Inevitably Yours

QUINN

“I apologize for making you wait,” Elly said as she entered her office. We had been escorted inside and asked to wait. It had taken a few months, but she finally emailed M that she was home and able to meet with us. She set some books and folders down on her desk, then took her seat. “Your message said you had something for me from a mutual acquaintance?”

“Does the name Arathorn ring a bell?” Michael asked beside me. Elly’s eyes went wide for just a moment before she recovered.

“I’ve come across it before,” she answered. She was lying but only a little; it was more than that.

“Well, he seems to think he knows you well enough to pass along a message,” Michael said carefully. “I think you let on less of the truth than I would have liked during our last meeting.”

I looked at Elly quizically. That hum was in my head. There was magic in the room.

“Well, I am flattered. I am not sure what help I could be to this person,” she said. “And what message per se am I supposed to pass along?”

“You’ve met them before, haven’t you?” I cut in. Elly looked me in the face with a soft smile.

“Them?” she questioned. She was playing dumb.

“The Fae. You have met them before,” I stated.

“I am the foremost occult expert in the world. I know much about a variety of supernatural races,” she returned. She turned her attention back to Michael, knowing I was done with our conversation. “This message?”

“Why would we be tasked with bringing this to you?” M asked her.

She shrugged and folded her hands in front of her. “I am just as interested as you are,” she said. She was telling the truth, but then she was also giving us half answers. Michael pulled the thick paper from his pocket, turning it over in his hands.

“I question whether this is the right thing to do,” he admitted.

“What is the message?” she asked.

“You tell us,” he said, finally handing over the paper Arathorn had somehow pushed inside his tattoo to be smuggled into our world. It still didn’t make sense why he wouldn’t just come to our world and speak to this Farryn person himself.

Elly took the paper from Michael and opened it. She couldn’t hide it this time; her expression reflected her shock. She swallowed and looked back up at us. “So, you know nothing of what this says?”

We both shook our heads. “Can you read it?” Michael asked her. She folded the page, and her eyes went to me briefly.

“The message isn’t for me, but I will find a way to ensure its delivery. Thank you for bringing this to me. I believe you are a sincere and honorable man, Mr. Galbraith,” she said.

“That didn’t answer my question,” he pointed out.

“Do you blame me?” she said, raising an eyebrow at me. Michael looked at me too. He must have told her about what I could do when he went to her for help. Michael stood and held his hand out for me.

“We won’t take up any more of your time. Will that message drag us into the middle of another problem with the Fae?” he asked.

“No,” she answered, shaking her head. “This is an old issue, far before your time. You should not see any retaliatory action for delivering the message.”

Michael nodded to Elly, and we turned to leave. “She knows Arathorn,” I told him silently.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“I could guess that much,” he said. “She was watching her words carefully. Did you smell it?”

I nodded; she smelled exactly like them. “Should we be worried?” I asked him as we exited the building. Michael stopped and looked down at me, considering everything that had just happened.

“I think we are finally free of it all. I think we can put it all behind us and move on. Whatever Elly’s involvement is, it doesn’t concern us. I think it’s best never to find out because that means we aren’t involved, and the Fae leave us alone,” Michael concluded. I nodded my head, agreeing. Staying out of their disputes was more than okay with me.

6 YEARS LATER

Belle, Junior, and Diane were on an overnight school trip, so Rowan and Daniel went with Claire for the night for some special grandma time. Michael was slowly trying to convince her to retire completely and move into the packhouse with us. I decided to take a long shower after a run with Michael. He wanted to join me, but Andrea called him away with something.

When I stepped out of the shower, I was wrinkly and pink; I felt so much better. Having four pups, a business, and a busy packhouse left very little time for little things like extra long, extra hot showers.

I wrapped myself in a towel and headed to the bedroom to get some clothes. Michael was sitting on the bed reading something. I didn’t pay attention to him at first, seeking some soft sweatpants and one of his sweatshirts to relax in.

“Blue, this is really good,” he said from the bed as I pulled my pants on.

“What is it? Did you find a new series for us?” I asked him, assuming he ordered another book for us to try.

“No. Your notebook was sitting on the bed. I knocked it off, and it caught my eye when I picked it up,” he said. I spun around to face him.

“Don’t read that!” I shouted.

“Why not? It’s so good, Q,” he said. I grabbed for the notebook, but he pulled it back.

“You don’t need to read any of that!” I insisted. He kept moving my notebook out of my grasp. I usually kept them in a drawer or out of sight so he wouldn’t be interested. I forgot I left it sitting on the bed. “I didn’t realize you were writing short stories and stuff. I thought you were journaling or something!”

“Please give it back,” I begged. His arm caught me around the center, holding me from trying to get the book.

“I don’t know what you’re so embarrassed about. I’ve watched you have four pups; it doesn’t get much more personal than that,” he said.

