by Juniper Hart
“I had a call to take,” Jax said, softly leaning her head on top of Quinn’s. “I saw how close you and your mother were, and…” She took a deep breath. “I haven’t talked to my own mom in a really long time. Seeing you and your mom made me feel guilty about it. I thought it’d be worth a shot to call her, so I did.”
Quinn pulled slightly away to look at Jax. “And?”
“Well, we talked,” Jax said. “I told her that I missed her, and, well…” A soft, relieved smile overtook her mouth. “By some miracle, she said that she missed me, too.” Then her smile faded, replaced by a slight scowl. “But I still disobeyed River’s orders. I wouldn’t be surprised if he kicks me out of the pack.”
“He can’t do that,” Quinn mumbled. “Can he?”
Jax shrugged. “He’s the alpha. He can do whatever he wants.”
“No!” Quinn cried. Jax tried to stop her when she attempted to sit up straighter, but Quinn pushed her off. “I’m not going to let River just kick you out! What happened wasn’t your fault, Jax, it was my father’s—”
She stopped dead in her tracks. The last time she had seen her father had been when he had walked out of the room where she had almost died, and now she was here with River and Jax and… Would they be here if her father were still out there?
“Jax,” Quinn spoke, “what happened to my dad? What happened? How did you guys find me?”
Jax cleared her throat and glanced at the window before turning back to her. “Your dad kidnapped you and took you to a house on a reservation,” she said. “Blaze tracked your phone, which we later found out was hacked by either your father or a Crescent guard to know your location.”
Quinn’s eyes widened. That was why her phone had been flipping out on her for the last few weeks or so—someone from the Crescents had hacked it to know where she would be at all times so that they could abduct her.
“And then?” she asked.
“River, Aro, Blaze, and I came to rescue you!” Jax said excitedly. “But, uh, things got a little ugly while we were there.”
Quinn winced. “How ugly?”
“Well, Blaze killed the two guards who were beating you up in the basement, and Aro and River went after your father, and…” Jax trailed off, avoiding Quinn’s gaze, and Quinn could figure out the rest on her own.
“Is he dead?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah,” Jax confirmed. “I’m… I’m sorry, Quinn,” she said, gently placing her hand on top of Quinn’s.
“What?” Quinn let out a nervous chuckle. “No, don’t—don’t be. He was a psychopath. He wanted to turn me into his wolf protégé, and when I refused, he… he almost had me killed.”
Jax growled under her breath, and for a moment, Quinn wondered if she was going to shift out of rage on her behalf. Quinn bumped her shoulder against Jax’s, and she was glad to see her turn back to her with a smile.
“Would you ever consider becoming a wolf?” Jax asked her.
“Not under those terms, that’s for sure,” Quinn joked, laughing.
Before Jax could respond, the door swung open, and River walked into the room, a smile on his face. Quinn grinned at him, relieved to see he was okay.
“I’m going to leave you two to talk,” Jax said, standing up from the bed so that River could approach and take Quinn’s hand in his. Both Quinn and River nodded at her, and Jax walked out of the hospital room and closed the door behind her.
“Hey,” Quinn said to River. “You’re here.”
“Of course I am,” River said, lightly squeezing her hand. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
“Especially not with my mom yelling at you outside,” she teased him. River winced slightly.
“You heard that?”
“People out of state could hear that,” Quinn said and tilted her head. “How mad is she at you?”
“She’s not mad at me, per se,” River told her. “She’s just upset over the whole thing and needed to let the anger out.” He sat down on the edge of the bed so as not to take space away from her. “How are you feeling?”
“Like someone ran over me with my own truck,” Quinn answered. She leaned her head back against the pillow. “Then again, I thought I’d be in a coma in the best-case scenario. Shouldn’t I, you know, feel worse?”
When she glanced at River, he was looking down at the ground, avoiding her gaze, and Quinn narrowed her eyes at him.
“River,” she began, her voice slow and stern. “What did you do?”
“Nothing important,” he mumbled, and Quinn’s eyes widened.
“Did you turn me?”
“No!” River exclaimed immediately, finally turning his eyes back to her. “No, I—I would never turn you without your consent, Quinn!”
“Then what did you do?” she asked again. River sighed and leaned back against the bed. Quinn did the same.
“Your heart stopped on the way to the hospital,” he said, “and I gave you a few drops of my blood so that you could make it here.”
Quinn’s worry evaporated, and a joyful smile took over her lips. She nudged River’s shoulder with her head, and when he stared at her, his blue eyes were sparkling with love and devotion. She recalled what he had just said about not turning her without her consent, and she leaned her head against his shoulder, happy beyond relief to know he respected her wishes so much.
“Thank you for saving me,” she whispered, squeezing his hand holding hers. “And for always being there when I need you.”
“You are welcome.”
“There’s one more thing I want to say,” she told him, her smile fading, and she felt him tense against her.
“What?” he asked, a little concerned.
“I don’t want you to punish Jax by kicking her out of the pack,” Quinn said, looking up at him. “She tries so hard to please you, and I really like her.”
Next to her, River let out an annoyed sound. “She disobeyed my orders and put your life at risk.”
