Page 51 of Wicked Wolf

“Jesse…” Helena breathed.

Quinn quickly stood in front of Jesse and Gina. “Get. Out.” He flared his power again, and this time Gina was forced to her knees. She held Jesse close to her, and he burrowed into her body.

Gina heard Helena scramble away then Quinn’s footsteps as he followed her. She held onto Jesse, rubbing his back, and flinched when Quinn slammed the door shut.

“Who was that?” Jesse asked, his voice shaking.

Gina pulled back and cupped his face. “I’m sorry we woke you.” She wasn’t about to tell him about Helena. That would be Quinn’s job if he chose to do that.

Helena had technically lost all parental rights when she broke the mating bond. She had no right to Jesse or to even see him according to wolf laws. However, that didn’t mean Jesse didn’t deserve to know. This was all about the boy.

Everything Gina was doing was all about Jesse.

Jesse scrunched his face then shook his head. “You didn’t answer me.”

“That was no one,” Quinn said calmly.

Surprised, Gina looked up at him.

He shook his head then knelt beside them. “It was no one important. Now, I’m sorry we woke you. Are you feeling okay?”

Jesse nodded then held out his arms. Quinn smiled slightly then picked Jesse up. “I’m going to put him back to bed,” he said over his shoulder. “We need to talk.”

She ran a hand over her face but didn’t say anything. She honestly didn’t know what to say at all.

He frowned at her, looked as though he wanted to say something else, and then turned with Jesse in his arms. Jesse waved, and she lifted her arm, waving slowly back. Her eyes burned, but she blinked the tears away. It wouldn’t do any good to cry now. Her emotions were all over the place, and she wasn’t sure what to think.

One moment she and Quinn were getting hot and heavy on the couch, actually talking about a future and what it meant for them to be mates, and the next the woman from his past walked through the door and Gina’s dreams were shattered.

It didn’t matter that Quinn had told Gina to stay while kicking Helena out.

Things weren’t black and white, and nothing was ever that easy.

Gina had things to think about, and she wasn’t sure she could do it with Quinn in the same room with her. Her heart was already hurt before she’d come over that night, and her head had already been so full of confusing thoughts she couldn’t breathe.

Now she was at the point where if she worried about one more thing she would burst.

On shaky legs, she walked over to the notepad on the fridge and jotted down a note. It didn’t say anything about what she was thinking or what she felt, because, honestly, she couldn’t put any of that into words anyway.

Instead, she said she’d see him in the morning and that she was leaving. Not forever.

She hoped she was doing the right thing, but she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

As quietly as she could, she left the house and her mate behind and made her way to her car.

“Gina?”

She froze then looked over at Lorenzo, her fellow council member. He looked as if he was on a late-night run, and considering he was part of their security force, that made sense.

“Lorenzo,” she said smoothly, surprised that her voice didn’t break.

He frowned then looked between her and Quinn’s home. “Why are you heading out in the middle of the night? Is everything okay?”

She nodded, burying the lie. “I’m just heading back to my den for the night.”

He sighed. “It’s going to suck losing Quinn to the Redwoods, but it’s not like you guys are far away, you know? I’m just glad he finally has a chance to be happy.”

She nodded and pasted a smile on her face. “I’m sorry he had to make that choice.”