Inevitably Yours
Chapter 85

MICHAEL

That annoying friend-zoned f**k wanted to take my mate to prom. If Quinn wanted to do it, I wasn’t going to tell her no, but it didn’t stop the jealousy from eating me up a little bit. I didn’t want to ruin it for her, though, so I kept it to myself. She deserved to have fun, even if I wasn’t a fan of who it was with. I trusted her to keep things platonic, so I could only be so annoyed about it anyways. The picture she’d sent me in her dress was stunning, and all I could think about was getting on my knees under it for her. She’d been much less flirty lately, though, and it worried me that maybe I’d done something wrong. She’d asked about prom next year, and I stayed evasive. I had a plan in mind, but I couldn’t let her know. How could I tell her I might not make it because I could die?

She wasn’t interested in my flirting or anything s****l, so I dropped it and told her I’d sing to her. She seemed to relax, and I could hear her tiny snores on the other end of the phone, which made my heart flutter. She insisted she didn’t snore, but her baby snores were my favorite. She could deny it all she wanted, but on the 1 in 100 chance that I was the one that got to listen to her sleep, it was music only I got to hear in those intimate moments.

–

ME

| that dress could only look better on the floor

I didn’t understand what was going on with Quinn. Since the night she’d called me to tell me she was mine and I was hers, she’d slowly gotten less interested in our usual flirtation and level of s****l interaction. I knew something was wrong now for sure, and she was avoiding me about it. She was starting to hurt me a little keeping it from me. I thought it was him while they were together, but now it was just us. What could she possibly be upset about that she couldn’t tell me?

“… I won’t be your option; you won’t want to pick me anymore…. “

That was just crazy talk. She could rob a bank and kill everyone in it, and I’d assume she had a reason. This was Quinn we were talking about. The love of my life.

“… You’re breaking my heart right now,” I told her. I could hear her breathing, ragged and uneven on the other side of the phone.

“I had s*x with Jaxx,” she was crying, not just regular crying. She was sobbing like she thought she’d never see me again. My veins ran cold, and I felt like she’d stabbed me in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t react badly now. She’d barely said a word about Nic or anyone else; how could I? Still, this one hurt, probably more than anything a girlfriend had ever told me. All the thoughts and dreams of him touching her over the last two years came to the forefront, and I wanted to vomit.

“Something is off,” Eros growled. “She shouldn’t be this upset.”

All I could get out was, “Oh.”

Then, she said it. “I-I didn’t want to. I tried to stop it but-”

I yelled; I shouldn’t have, but I did. The ice in my veins became a murderous flame as I found out what he did to her, what he did to my Quinn. I had to make sure she was telling me what I thought she was.

“He’s f*****g dead!” Eros roared. I couldn’t put into words what I was feeling. Murder. Death. Dismemberment. Castration. Jail. Words were flashing through the sea of red as I tried to get the question I needed to ask her out.

“… Did Jaxx have s*x with you after you denied consent?” I asked, barely able to contain myself. I had to bring down the volume. She didn’t deserve to be scared by the person who failed to protect her. I could at least protect her feelings now.

“Yes,” she confirmed, her voice choked and raw. “I’m so sorry.”

“Quinn, you didn’t ‘have s*x.’ He raped you! They’re not the same thing. Was it more than once?”

Why did she keep apologizing? Why was she saying she’d had s*x with him? Did he make her think they’d ‘had s*x’ without consent? What had he been doing to her and telling her? Holy f**k, I completely misread everything over the past two years, and I totally and utterly failed to protect the one person in the world I cared about most. I let this happen. I should have told her I was a choice. I should’ve told her soon. Why didn’t I tell her sooner?

“Yes. M, please, I’m so so so sorry.”

I had to get her to stop apologizing. Each time she did, it broke my heart a little more, and I didn’t know if it was going to survive this interaction. How could I look her in the face knowing I’d failed her, and she was apologizing to me? I just kept telling her over and over she was my choice. I chose her, and there was no one, nothing else for me. The question was, how could she choose me? How could she trust me to be her mate when I couldn’t do something as simple as keeping her safe. I didn’t deserve her or anything to do with her. Now, I knew why the Goddess was punishing me. She knew I would be a failure, and Quinn would suffer because of it.

“There’s no one Quinn, no one but you,” I choked out one last time, but then I heard it. It was her tiny snore. I didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep finally, and my vision blurred fully as the tears won. My face was hot, and both anger and despair were fighting for dominance. I couldn’t give in to either. I had to call him.

“I love you, Quinn,” I whispered to my sleeping mate. She couldn’t hear me, but I’d know I told her at least. I hung up the phone and texted her that she could call me when she woke, no matter what time.

–

The time when I was afraid even to hear his voice was over. As soon as I thought of calling him, I dialed without hesitation. I would need him to permit me to come back to Stary for this. I didn’t want to put Quinn in more danger to end Jaxx’s life. I didn’t know how to cope with what I was feeling, but my body wanted b***d. Eros didn’t even want to wait for transportation. He was fighting me to run back to Stary through human settlements in broad daylight. I didn’t want to fight him on it, except he might hurt someone who wasn’t the object of our destructive desire.

“Well, now, my pup has decided to call home,” his stupid voice came from the other line as he picked up.

