The Pack's Nemesis (Quirin's Story)

Quirin

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I watch my mate leave the dining hall and packhouse, still holding the food in my hand. I'd noticed that she was unusually quiet, that my apology hadn't had the desired effect on her. I'd hoped that maybe joining in with the pack would bring her out a bit, but it seems to have had the opposite effect. It hasn't even been a week and already my darkness is invading her light.

I look at her plate and realize that she didn't eat. Again. She hasn't eaten all day and now she's out burning off energy. Angry, upset energy if I'm understanding the feelings I'm getting from her. When I'd opened the link through our bond this morning, she'd shut me out and she hasn't reopened that link. Now, all I have is my Alpha link to her. It's not as strong as the link through our mate bond but I don't like being shut off from her.

I open my link to the patrols, wondering where she's going.

"Alpha, is our Luna okay?" one of the omegas asks, coming over and looking at her plate still full of food.

"Can you keep that warm for her. If she's not back when I'm done, I'll take it upstairs with me."

"Yes, Alpha," she says, and takes Kennedy's plate.

'Geez! Who was that?' I hear a patrol say. I tune in, wondering who they are talking about.

'Shit, is that our Luna?' I hear another say.

'Fuck, she's fast!' another one says. I push into their minds and see my mate running full out, pulling away from my patrols who have increased their speed to try and keep up with her.

I feel pride in my mate. She may not be a fighter, but she's an Alpha and she's fast. I wonder if I can tap into that. I'd seen it briefly when she'd sparred with Cameron this morning, ducking under his jabs. She needs to learn how to defend herself, at least long enough to give herself the chance to get away, because once she's running, I'm not sure anyone could catch her.

'We need to work on her stamina, too,' Raif says, also worried about our mate's response to us. 'Do you think she's feeling this way because...because I lost control last night? Do you think she's angry with me?' he asks.

'I think she's angry at both of us, Raif. I'm just not exactly sure what she's angry about. We both lost control and not just when we were mating with her. I lost my temper this morning and I did it in front of the warriors.'

'We need to fix this. It's only been a couple of days. We can't destroy her beautiful light,' he says, whining in my head.

"Alpha?" Kier says. I turn and look at him, seeing that everyone at the table is watching me closely. I shake my head. I'm not saying anything. It's none of their damn business. Kier turns and gets the conversation going again, but I can still feel my warriors watching me.

Christy walks by again. "Christy, can you keep my food warm as well. I'm going to wait to eat with my mate."

"Sure thing, Alpha. She's really great," she says, picking up my plate. I turn and focus on her.

"She is, but what do you mean?"

Christy smiles. I'm not sure I've ever seen my omegas smile. Have they? I really don't know.

"She spent a couple of hours with us this morning going over the schedules and food ordering. She's got a great system and

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we're going to start using it," she says.

"Good. That's good." I say, just as I hear my patrols again.

'Shit, is she lapping us?'

'Are you fucking kidding me? She's already run the border and ught us again?'

Based on the level of energy and frustration emanating from my mate, I'd say she's going to be out there for a while.

Raif whines in my head again, wanting to join our mate.

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'Not tonight, Buddy. If she wants space from us, we need to give it to her. Let her burn off her frustration and then we can talk to her.'

I get up from the table, heading to my office. I keep the links open with my patrols and as much as I can with Kennedy. When I feel her wear herself out a little over an hour later, I go get the food that I had the omegas keep warm and I take it to our room. I stay focused on her, sensing that she's by the overhang. It's dark now and I'm glad that it's a safe part of the pack. If we're attacked, she'll have time to get back to the packhouse and a safe room.

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I set the food down and wait for her It almost feels like she's resistant to return to me and the thought makes me ache. If she doesn't come soon, I'm going to go get her. I don't know how to make her happy, but I do know I can't live without her.

When I finally feel her returning to the packhouse, I settle a bit, feeling something tight inside me relax. I set up a table with our food so it's ready when she returns and then I wait.

It isn't long before I hear her on the stairwell and then she opens the door to our bedroom. She stops when she sees me, her eyes going to the food and back up to me.

"What's this?"

"You didn't eat all day. You just burned a serious amount of energy and even if you're still angry with me, Echo must be hungry."

She closes the door. "I need to shower."

"I'll wait for you," I tell her, watching her carefully. I have no idea how she's going

to react. This is not the Kennedy that I'm used to.

She steps past me and just as she reaches the door to the bathroom, she turns back.

"Why do you call me a little pup?"

I frown. "I've always called you Little Pup.”

"But I'm not. I'm not a pup anymore, Quirin."

"I know that Kennedy. But it's been my name for you for so long, that it's just what

I call you."

"I'm not sure you do know that I'm no longer a pup, Quirin. I'm really not sure that you do," she says, turning and walking into the bathroom. I stare after her, listening to the sound of the water turning on and then her showering herself off.

I think about her words. I don't think of her as a pup. I think of her as my mate. The feelings that I have for her are much too intense, too possessive for me to consider her a pup. She's my mate. Mine. I wouldn't feel that way if she were still a pup I never felt this way about her when she was a pup. I've always been drawn

to her and that feeling got stronger as she got

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older, but never the possessiveness that I feel for her now. I would have protected

her before. He now. I'd kill anyone who tried to hurt her.

When she steps out of the bathroom, she stops, seeing me standing right where she left me.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

"Waiting for you. You didn't eat and you need to eat. I'm not saying that because I think you're a pup who needs to be told what to do," I clarify. "But you're my mate and I don't like you going all day without eating. Especially when I'm pretty sure that it was me who put you off your food today."

She looks at me, then at the food behind me.

"You didn't eat either?" she asks.

"I waited for you."

She nods and rubs the towel through her hair before taking it back into the bathroom. I wait while she brushes out her long hair, then comes to sit down. I pull the chair out for her and push it in as she sits.

"Thank you," she says.

I sit across from her and remove the domes from the food. She stares

at it

for

a moment.

"Which one did you say was good?" she asks, looking up at me. For the first time since she walked out of the dining hall tonight, I feel like I can breathe.

"This one," I say, stabbing a bite of the chicken with my fork and holding it out for

her. This time, she leans forward and takes the bite of food, humming her agreement as she chews.

"Arianna made this. I'll make sure to tell her it's excellent."

"Christy said you worked with them this morning to set up a new system for ordering food? That's great," I tell her.noveldrama

The rest of dinner, we keep things light, talking about her new system with the omegas. I tell her that I'll give her the company information that we order our food from so she can order directly from them. I'm thankful to be able to take this off my list of things that I need to do for the pack. It's not hard, but it is time consuming.

When we're done, I put our plates outside our room, letting the evening omegas know that they can come get them and then I go shower. When I return to the room, Kennedy is asleep in our bed.

I curl

up around her, thankful to have her in my arms and hoping that I don't screw things up again tomorrow.