“Promise me something,” She said, opening her eyes and looking into his.
“S…”
“No, Quinny. I need to see your face for this.” He nodded, holding back the tears that threatened to escape. “Promise me you’ll take care of them if…if I don’t make it. That y and Scott will be there for Zion.”
“You will…”
“Promise me, Quintus. Please,” she begged with tears sliding down the side of her face—mixing with her sweat.
Leaning down, he kissed her on the forehead.
“I promise,” he whispered, letting his own tears fall. “But you’re not going to die, not now.”
Taking his shirt, he balled it up and placed it on the floor, resting her head down on it. “I’m going to get us out of here,” he told her.
“What are you going to do?”
“It’s time I face my fears,” was all the answer he gave her.
It was time to let go of the fear he’d held onto for so long. Fear was why the being had been able to manipulate him with the dreams of him killing his father. But he wouldn’t let that happen ever again. It was time to put down the ghost of Nathaniel Kanuna. He stalked towards the being and stopped when he was directly in front of it. Quintus realized it couldn’t pass the threshold unless one of them were in distress.
“What do you want?” The being transformed into his father with brown eyes, tan skin, and long, black hair. “I’m going to enjoy devouring your babies’ souls.”
The being looked at Sareena behind Quintus and anger overloaded his fear. “You were a shitty father,” Quintus yelled, surprising himself but he didn’t stop to assess what the hell he was doing he went with what he was feeling. “You treated your family like trash and only cared about your fucking self. You make me sick, and I hate your fucking guts!” The being pretending to be his father raised a hand to hit him, but Quintus didn’t move. He stared him directly in his face. The being’s eyes kept looking at the raven on his chest and then back at Quintus’s face. He ignored the shifting of its gaze and kept talking.
“I’m not fucking afraid of you.”
Quintus watched the being shift between his father to the dark mist and back, as if that was the magic words.
“I’m not afraid of you either!”
He turned and looked at Sareena, who was leaning up on her elbows. “I hate you,” she screamed. “I never met you, and I hate you. I wish you were never my father.”
Quintus looked back at the being who started screeching and growling and foaming at the mouth—it couldn’t move. Quintus joined in with Sareena, screaming insults at the being—saying everything he had wanted to say to his father had he been alive.
The being went wild, as if it was trying to drown out the words. He could feel it growing weak, as it was no longer feeding off their fear and distress. It continued the screech, and they continued to spew their insults before the being burst into a cloud of dark mist and disappeared.
Quintus stood in silence for a few moments staring at the empty spot, not believing it had worked. He had been going off the cuff. His head felt clear, and he was able to think. But he was soon pulled from the moment when he heard Sareena scream.
“Quinny, my cubs. Help, please.”
He rushed to her side and touched her stomach. It was hard as a rock. He wouldn’t be able to stop things from happening—cubs were coming.
“Quintus!”
Scott, he’s here.
“Scott, up here,” he yelled back. “We’re saved, Reena. I told you he’d come for us.”
“Quintus.”
He looked up when he saw his mate enter the room. Instantly, Quintus knew something was off with Scott by how slow he was moving. Instead, he rushed over to him and hugged his mate.
“Oh gods, I thought I’d never see you again.”
“I told you I would find you anywhere.”
Sareena moaned, reminding him that even though he’d loved to stay in his mate's arms, his sister needed him. “Her cubs are coming. We need to get her out of here.”