“I don’t have time for games, Alpha Lawrence,” I spat, using the formal title on purpose since this was a formal request I would be making of the Alpha of Stary Pack.

“Oh, so serious today. What could you possibly be calling me for before our little date?” he asked; I hated how snide he always sounded. He didn’t have life figured out, or I wouldn’t be here, and Mom wouldn’t be missing.

“I need to request permission to come back to Stary to take care of business unrelated to our dispute,” I answered. My mind was working on different variables of how to replace him or where to start. Ricky would probably be my first go-to, so I could draw him out into the open without suspicion, somewhere they couldn’t hear him screaming.

“What in the hell could be so important you’re calling me…” he trailed. “Oh.”

“What?”

“This is about your possible mate, isn’t it?” he asked, dropping the jovial tone. “I bet you want to mate and mark her while I’m not looking to have an advantage in our challenge, don’t you?”

That had literally never crossed my mind, and I wouldn’t do it anyways. I loved Quinn, and I didn’t want her to feel the pain of losing a mate if I died, even if it did give me a boost in strength. “I’d never even considered that as a possibility.”

“Her little boyfriend from Wild Paws, then?” he asked, the mocking tone returned.

“It doesn’t matter,” I spat. He was going to win the battle with my patience if he pushed much more. If it weren’t for the oath, I’d just kill him now along with this other piece of s**t.

“You know, I’ve heard rumors. Wild Paws doesn’t seem to be doing well these days, and by all accounts, the wolves are getting abusive with the she-wolves. I’ve even heard that consent isn’t a word in their vocabulary, especially for some of the younger wolves. Did you maybe replace out something you didn’t want to know about your blue-haired girl and her boyfriend?” he cooed. Evil f**k.

“It doesn’t matter what I found out,” I told him. “Give me a day, and I will leave as quickly as I came. No one will even know I was there.”

“Tell me where your mother and Tyler are, and I will gladly accept,” he growled into the phone. His mood swings were truly mind-blowing. It could literally be sentence to sentence.

“She didn’t even tell me she was leaving,” I told him honestly. “She left me a note, and I came home to it after work. She didn’t say where and didn’t give me a way to contact her. How do I know you don’t have her?”

I didn’t think he’d taken her because he would have boasted and paraded the Luna around Stary. Quinn would know, and he would have told me already anyway.

“Interesting theory, but no, I do not have your w***e of a mother here,” he said flatly. My b***d was boiling. What he’d done to my mom wasn’t much better than what happened to Quinn, and he had the audacity to call her a w***e.

“What do you want?” I asked. I was willing to give almost anything. “Temporary truce? One day. If me being your son meant anything. Give me this.”

“Don’t throw that in my face, pup. If being my son meant anything, you’d still be here,” he growled. “But, I am a benevolent father. So, I will make you an offer.”

“I’m listening,” I answered, waiting to hear the other shoe drop. He wouldn’t do this for nothing.

“I’m not willing to grant you access to Stary until our challenge-”

“Then what the f**k are you offeri-” I raged.

“Stop,” he interrupted. “Or, I will offer you nothing.”

“Fine,” I spat.

“As I began, I’m not willing to grant you access to Stary until our challenge, but I will make you a trade. I will keep her boyfriend, the little Wild Paws b***h, out of Stary if you agree not to mark her before the challenge.”

I needed his f*****g b***d, and I needed it now. I could storm through Wild Paws, but they’d catch me before I made it to him since I was from a different pack. All of the training in the world wouldn’t help me unless I were willing to go there at night and kill their whole patrol. The thought flashed across my mind, though. They should have picked a better pack. No, I couldn’t do that. Quinn wouldn’t want me to be a murderer. Other names were coming to mind, though. Ricky. Christy. There were other people that needed to pay other than him.

“Fine, I agree to your terms. I need one more thing added to it.”

“What now?”

“Do you remember my friend Christy?” I asked, not sure if he’d cared enough to.

“The blonde-haired mousy girl from band? I believe I saw her pack transfer come across my desk to Wild Paws; why?”

I was honestly surprised he’d kept up that much, “I want her to stay out of Stary, away from Quinn.”

“I’ll inform their Alpha today, and our patrols will be informed. Just a note, I talked to a witch of my own, and I’m positive that if you come back early, I can break the oath. The way it is worded leaves you only able to come back when it’s time. I just wanted to make sure I got something out of this call, so pleasure doing business with you!”

He hung up without another word, not that I had anything else to say. The oath part added to the rage I felt inside, but on the off chance he was right, I called Haven. She said she hadn’t thought about how we’d worded the oath since we were primarily trying to protect Quinn, but now that she thought about it, she could see how a good witch could break it if I came back early.

“We need to kill him. Now,” Eros raged within me. “We can’t wait!”

“If we go back, it puts her in danger. I want him dead too, but we can’t just walk into either pack. She’s safe, for now. He will be the next thing to worry about after we win the challenge. I promise.”

Eros bristled in a dark corner of my mind, and I could feel the murderous intent flowing from him. He would have to wait in agony like I was to end him. I couldn’t say his name. When I was done, no one would say it ever again. As much as I’d wanted his b***d in the immediate sense, now it would be worse for him. Instead of just blind rage, I had time. Time to think. Death was too easy and permanent a punishment for what he’d done to my Quinn.