The Beast and the Homecoming Queen (25 page)

“Oh Justin, I am so scared.” She says and she can feel a lump growing in her throat. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.”

Justin squeezes her hand. “I should have told you about the rule, and that is my fault. I will fix this.”

Quinn shakes her head. This is all on her and her alone.

He parks his truck, and Kaden pulls her car next to them. “No this is all on me,” Quinn says and takes her hand away from his as she gets out of the truck.

Five large men are standing at the edge of the
woods; they start to move closer to them. “Crap,” Kaden says.

Quinn looks at her boys. “Quinn they are going to take you, do not fight them. They are the
enforcers,” Justin says, as he takes her face in his hands. Before she can say anything his lips are on hers. “I won't let anything happen to you. Do you understand that?”

Quinn nods, she knows he and Kaden won't let anything happen to her.

“Quinn Murphy, you must face the pack leader, our King, for telling a human about our kind,” one of the five men says, and Justin kisses her forehead.

She nods and turns
around; two of the large men take each arm. The largest stands in front of her, and she looks behind her and finds the other man. Quinn can feel her heart racing with every step she takes. She knows that Justin won't let anything happen to her.

***

Justin and Kaden watches Quinn being led away by their father's enforcers, they both want to kill them. Justin knows he can if he wanted to, he is a pure and they aren’t.

“What is our plan?” Kaden asks
, staring in the same direction Quinn walked in.

There is only one thing he can do, and that will involve killing their father. “I wi
ll enforce my protection on her,” Justin says, and then looks at Kaden. They would be close if Kaden didn’t love his girlfriend.

“So you are going to kill the old man?” An evil smile rises on his face. “I want to help.”

Justin smiles at his brother, they start to walk to where they know the pack is. Justin needs to get somethings off his chest. “I want you to stay with Quinn.” If anything happened to him, she would be shattered. “If anything happens to me, I want you to take care of her, but promise me you won't let her light fade again.”

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 m
y 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 woo
ds 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 pa
st 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 h
appen 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 hurtin
g. “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 ne
ver 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 o
f 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 s
ame 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 fingernails 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 laugh
ing. 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 o
f 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.

“Kis
s 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 Nept
une 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.