

“You bothersome beast,” he was chiding it as we approached. He patted it affectionately before turning to us. The warriors behind us halted. “I have been granted my last request to return you to your home.” He still wore the clothes he’d fought in, the stab wound sloppily patched up.

“I don’t know what to say….” I told him honestly. I still couldn’t understand why he’d traded our life for his. It was unfathomable. Though, from what I’d gathered while fighting him, he’d lost his mate. I would probably be careless with my life, too, if Quinn and the kids were taken from me. I’d been prepared to end everything not long before this conversation. Still, he didn’t know us at all.

“You will repay me in time,” he said mysteriously with a smile. “Come, we have some distance to travel. Albeit, you will be much more comfortable than when I brought you here.”

He motioned to a seat in the front and then to the large straw-filled rear of the cart. I didn’t want to put Quinn down. For once, no one was trying to keep us apart, and she was too vulnerable in her current state. He must have sensed that because he threw me a blanket for her.

“You may sit in the back with her if you wish,” he told me, climbing into the seat and grabbing the reins. I gently laid Quinn into the surprisingly soft hay before jumping into the cart beside her, pulling her into my lap, and covering her with the blanket. I leaned against the back of the cart, Arathorn right behind me.

“Thank you,” I told him. I didn’t know what else to say. I was exhausted, and nothing made sense in this world. Our entire capture had been one confusing and frustrating s**t show.

“You are most welcome,” he replied. Now that he was no longer in servitude to the King, his demeanor changed. “We are waiting on one more thing, though.”

I looked around, not sure what to expect. It didn’t take long for the Fae that took Quinn to the platform to come bursting out of the coliseum. In his arms was a long leather-wrapped package tied together with an ornate rope.

“I believe these belong to you?” he said in disgust, dropping the package next to me. The pommels shifted and poked out, and my heart almost leaped out of my chest when I realized they were my swords. I had slipped the sai I retained back into one of my tattoos, but I assumed my swords and the second sai were just going to be included in the price of our freedom.

“And?” Arathorn asked, one eyebrow raised. The Fae waved his hands in a blur, and from somewhere I couldn’t see, he produced the sai I stabbed him with. Without a word to me, he dropped it onto my swords with a loud thud. His face flushed with a bright lavender, and the nasty look he gave me said all he could have wanted to. It was interesting to see the difference in color their b***d caused.

He turned to Arathorn with a wicked smile, “Remember, there and back. Don’t make us come find you.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Arathorn dismissed him. “I’m ready for my end. Don’t worry.”

With that exchange over with, Arathorn snapped the reins and got our horse moving. The cart moved smoothly across the ground. I was surprised at how silent it was, expecting it to be creaky like an old farm cart. We felt no bumps in the road, and our ride continued for a long while in silence. Now that we were on the other end of this ordeal, the distance we’d traveled bound and on foot was incredible. I’d been so worried about Quinn that I hadn’t really registered time or distance. In the cart, we’d already gone several miles without signs of stopping.

The exhaustion, Quinn’s proximity, and the blanket were doing a number on me. As much as I wanted to be alert, I felt safe with Arathorn. Eros did as well, which settled the matter. My eyelids began to droop, and I was soon fast asleep with Quinn in my arms. I have no idea how long I slept, but eventually, I began to stir as I heard Arathorn clicking to the horse. The cart began to slow and ultimately came to a stop. I recognized where we were as the same place we’d stepped into the Fae realm.

“Our journey ends here, I’m afraid,” Arathorn said wistfully, climbing out of his seat. He produced an apple for his horse.

I moved Quinn as little as possible to get out from under her and out of the cart. I stretched to the sky, all of my joints popping pleasurably, and the stiffness from everything that happened started to release. I reached into the cart and pulled my swords out to place them back where they belonged. I grabbed Quinn’s second sai and did the same. As I slid my swords into their magical hiding place, I felt something odd brush my hand but decided to worry about it later.

“I don’t know what to say other than thank you,” I told Arathorn earnestly as he joined me at the end of the cart. The anger at the cruel way he’d treated Quinn was still there, but some part of me knew he had to, even if he was planning this all along.

“After I lost my given, my life lost purpose. Seeing you together and your resolve over the years, I knew I couldn’t let them have you. It’s what she would have wanted,” he said sincerely. “I’ve checked in on you from time. I only acted when I was forced to.” I noticed his wound was still bleeding, and I looked at him in confusion. He held up his right arm; it had a simple silver band around it that wasn’t there before. “My magic is being inhibited, including my ability to heal. I could free myself, but there is no point. They simply want to ensure my return.”

I thought for a moment, and I shuddered at what they could have in store for him as an execution, “Do you want me to do it? Quinn and I refused to let them take our life, and it feels only fair to offer you the same.”

Arathorn laughed loudly, wiping a tear from his eye, “Oh, young one, how I wish that I could. Dying at your hand would be more honorable by far. Unfortunately, the law that I invoked requires I turn myself over.”

I put my hand out, and he grabbed it firmly in his. “I would have liked to meet you in battle without the interference,” he said with a wry smile.

“The outcome would have been no different,” I conceded. I had my pride, but for the first time in my life, I was outmatched on a level I couldn’t hope to attain in the span of my lifetime. “It was like fighting a god. There’s no catching up to that.”

“You would be surprised at how close to the truth you are,” he told me, an odd twinkle in his eye as if he were reminiscing. “Still, you fought honorably, and you are the only one ever to wound me in such a manner. I can’t imagine what it would have been like fresh with no other distractions.”

“Maybe in another life,” I told him, letting his hand go and turning to pick up my mate. She was softly snoring, my favorite thing to hear. I couldn’t wait to get her home. Our pups were waiting.

