Page 34 of The Enemy to the Living (The Wild Hunt #2)

Quinn

C old. It’s cold. It’s cold and I’m empty and he’s gone they took him, took him far, took him forever. Where am I? Why is it dark? Why am I cold?

Where is he—

Where’s Asher? He said he’d be here, said he’d never abandon me, but now he’s gone and now—

I open my eyes on my next gasping breath, and I’m startled to find myself staring up at my own bedroom ceiling.

Where’s Asher? Why am I here?

“Quinn?”

I turn my head. Drew is sitting next to my bed, and he looks like…

He’s been crying.

I can’t catch my breath. Drew’s eyes widen in panic, but before he can call out to anyone else—I can hear them all, just beyond the door—I realise I can smell them, too.

Not even that.

I feel my wolf.

I can feel my wolf.

He surges out of me, clawing his way to the surface, and by the time Drew is on his feet, I’ve already shifted, body all twisted up in the duvet and the clothes I was just wearing. Kieran appears in the doorway a second later, and I scent Deacon behind him, but I can’t see him yet.

I whine, ears pressed back as I try to back up the bed. I can’t. I snap at the duvet still trapped around me, and Kieran approaches slowly, hands raised.

“Fuck, it’s good to see you,” he says. “Let me help?”

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 would never . 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’s wrapped 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.”

She reaches up and flicks me on the forehead. I think everyone else is too startled to do anything—except Dante, who laughs from his seat in the corner. Ophelia whips around and glares at him.

“What?” he says, still laughing. “Makes a change for it not to be me.”

Ophelia clicks her tongue against her teeth and turns back to me again.

“Don’t go making deals with the fae again.

Being out of sync with your wolf is normal.

Drew was most of the way there when he came here and I’ve seen wolves in my old pack go through it before.

I could have helped, Quinn. We all could have. ”

My wolf whimpers. I stretch my fingers, part of me wanting to shift again, just to see if I can do it.

“I know. I’m so—”

Drew’s palm lands on my mouth and I glare when he chuckles. “You said enough sorrys,” he says with a shrug. “Maurice will tell us where Asher is, won’t he?”

“Maybe,” Kieran says, eyes narrowed. “But if Maurice says you need to heal—”

“My love,” Lucien murmurs, his own type of warning. “There is no one on earth who will keep Quinn safer than his mate. You know that.”

My mate . My wolf trembles in anticipation, in frustration, but we’re also surrounded by pack, and there’s a lazy comfort to that, too. I can wait until Maurice arrives. I also do want to be sure that everything is fine again. Sure, I feel it, but that doesn’t mean much.

Twenty minutes after the sun goes down, Sam lifts from where he’s now sitting in Drew’s lap. We’ve moved out into my living room, and I’m not sure who, but someone’s dragged another sofa in from one of the other flats. Maybe Dax—he and Vince are here now, too, their presence another comfort.

All in all, it’s a tight fit, and Maurice outright grins when he follows Sam through the door. Njáll comes in after him, looking just as amused.

“You need a bigger pack house, alpha,” Maurice says to Kieran, who rolls his eyes. Deacon draws Njáll away to talk in the corner—about the twins, maybe—and Maurice makes a beeline for me.

“Dangerous thing, losing your wolf like that,” Maurice murmurs. He tilts my head up and his eyes run down my throat, to my chest. I’m wearing a T-shirt now, but even if I weren’t, I know that’s not where he’s looking. “You’re not all lucky enough to get blessings.”

My gaze snaps to his. He knows about Asher, then.

“I know.”

Maurice hums. Something pokes at my wolf, the sensation unfamiliar, and when he gnashes, Maurice laughs, pulling his magic back.

“You’re fine. From a magical standpoint, anyway.

I imagine there’s some shifting or something you need to do, but Paxton told me they took some of your wolf—doesn’t look like it’s hurt him, though. ”

“Took some?”

“For the magic of it,” Maurice says with a nod. “They said they wanted high fae magic and wolf magic to open the veil. Sent Grant into a tizzy hearing that, though I don’t know why.”

“Is that… Is that what they did with Bryn?” It is, isn’t it? They told me, but the memory is all fuzzy, tied up in too much pain and fear.

“I believe so. It didn’t work. They wanted Asher’s blessing because his magic is already linked to yours.”

“And now…?”

“Vlad, Jeremiah, and Paxton are all out looking for Sorrel.” He glances back at Njáll. “I’m joining them after this.”

“Asher?” I ask.

“Sent him home. He needs some sleep.”

“Oh.”

Maurice eyes me for a moment, then rolls his eyes. “Wolves,” he mutters.

“Maurice,” Njáll rumbles from across the room.

“Go and see him, Quinn,” Maurice says. “He’s not going to rest until you’re with him anyway.”

“Yeah? Yeah, okay.”

It still takes some coaxing and encouragement for Kieran to let me out of his sight. For a moment, he seems determined to come with me, which only ends when both Sam and Lucien lay down the law as Drew subtly ushers me over to the front door.

