Strength to Find Her Way

Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Liam POV

'You need to turn back. There's a group of defectors who want to take down the crown and we're headed right towards them. I can't let them get to you. No one knows I'm your mate so I'll be safe but if you walk right into their compound, I don't want to even think of what could happen.'

I didn't respond. I was dumbfounded by the fact that Quinn was knowingly headed towards the enemy.

'Promise me you'll turn around,' she continued. 'I'll come back to you. I just need to find my mom first. Please Liam, I need you. I can't lose you.'

It took everything in me not to lose control of my wolf. My mate, the future queen, was running towards a group of wolves who wanted to see the end of the crown. If this group is as powerful as they've proven themselves to be, they already know who Quinn is to me, to the kingdom. They'll smell my scent on her for goddess' sake. I was at a loss for words so I just said the first thing that came to mind.

'Are you serious?' I growled. 'Do you have any respect for me at all? For yourself? Your people? You're the future queen, Quinn! You're being blinded by rage right now and not thinking straight. They're going to kill you! Do you know what that will do not only to me but to the kingdom? They'll win, Quinn. Do you understand that? They've been trying to get to you all this time and you're just walking into their trap. I can't believe how incredibly selfish you're being right now.'

I took a breath to calm myself. She thinks she's doing the right thing by getting revenge on whoever took her mother away from her but this is bigger than that. I wish I'd had the chance to tell Quinn more of what I'd learned from my meeting earlier. We are at the brink of war. These people have infiltrated more packs than we are even aware of right now and she's just running blindly towards them.

'Liam...' Quinn begins but I cut her off.

'No Quinn, you need to listen to me for once. I've been incredibly patient with you but you're pushing this too far. I understand your fears but I am here for you. You have so many people in your corner but you insist on taking on all the difficult things alone. Why do you push everyone away when things get hard? I'm here for you but I don't know if I can continue being here for you when you act like this. I don't know if this is going to work.'

My wolf whined and my chest tightened at the thought of losing his mate but he knows I'm right. I can't live my whole life like this, thinking Quinn could just run off at any moment. She drugged me for goddess' sake! That's not normal for mates to do to each other. We're supposed to communicate and work through things together. This can't just be her against the world. We're a team.

'I love you, Quinn. With all my heart. And I mean that. But you're pushing me away. I have tried and tried to get close to you but you've constantly kept this wedge between us. I thought we finally figured things out last night but now I see that it was all a part of your plan. My mark means nothing to you. You only let me do it so you could escape me. Do you not understand how twisted that is? A mark is supposed to be a bonding moment between us and now it feels tainted. How can we build our lives on this kind of deception? I thought I knew you, Quinn. I thought we could make this work...'

By now my running had slowed to a jog. I'm losing my will to push through the exhaustion. My mate bond isn't as strong without my heart being in it. Quinn really doesn't love me. How could she? You don't treat someone you love like this. Even if I make it to Quinn, nothing will change. She's going to put herself in danger just to get away from me like she did last night. I'm always going to be chasing her heart. It'll never truly belong to me. Quinn has proved that time and time again.

I came to an abrupt stop and collapsed on the ground. The exhaustion finally caught up to me and my wolf. With the blow of possibly losing our mate, there was nothing left.

"I can't do this anymore," I whispered.

My warriors eventually caught up to me and upon seeing me crumpled on the ground jumped into protection mode. There was no way for them to protect me from a broken heart though.

________________________________________________________________________________

I highly suggest not doing an accelerated master's program while working full time as a teacher and having a part time job as well.  I barely have time to feed myself, let alone anything else.  As I've said before...I'm going to try to get back to updating regularly now but bear with me if I go off the radar again.