Chapter 22

(Chapter song ‘Bang Your Head’ by Fukkk Offf)

QUINN I burst out the back of the ballroom to the back alley.

I see him with two other Lycans behind him. I’m outnumbered, but I have a lot of blood in my right now.

“Quinn. Nice party.” He gives me a smart ass look as I eye him from under my brow.

My fists ball and my lip curls. “I told you to stay away.”

He laughs. “Until you decide to be King, I don’t have to listen to shit. Your shifter is running things and lycans don’t listen to filthy shifters.”

“I won’t let you hurt anyone.” I growl.

“You can’t stop us, Quinn. You might as well say yes.” He stuffs his hands in his pockets and smirks.

“No.”

My eyes glow blue and I take off my jacket. The music thumps inside and I can hear the people. The ones I’m not letting Liam near.

His men get their backs up. Liam raises a hand to hold them back. “Quinten wants a challenge. Let’s give him what he wants.”

In a second, Liam bursts out of his clothes into full Lycan.

I rip my shirt sleeves and call my arms with a deep, demonic growl.

We run at each other and Liam skids to a stop when we get close. He backhands me and I fly down the alley, landing and rolling down the asphalt.

“You won’t win this unless you release him, Quinn.” He says through his open wolf jaws.

“Yes, I will.” I grit. I get to my feet and run at him. Once in his space, I land blow after blow to his wolf head. He grabs me and slams me into the ground.

I burst out of my clothes to my wolf and my teeth sink into his arm.

He howls and lets go. I back off and stare him down, baring my teeth “Pathetic.” He growls.

‘I’ll give him pathetic.’ I think.

I concentrate hard. My wolf growls loud as my body triples in size. I call my transformation skills to my wolfs muscle structure.

I now stand a full two feet bigger than a Zeta. My strength is combined with my Lycan.

It’s over. I run at Liam and the ground shakes under my paws. I lunge at him with snapping jaws.

He holds my neck and punches my head, but it doesn’t phase me. My wolf keeps biting and snapping at him. His claws dig into my thick fur and skin.

He grabs my scruff and picks me up. He throws me against the building. My body slams the brick and I crash to the pavement. Pain hits me, but I’m not quitting. I struggle to my front feet and Liam grabs me throws me into a dumpster.

Ok. That hurt. My wolf tries to get up again.

Liam straddles my back and wraps an arm around my neck. He squeezes. This forces me to shift. My hands grab his arm as I struggle to breath. He shifts back and his lips are at my ear.

“I don’t want to kill you, cousin, but you give me no choice.” He grinds in my ear.

My vision starts to go white as I try to fight him off.

“QUINN!”

I hear my name and the next thing I know, I’m on my hands and knees coughing my breath back.

My ears adjust to growling and fighting me hind me.

I turn and Liam is being beaten back by a tiny red wolf.

Aw…Fuck no!

“PAISLEY!” My face fills with shock, but quickly turns to anger. My wolf rages and I shift.

I run full force back to Liam and slam him out of Paisleys attack. We hit the palace wall and my wolf sinks his teeth into Liam’s shoulder. He growls, shaking the alley way and grabs my muzzle, pries me off and bites me in return. My wolf howls in pain.

I see Paisley hit the wall beside us. She was thrown by one of Liam’s men.

Paisleys wolf bites Liam’s leg and he drops me.

My neck is bleeding, but all that does is make me madder. I lunge at him again and we both fall to the ground. He’s holding me back and I have two paws on his chest.

We roll and he’s on top. He’s fingers wrap around my neck.

The next thing I know, Liam’s being ripped off and thrown. I lift my head and a brown wolf is standing at my feet. He looks at me. ‘Need some help?’

‘Grey?’ I link back.

‘No! Wes! Why is this so fucking hard for people?!’ His wolf growls.

‘Sorry.’

‘Who is this guy?’ He asks as I stand and Liam gets up.

‘Tell you later. Go help the red head.’

Wes jumps a Lycan that has Paisley. She’s definitely able to hold her own, but not against two lycans.

I lunge at Liam and land another bite on his other shoulder. This time I don’t hesitate. I tear it off.

He screams a dark scream and falls back.

He looks at his shoulder and looks at me. “This isn’t over.” He growls.

He turns and runs to a fire escape.

Paisley is buried. I don’t have time to run after him.

I sprint to her and grab the back skin of one of the lycans. I lift him and throw him down the alley.

Wes grabs the second guy in his teeth and slams him into the ground repeatedly. The guy breaks free and scrambles down the alley to escape.

Paisley backs off while I take care of the last man. I throw him again and he lands in the street. He gets back on his feet and takes off.

I shift and turn back. Paisleys shifted on the ground.

“Sparky! Are you ok?” I run to her and fall to the ground beside her. She’s dirty and her arm is bleeding.

“Yeah. They got the drop on me, but it’s just a scratch.” She wipes the blood away and her skin is already starting to knit together.

I hold her head and wipe her face. “That was stupid! You shouldn’t have done that!”