Sam spots us just as we’re about to leave. “I’ll take you down,” he says.

Drew seems flustered for a moment, and my stomach sinks. It’s all been going too well. I yelled at Drew a few days ago, upset him. Of course his mate is going to be angry.

“We’ll get you a taxi. Come on,” Sam says.

I give Drew one final look before I follow Sam outside. Someone put my phone on charge today, but my fingers fumble over the keys.

“Let me,” Sam says, pulling out his own phone. “His address?”

I rattle off what I remember of Asher’s address—so long as I get close, I can walk the rest of the way. I want to call him, but I don’t know what I’ll do when I hear his voice, and besides…

I need to see him.

“Five minutes,” Sam says. He puts his phone back in his pocket.

We stand there in silence for what feels like an hour. Maybe it’s a minute. My heart starts to race, and I blurt out the words before I can stop myself.

“Are you mad at me? I didn’t mean any of the stuff I said to Drew. He’s my best friend. I’d never—”

“Yes, you did.”

Sam looks up at me, and I flinch, my wolf whining, but he doesn’t look angry. A faint, sad smile plays around his lips.

“What do you mean?”

“I watched my parents die too, Quinn. I killed the man who killed them. And if I—” He sucks in a breath and lets it out slowly. “I think if I ever had the chance to encounter anyone involved in that whole thing again, I’d be a lot crueller to them than you were.”

“I—You did?”

“Yeah. Drew’s fine. He was upset, he was hurt, but you were right—neither of them really thought about anything but getting out.

” He holds his hands up when I begin to protest. “I’m not saying they were wrong to do that, either.

But there are consequences. Everything we do has a consequence.

I’m just glad that consequence isn’t you or Drew losing his best friend. ”

I sniff back tears. “I thought you’d hate me. I made Drew cry.”

“No,” he says. He pushes his hands into his pockets. “I think part of me knew it was coming. I mean, I didn’t know about your wolf. I just knew you were avoiding Drew more than the rest of us. Adam, though…”

“He’s mad?”

“He was.” Sam grins. “He’s got a real blind spot where we’re both concerned. But you’re pack. He supports you, too.”

I swallow. Pack. I need to get to know my pack better. After this. After Asher.

A car pulls up and Sam squeezes my shoulder, then the back of my neck. He’s my pack’s second, and his touch has much the same effect on me as Kieran’s—tension leeches out of me and Sam smiles.

“Go get your mate,” he says.

I’m anxious the entire drive, knee bouncing as the taxi driver navigates the dark streets.

It’s still relatively early in the night, so I’m not surprised to see a handful of people walking on Asher’s street when we get there.

The driver pulls up at the kerb and I climb out, taking a deep breath of the night air.

I don’t remember being brought here, but Drew told me it’s where Asher found me. The twins asked me, didn’t they? Did I want to be abandoned near my pack or my mate?

My stomach twists. Asher’s probably asleep already—I hope he is, for his sake—but I need to set eyes on him. After everything they’ve said all day about how he went after me and fought for me, I need—

“Quinn?”

I turn, and there Asher is, standing just a few feet away. Fuck, he does look tired, his tattoos standing out in stark relief against his pale skin. Grey smudges weigh down his eyes, but they’re wide with surprise—he’s not expecting me here.

Did anyone tell him I was awake?

“Asher,” I say, then push into his arms. He wraps them around me automatically, and I breathe in his scent, almost drowning in it. I thought I could smell him before, but this is a revelation. I shove my face against his throat and for a moment, I just breathe.

“What are you—They said you’d woken up, but Maurice needed to check on you. You’re alone? Are you supposed to be? Are you okay?”

His scent tells me something else. Something I already knew because I can feel the bond, but I’m glad to have the certainty of it now.

Asher is my mate.

I lift my head and look him in the face. “Yeah, I’m alone. I’m fine. Maurice said I’m healing.”

“Even though…” Asher frowns. He places one hand in the centre of my chest. “Your wolf?”

I can’t help my giddy smile. “I shifted.”

Asher’s eyes widen. His breath stutters out of him, and then he grabs me by the back of the neck and kisses me hard. I kiss him back, of course. I wrap my arms around him, groaning at the feeling of his hard body pressing against mine. I wasn’t in a place for this before, but now…

Fuck, I want him.

So does my wolf. So does the bond. It flares brightly between us, and Asher tears his mouth away with a gasp.

“Quinn…”

“Do you want it?” I pant. I think I can still walk away, though even the very thought of that has my wolf digging his claws in.

“I—You’re so young, you—”

“Do you want it?”

Asher stops and looks at me. Really looks at me, like he did when we were in bed before. His expression softens, panic easing off.

“Yeah. Yes, I do.”

I drag him back against me—not that he’s managed to step back all that far—and devour his mouth again. Asher lets out a laugh against my lips, and then his hands tangle in my hair as his tongue slides alongside mine.

We stay there, out on the pavement, for far too long. Eventually, Asher pulls away, and I growl at the way his lips are red and swollen.

“Inside,” he breathes. “Let’s take this inside.”