“Maybe,” he agreed. “Go; it is time to return to your realm and for me to meet my end.” I nodded, nothing left to say, and turned towards the door. As I stepped through it, all I heard was, “Tell Farryn I lived and died for her….”

Before I could turn around and ask him what he meant, I was standing in the woods where he’d taken us what felt like an eternity ago. The door was gone. I chalked Arathorn’s message up to the words of a condemned man and turned to walk back to the packhouse. With time in the Fae realm so different than ours, I had no idea how long it had been here. Days, months, years… Would my kids be grown? What happened to my pack?

I pulled Quinn’s sleeping form tightly to my chest and walked through the woods toward our home. When I finally cleared the treeline, I heard screams as if we were under attack. I looked around quickly, the adrenaline flowing to the surface. That’s when I saw the cabin to my left, one of the families that lived in the less populated areas in the woods. A mother was clutching her baby to her as what looked like a rogue stalked her into a wall. Before I could do anything, Adi appeared from the woods, a determined look on her face. She was already covered in b***d, and I watched her flick more from her bo staff before using it to sweep the wolf off his feet. Stepping over him, she placed a foot on his chest to pin him to the ground and then plunged her staff into his heart. She’d demanded a metal-reinforced sharp end when I finally decided to let her choose, quoting Quinn and her request for a “stabby” weapon.

“Adi?” I called out, scared to see her face clearly in case she was older. Her head snapped up to my voice, her face splitting into the giant grin she always got when she saw us.

“Alpha?” she yelled, sprinting toward us. She left her bo still quivering in the ground, and by the time she reached us, the rogue finally gave up and succumbed to his death.

I stared in amazement. Her face. She hadn’t aged at all. She was still my sweet, violent, wonderful teenage Adi. Tears welled, and I fought to keep them back as I realized it couldn’t have been long. Maybe Nic and Taylor hadn’t gotten to leave with the kids yet.

“How long have we been gone?” I asked desperately.

“Beta Nic just linked the warriors and told us you’d been taken a few minutes ago,” she replied, c*****g her head in confusion. All I could do was blink in surprise. Minutes ago?

“Alpha,” she said gently. “What are you wearing?”

–

I hadn’t even thought about what we would look like when we got home. I just cared about getting there. I was still in the loin cloth thing Arathorn brought me after shifting, and although I was healed, I was still covered in Fae b***d as well as my own. Quinn wasn’t much better after the explosion, plus neither of us had showered for what felt like at least weeks. I could not get a handle on Fae time.

There were tears all around when I reached the packhouse. Nic and Taylor were loading bags into the cars when we approached the packhouse. I linked her to stop, and she immediately drew her knives, ready to defend her mate and the kids. When she actually laid eyes on me, she went slack in disbelief. As Nic accepted our return, the kids rushed in to greet us.

“I have so much to tell you, but let me get Quinn to bed. Meet me at the table in the kitchen,” I told all of them, unable to properly hug them and relieve their stress with Q still in my arms. The kids begrudgingly let me go, distress still written on all their faces. Even Junior, as much as he wanted to be a little Alpha for his siblings, looked like he was going to break down. Nic assured me the warriors were cleaning up the last of the rogues as I headed into the packhouse.

I got Quinn situated in bed, vowing to burn the sheets once she woke up and showered. I kissed her forehead gently and covered her up. I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to keep telling myself we were home. We were safe. Even if he didn’t like it, the King let us go. It was their law. He even agreed to allow Quinn to do the small amounts of magic she’d been doing without repercussion. We didn’t have to look over our shoulders anymore.

As I looked down at her peacefully sleeping face, tracing the freckles that spattered the bridge of her nose and under her eyes, I remembered something. I went to her dresser and stirred around until I found a small case. Opening it, I found the spare pair of glasses we’d bought just in case she broke the first. I set them down gently on her nightstand with a note that said I’d be downstairs and to link me when she woke up. I ended it with an I love you and a pun to make her smile after everything. I hoped I could calm everything down downstairs and get to her before she woke up, though. I didn’t want her to be alone after everything.

I hurried to our bathroom and wiped myself off with a washcloth the best I could before pulling on a shirt and some sweatpants and joining the rest of our family downstairs. I would have to shower later, preferably with my mate.

When I got downstairs to the table, all eyes were on me, waiting for an explanation. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, though, I smelled every food we owned, and my stomach rebelled, growling so loudly that Belle, Daniel, and Rowan giggled. Junior looked at me incredulously.

“You sit, I fix,” Judy said from behind me, demanding I sit as she bustled me into a seat and started to whirl around the kitchen like a storm. “I make potato soup for you-”

“Quinn doesn’t like-” I started, but of course, Judy knew better.

“And tortilla soup for Luna Mommy. I know. I know. Take sandwich while you wait.”

She plopped down a large sandwich in front of me, and I inhaled it as the conflicting smells of the two soups beginning filled the kitchen. My stomach rumbled in appreciation.

“She started cooking the minute I came back in and told her you guys were okay,” Nic linked me in explanation.

“Dad,” Junior said, his voice sharp. “What happened?”

I looked around the room, and the kids were all looking at me expectantly, including Adi, who’d come with us and was holding Belle in her lap, probably the only reason she wasn’t in mine. Adi acted like their older sister much of the time, and Belle looked up to her. Nic was staring impatiently, and Taylor just looked relieved it was over.

“So, your mom and I have been gone for much longer than the time that has passed here,” I began. “So much has happened, and some of it will sound crazy.” I dove into the tale of what happened after we were taken from our family. The kids’ eyes would grow wide at times and scared at others. I left out some of the details, like the collar around Quinn’s throat, letting some of the worse parts stay in that hellscape.

Then came Belle’s intrusion when we got to the castle. She gasped, “You met a king?”

“Yea,” I replied darkly. “And he was a d**k.”