Page 104 of Quintus

“One thing that’s not as easy to get at home.”

“NOLA’s the best.” The fluffy dough covered in its sugary coating tasted like heaven.

“My life is good how it is. I’ve got a few regular friends, shall we call them, in New York and New Orleans.” He shrugged and raised an eyebrow. “No complications. Wolves are easy creatures. We all know the score. If you’re not my mate, you know it. And I know it. Neither of us is under any illusions we can have a permanent thing. A sex thing, yes. Anything else is a no go.”

“You’ll find someone someday. Take me for example. Viktor always said…” Quintus closed his eyes, the pain of the loss rushing to his chest. He took a deep breath, and raised his gaze.

“I’m sorry about your brother, man. If you need help getting him…”

“No. Don’t go there.”

“I’m just sayin’…he could be alive.”

“You know how you feel your wolves? You just know they are there. Can sense their pain. Their presence,” he sighed. “Well, I’ve got nothing. A few thousand years and nothing.”

“We can search for him,” Hunter suggested.

“I can’t leave Gabby.” Quintus shook his head.

“But we can’t just leave him there,” Hunter protested.

“First of all, I don’t feel him anymore. Seriously, Hunter, that’s like a doctor calling it. But let’s say by some miracle he’s in there, he won’t ever be the same. No one goes into Hell and comes out unscathed. It doesn’t happen. Even just a brush with it, of which I’ve had a few. It fucks with your mind.” Quintus blew out a breath and set the beignet on the table. “I’m not saying I’m not going to look, but what I am saying is that I can’t leave Gabby right now. She hasn’t had stability in her life for nearly twenty years and before that, her life was a shit show. Aside from her parents, and we don’t even know who the father is, she’s grown up alone. Selling her blood. To fucking Ramiel, who is still out there, by the way. Who the hell knows if he’s going to come at her again? No,” Quintus shook his head again, his lips tense, “I can’t go right now. We just bonded. She deserves some peace.”

“You sure about this, Quint?”

“One hundred percent. I can’t leave her. You know how it is in Hell. You step in, you can be gone five hours or five hundred years. I can’t chance that right now. She’s…” Quintus paused and stared at the Alpha, resigning to trust him with the truth about what happened in the cemetery. “She lost her magick.”

“No man, her wolf is good. I felt it back there and I can feel her now.”

“Her wolf is good. But her magick…you know…” Quintus gave a tilt of his head.

“Oh, that magick. Are you sure?”

“I guess between the fae magick and the first witch, she used everything she had on Lilitu. Honestly, who the hell knows what happened? Of course I’m going to check with Samantha but in my experience…well, it’s rare a witch loses her magick for any reason, but the ones I’ve seen lose it, they didn’t get it back.”

“Good riddance. What the hell does she need it for anyway? She’s a wolf. Not to brag but we’re kind of awesome if you haven’t noticed.” Hunter laughed.

“You know, it’s strange. Before this happened, I would have thought the same thing. It’s not like I got the impression that she practiced very often. It’s held nothing but bad vibes. She’s never been part of a coven as an adult. But I’m telling you, she’s really upset. She’s blocking me. I’ll ask her about it when she wakes up.”

“Yeah, she’s a true-blue wolf. She seems in love with you, happy to be mated. It would be one thing if she practiced magick, but she seems more in line with her lycan nature.”

“It’s natural to be upset over the loss but this is something more. I don’t know. What did she get from witchcraft that was such a great loss? It doesn’t make sense,” Quintus said.

“I don’t know. It’s like I said. She has pack now. She has you. She’s mated. Has a family.”

“Family.” It hit Quintus like a ton of bricks. Children. She believed her magick could make her like Samantha.

“What is it?”

“A baby.”

Hunter went to shove the pastry into his mouth and stopped mid bite. “Oh, a baby. I just assumed that was a no go with you being a vampire.”

“Yeah, it’s not common.” The thought of having a child with her had crossed his mind after their conversation, but he remained rooted in the reality that vampires couldn’t sire babies. Luca and Samantha’s child was a miracle.

“Sorry, man. I don’t know what to say. Gabby had to know this when she mated with you. You could adopt.”

“Yeah, it’s tough. Look, I knew the score. When you’re turned, the sooner you accept that you are vampire and everything that goes along with it, the better off you are. The less likely you’ll end up like a shish kebab.”