The Run To Quinn

~•7•~

"I'm not trying too," I replied softly. "I'm really not. I just can't stop it."

"When I first signed up to be a Warrior I was terrified, terrified of death. A year prior to me starting I watched the Alpha now, Alpha Jack Ward, kill his father to be Alpha.

Jack had had the right to be Alpha since he found Fizel's mom 23 years ago but, never had the guts to fight his dad over the position. Finally, when he did, he killed his father which killed his mother. And I watched both of them die. My best friend's grandparents, who baked me cookies and let me color on their kitchen table on Easter."

Sebastián looked down at his hands. "And I was scared I'd have to do what Jack did, kill someone who had a family. Warriors do that, they're just pawns. We work for the ones above us."

There was just another reason as to why I kept turning down the position. I could do that, I couldn't kill unless I had to. I couldn't if someone else wanted me too.

"So why did you become a Warrior?"

"Because Fizel's grandfather was a terrible man who held terrible secrets and supported Konrad and even tried to aid him in killing off the other Alphas." Sebastián shrugged. "And with him gone, our pack was reborn and innocent people were let out of prison and the world my future kids will have will be better then the one they would have led. Warriors, protect. Death comes and goes. I didn't know that until I was commissioned to become a Warrior."

I understood where he was coming from but it wasn't helping me at all. "That doesn't change the fact that kids and families were murdered at my pack. They didn't have some terrible past."

"No, that's not what I'm saying. Let me finish my story," he laughed gently. "Because I had seen that death, I was so scared I'd have to face it again. I was terrified I'd have to watch someone else die. I almost turned down the best part of my life, my identity. And then Alpha Ward told me the truth, of course, and I joined. But that's what I'm saying, is that you can't let death scare you away from living."

"I'm not letting death scare me away from living, it's just all so fresh." Everything. All of the deaths, my father, my friends.

"I know, I know. I just want to help. I don't want to to see you sad, I've gotten too used to your beautiful smile," he grinned at me and I couldn't help but grin back.

"Now," Bash clapped his hands together. "How do you feel about meeting my very large and loud family?"

***

The walk to his mom and dad's house wasn't as long as I hoped it would be. We had only been walking for two minutes when the familiar redheads Clarence and Clark strolled up to us.

"Hey losers," Clark laughed, clasping his hand around Bash's.

Bash rolled his eyes and casually flipped him off. "I'm guessing you're going to your mom's?"

Sebastián knew my mom, and yet I was worried about meeting his. I'd be living here, probably for the rest of my life, and maybe that's why it was so important that she liked me.

"Yeah, she's expecting us. Is she mad that I didn't come home last night?" Sebastián asked. His voice got a pitch higher when he talked about his mom and I couldn't help but smile.

Clark blew his bangs out of his face and shrugged. "Hard to tell. She cooked dinner for ten when there were only five. If that means anything."

Sebastián groaned. "She's pissed."

Clarence looked at me and waved his hand. "Not at you, she's really excited to meet you."

It would still be awkward if she was mad at Sebastián. The tension between them two would be enough to give me second hand embarrassment— the worst kind of embarrassment. I never knew how to react during second hand embarrassment.

"My house is right up here, just be sure not to judge it by the looks of it," he whispered.

I never judged something by how it looked. Everything and everyone had a story, even if I didn't know it yet.

But when his house came into view, finally, I couldn't it back.

"You live here?" I asked, turning to him wildly.