Kaden nods. “I will do my best, but I don’t know if I can promise something like that.” Justin grins as they get closer to the pack. “Maybe I should be the one to fight him, just in case something happens to you. We both know she will be more broken if you die, then if I do.”
Justin knows Kaden is probably right, but he can't do that. “I can't do that, I am a pure blood. I am supposed to protect.” That is what he was taught his whole life, and he believes that no matter what.
“Think about Quinn, not your ego.” Kaden sounds angry, and Justin knows why. He is in love with Quinn, and knows what is going to happen if something happens to him.
“Not my ego, but my belief. I love Quinn more than anything in this world. She is the best part of me. I am trusting her in your arms if I don’t make it out alive. One thing I really need you to promise, if things end up badly. Don’t let her watch me die.” He doesn’t want the image of his death in her head in addition to the image of her father's body.
“I promise that,” Kaden says, and Justin nods. “Justin don’t die on us, I want to get to know my brother.”
Justin stops at the edge of the woods and smiles at Kaden. “I know I am sorry we didn’t get closer.”
They look up at the enforcers, and they know Quinn is in the middle of them.
***
Quinn notices that they are going to the same place, and the glow from the fire is getting brighter.
The first thing Quinn hears are loud angry voices, but one sticks out the most. Mrs. Schmidt.
“She is just a young girl!” she yells.
As soon as Quinn and the men get into the clearing, the voices stop.
She can't see anything over the men. “King Christopher, we have brought you Quinn,” the one in front says, and then bows. The men that have her arms don’t let go, they bow their heads.
“Great, bring her to me, and then you and the enforcers can leave,” Chris says, and the enforcers move away from her. The one with warm honey brown eyes and medium brown wavy hair looks sorry that he is leaving her. The man stops in front of her, and Quinn doesn’t look away from his honey colored eyes. “Shade, that means you too.”
Shade mouths sorry to Quinn, and leaves her on the large stage with the pack leader. “Quinn, you broke the most important rule our kind has. You told a human what we are. You put all of us in danger as this is how the hunters find us.” When Chris speaks he sounds powerfully, like a leader.
Quinn looks past him and sees a bunch of people tied up, but her eyes narrow on Breanna. She is lying on the ground and she isn’t moving. With her heart racing, she brings her hazel-blue eyes up to dark blue eyes. They remind her of Kaden. “I want Breanna.” Quinn is proud of her voice, it isn’t shaky.
“You do?” he laughs. Christopher walks around Quinn and her eyes never leave his. She isn’t going to back down. “What if I say you have to fight me to get her?” Quinn doesn’t want to look for Justin, but she can feel him. He is here, and promised to not let anything happen to Breanna or her. Chris laughs loudly and she narrows her eyes on him. “Then what would you say, little girl?”
“I would say I will do anything to protect what I love,” Quinn says, and stands taller.
It's Chris's turn to narrow his eyes. “Is that so?” He moves closer to her, as she nods her head.
“Quinn is under my protection and so is Breanna,” Justin says from somewhere behind her, and she sees something flash in Christopher's eyes, maybe heartache?
“Is this a challenge you want to take on son?” Chris asks and looks past Quinn.
“Yes,” Justin sturdily says.
Chris's eyes come back to Quinn's, and she knows he is hurting. “You don’t have to fight him,” she whispers, and prays he doesn’t.
“I do,” he whispers back.
“Kaden, I want you to stand with Quinn. Mark, go get Breanna,” Justin says, and Quinn keeps her eyes on Christopher. She doesn’t look away until she feels a warm hand in hers. “Quinn look at me,” Justin says sweetly, and she brings her eyes to his. “No matter what happens, I want you to listen to Kaden.”
Quinn doesn’t understand. “What's going to happen?” Now there is panic in her voice, and she doesn’t try to hide it.
Justin smiles at her, but it's not his regular smile. “I don’t think you'll ever know how much I truly love you.” He doesn’t give her a chance to say anything, his lips crashes down on hers. Quinn feels like he is saying good bye and scorching tears fill her closed eyes.
