Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Gina slowly slid off Quinn’s lap, her body tight as a string. She refused to look at him because, if she did, she was afraid of what she’d see. Plus, she needed to keep her eyes on the wolf that had walked through the door.
Helena.
Quinn’s mate.
In his home.
What. The. Hell.
Her wolf whimpered then thought better and growled.
She didn’t say anything.
She couldn’t.
Instead, she stood there like a freaking idiot and watched the woman that Quinn had once loved—or maybe still loved—walk through the door like she owned the place. She knew Helena had never lived here, but that didn’t stop the woman from acting like she belonged.
Belonged while Gina didn’t.
Holy hell, there wasn’t a guidebook for this. She had no idea what to do. From the look on Quinn’s face, he didn’t either. That hurt her more than it should have. If he’d truly hated Helena like he said he had, he’d have done something by now. Yelled or thrown her out.
Instead, they were standing there like they had something to say yet didn’t know how to say it, and Gina was breaking.
Again.
This was the woman who Quinn had chosen. The one he’d put his heart and soul into loving. Gina was the woman he’d been forced to be with. Helena was Jesse’s mother. Gina was nothing.
She wasn’t sure she could handle much more. If things had been different, if Quinn had mated with her because he’d wanted to, not because he’d had to, maybe she’d have fought, but she couldn’t.
Why bother?
Who was this wolf inside her who had given up? Who was this woman who wanted to run away and not deal with the fact that the woman who had broken Quinn’s heart and left the Pack was now in Quinn’s domain?
Gina didn’t, and she didn’t like who she was becoming.
She was a dominant wolf. She should fight for what she wanted.
Only she didn’t know what she wanted…she didn’t know what Quinn wanted. She might be mated to Quinn, but there was evidently a way to break the mating bond. If that’s what Quinn wanted…
Bile rose in her mouth, yet still, she didn’t speak. She couldn’t be the one to do so. It had to be Quinn and Helena.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Quinn growled. His power swept through the room, and even Gina’s knees buckled under its weight. The hair on her arms stood on end, and she was determined not to kneel under the strength of his wolf. She would not kneel in front of Helena.
The other woman whimpered then went to her knees, her head down as she bared her throat.
“Quinn…please forgive me.”
Quinn’s whole body shook, and Gina knew he was fighting for control. She didn’t know what she should do, but she knew she couldn’t let him tear Helena into small pieces—even though she wanted to do that herself. The other woman had almost killed Quinn and Jesse, the family she loved but shouldn’t.
Helena deserved far worse than being torn into bits.
Yet she was Jesse’s mother.
Quinn’s love.
“Get out,” Quinn snapped, and Gina shot her gaze to him, her heart pounding. Who? “Just get out. I don’t know how you got through the wards or who helped you, but they will pay for it.”
“Quinn. I’m so sorry. I just needed space, and I didn’t know how to do it.”
“Shut up!” he yelled. “I don’t care. You need to leave before I kill you, and I won’t have your blood on my hands. I won’t do that to Jesse.”
Helena looked up, tears in her eyes. “How is Jesse?”
The woman looked as if she actually cared about how her son was, but Gina couldn’t take those words at face value.
Helena had tainted his soul and left. That didn’t give her the right to care about those she’d left behind.
Yet Gina’s mind still fought itself over what she should do, whether she should stay.
Quinn clearly needed to talk to Helena and find out what had happened, and she wasn’t sure he could do it with Gina in the room.
She didn’t want to go…but maybe she should.
Her heart raced, and she let out a whimper of her own.
Quinn’s gaze shot to hers. “Stay,” he growled out, his eyes glowing gold. His wolf was right at the surface. This was one dangerous male, yet her wolf nudged at her, wanting his touch.
God, she didn’t know what to do, and that annoyed her more than anything.
She made decisions and kept to them. She didn’t run away, and yet she felt as though she had to.
This mating was killing her slowly, one inch at a time, and she didn’t see a way out of it.
Didn’t see a way out of the pain beyond making sure Quinn and Jesse were happy.
Why did she have to be the better person? Why couldn’t Quinn just love her and choose her?
Why did there have to be a choice?
“I should go,” she whispered. “You need time.”
He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “Stay,” he repeated.
“Quinn? Who is this? Why is there a woman in your house?”
Quinn roared. “Fuck you, Helena. You don’t get to ask those questions.” He turned back to Gina. “Don’t go.”
“Daddy? Gina?”
Gina’s eyes widened, and she turned to Jesse, who stumbled his way into the room, his eyes half closed.