“She made a mistake,” Quinn argued, “and she knows it. My life was in danger anyway, River, it was just bad timing!”
River sighed and ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. “I wasn’t going to kick her out of the pack, Quinn.”
Quinn let out a relieved breath. “Good.”
“You’re right,” he added. “She did apologize. Profusely, I should mention. I guess I just don’t think rationally when it comes to you.”
“Glad to know we have the same problem,” Quinn mumbled, and she laughed at River’s surprised expression. “Is that why you were rude to me when we first met?”
“Yeah,” River replied, an embarrassed blush coloring his cheeks. “I’d been trying my hardest to avoid you because you turned my head inside out from the first moment I saw you.”
Quinn cringed. “That sounds painful.”
River chuckled softly. “No one ever told me falling in love would be this hard. I am constantly worried about you, wondering if you’re safe or if there’s anything else I can do to make sure you are. Even when I make decisions for the pack, I keep asking myself how you’d react to them and whether you’d tell me if I’m being too strict with the pack,” he said, scowling.
“If you’re wondering whether you are too strict, then you probably are,” she said with an apologetical smile.
“Regardless of all that,” River said, brushing a strand of her face, “I am so glad to have met you, Quinn Perkins.”
Now it was Quinn’s turn to blush, and she was smiling when she said, “Ditto.”
The next day, Quinn was discharged from the hospital, even though her doctor could not understand why she had healed so fast or why she was doing so well. But all of her scans, x-rays, and tests had come back clean, and so she’d been sent home.
River had come up with a story about a hiking accident to explain Quinn’s injuries, so the cops were never called and the attack was never reported. River had explained to Quinn that they had to keep humans out of their business for fear of being discov
ered.
Quinn’s mother drove the truck while Quinn and River sat next to her, heading home in silence. Once they got back to Quinn’s house, her mother went to the kitchen to make a light lunch for them, and Quinn and River went to sit in the living room.
“I should go talk to her,” Quinn mumbled, “tell her about… about Callahan.”
River placed his hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure?”
All it took was Quinn’s nod for him to smile encouragingly at her, motioning to the kitchen with his head. Quinn stood up from the couch and went to her mother, knowing this would be the last time she brought the subject up.
“Mom?” she called her, since her mother was at the fridge and hadn’t seen her come in. “Can we talk?”
Her mother closed the fridge door and slammed her hands down on the kitchen counter. “Don’t you ever do that to me again!” she exclaimed, her voice wet and wobbly. “Do you hear me?”
Quinn’s eyes widened, and she nodded immediately. “I won’t, Mom. I promise.”
“Do you have any idea of how worried I was?” her mother continued, running her fingers through her hair. “I thought I had lost you!”
“But you didn’t,” Quinn reassured her, walking closer to the counter until she could place her hand on top of her mom’s. “I’m okay, Mom, and I promise you you’re never going to lose me.”
Her mother took a deep breath and slowly exhaled in, wiping at her eyes. “You better,” she said, holding her arms open. Quinn smiled in relief and stepped around the counter to hug her mother, tightly embracing her. She felt her mom kiss the top of her head. “I love you, Quinn. Always remember that.”
“I will, Mom,” Quinn muttered. “I love you, too.”
They pulled apart, and her mother smiled softly at her, sniffling. “Now, what did you want to talk about?”
Quinn braced herself. “About my father.”
Her mother seemed to slouch, like all her energy had left her body. “Quinn—”
“Just this once, and then we’ll leave it behind for good,” Quinn promised. After a few seconds of tense silence, her mother sighed in defeat. “You were right about him,” Quinn began. “He kidnapped me to try to convince me to become his protégé. He wanted me to join his ‘business,’ whatever that was—”
Her mother was slightly biting her lip, her arms crossed, though they looked like she was hugging herself.
“Your father came after you? Quinn, we have to tell the police? Why did you lie about the hiking accident? What if he comes after us again?”
“Mom, he won’t come after us again. That’s all I am going to say, but just know we don’t ever have to worry about him again. But, please understand we are never going to talk about what exactly happened.”
Quinn’s mother nodded. “Can you at least tell me what he wanted?”
“He was hoping his daughter would join him. But the only parent I have is my mother.”
At Quinn’s words, her mom let out a wet laugh and wiped the unshed tears from her eyes, and Quinn threw her arms around her, hugging her once more. She didn’t want her mother to have to worry about Jonathan Callahan ever again. The poor woman had already suffered at his hands enough.
Her mother pulled away from her and held Quinn’s hands in her own. “I love you, honey, and I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Quinn mumbled, swallowing back her own tears. “Why don’t you take a bath? River and I can handle lunch.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“A bath does sound nice,” her mother sighed dreamily, and Quinn chuckled, pushing her mother to the kitchen doorway. “All right, all right, I’m going,” she said, turning around to press another kiss to Quinn’s head. Then she walked up the stairs and disappeared down the hallway to her room.
Quinn left the kitchen and walked over to the couch to sit beside River.
“She’ll be okay,” River said immediately, reaching out to take Quinn’s hand.
