Page 26

I didn't trust this Lain person. I knew nothing about him besides what Quinn had told us.

He saved our Quinn.

That went a long way toward convincing me. The beast hadn't needed more confirmation, already fully trusting Quinn and his decisions, but knowing Lain had somehow saved his life and kept it secret had been enough to make me agree to his help.

It also made me want to know what happened. I'd lost control of the beast when Quinn told us he almost died, his fear and fury overwhelming my tenuous hold as the image of our human cold and broken slipped into our head. It'd taken Quinn's touch and whispered words to calm him down, reassuring the beast that our human was alive and safe.

I know, but he'll be scared of us.

The beast didn't deign to respond to that. What anyone besides Quinn thought of us was inconsequential to him.

If he's too afraid, he might tell someone about us. They might come for us.

Even if I didn't remember exactly who was chasing us, or why they wanted us, I knew we were running.

Our Quinn said he won't tell.

Again, it was as simple as that to the beast. Quinn had given his word, and that's all that mattered. I desperately wanted to share that unwavering belief, and to an extent, I did. But I couldn't let go of that fear that had haunted our every step for as long as we'd been running. Had it been days? Weeks? More? I couldn't remember.

He is here.

If I'd wanted to run, it was too late now. My hesitation had cost us the time needed to move our battered body back into the woods, even if I could have gotten the beast to agree and not fight me every step of the way.

Now we listened, our head tilted to catch the sound of tires on a gravel driveway. The way to Quinn's small cabin was difficult to find, and we'd never heard anyone coming or going except Quinn.

With his duller senses, our human heard it long after us, not picking up the sound until the car was right outside the front entrance.

"I'll be right back," he said, quickly getting to his feet. He stepped away, then paused and turned back. He laid his hand on the side of our face and the beast immediately turned into the touch.

"Please don't leave," Quinn whispered. His thumb stroked the side of our face, his skin catching on the scales beneath his hand. Still, he didn't flinch or pull away.

I could deny him nothing, and the beast didn't even want to try, so we just nodded. We'd already put our trust in this human, and now we had to see it through, no matter what my fear tried to tell us.

"Thank you." Quinn smiled, and for one endless second, the world stopped turning and time stood still. This smile was gentler than before, softer and warmer, and it was just for us.

The beast was right. Quinn was ours, and there was nothing we wouldn't do for him.

Then he pulled away to answer the door, and time started to move again. We only had seconds before another human knew our secrets. We heard Quinn answer the door and let Lain in. Our human kept his voice down, likely to avoid upsetting us somehow, but we could hear him as clearly as if he stood right beside us.

"Thank you for coming over. Sorry it's so late."

"You're definitely getting old if you think ten at night is late." Lain sounded younger than I'd expected for someone Quinn trusted so much. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"I couldn't explain over the phone. I need your expertise, but I also need you to not freak out."

A long silence met that statement. When Lain spoke again, some of the playfulness had disappeared from his voice. "I get the feeling you don't mean my grooming expertise. And you know the best way to make sure someone freaks out is to tell them not to, right?" We heard a faint shuffling noise, like Lain had taken a step closer. "Seriously. What's going on? Are you hiding an injured mountain lion or something?"

"Or something." Quinn sighed, and it sounded like they were coming closer to the back door. "It'll be easier to just show you rather than try to explain, but I need you to promise me two things."

"I'm guessing the first is that I promise I won't lose it when I see whatever it is?"

"Yeah. I mean it, Lain."

"Okay, I promise I'll do my best. What's the second thing?"

Quinn's voice dropped even further, but still not so quiet that I couldn't hear him. "I need you to swear to me you won't tell a single person what you're about to see. Not even your dad or Ori."

Ori. Why did that name sound familiar?