He pulls away, and leans his forehead against her. Quinn stares at his closed eyelids. “I love you Justin.” A smile tugs at the corners of his lips.
“Kaden,” he says, and she can feel herself being pulled away from Justin.
Quinn watches Justin walk up to his father, and Christopher's face is blank. “Are you sure you want to challenge me, son?”
She watches the love of her life stand a little straighter, and lift his head. “I accept your challenge.” Justin keeps his voice steady.
“Chris! You can't do this, he is our son.” Quinn looks to the other side of the stage and sees Justin's mother. She is in tears, and is being held back by Shade. He is a good foot taller than Justin's mother, and his eyes are on her.
“Mary, he already accepted my challenge,” Christopher says, and smiles at Justin then he takes off his shirt. Justin follows his father, and bares his beautiful chest.
“I will never forgive you if he gets hurt,” Mary says, as Shade pulls her away.
Quinn gasps when she watches Christopher's fingernails transform into three inch claws. She never knew they could do that without be in wolf form. A popping and cracking sound grabs her attention, she looks at Justin and his hands are now claws.
“This is for ruler of the Claws Pack, Justin is of age to accept my challenge. He is the next pure blooded male. I am ready when you are, you get first strike.”
Chris pushes his bare chest out and places his hands behind his head. “There are two ways to kill a werewolf without silver. You can behead them or puncture their hearts, but we have tough skin so it takes a while to get to our hearts. Most go for beheading, it's easier.” Kaden whispers in her ear, and she shutters thinking about Justin without his head or a gaping hole in his chest. Quinn looks across the stage when she sees movement. Mark has Breanna in his arms. He gently moves the hair away from her face, then he puts his forehead on her and Quinn sees his mouth moving.
Out of the corner of her eye she sees Justin lunging forward. Quinn watches a long bloody line appear on Christopher’s body. She barely sees the older man move before she sees a longer and deep mark on Justin. Quinn covers her mouth to cover her scream, and Kaden tightens his hold around her waist. She doesn’t want to distract Justin, not now.
Justin grabs his father and holds him to his chest. Justin brings his sharp claw to his father's throat, and she hears a woman screaming for it to end. Christopher kicks Justin in the stomach, and he flies back only stopping when he hits a tree. Quinn hears a loud cracking sound, she jumps. She wonders if the sound came from Justin or the tree.
Slowly Justin gets up, and Christopher is still standing in the same spot. Justin runs at his father with all that he has, and slams his head into Christopher's chest. He barely moves, but Justin grabs his chest and digs his claws in deep. Christopher throws his head back and growls, then grabs Justin's arms and pushes his claws in.
“You are never going to win, pup,” Christopher says, with a chuckle to his voice.
“Then I will die trying,” Justin says with his teeth clench, and then he punches his father in the face, and knees him in the gut. Christopher grabs the knee, and grins.
He pushes Justin to the ground, but Justin jumps back up. “You have gotten faster.”
What happens next happens in slow motion for Quinn. Christopher gets a hold of Justin's hair, and yanks him. She can see Chris's claws start to push their way into Justin's chest.
“No!” Quinn yells, and pushes her finger
nails as hard as she can into Kaden's arms. He groans and lets go. She runs to Justin, and a couple of enforcers move to stop her. Quinn glares at them, and quickly they move out of her way. She looks down and notices her fingernails are now claws.
She can see Justin now and his eyes are wide, she runs. Quinn grabs Christopher and pulls him away, he is laughing. She forces her whole hand into Chris's back, and imagines forcing her claws into his beating heart. Quinn can feel his heart beating on her fingertips. A loud growl comes from him when she feels her nail puncture his heart, and she tosses his away from her and Justin.
Justin is lying on his back, his normally beautiful bright gray-yellow eyes, are now a dark gray-orange. Quinn drops to her knees and looks at his bare chest. There isn’t a gaping hole, but many little holes and a lot of blood.
“Don't look,” Justin's breathing is coming quick, and she looks back at his face, she is pretty sure she looks frightened. He manages a smile on his perfect face, and Quinn can feel her cheeks growing wet with her tears. Justin coughs, and turns his head to the side. Quinn watches blood pool out of his mouth. “Don't cry my love,” he says.
