Chapter 23 #2
He crept forward more, growling and baring his teeth. Quinn reached behind me and pushed me further from him. He reached down, grabbed his shirt, pulled it off, and threw it to the ground. What the hell was he doing?
“When I say go, I want you to run as fast as you fucking can. Okay?” he whispered.
“What? I’m not leaving you!”
“God damn it, Zay, I’ll be fine… just don’t—”
The wolf started to get closer.
“GO!”
I started to turn and—bones cracked. The roar vibrated through the forest. I stood frozen, staring at the pitch-black wolf—Quinn—who had leaped onto the other wolf.
He was snarling, and the other wolf was whimpering.
He wasn’t attacking him, though, just standing over him with his mouth at his throat.
I still stood frozen, staring at both of them.
Quinn, in his wolf form, was even bigger than the grey wolf.
He was nearly as tall as I was. After what felt like an eternity, Quinn jumped to the side, releasing the grey wolf.
It whimpered a few more times before he took off running.
Quinn’s head turned toward me, and my eyes were still wide with shock.
My jaw dropped open. He lowered himself slowly, his front legs bending beneath him, his chest lowering until it was almost to the ground.
I stood frozen in place. I thought he was kneeling to me, but I didn’t know what I should do. I flashed back to when I had watched Daxyn transform and how it threw me into labor. Every emotion from that day poured back into me. Fear. Shock. Terror. Anger. Sadness. Horror.
He tucked his head in and kept it low to the ground.
He, too, hadn’t moved, remaining in this surrendered position.
My knees gave out, and I fell to the cold ground as everything overwhelmed me all at once.
He slowly moved his front paws out and started to inch his way toward me.
I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn’t move.
Tears ran down my cheeks and into my mouth.
I knew what he was, but seeing it happen shook my core.
He nudged me with his nose. Goosebumps formed all over my arms.
We stayed there for several minutes, both of us still. I stopped crying, got the courage to reach out, and touch him. His fur was like that of a long-haired dog. He lifted his head and glanced at me. He backed away slowly from me. I sat on the ground staring at him, unsure what I should even do.
He backed into the woods, maybe thirty feet away from me. My eyes stayed fixated on him. He jumped onto his back paws, his front paws going high into the air, and then in a flash, he was himself again. How did that happen? How was this possible?
He stood there naked. His shirt was lying where he threw it…
But his pants… they were shredded on the ground.
He reached down and cupped his hands around himself.
I didn’t think my eyes could get wider, but they did.
Even with his hands trying to hide everything, I could still see it all.
Stop looking at his fucking dick, Zalayuh. But I couldn’t drag my eyes away.
“Hey… eyes up here, my little doe,” he said.
My eyes dragged up his body, meeting his eyes.
“Good girl,” he said.
“You’re umm… well large…” I said. Shit. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.
“Focus, Zalayuh… I need you to grab my shirt and bring it here before someone shows up and everything gets more awkward than it already is,” he said.
“You’re so very naked…” I said, still in shock.
“Shirt, Zay!”
I finally shook my head, shaking the thoughts away.
I stood to my feet, walked over to the shirt, and grabbed it up.
I slowly walked over to him. I kept telling myself over and over—don’t drop your eyes, keep them on his.
I handed him his shirt, and he quickly held it over himself, covering everything up a lot better than his hands were doing.
“Let’s go to the cabin, my pants are clearly no good,” he said.
Nothing escaped my lips. I stared at him, frozen in place.
“You go first, unless you want to stare at my ass,” he said.
“Oh… yeah… no… I’m going,” I stuttered out.
I started heading toward the cabin. It took me a few minutes to get oriented and remember where we were in the woods exactly.
It was several more minutes before we made it to the opening of the cabin.
I sat on the chair outside, and he went straight inside.
I needed a moment to process everything that had just happened.
Seeing Quinn that way did not help the attraction that I was already falling into.
I was supposed to hate him. He was the enemy.
Then he became my friend… and now I was looking at him with something I couldn't name.
He came back outside, fully dressed, and sat down in the other chair next to mine. I stared off into nothingness, and everything all at once.
“Zay, are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m… not even sure,” I said.
“That’s not how I wanted to shift in front of you,” he whispered.
“I just… it was a lot… it brought me back to that day…” I said.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“It’s not your fault. You… you were just protecting us—protecting me,” I said.
“Always, and I’ll continue until you no longer allow me to,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“I know you think I was holding you captive, and I was, but there was a lot more going on than you know.”
“Then tell me, Quinn. Be honest,” I said.
“I may deflect a lot, but I’ve always been honest. You started being fed real meals because I paid for someone to cook proper meals for you.
I always disagreed with what Ravik did. This cabin was no coincidence.
I mean, I’ve always owned it, but it was in terrible shape.
I had my family getting it ready. I was buying time, waiting for everything to come into place.
I was always going to save you, Zalayuh, just not quite as soon as it happened.
You were supposed to give birth to Izayuh here.
That rocking chair that was here, it was my mom’s.
It was brought here for you before everything fell apart.
And… I didn’t know what we were gonna do, but I’d have helped raise him, had you let me,” he said, his voice quivering as two tears rolled down his cheek.
Tears started rolling down my face. This was the most honest and raw he’d been with me, and I was not prepared for it. He was always going to save me. Izayuh and I would have been together had my stupid body held him in longer.
“I failed him,” I cried out.
“You didn’t fail him… Daxyn failed him. I failed him. You did everything right,” he said.
I cried hard. He reached over and wiped the tears from my cheeks.
“So yes, my little doe, I was always protecting you, and I’ll do so until you tell me to go kick rocks,” he said.
“I mean, I did when I was locked away,” I said, laughing through the tears.
“You have to tell me when you're not being held hostage. You didn’t know I was there for your own good,” he said. “Now, you do.”
I stared at him. Something was moving around in my chest that I didn't have a name for yet.