Thrown to the Wolves

Chapter 12

Quentin's POV

I let Sean lead me to the back of the pack house, to a hallway lined with several doors. "These are the guest rooms," he explained. "You can stay here while Markus goes into heat." He opened the door to one of them, and allowed me inside. It was a simple room with a bed, a closet to the left, and a window to the right. Nothing like the room I shared with Markus. "It should be okay for tonight, yeah?"

Nodding, I sat down on the bed. "Thank you... I uh... I think I'll... take a nap? If that's okay?"

Sean stepped out of the doorway, nodding. "Of course, Lu-Quentin... Have a good rest." With that he closed the door with a soft click, his receding footsteps echoing in my ears until he was gone. 

As soon as Sean was gone, I felt my heart speed up. Did I make the right decision? Did I screw it all up? I thought back to Markus's expression when he told me he'd find me a room to stay in. He had his brow furrowed and a pained look in his eyes, saddened by the idea that I didn't want to be his mate.

It's not that I didn't, though. I was... Afraid. I could see the want and need swirling in his eyes and I knew that if I allowed him to, he'd devour me whole. I didn't know if I was ready to relinquish myself to someone like that yet. But, even with all these insecurities, I still wanted to be with Markus.

Laying down on the bed, I shivered at the feeling of being alone. I'd be become so used to sleeping next to Markus that being away from him felt... Cold. Still, I forced my eyes closed and attempted to sleep. Just as I was about to drift off, there was a knock st the door. I sat up and frowned. "Yes?"

The door opened and my brother appeared, grinning at me. The first thing I noticed as he came over to sit next to me on the bed was his complete lack of a shirt. I scowled. "Couldn't you at least get dressed before coming to see me?"

He shrugged. "It's humid outside. Didn't think there was a dress code here."

Rolling my eyes, I sat back against the headrest. "What do you want? Shouldn't you be spending time with Felan?"

"He's asleep. Tired from playing chess. Besides, I came to talk to you about Markus. I heard you weren't going to spend tomorrow together?"

"N-no..." I admitted, looking down. "So what? It's not like that's a big deal."

"Well, no, but I figured I should warn you."

"About what?"

"The side effects of being mated to a Werewolf." Kyran looked me in the eye, his expression serious. "You know the taste of your mate's blood?" I nodded, and he continued. "Then you should know this: the blood of a mate tastes much sweeter when they're in heat. And your hunger becomes amplified."

"Meaning?" I got the gist of what he was saying. Markus's blood will taste much better to me tomorrow when he goes into heat. But why is he telling me this? It's not like it's going to change my mind about the mating.

"Meaning you will feel the inexplicable urge to feed tomorrow, similar to a Werewolf's need to mate, and you won't be able to stop it. You will be hunting tomorrow, whether you want to or not."

I froze. Inexplicable hunger? "But why?"

"Think of it as a side effect. Your body changing to match your partner's. It's a new concept, as we are probably two among of very few others who are mated to Werewolves. Basically, think of it like your body accepting your mate's and trying to adapt itself to further match the design of Markus's. He goes into heat, you go into hunting mode."

I looked down, swallowing. That means... We'll both go into a sort of heat tomorrow? He'll feel the need to mate with me, and I'll want to feed on his blood during that time. "But how do I stop this?"

"You can't. The best thing to do is just mate with him." Kyran shrugged, giving me a smile. "I'd recommend that. It feels amazing to connect with the one you love."

"I-... I'm afraid." I finally admitted this, burying my face in my knees. "Giving myself up to Markus? I would love to, but... I've started seeing him as a beast. The wolf that he really is. I can't do it. I feel afraid of the determination in his eyes when he looks at me, like there's no escape if I surrender."

"Well, Vampires are fickle and prideful creatures. We'd never stay with one person long, and we'd certainly never give up control. But if you truly love him, you'll learn to give and take." Kyran stood from the bed, patting my head. "Just do what you think is best, and don't forget to think of Markus's feelings. That's all I wanted to say." With a final nod Kyran left the room, no doubt going back to wake Felan from his nap.

"Do what I think is best..." If it were a month ago, I'd have just disappeared into the night as soon as I saw an opening. I'd have forgotten any of this ever happened and gone off to live life like usual. But now... I don't want to leave. I don't want to forget Markus or Sean or my time here. I feared the beastly side of Markus, but I feared leaving him even more.

Taking a deep breath, I stood from the bed and walked into the kitchen. Sean was in the living room, reading a book before he looked up at me and stood. "Quentin. Done with your nap?"

"Yes... Um... Do you know where Markus is?"

"Yeah, I think he went to his office. Why?"

I looked down for a moment, then looked back at Sean with my determination set. "I have something to tell him."

A/N: Hello everyone, sorry for the late update. Life's pretty hectic lately, and I've made a couple story decisions that took a while to work out. For one, I've decided to start making the chapters for this story longer! I hope to make them all longer, but for now I'm going to start with this one. Of course, you'll all have your promised mature chapter so I had to work on setting up for that, and then just some stuff I was working on for other stories. It's a bit late, but my new year's resolution is to be able to update at least every one or two weeks, or at least once a month. I don't know how it will work out, but I'll try my best. I hop you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. Until then happy reading!!