Fate Stained - Part Two
Chapter 35 - Lifted

“Come on Quinn. Blake can’t hold that portal much longer. We need to go”

The bear in front of me inched forward; my command wasn’t holding. My eyes narrowed and I bit down on the inside of my cheek until the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

I can’t let him beat me. They need to know I am the Queen. They must all kneel to me!

I felt Flynn’s body still next to mine as I spoke to him through the link. My voice was almost unrecognisable as was this feeling inside me. There was a power. A power that crept through my body from somewhere deep inside. It wove and tangled itself around every fibre of my being and sank it’s hooks into my subconscious.

I thought maybe it was Rogue, challenging this weaker animal in front of us…but when I suddenly felt her fighting the power within me, I knew it was something else.

“Quinn. You have proven your point. Look”

Even though my eyes were locked firmly on the eyes of the bear in front of me, I hadn’t actually been looking at him. I regained my focus and it was only then that I noticed the pooling of blood under the beast’s eyes and nose.

I’m killing him.

I don’t know if it was the shock of what I was doing or the bone chilling fear of what I was capable of - but whatever it was had been enough to break my concentration and the bear finally tore through my command.

Reality broke away. A fogginess, that was all I could hear, feel and see. But then hands. Hands on my shoulders and the sensation of being pulled backwards.

Falling.

Weightlessness.

Warmth.

Breathe Quinn. Breathe and open your eyes. We’re home. You got us back.

I remembered the first time I’d felt Rogue. The first time I’d felt her presence, power and familiarity of being a part of me. I’d only been a child but I knew immediately she was special, that I was special. Her strength and safety got me through so many dark times. She was my security blanket, my armour, my shield.

Whatever I was feeling inside me now was not like that. It was a terrifying power that was unfamiliar to me and did not feel safe at all. It felt new, irrational and inexperienced. It felt arrogant and dangerous.

But as quickly as it had come…it was gone.

I opened my eyes slowly, blinking a couple of times as the harsh afternoon sun of Fern Creek blinded me temporarily. I was in Flynn’s arms. He stared down at me and for a moment I couldn’t read the expression that was etched in his features. Was it relief that we were ok? No. Was it concern that I’d blacked out? Maybe a little bit.

“Flynn? What’s wrong? I’m ok”

My brother swallowed. He opened his mouth to speak - once, twice - but no words came out.

“Flynn. You’re scaring me”

This time a sound, maybe something that could have been considered as a laugh, came from his mouth.

“I’m scaring you? Fuck Quinn. Have you any idea what you just did?”

What was he talking about? I shifted my weight in Flynn’s arms and he helped me stand up. But his touch wasn’t gentle in a caring sense, it was more of a tentative touch in a sense that he was fearful of me; his own sister. It was only when I got to my feet that I saw everyone else was standing around us - staring at me.

“If someone doesn’t tell me what the fuck is going on then I’m going to scream” I snapped.

My eyes turned to Jayce, who stood alongside Kyanite. He blinked his dark eyes twice before taking a hesitant step towards me.

“Quinn. What do you remember?” He asked gently.

“What do I remember?” I shook my head at Jayce’s odd question, thinking back to the forest, “I remember commanding everyone to stop fighting. I remember commanding the bears to deliver a message to Darius and then the panthers and wolves to go through the portal. Then I lost focus and blacked out”

Jayce nodded, his eyes moving passed me and to my brother. I followed his gaze and turned back to Flynn.

“Quinn. Those bears, the few that were left alive after the battle…you— you killed them all”

What?!

“No. No, I didn’t. They were alive. I remember”

Flynn sighed and looked away, shaking his head.

“Just before you lost consciousness something…some kind of power…pulsated from you. Whatever it was, it made the bear’s heads explode”

A chill ran over my body. My stomach turned and Iooked away from Flynn, feeling as though I might be sick.

I killed them.

