Strength to Find Her Way

Chapter 65

Chapter 65

Quinn POV

"And here are the royal gardens," Queen Genevieve continued with her tour.

So far she'd shown Suze and I the training grounds, guard houses, and the nearby village where the workers and nearby pack members lived. Luckily I think Genevieve understood I wasn't ready to officially meet too many people so she only briefly introduced me as a guest to the head guard and the alpha of the nearby pack. I'm sure she understood that Liam would want to do formal introductions once he officially announced me as his mate.

Currently we were strolling through the most gorgeous gardens I had ever seen. I swear every flower in existence could be found here. There were huge peony bushes, sunflowers that almost touched the sky, rose bushes with the most beautiful roses I'd ever seen, and so much more. It was hard not to stop and stare at each individual flower.

It was almost lunchtime though and that was when Liam promised to see me again.

"We'll be dining in the gazebo for lunch. I hope that's alright ladies," the queen gracefully offered.

"That would be lovely, Genevieve," Suze replied.

She really seems to be comfortable at the palace already. I'm so happy for Suze. She and Ethan are going to make an amazing royal beta couple.

As we approached the gazebo, I started sniffing the air for my mate. When I caught no trace of him, I felt momentarily dejected. He had promised to meet me here. I'd become quite accustomed to having him around and he was a sort of security blanket to me now that I don't have my pack or family.

"Should we wait for the boys?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh I'm sure they'll be along," Genevieve said, waving me off. "Once they get to working, it's hard to pull them away sometimes. I'll have one of the workers call for them."

She called over a young shewolf and a minute later the girl was on her way towards the castle.

"Sit, ladies. Let's chat," Genevieve offered us each a seat at the round wicker table. "So Suze, tell me about how you and Ethan met."

I could see Suze's eyes light up as she went into detail about how they locked eyes from across the ballroom as well as their first night at Diamond Crescent when Ethan had to stay in a different room. I spaced out as I'd heard this story many times as well as lived through most of it.

A few servers brought out salads, sandwiches, and some fruit for us to enjoy for our light lunch. I was halfway through my second turkey sandwich when I noticed everyone had stopped talking and was looking at me.

"Uhm," I mumbled through the large bite of sandwich in my mouth. "What cahn I hep you wif?"

I swallowed my food as Suze rolled her eyes at me. "Excuse Quinn, Genevieve. She's honestly one of the boys more than one of the girls. She was raised with three brothers you know."

Genevieve gave Suze a knowing nod before looking my way with a bit of sympathy. "You poor dear. It's so wonderful you had Suze here to look after you with all that testosterone around you every day."

I nodded, not knowing what to say. I never thought there was anything wrong with my upbringing. I liked being one of the boys most of the time.

"So what about you and Liam?" the queen asked enthusiastically. "How was it for you two? Was it love at first sight?"

I choked on the water I had just taken a full mouthful of. Suze reached over to pat my back lightly as I regained my composure.

"Uh, not exactly," I began. "Liam and I kind of...got off to a rocky start."

I wasn't sure how to explain this to the queen. Liam was her only son and it was clear she loved him dearly. She furrowed her eyebrows slightly but nodded for me to continue.

"You see, I wasn't too keen on finding my mate at my first ball. I actually didn't turn eighteen until the first night so I couldn't sense Liam. He was able to sense me though. He kind of followed me home without me knowing after I left for my first shift."

"HE WHAT?" the queen yelled.

"Erm, yeah," I continued, not wanting to go into those details too much. I don't think I was ready to tell her about the whole sleeping in my bed thing. "So then we met for real the next day at the ball and I kind of threw water on him." I winced remembering the moment.

The queen looked like she was about to faint.

"We talked it out and I told him I wouldn't come back to the castle with him. So he decided to move to Diamond Crescent while I finished my last week of school. My pack was attacked though and Liam wanted to bring me here to be safe and that's basically where we're at now."

The Queen looked between Suze and I as if we would add more. "So, I'm a bit lost here. Have you accepted him as your mate? I can smell that you don't bear his mark. I just assumed you were a bit more old fashioned and were waiting a bit. You do plan to take his mark, don't you?"

This was not what I wanted to deal with right now. I don't even know the answer to that question. Luckily at that moment the girl who the queen had sent to collect the men had come back.

"Your majesty," she greeted. "It appears the gentlemen are still in discussion but send their apologies. They will not be joining you for lunch."

Hearing this caused me to whimper. My wolf and I were both growing restless without our mate. He was the only one who could bring us comfort while we're here in unfamiliar territory. Suze seemed a bit upset as well. She was still a newly mated shewolf and was surely missing Ethan the same as me.

The queen was virtually unaffected. She must be used to this. "No matter," she waved off the girl who gracefully curtsied and went back to her work. "Would you ladies like a tour of the inside of the castle while the men work a bit more?"

"I don't think so," I said truthfully. These were things I expected to do with Liam and seeing where he grew up without him felt wrong. "I actually think I'm going to retire back to Liam's wing for a bit."

"It's your home now too, Quinn," the queen said, reaching out for my hand. "I understand though. It's been a long day. I'm sure you two need some rest."

Little did she know I had no intention of resting. There was one other thing that could calm me down and it was a good workout in the beautiful gym just below Liam's quarters. I was going to spend some time working out my frustration from missing my mate.

Maybe by doing that, I would finally figure out exactly what I want. The queen is right, I need to make a decision and I need to make it soon. Is Liam really my forever? My destiny?