She looks back at his face, and moves a shaky hand to his lips. There is blood and she doesn’t want it on his perfect face. “I can give you my blood, and it will heal you.” It worked with Kaden; it has to work with Justin.
“No my love, my heart is punctured. There is no cure for that.” Justin's eyes are just a really dark gray. “Quinn, I want you to know I love you, and I want you to be happy.”
She shakes her head. “No, no, no! I won't be! I need you! You brought me back to life. Justin, you can't leave me. I can’t go through this again.” Quinn can barely see him through her tears, and he brings a hand to her cheek. He feels cold, and she shuts her eyes to remember his warm touch.
“Kiss me,” he says, and she opens her eyes. Quinn nods and leans down to kiss him, his warm sweet lips she has grown to love, are now cold and taste of sweet blood
Quinn gives him a sweet light kiss. She moves far enough away to see the man she loves in the eyes. She can see a smile tugging on his lips. “To the moon and back,” he whispers, and this shatters her heart.
Quinn closes her eyes, and nods. “To Neptune and back,” she whispers pass the lump in her throat and the tears are pouring down her face.
“Kaden, now,” he says, and she can feel herself being lifted away from Justin.
Quinn shakes her head, and tries to punch and kick Kaden. “No! Put me down.” But he doesn’t, he just tightens his hold on her and turns away from Justin. Quinn looks over Kaden's shoulder, and watches him fade away as Kaden runs away from the pack and Justin.
Kaden puts Quinn in the back of her car, and she curls in a ball and cries. Justin is dead, her happily ever after vanished with him.
She feels the car stop. “Quinn do you want me to carry you inside?” She doesn’t answer him. Kaden picks her up and walks into the house. Jax opens the door, and stares at her. Quinn closes her burning eyes. She doesn’t want to see his pity.
Kaden walks up the stairs, past her old bedroom and to her new room - the one where she and Justin made love. Fresh new hot tears burn behind her eyelids. He gently lays her on her bed, and she can smell Justin. Quinn cries harder, she wants him here with her.
“Tell me what to do to make things better.” Kaden says, and Quinn looks at him. There are tears in his eyes.
Quinn sits up, and then pats the bed for him to sit. She closes her eyes, and tries to find the right words to say. “I never felt so much love from one person before. When Justin would look at me, his love shined from his gray-yellow eyes.”
She looks at Kaden and he shakes his head. “I love you like that.” Quinn smiles, he doesn’t love her like that. Only Justin will ever love her like that.
Quinn grabs Kaden's hand. “You will make some girl so happy, but it's not me. Justin is my prince charming.” Her heart breaks, knowing what she says is true; she will never have her happily ever after.
“Are you going to be alone forever? You know we live a really long time, right?” Kaden says, and smiles. She knows but also knows that no one will compare to Justin.
“I need to be alone,” Quinn says, and takes her hand back.
Kaden nods, and walks to her door. He stops and turns to look at her. “Fine but I am here for you, now and forever.”
“I don’t want you, I want Justin,” she whispers pass the lump in her throat.
As soon as he leaves she gets up and walks to Justin side of the bed. Once again tears are running down her cheeks, their time was short but she will cherish it for the rest of her life.
Chapter Nineteen
Queen Quinn
Kaden knocks on Lizzy's door. He didn’t want to wake her last night and tell her, and he already called the school. He told Lizzy's principal that there has been a death in the family and she won't be in today.
“Come in!” Lizzy yells over the loud boy band music. “Hey Kaden, I am almost ready. Are you bringing me today? Or is Quinn?”
Kaden walks over to her desk and pulls out the chair. “Come and sit Liz, I need to tell you something.” Fear flashes on her sweet innocent face.
“Please tell me it isn’t Quinn.” She has gone pale and he shakes his head.
“Justin was killed last night,” Kaden says, and she jumps up.
“What?” She looks at the door, and he knows she is thinking of.
Kaden puts his hand on her shoulder and squeezes. “She's fine, well not really. She has a broken heart, but she is alive.”
