Essence of Quinn Parts 3 & 4: Papa IV Era & The Main Event - Fate Breaker (MxM)

Truth

Quinn spent the rest of the night in Air’s bed, awake and fretting. Air and Calista slept soundly next to him, curled up together, exhausted and peaceful. 

He envied them a little. Air had picked up on Quinn’s anxiety, but he’d done a pretty good job of putting his mate’s mind at rest, convincing him it was just worry about Amaya going back. Once Air was satisfied that's all it was, he and Cali had drifted off to sleep.

That initial stab of anxiety Quinn had felt at Amaya’s words had turned into a full-blown bad feeling, and try as he might to tempt it, the ether offered zero help with it. He tried to rationalise that this was the ether. It was fickle. It rarely helped him out anyway, but in his gut he knew that wasn’t it. 

He couldn’t see events from his own future. He couldn’t see this. 

Quinn glanced at the window and could tell it was still dark outside the closed drapes. Dawn was on its way, so he figured he would give up trying to rest and take himself outside. Maybe he could run off some of this feeling of imminent doom? Maybe not. Hopefully, he’d feel better for it either way, though. 

He silently climbed out of bed, impressed when neither Air nor Calista even stirred, threw on his clothes and left. 

It was raining out, but at least it wasn’t cold. The thick blanket of clouds held an eerie glow from the promise of the imminent sunrise. Quinn took a deep breath and huffed it out, closing his eyes and savouring the earthy, wet scents of the outdoors. The peace he usually felt from it didn’t quite hit, so he growled and took off running. 

Quinn spent a while weaving in and out of the trees, running along the perimeter wall and back through the woods. He ran hard and eventually zoned out enough that the burning in his muscles and the damp air in his lungs distracted him for a few blissful moments.  

It helped, but it wasn’t quite enough. 

When he was done, he stalked back to the lair, soaked to the skin, muddy and tired. 

Air, Calista, Earth, Zoe and Water were eating breakfast in the kitchen, and they all paused and looked up at him as he stopped in the doorway. Earth’s eyes roamed over his body, and Quinn scowled at him. 

“Good run?” he said, voice carrying a hint of gravel from sleep. 

Quinn shrugged. 

“It’s raining.” 

Earth snorted a laugh. 

“No shit.” 

Quinn sighed. 

“I guess I should go get cleaned up.” 

He had the day off, but had made no plans beyond moping around and re-stocking his apothecary. 

Air frowned at him. 

“You okay?” 

Quinn nodded and looked away. 

“Yeah.” 

He carried on to his room, but Calista’s voice in the hallway halted him mid step. 

“Quinn?” she said.  

He half turned his face towards her, but didn’t turn all the way around. 

“What?” 

“We need to talk about something.” 

Quinn sighed again and faced her, trying to get a feel for her emotions. She was worrying about something. 

“Are you alright?” he asked.