Strength to Find Her Way

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Quinn POV

Liam was quick to jump into action. My wolf growled wanting to protect her mate though so I jumped out of the water as well.

"What are you doing?" Liam asked, a furious light blazing in his eyes.

"I'm helping," I responded brusquely before pushing past him.

The rogue stepped out of the brush and looked us over. "Well well well, what do we have here? A prince and his innocent little mate I take it? Isn't this just too precious? Are you two off for a romantic swim together? How sweet." He bared his yellow teeth, showing off his elongated canines. The sight made me sick. I hate rogues.

Liam growled deeply before lunging at the rogue. I didn't want Liam to get hurt though so I did the same. Being faster than him, I reached the grotesque creature first. I brought my palm to his throat, allowing my claws to elongate in the process.

"Don't talk to my mate like that," I growled.

"Quinn!" I heard Liam call behind me. I ignored him though. I had a rogue to kill.

My claws slowly dug into his neck and I could feel the blood start to pour from the gaping wounds. He was clawing at me frantically but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of letting it affect me.

"Why are you on our land?" I asked the rogue coldly.

He gurgled a response but the words didn't come out.

"Tell me now or I'll torture it out of you!" I yelled as I took my other hand and dragged it across his fleshy side. He howled in pain and nodded his head. I retracted my claws slightly to allow him to talk.

"I was told to take the thing that means the most to him," he responded quietly.

"What do you mean?" I yelled viciously.

"You," he whispered. "I'm here for you."

I'd heard enough. I dug my claws in further and ripped his throat out. Blood spattered across my face and stomach as the life left the rogue's eyes. I stood up and dusted myself off. I probably looked a mess.

I turned around to see Liam only a couple feet behind me. I could see he was struggling with his emotions. I saw anger for sure, there was also pride, and lastly I think there was fear but he tried to hide it.

"What were you thinking, Quinn?" he yelled.

"I didn't want you to get hurt," I replied simply.

"I'm the one who's supposed to protect you," he responded.

I scoffed. "That goes both ways, skippy. As much as your wolf wants to keep me safe, I want to keep you safe just as much. I'm not going to let some antiquated idea make it so that I can't protect my own mate. Guess you'll have to be faster next time."

I turned to make my way to the stream to clean off. Before I could reach it though, a pair of strong arms wrapped around me from behind. Liam turned me around in his arms and held me close for a moment, breathing in my scent from my neck.

"You scared me half to death, Quinn," he whispered in my ear. "I only just got you and I can't lose you yet. You're everything to me. I need you to be safe and think things through. Can you do that for me, please?" He looked absolutely desperate as he made his plea. I wasn't going to back down though.

"Liam, I'm fine," I tried to comfort him. He looked warily at my side though. I'd forgotten about the gashes the rogue had given me. They were already starting to heal though.

"Please believe me, Liam. I'm perfectly fine. These will heal in no time. I barely noticed they were there until you reminded me. I can handle myself. You don't need to worry about me like that. You won't be able to stop me from fighting though. I'm not going to sit back and let someone else fight my battles for me. I was raised a fighter and I will die a fighter."

Liam pulled me tighter at my last comment. "Don't talk about that," he whimpered.

"Okay," I agreed. "But I just need you to know that you can't change who I am. If you want me to change, this isn't going to work. You'll have to promise me if you want to be with me. Until then, I can't give you anything."

I could see his internal fight through his eyes. This was hard for him. His wolf is hardwired with a need to protect but also with the desire to have me in his life. There was no way to have both.

Liam finally seemed to come to some sort of agreement with his wolf and he looked deeply into my eyes. He stood there staring for a moment before he spoke. "How about this," he began. "We protect each other but you have to let me protect you from time to time? You already know you're faster than I am. You proved that today. You can't always jump in front of me and take down everything in my way. My wolf won't be able to stand it if we don't get the chance to return the favor every so often. How does that sound?"

I mulled it over for a moment. It would be hard for me to go against my nature but I guess it was fair. He's the prince after all, the ultimate alpha, and he needs certain things to keep his wolf at bay as well.

"Deal," I agreed. "I'll let your wolf have some of the action from time to time."

Liam smiled brightly and picked me up. I wrapped my legs around him instinctively and I saw his eyes dart to my lips. I wanted to kiss him too. I knew my face was probably covered in the rogue's blood but he didn't seem to care.

Our faces got closer and closer before I could feel his lips graze lightly across mine. And then he kissed me. This kiss had a lot more feeling behind it than the ones last night. I think he was letting all the things he'd felt for me in the past few minutes out in this kiss. I could barely keep up.

My lips are going to be swollen after this but I didn't care. I kissed him back just as passionately. He slowed his pace eventually and we were both breathing heavily. He pulled away but left his forehead pressed to mine.

"Thank you," he said breathlessly.

"For what?" I asked, just as breathless.

"For trusting me," he added before setting me down.

I stood there for a moment thinking about what he'd said. I do trust him. I trust him a lot. I know he would never do anything to hurt me.

"Why don't we get cleaned off in the stream before heading back to the pack house?" I heard him call, pulling me from my daze. "We don't want you scaring anyone looking like you've just taken down an army of wolves," he chuckled.

"Wouldn't be the first time," I mumbled under my breath.

"What did you say?" I heard Liam call from the bank of the stream.

"Nothing!" I yelled before running in to do a cannonball.

The last thing I saw before breaking the surface of the water was Liam rolling his eyes.