“Jesse,” she whispered.
“Who’s that, Gina?” he asked then put his hand in hers.
Her heart broke that much more.
“Jesse…” Helena breathed.
Quinn quickly stood in front of Jesse and Gina. “Get. Out.” He flared his power again, and this time Gina was forced to her knees. She held Jesse close to her, and he burrowed into her body.
Gina heard Helena scramble away then Quinn’s footsteps as he followed her. She held onto Jesse, rubbing his back, and flinched when Quinn slammed the door shut.
“Who was that?” Jesse asked, his voice shaking.
Gina pulled back and cupped his face. “I’m sorry we woke you.” She wasn’t about to tell him about Helena. That would be Quinn’s job if he chose to do that.
Helena had technically lost all parental rights when she broke the mating bond. She had no right to Jesse or to even see him according to wolf laws. However, that didn’t mean Jesse didn’t deserve to know. This was all about the boy.
Everything Gina was doing was all about Jesse.
Jesse scrunched his face then shook his head. “You didn’t answer me.”
“That was no one,” Quinn said calmly.
Surprised, Gina looked up at him.
He shook his head then knelt beside them. “It was no one important. Now, I’m sorry we woke you. Are you feeling okay?”
Jesse nodded then held out his arms. Quinn smiled slightly then picked Jesse up. “I’m going to put him back to bed,” he said over his shoulder. “We need to talk.”
She ran a hand over her face but didn’t say anything. She honestly didn’t know what to say at all.
He frowned at her, looked as though he wanted to say something else, and then turned with Jesse in his arms. Jesse waved, and she lifted her arm, waving slowly back.
Her eyes burned, but she blinked the tears away.
It wouldn’t do any good to cry now. Her emotions were all over the place, and she wasn’t sure what to think.
One moment she and Quinn were getting hot and heavy on the couch, actually talking about a future and what it meant for them to be mates, and the next the woman from his past walked through the door and Gina’s dreams were shattered.
It didn’t matter that Quinn had told Gina to stay while kicking Helena out.
Things weren’t black and white, and nothing was ever that easy.
Gina had things to think about, and she wasn’t sure she could do it with Quinn in the same room with her. Her heart was already hurt before she’d come over that night, and her head had already been so full of confusing thoughts she couldn’t breathe.
Now she was at the point where if she worried about one more thing she would burst.
On shaky legs, she walked over to the notepad on the fridge and jotted down a note. It didn’t say anything about what she was thinking or what she felt, because, honestly, she couldn’t put any of that into words anyway.
Instead, she said she’d see him in the morning and that she was leaving. Not forever.
She hoped she was doing the right thing, but she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
As quietly as she could, she left the house and her mate behind and made her way to her car.
“Gina?”
She froze then looked over at Lorenzo, her fellow council member. He looked as if he was on a late-night run, and considering he was part of their security force, that made sense.
“Lorenzo,” she said smoothly, surprised that her voice didn’t break.
He frowned then looked between her and Quinn’s home. “Why are you heading out in the middle of the night? Is everything okay?”
She nodded, burying the lie. “I’m just heading back to my den for the night.”
He sighed. “It’s going to suck losing Quinn to the Redwoods, but it’s not like you guys are far away, you know? I’m just glad he finally has a chance to be happy.”
She nodded and pasted a smile on her face. “I’m sorry he had to make that choice.”
Lorenzo shrugged. “Well, it had to happen. It’s not like we can have mated pairs across Pack lines.
That would just lead to more issues than we can deal with.
It used to happen all the time when the Talons were mating frequently.
” He smiled softly. “The fact that you and Quinn are mating at all is a miracle. A blessing from the moon goddess. I guess the council was a good idea after all.”
She kept her smile up, but she knew her eyes held her pain. She couldn’t help it. Lorenzo’s smile fell, and he took a step forward.
“Damn. What’s going on Gina?”
She shook her head. “I…I need to go back.” She sucked in a breath, knowing she had to say something.
“Tell Gideon Helena’s back. Will you?” She knew Quinn would get to it, but with his attention on Jesse, it would take time.
Plus Helena was crawling around the den right then, and Gina wasn’t happy about that fact.
Lorenzo’s eyes widened, and he cursed. “You’ve got to be kidding.” He looked between her and Quinn’s house again. “Gina. Don’t go. Quinn needs you.”
She took another step toward her car. “Just tell Gideon. Okay? I need to go back to my den.”
“Gina.”