Torn

Chapter 16✓

Carter

"I- I just- I don't..." I can't seem to form a functioning sentence. My eyes burn as tears threaten to fall and my breath becomes trapped in my throat. I truly don't know how to feel right now.

Quinn comes over to the chair and picks me up into his arms bridal style, before turning back to the couch and setting me down into his lap. This is becoming a habit of theirs and I for one, am not complaining.

"We never meant to upset you, little one. But you needed to know the danger into which you have stumbled." He leans down and presses his lips to the top of my head. "I can't lose you again, Carter. I'm not strong enough." He whispers into my hair.

Xander reaches out and grasps my hand in his and holds onto it tightly. "Losing you the first time broke us, love. I don't want to have to go through that again." His steel-grey eyes are sad but serious.

"You called me yours in the meadow. Neither of you have ever put a claim on me before, so why now? This is all so confusing." I can feel Quinn tense underneath me before Xander continues.

"Our wolves feel very protective of you. Don't get me wrong, Quinn and I feel that way too, but the instinct to protect you drives us and our wolves' feelings about you are strong," he says simply.

"So, what do I do now? How do I keep away from him when he just appears out of nowhere?" I sigh.

"Come to the pack house tonight. Come stay with us." Xander says softly.

"I can't just leave the cabin, Xander. I don't want to spend any more of my life hiding." I argue.

Quinn tenses beneath me once more and I turn to look him in the eyes. He hasn't said very much, and I need to gauge how he is feeling.

"You're not running, love. You're staying safe. Just come for the night, we can talk to the Omega in the morning about what to do. She always knows what to do before we even speak." Quinn says. His grey eyes are deep and look like they're pleading with me to agree.

"Alright, let me pack some clothes." I sigh.

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When my bag is packed with a few items of clothing and my toothbrush, I walk around the cabin making sure all the windows and doors are locked tight.

We walk out of the cabin and as I turn to step off the porch, I notice grandpa's old jeep running out front. I raise my eyebrows at Quinn who is smiling wickedly at me from the driver's seat.

"We're taking the Jeep?" I ask.

"Well, how else are we going to get there? Quinn and I ran here, and we are... well, we're extremely fast. It would take us an exceedingly long time to walk with you to the pack house." He smirks at me.

"Alright, alright I get it." I chuckle and hop in the front passenger seat as Xander gets into the back without complaint.

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We drive in comfortable silence when we reach the outskirts of town before Quinn lets me know we're close. Quinn takes several turns down different side roads and a few of them are so well hidden that if you didn't already know they were there you would have missed it.