Sebastian I sat on my bed, licking my wounds, trying to wrap my mind around the knowledge that I’d never see Mario again. He shouldn’t have died, wouldn’t have died if he hadn’t grabbed Tony. Fat lot of good that did him. They both died anyway. I went back to look for them after I made sure that Quinn was safe. I found Mario and Tony not far from where the shockwave tore us off our feet. A piece of concrete crushed my mate’s skull. I couldn’t bring myself to remove the concrete block. There was no need. I could tell he was dead. He was already cold by the time I made it back, his magnificent scent mixing in with the stench of death. I didn’t want to see his beautiful face all bloody and ruined. I wanted to remember him how he was. I hoped his death came fast. It was an awful way to die. Tony lay next to Mario. By the looks of things, he bled out from numerous wounds caused by flying shrapnel. It wasn’t until I saw the carnage caused by the bombs that I realised how lucky Quinn an
Troy I woke up lying in a slurry of my own bloody mud. I came so close to dying that I saw the star planes. Beautiful wasn't a good enough word to describe it. The majesty of the cosmos on full display in all its spectacular glory lay ahead for me to enjoy. My mother sat in a garden surrounded by water and trees. A gaggle of little boys who looked a lot like me ran around, playing and tackling each other, their happy laughter ringing throughout the cosmos.Boys I somehow knew were my older brothers, my father’s many failed attempts at making the ultimate Lycan. The chosen one meant to defeat all his enemies. Suddenly, I understood my mother so much better, and my heart filled with nothing but the purest forgiveness. I finally understood her. Why she gave up. Why she was afraid to love me too much. How many times did my father put her through that torture? Conceiving a child using the evilist of magic, the pain and suffering of carrying that child, giving birth to him, just to watc
Troy “I look like a wet cow,” Quinn lamented and pulled her soggy hair out of her neck. I laughed and straightened the dress that clung to her wet body. Unlike me, Missus Lowry remembered to pack underwear for her, but the bottles of potions lay untouched in the bottom of the pack. “No you don’t,” I said. To me, she was more beautiful than ever. “But I can braid your hair if it annoys you that much.” She gave me a sceptical look. “You can braid hair?” “I'm three-hundred-and-fifty years old…I need to pass the time somehow.” “So you learned to braid hair?” I grinned and pulled her closer. “Lycan warriors used to wear their hair long, and before we went into battle we'd braid it.” “Like the Vikings?” “Similar, yeah.” She handed me the brush that we found in the pack, and I quickly set to work, folding her hair around my fingers before I start to weave the strands in the intricate warrior braids I used to wear. It was like riding a bike – once I started, I easily found my rhythm a
Quinn “Did you believe him?” I asked Troy when my uncle was gone. “Do you think he’ll take care of my brothers?” “I do, yeah,” Troy answered, “but I’m also not a fool. He lied to me about some things.” Before I could even ask what those things were, Troy’s eyes glazed over, and I glanced up at Sebastian, who watched his brother with a small frown between his eyes. Before long, Troy’s eyes cleared, and he gave me a lopsided little smile. “There,” he said. “There what?” I asked. “What did you do?” “I sent someone to find your brothers. Thomas said they’re in the East, but the Eastern Wolves and Northern wolves kill each other on sight. Your brothers will be in either the South or the West. Thomas wouldn’t risk entering the East by himself.” “Depends which part of the East he went to,” Sebastian remarked. “No, it really doesn’t,” Troy told him. “Why does it matter?” I asked. “Five kings, Quinn,” my mate explained. “North, South, West, North-East and South-East.” “So the East is
Quinn“You drive,” Troy said when we reached the SUV. “I cannot do one more thing today.”He looked exhausted, and he was still pale. I was tired too, but I didn’t lose all my blood and almost died. “Are we…are we going to your father or what’s the deal?”Troy yawned and shook his head. “Not today. We'll go home, get a good night's sleep, and leave first thing in the morning.”“You told that detective-”“Well, Quinn,” he interrupted, “a lot have happened since then and now, didn’t it? I just want to go home. Or is that too much to ask?”His voice was calm and cold as always. He never yelled. He snapped and snarled, he growled and threatened, but I’ve never heard him scream. Not at me.I hated it."No," I said softly and unlocked the car.I got in behind the wheel and adjusted my seat while Troy made himself comfortable on the back seat. I glanced at him in the rear view mirror. He glared at me, his jaw working furiously. “Are you…going to punish me?” I asked softly.“No. I never beat,
Troy I summoned Glover to my room the moment we set foot in the mansion. There was no way I’d get sleep without one of Missus Lowry’s remedies, and I couldn't face my father while I was fucked up and sleep-deprived. He'd break me down to a stump within minutes. As I walked up the stairs, every part of me wanted to turn back around to go and comfort Quinn, but I forced myself to leave her and keep going. If she could handle the pain of me ignoring her for a few hours, maybe she would be able withstand my father, but my hopes for that weren't too high. Despite knowing exactly where it came from, her outburst cut me up like ribbons. Other mates had called me worse names, but hearing that word fall from Quinn’s lips almost destroyed my soul. One word. One little insult. But it was enough. That was all it took to break my hopeful heart. And still, I would forgive her eventually. I knew she did not mean any of it, that she was so very afraid, that she was changing faster than she could h
QuinnThe massive castle rose out over the forest, the high towers and dark, sand-coloured walls standing out starkly against the green like a sentry against the setting sun.What surprised me wasn’t the castle. It was that I’d seen it before. Everyone had. It was heralded in as one of the last great castles in the country and featured in many historical records and magazine articles. We even studied it in school. “This is your family’s castle?” I asked.“You know it,” Troy stated as fact.“Yeah. Everyone does.”“Uh-huh,” he grunted."Why didn't you tell me?""I didn't think about it."He was tense, the muscles around his jaws clenched as tightly as the fists in his lap. I tried to mind link with him, but failed.The back of my skull buzzed and then I heard his voice. “Are you trying to mind link?”“Yeah. It’s still not working.”“Patience, Quinn. It takes time.”“Don’t you like it here?”“No, I love it here. It’s my father I can’t stand.”“Maybe it won’t be as bad as all that.”He si
**TRIGGER WARNING: BDSM scenes** Quinn Troy was agitated. He paced around the room, his fists clenching and unclenching, his eyes cycling between red and golden, his chest heaving as it did the day before, when I pissed him off. I had no idea how I knew, but he was struggling to keep Vortigen under control. The room was clean, but big and cold. A fire roared in the massive fireplace, but it barely managed to keep the cold draft that swirled around the room at bay. I sat on the edge of the gigantic four-poster bed. The mattress was soft at least and felt modern, but the frame of the bed was obviously the same age as the castle. “Are you okay?” I asked Troy. He stopped his relentless pacing and stared at me, his eyes flashing in the dark. “No,” he growled at last. “Vortigen is on edge, and the monster…” he shrugged and started pacing again. There was one, tiny window in the room, covered with a weird kind of glass that distorted the outside view. I didn’t even know if it could open