“I know,” Quinn said, smiling weakly. “She’s been through worse.” Then her smile widened. “Thank you again for being here.”
“Always.” River leaned in and softly kissed her on the lips. When he pulled away, it was slowly, hesitantly, like he didn’t want to break away from her. Quinn was relieved that she wasn’t the only one who felt like that.
“River, what if I wanted to become like you? Would you do that for me?”
He looked at her without speaking for a moment. “Yes, but it’s not a decision that you should make lightly. You need to see how we live, and understand that actually living like a werewolf is nothing like the legends. You become different, and you’ll lose some of your human traits.”
“Okay, but it also means that I will get to spend more time with you,” Quinn said.
River cupped her cheeks with both of his hands. “I will spend your entire life with you. Even when you’re old, I will never leave your side. If one day, you do decide you want to become like me, then we can make that decision together. However, it’s not something I will do today, or even tomorrow.”
There were a hundred questions running through her mind, but once River noticed her expression and gave her a reassuring look, Quinn knew that no matter what happened, he would protect her with his life.
After all, he was the alpha of his pack.
He was her alpha.
The End
To continue reading about all of the Wylde brothers, download the Code of the Alpha Collection on Amazon.
Fire Dragon
Element Dragons
1
Sarah’s day continued to be awful when her motorcycle broke down outside the coffee shop that night.
She tried to fire the engine up again. Her bike puttered miserably for a little while before she felt bad for it and gave up. She tried a couple more times before realizing it was hopeless. The rain poured from the sky, leaking warm beads of water onto her clothes. She scampered back under the overhang of the shop to avoid getting any wetter, but the damage was done. Her cute pink blouse was stuck against her lithe body, exposing every single detail that she wanted to remain hidden.
She hadn’t known there was a chance of rain when she’d set off to work that morning, so she hadn’t planned for the weather. She didn’t have a car, so she would have still taken her motorcycle to work, but Sarah probably wouldn’t have left the shop so late. The sky was black, rolling with storm clouds that didn’t look like it was about to let up anytime soon.
“Oh, come on!” she said out loud, even though nobody was around to hear her despair.
She’d spent entirely too many hours at the coffee shop recently. She’d just opened the store a few months ago, and it was hard work. Coming in early. Leaving late. She worked from early daybreak to get everything fired up, to the late evening to clean everything up for the next morning. She’d been so burnt out that she hadn’t even considered checking the weather.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and almost put her phone to her head before remembering her helmet. It had been a long, long day.
First, it was a grumpy old man that wanted a smoothie. She’d attempted to explain that the name of the shop was, Sarah’s Java Stop. They didn’t sell smoothies, nor did she know how to make them. Finally, she’d managed to convince him that he didn’t want a smoothie. Then he wanted a picture of his granddaughter’s face in the foam, just based off the little girl standing there.
He complained that Sarah’s customer service was terrible. Sarah threw up her hands in exasperation and handed him his latte. She hoped he never came back.
Grumbling, she took off her helmet and sifted through her contacts. She had lots of numbers, but very few of the contacts could be trusted to show up and take her home. An old coworker. A friend from college she hadn’t texted in two years. That kind of thing. Oh, and look, there was John… Nice guy. Handsome. Romantic.
And unfaithful.
Finally, she decided to call a taxi and wa
ste some of her hard-earned money to drive three miles across town. She was lucky to have a house so close to her business.
The last thing she wanted was for someone to steal her precious bike. It was a wonderful little machine. It got absurd gas mileage and was just like her—quick as a lightning bolt, modern, and if she was being honest with herself, drop dead gorgeous. She tugged the bike onto the sidewalk and hauled it into the store. It dripped rainwater all over her nice, expensive floors, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was to hurry home.
The prior night she hadn’t slept well… again. The dreams kept her up.
It always happened the same way. She’d be sleeping solidly and then she’d see glimmering red scales. She couldn’t make out the details of her dream, but she did remember the scaled creature moved quickly and made her tremble. Every time, she’d hear a scream. After having the dream dozens of times, Sarah realized she was responsible for the screaming.
What made her so afraid? What was the scaled beast? She didn’t know. The same dream had haunted her ever since she was a child, but the dream never aged. It was the same nightmare for twenty-four years. It was as if she was given season tickets to a movie that she didn’t want to see.
When her taxi arrived, she hustled over from under the awning and into the car. The driver attempted to make small talk, but Sarah just wasn’t in the mood. She gave quick, terse replies. Sarah had a lot of great qualities, but hiding her mood wasn’t one of them. If she was happy, she’d show it. If she was sad, she’d show it. If she was angry, she’d make extra damn sure that everybody knew.
Finally, the taxi arrived at her apartment building. As they pulled up, she saw a new car on the street where she normally parked. If her bike had worked, she would have been forced to drive around for a while to find somewhere to park.
The car was sleek and looked unbelievably fast. Despite her foul mood, it’s low, fire-red frame piqued her curiosity. Her apartment complex was a nice enough place. It had some artsy types in residence, but she had a hard time believing any of her neighbors could afford that car. The owner was either crazy rich or stuck deep, deep, deep in debt.