“I don’t know. Can I just have it back?” I asked. I couldn’t help the embarrassment. I didn’t write anything in that notebook with the intent for anyone else in the world to read it.

“Fine, I’ll give it back. But I think you should consider sharing this. These could really turn into something amazing,” he encouraged. He held the notebook up so I could grab it, making me k**s him first.

“I appreciate that, but where would I have the time? We have teens and a business. Without Judy around anymore, there is always work to be done around here. Plus, Alphas and Lunas never get a day off. How would I add a writing career to that when I’m not even a real writer?” I asked him exasperatedly.

“So?” Michael retorted. “All it takes to be a real writer is to write something.”

“It’s not that easy. I’ll stick with being Luna for now,” I said. I tossed the notebook onto my nightstand. Michael’s hands dipped under his sweatshirt.

“I think we need to talk about all the clothes you’re currently wearing,” he said with a smirk.

–

“I don’t know how you do it, sis,” Kent said, sitting back in his chair. We were sitting on my parent’s back porch. Junior was shifted and jumping around while Rowan, Daniel, and Kent’s oldest were chasing him around. Rowan and Daniel were trying to shoot him with a dart gun while my nephew laughed his butt off.

“Do what?” I asked.

“All the kids on top of being Luna and owning that business. I am barely keeping up with work and Ashley, let alone the pups,” he sighed. He looked really tired. His mate and new pup were inside with my mom and Belle. My dad and Michael were doing something in the garage.

“You’ll find your grove,” I told him. “Trust me; I am really not perfect. I accidentally tossed Junior’s wrestling schedule in the garbage and left Daniel’s band concert off my schedule.”

“You make it look easy,” he said. Junior knocked Rowan over, and he started crying. Kent went to get up, and I stopped him.

“Just wait a second,” I said. Junior came over and pulled Rowan up to his feet by the back of his shirt. Then, he licked his face in apology. Junior’s wolf was already close to Michael’s in size. He was chomping at the bit to find his mate and take over as Alpha. I didn’t want to be Luna forever, but I wanted him to enjoy his adolescence for as long as possible.

“See? I have the urge to just run for them. You know when to let them fix it,” Kent said, sitting back. I shook my head.

“Oh no. There are four of them, five if you count Diane. That’s as much for my survival as theirs. If I ran after them over every little thing, I’d literally do nothing else,” I laughed at him. He hung his head back.

“Maybe this is penance for being a little jerk as a kid,” he g*****d.

“I’ll go check on dinner,” I chuckled, standing up to go inside and choosing not to comment on his grumblings. When I stepped in the door, Ashley was sitting at the dinette table with their new pup in her arms. Belle and my mom were getting dinner stuff ready.

“Oh, Quinn,” Ashley said. “I had something I wanted to show you. You like books, right?” I didn’t particularly love my brother’s mate, but I didn’t dislike her either. She was just sort of there. He seemed happy, so I never said anything, although I got the feeling neither of them were ready for pups when they had the first.

“Yea, I like to read,” I said.

“Did you know they have all these apps with books on them now?” she said, pushing her phone toward me. “Some of them are free too!”

–

I laid in bed scrolling through the app Ashley showed me. It was interesting, and the books on it made me giggle. They were all mainly romance genres, many being fantasy which was my favorite. Some were very well written, and it seemed crazy they were free or relatively inexpensive while others weren’t so good. After a little digging, I found that this app garnered its available offerings by allowing users to submit their work. It was a cool concept.

A text message popped up from Adi, asking if we could come to get her from college on Friday so she could surprise Andrea for her birthday. I smiled and replied with an enthusiastic “of course!” That girl was remarkable, bubbly, and vicious, all wrapped up in a tall package. She didn’t want a mate just yet because she was too focused on being a warrior and working with our company. Michael told her to go learn something, anything, before confining herself to the pack and then secretly worked with her college to get her a scholarship, so Andrea didn’t have to worry about her.

I went back to the app, now sporting a banner encouraging users to submit their stories. “Do it,” Sapphire goaded me.

“Why?” I asked her.

“Because it’s something different. You’ve never done it before,” she said.

“While that is a good point, who would want to read it?” I asked her.

“Mate,” she said cheerily.

“Well, he thinks rainbows come out of my butt, so he doesn’t count,” I pointed out. She huffed at me. “Plus, I have so much going on with the kids. Belle and Diane are practically fighting over who will be Beta when Junior takes the Alpha title. Not to mention all the extra pups they keep bringing home to stay with us for a while. The human economy took a crash last year, and we had to downsize the company. Now that the packhouse is updated and perfect, M and I need to start looking at where we will live next when Junior is Alpha.”

“Excuses,” she said. “Live a little.”

“And if no one ever reads it?”

“So? You did something different. Something just for you.”

I rolled my eyes but hit the advertisement banner to see what this whole thing looked like.