I couldn’t remember. I hadn’t tried to kill them, I knew that wasn’t something I would even intentionally do. They were powerless, helpless under my command. I’d never kill someone in that position. My hands moved to my stomach and the second they touched the bump, my body froze again.

“That’s not the only thing” Jayce said gently.

He’d moved to stand right beside me, his hand slowly reaching out until it softly fell over my own.

“The baby appears to have grown, a lot”

Looking down, very slowly as if doing so would reduce the shock of what I knew I was about to see, I stared at my stomach and gasped.

“Goddess” I whispered.

My belly, having been slightly rounder this morning, now appeared to be the size of someone that was full term. I rubbed it gently and exhaled steadily. I knew this could happen. Atropos had more than eluded to the fact that this baby could be here very soon - this was just a lot sooner than I’d been expecting.

“Jayce” I breathed, my eyes searching his face until he finally met my gaze, “We need to talk”

The Alpha nodded slowly and I wished I could ease the concern that lined his handsome features - But I knew I only had hours, hours that had already been eaten into. The idea of having this conversation made me sick to my stomach and I swallowed back the bile as my eyes moved across the space we were all standing in - to Kyanite.

“I need to speak to both of you. Now”

Having promised to both Flynn and Moira that I would join them in the clinic as soon as I’d finished talking to my mates, I was finally alone in the pack house with both men.

I paced the living room. Jayce sat in his armchair and Kyanite on the couch beside it. They both stared at me, in silence, watching as I nervously wore a hole in the carpet.

Neither mate spoke. There was a tension in the air and I knew I was giving off all kinds of red flag warning signals. I knew they were panicking. What news could I possibly have that would leave me so worked up and needing both of them, together, to talk about?

“Atropos came to see me” I started, thinking mentioning the Goddess’s name first would be the ideal lead up to what I had to say.

Both Jayce and Kyanite flinched as I said her name; and I didn’t blame them. Anything that had involved that woman meant trouble. She had proven toxic to my whole existence.

“She told me that this baby was strong and healthy but also that she could be here any day now and to be prepared. Cleary—” I said, gesturing to the basketball sized mound on my abdomen, “We knew that already”

Kyanite nodded, his eyes not leaving me as I continued pacing and Jayce fidgeted nervously in his chair.

“Something— something happened. Atropos touched my stomach and a power…threw her across the room”

“A power?” Kyanite asked, “A power like the one in the forest?”

I stopped pacing. My mind ticking over - rapidly processing the possibility. Surely not. The power that had thrown Atropos had been the baby, that was obvious to both her and me; but the power in the forest, the power that killed those bears - that couldn’t have been my daughter, surely not.

“I’m not sure” I muttered, “Anyway. This sudden burst of power revealed some information to Atropos and managed to break down the barrier that had prevented me from feeling or sensing the baby”

This comment had both Kyanite and Jayce sitting upright, their eyes wide as they stared at me.

Fuck.

“I know who the father is”

Silence.

Please. One of you say something.

I chewed on my bottom lip as it quivered uncontrollably, tears welling in my eyes as I stared between both men.

Please! Rogue pleaded within my subconscious, Please say something!

Jayce was the first to move. I thought he was going to speak but instead he raised his hands, dragging them down his face as he rubbed his bloodshot eyes aggressively. Kyanite, as if Jayce’s movement had snapped him out of whatever had been going on in his head, leant forward and rested his forearms on his knees.

“That’s not all” I breathed.

I felt sick. My stomach turned, my palms sweaty, my knees shaking.

Breathe. Breathe.

“Atropos told me that I was never meant to have multiple mates. Apparently there was only ever meant to be one. Zeus found out and…well, he severed my fated mate bond with a bear”

“You had a bear mate?” Jayce asked, his voice sounding hoarse and dry.

I nodded.

“It’s something that he cannot tolerate - the fact that I have two mates. Apparently he was about to severe my bond with one of you…but then Atropos told him I was pregnant. At that stage— at that stage we didn’t know who the father was, so he didn’t go ahead with—”

“Quinn” Kyanite spoke up, a panic in his voice that I’d never heard before, “Are you about to say what I think you’re about to say?”

