Can you heal old scars?

Chapter 10

Was that really the best solution to this? Not talking to Quin for an entire month, and then what? Dissolve the bond and go back to being mateless and alone? No there had to be another way, he had waited 19 fucking years, he wasn't just going to give up.

Ryan sat in silence whilst everyone else, including Quin started to chat together. It was so strange because Quin just seemed to instantly fit in with everyone, they were all happy and laughing at his jokes, enthralled with his stories of the places he had been whilst on tour.

And yet Ryan couldn't bring himself to listen, as he half heartedly picked at what was left of his food. The awkwardness he felt only increasing as he watched his little sister gushing over Quin and every word he said.

Quin had finished his food as Dutch arrived, catching Boulder in her arms as he b-lined for her legs. She lifted him up and cradled him, scratching his belly as he batted his big fluffy paws at her hand.

"Morning Quin love, feeling better today?" She asked after plopping Boulder back on the floor, Quin briefly looking in Ryan's direction before smiling up at her and nodding.

"Well why don't I take you to the workshop and we can get that charming attachment loose?" She suggested, looking up at Ryan who seemed more interested in the tablecloth than the conversation.

"Ah yeah, sure sounds good. Lead the way!" Quin said, a sense of relief at the idea of being away from Ryan for a while, the burning feeling in his neck and rapidly increasing headache becoming unbearable.

Dutch looked over at her brother, Duke who just shrugged and twitched his head at the door, Dutch giving a shrug back before leading Quin out of the kitchen. She opened the heavy wooden front door and gestured for Quin to follow, and Quin got his first proper look at his surroundings.

It was incredible, the place was full of life and laughter, buildings of all shapes and sizes spread out like a strange sort of village before him, interspersed with garden plots various machines and contraptions he didn't recognize.

The entire area was sat snuggly inside the forest, a large river in the distance that had several fishing boats moored at the shore, and a large smokehouse lazily wafting a line of smoke into the sky.

People watched Quin intently as he followed Dutch through the village, some people whispering, others pointing. There were some teens that gawped as they passed and then started to excitedly babble to each other once Quin passed them. But he was somewhat used to this kind of reaction, and oddly wasn't phased by it.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt like he should be feeling more wary, but since leaving Ryan's presence all his anxiety had dropped away. Even his headache had eased off to it's normal background throb.

It was almost like all his anxieties about being here were being triggered by Ryan, all the progress Quin had made in breaking down his old ways of thinking seemed to reverse themselves around him. The longer he was around Ryan, the more the wall built back up, brick by brick to the point he just wanted to run and hide.

Yet here he was with a woman who could easily snap him in half and yet he felt no animosity or fear at all, nor had he felt any fear around anyone else he had met.

It was just Ryan that made him uneasy, and he couldn't understand it because this was supposed to be his fated mate, he was supposed to feel more than a superficial attraction. He couldn't even concentrate on that, the anxiety over Ryan being a guy was bad enough, but the odd compulsion, almost an instinctual drive to keep his distance way exceeded any possible interest he could have in trying to be close to Ryan.

Dutch lead him to the workshop, a ramshackle looking building in desperate need of repairs. Several tarps were tacked up along the walls where the side had collapsed, the roof was sagging inward and the door looked like it was rotting to pieces.