“I should be with her,” Lizzy says and tries to walk away, but Kaden holds on to her shoulder.
“No she needs to be alone right now.” Plus he doesn’t want Quinn to say something hateful to Lizzy and regret it later.
Lizzy turns around and her big blue eyes are shinning with her unshed tears. Kaden holds her and tells her that everything will be alright, and he promises he won't let anything happen to her. He just hopes he can keep that promise to her.
***
Every time Quinn closes her eyes she sees Justin chest and his blood. She opens her eyes and wants happen to be just a nightmare, but she is reminded with the empty bed that it wasn’t. Justin is dead and it is all her fault. Quinn's whole body hurts from crying, her eyes feel puffy from crying all night.
Kaden came in every ten minutes to check on her last night. Quinn knows that he is worried about her, but she doesn’t want to talk so just wants her Justin back. A soft knock at the door has her taking her attention away from the cold empty bed.
“Come in,” Quinn says, and sets up to tell Kaden to leave her alone, but Jax walks in. The room is filling with the morning sun and his spring green eyes find hers.
“Hey,” he says as he walks in, Jax closes the door behind him. “I came to check on you.” He leans against the closed door, and stares at her.
Quinn lies back on the bed and close her hazel-blue eyes. “Kaden gave up?” She hasn’t been nice to him, but he was the one holding her, she could have saved Justin.
She opens her eyes when she feels the bed move. Jax is laying in her normal spot, with his head turned to her. “No but he knows you blame him.”
Quinn doesn’t feel bad. It's true she does blame him. “You checked on me, I’m still breathing. You can leave now.”
Jax smiles at her. “Not happening, you shouldn't be alone. I am staying with you my Queen.”
Quinn tries to narrow her eyes, but fails. “I'm not your Queen.” Anger bubbles up and she wants to explode.
A warm hand finds hers, she tries to pull away, but he just tightens his hand around hers. “I get that you are broken over Justin. But you are the one that killed Chris, that makes you the new pack leader and our Queen.” Quinn's eyes widen, she never thought about that.
She shakes her head and can feel new tears threaten to break free, she can't rule without her king. “I can't, not without him.”
Jax tugs on her hand. “Look at me
Quinn.” She shakes her head. “Please,” he asks softly.
Quinn gives in and looks at Jax. “You will be the best thing that happened to our pack. You care about people not just yourself. Yes I know you are hurting, but you have to step up. If you look weak to the others, someone is going to challenge you and you will be killed.” She stares at him blankly.
“Quinn, Justin wouldn’t want that.” Kaden's voice fills her bedroom; she takes her hand away from Jax and sits up. Kaden is standing in the opened door. “He would want you to be the best queen for our pack.”
She looks at Kaden and is shocked at what she sees. His eyes mirror hers, they are swollen and red.
He has been crying. “Jax, can Kaden and I be alone?”
Jax jumps out of her bed, and winks at her. “Yes, Your Majesty.” He bows to her, and Quinn rolls her eyes.
Kaden moves away from the door to let Jax pass, and stays in the open door. She doesn’t blame him not wanting to come in her room. She said some pretty hateful things to him last night. “Kaden come in and shut the door, please.”
He nods slightly at her, and does what she asked. “I'm sorry, I know I said some really mean things to you last night. I just feel....shattered.” His dark blue eyes seem darker with the red in his eyes. “I never thought about how you are doing. Justin wasn’t just my boyfriend he was your brother, and I also killed your dad. So you loss two people last night.”
Kaden nods again. “I really don’t care about my dad, but Justin and I were still getting to know each other.” Quinn pats the bed for him to sit next to her, and he does.
“I know me too.”
“You know he would want you to be the best queen, and to be happy again,” Kaden says, and she narrows her eyes. If he confesses his love for her, she is going to punch him in the face. “Not with me, yeah I’m pretty sure he would haunt me if I did.”
“How is Lizzy doing?” She hasn’t seen her sister since they got home.
“She is worried about you, I told her what happened,” Kaden says, she nods. “I also called her school, and told them that there was a death in the family and she won't be in for the rest of the week.
The Beast and the Homecoming Queen Page 18