“No, you shouldn’t have done that! Going after Liam without back up! Are you nuts?!” She scowls at me.

“I had it handled.” I let go of her and stand.

“No, Quinn. You didn’t. You almost died. Now, what’s going on?” She stands too.

Wes also shifted. “Yeah. Who were those guys?”

I rub my forehead. “Rivals. They want Phoenix. I won’t let them have it.”

“What? This is a Lycan territorial fight?’ Wes crosses his arms.

“Something like that.” I eye him.

Paisley steps closer. “Quinn. You’re not a Lycan.”

“No. I’m a hybrid. Something Liam is very interested in.” I say as I start down the alley.

“A hybrid? You’re part Lycan?” Paisley asks as she joins my side.

“Yes. An Alpha male. Liam wants to plant a queen here and make me her Breed Prince. I won’t let him.” I grit.

She stops me. “You know, that’s pretty big information, Quinn. You should have told me.”

“You didn’t need to know. I wanted to keep you out of it. Liam’s starting a territory war and I can’t allow other people to get involved in it.” I look at her.

She stares me down. “Except your missing a pretty important piece, Bucko. You don’t have a pack. Not to mention, if Lycans want to start a pack war, we are involved because everyone gets hurt.”

I shake my head. “Look, if I can take Liam down, the pack won’t have a leader. I don’t need to fight the whole pack, just Liam.”

“You still need backup.” Paisley eyes me.

Wes puts his hand up. “I’ll help.”

I look at him. “Don’t you have better things to do in Falcon?”

He shakes his head. “No. I need to get away for a while anyway. Ever since Grey found Mia, I’ve been stalked by someone or something.”

I turn to him. “What do mean?”

“Like literally. For 12 years, I’ve felt like I’m being watched, weird shit happens around me and I keep finding shit like leaves and flowers in my room. I’ve tried to get help, but everyone just thinks I’m nuts. So if you have a fight, I’m your man for as long as you need me.”

I think about. I know involving people is going to bite me in the ass, but they might be right. Liam is at least matched in my strength.

I look at them both. “Ok. You can help, but I still want to keep this between us.”

“Quinn. We can help. We’ve fought them before.” Wes says.

I shake my head. “This isn’t like that. This is a Lycan male thing. My business. I need to stand my own ground.”

And keep my ass out of jail.

“Involving the council will make me look weak. That makes me a target for others. I play by the rules and it will make for less casualties.” I start walking to the street.

“I do have to wonder why here?” Paisley asks. “I mean, I understand eliminating the threat of you, but why is Liam here in the first place. We’ve already sent him packing, but he comes back? Why?”

“Maybe there’s something here that he wants.” Wes says.

“Yeah. Me.” I respond.

Paisley shakes her head. “No. I think he’s looking for someone else. He seems to not care that the Enforcers keep kicking him out. He’s determined to find what he’s looking for. If he just wanted a pack war, he’d show up with an army, not him and a few men.”

I glance at her. “He doesn’t have the status.”

“What?” Wes looks at me.

“No. It makes sense. Liam doesn’t have the Alpha status he said he did. He’s more than likely equal to his rivals even with human blood. He’s looking for something more. Whatever that is will give him the power he needs to boost up his rank. The question is, what’s more powerful than human blood?”

I roll this question over in my mind as we shift and run through the city back to the pack house.

Liam’s looking for some magic cocktail to increase his strength and for some reason he thinks it’s here. If that is true, than stopping him is even more important.

After showering and changing, we sit in my room.

“I don’t think Liam’s going to cause anymore problems tonight. I injured him pretty bad. He’ll need at least a few days.” I say as I dry my hair with a towel.

Wes nods. “Ok. I’m gonna go. Call me when he surfaces again.”

“Will do. Thanks.” I fist bump him.

He runs his hand through his wet brown hair. His blue eyes flick between me and Paisley. “No problem. It’s nice doing something different and getting away from my twin for a while.”

Paisleys brows shoot up. “Twin?”

I sit on my bed next to her. “Grey and Wes Andrews are identical twins. Grey’s the Alpha of Falcon Ridge and Wes, here is his Beta.”

“Much to my disdain.” Wes mutters.

I chuckle. “You’re still bitter.”

“Uh, yeah. Have you met my brother?” He crosses his arms over his thick chest. Being a trainer for a military base, he’s way bigger than me in the muscle department. His brother’s a trainer too. From what I remember, they were always together. It’s weird seeing him without Grey now.

“When I was 5, but I see your point.” I chuckle.

“Grey’s probably looking for me, so I better go.” He smiles.

“Ok. I’ll call you.” I nod.

He leaves my room and I turn to my firecracker of a partner. “You, Miss Detective, impressed me tonight.”

I lay us down on my pillows and Paisley lays her wet head on my chest. “I did?”

“Yes you did. Despite your size, you put up a pretty good fight and you saved me.”

She turns her face to me. “Red wolves never back down.” She narrows her eyes with smile.

I grin. “That’s my favorite thing about them.”

I grab her nape and bruise her lips, rolling myself on top of her as I deepen the kiss.