“Whoever is the father gets to remain your mate” Jayce uttered, almost too quiet to hear, “the other— the other’s bond is destroyed”

I nodded again. This time with tears streaming down my face, unable to contain the sudden surge of emotion as I felt the raw pain emanating from both men. They, normally so different, were now mirroring each other’s pain and grief. They were feeling the same thing and the overwhelming hurt from their animals had Rogue cowering in the corner of my subconscious, too traumatised to witness what I was about to do.

“I can’t” Jayce breathed, staring blankly down at the ground, “I can’t— I can’t lose you. I can’t lose another baby”

A sob tore from my throat and I had to hold myself back from running into his arms. I needed to stay strong. There were two men here - two men, that right now, needed me equally.

Kyanite rose to his feet and moved towards me. He knew this was hard and seeing me struggling so much drew him towards my body like a magnet, instinctively wanting to shield me from the pain that was eating away at my soul.

“Shhh” he whispered.

Kyan’s hand tenderly cupped my face, the soft pad of his thumb wiping away the tears that soaked my skin. I opened my eyes, allowing them to trail up the square edges of his jaw, the curves of his angular cheeks and finally settle on the glistening wetness of his emerald eyes.

Then. Time stopped.

Our chests expanded and fell. A breath drawn and released in unison. A weight shifted; lifted.

It was as though everything around us was breaking away. Memories, experiences, tears, laughter. In a matter of seconds, a lifetime of feelings and desires were simply blown away by this invisible breeze that forced it’s way between us as we stood staring into one another’s eyes.

But the pain that I thought would inevitably come - did not. An ache in the heart, goddess I felt it. A heaviness, yes - it was there. The urge to cry until my body was dried of all it’s moisture, until a river flowed made purely from tears of pain and angst. But the pain of a severed bond, of a shattered fate, of a broken destiny - that pain did not come.

And from the look in the tear filled emerald eyes in front of me…

It did not come for him either.

“Kyanite” I whispered, raising my hands slowly to wipe the tears that flowed shamelessly down his cheeks.

“She’s not— not mine?” He breathed.

I nodded, unable to form the words.

A sob tore from deep in his chest. One that held and blade, a blade that found it’s way deep into my heart. No, the physical and emotional pain of a severed fated bond was not there - but the pain of discovering your whole future, the baby girl with her daddy’s emerald eyes - that was not there either.

“I’m so— I’m so sorry…I— I love you—”

The conflicting emotions circulating in my heart and mind were like an overwhelming array of voices, all trying to pull me in one way or the other. I couldn’t grasp how I felt. I felt sadness, obviously. Who wouldn’t feel sad bearing witness to this beautiful man in front of me, having his whole world shattered in a matter of milliseconds?

I thought we had hours. I needed time, with the bond still securely in place, to tell Kyanite how much I loved him. To tell him that he was my moon and my stars, the oxygen that filled my lungs. I wanted him to know about the future I’d had planned and I wanted to hear his plans too. I wanted to hear him tell me how much he desired and needed me, how much his body yearned for mine…I needed all of that before the tether between us, the one that should never have been there, was cut.

But we never had hours. Instead we stood here, staring into each other’s eyes as the connection between us faded away. I felt the second my panther withdrew, turning her back and disappearing into my subconscious without even a second glance back at her former mate; and I knew the second his panther withdrew too, the faint glistening of a raw and impassioned love, vanishing along with his tie to me.

With one last glance down at my rounded stomach and with a long, shaky exhale of breath, Kyanite leant forward, his lips ever so softly grazing my cheek.

Once where a burning flame would have smouldered- now ignited nothing, just a sadness and a faint recollection of what we once had.

And then he was gone. His hand dropped from my cheek, and just like his panther, turned and walked away. Not a second glance back in my direction; but before the Prince stepped through the door, four words departed his lips, echoing through my mind like a sorrowful melody…

“I loved you too”