Page 69 of Reclaiming Quinn

Quinn hated this. Hated it all.You do what you need to, but I swear to the Mother, if you don’t come back to me, I’m going to… going to… you’re not going to like it.

A soft chuckle.I love you so much, you know.

And I love you. Do what you can to come home to me, please. I need to be in your arms once more.Quinn could no longer feel Deke in his head. “He’s not there anymore.”

“Tell me everything,” Gareth demanded. “Because no way in hell will I allow one of my wolves to fight against Klein by himself.”

“He’s not by himself. He’s with Zach.”

Gareth’s eyebrows went up. “You don’t even know him. Will you trust your mate’s life to him?”

That question took some thought, but then Quinn realized the only thing that was important. “Deke trusts him, and I trust Deke. And if Zach truly was a guardian for the Omegas, then you should trust him too.”

Indecision played on Gareth’s face. He turned to Sean. “What do you think?”

Sean shook his head. “I never heard of the Vampyri. Mother never told me about them, and I know way more about things than I ever thought I could. Quinn is right, though. If Deke trusts him, then we need to, because if there’s a fight, Deke will need the help.”

Gareth gave a sharp nod, then pulled out his phone. A few taps to the screen, then he brought it up to his ear.

“This is Blackthorn. I want you to listen carefully. I need everyone ready to go at a moment’s notice. And I need you to talk to any elder you know and ask them if they’ve ever heard of the Vampyri. Yes, Vampyri.”

He slipped the phone back into his pocket.

“We’re ready to go. We just need to know where.”

Quinn wished he had an answer.

“ARE YOUfeeling any better?” Deke asked, rubbing a hand over his neck, trying to get the ache to lessen.

“Some, yes. I am so sorry that I hurt you.”

Deke shrugged. “I told you to do it. We’ll give it a few hours, and if need be, you can feed again.”

There was an expression of horror on Zach’s face. “Again? No. I never wanted to feed from another living soul. It’s torture for us, because we’re good and honorable.” He waved a hand between Deke and himself. “This? What I just did to you, it’s an abomination.”

“How so? You’re a cop, for goodness sake. Is there a more honorable profession?”

“I’ve lived a very long time. I’ve done a lot of different jobs.”

Of course he had. “And let me guess. Most or all of them involved keeping people safe.”

A sharp breath. “Soldier, fireman, social worker—”

“Like I said. You told me it was hard-coded into your DNA to care for the Omegas, but what if it was just to care? Think about the jobs the others do. I’m willing to bet that to a person, they’ve all done the same things.”

“That doesn’t prove a thing. We were guardians with nothing to care for, so we sought it out in other ways.”

Deke grinned. “You mean you sought out ways to fulfill your responsibilities. You couldn’t save the Omegas, so you found others you could.”

That brought a scowl to Zach’s chiseled features. “I should have gone ahead and drained you, smartass.”

It pleased Deke to hear Zach sounding more normal. “Back to the question at hand. Are you fit to fight?”

Zach held up his right hand, and Deke was stunned to see talons where before had been fingernails. He slashed out, striking the table and digging a deep gouge into it. He stood and leaped upward, then adhered to the ceiling. He peered down at Deke.

“About fifty percent.”

“Fifty…,” Deke spluttered. “What are you like at full strength?”