I hadn’t realized Lorcan had even made an outbound call, too lost in my thoughts to overhear his.
Rather than comment, I took my seat next to him in the cockpit and stared out the window as he resumed piloting the jet.
We landed thirty minutes later, the stealth jet hovering over the ice in an amazing display of futuristic technology. V-Clan wolves were known for their advanced tech. This beauty only drove that point home even more.
A set of stairs appeared at the door, allowing us to descend onto the shore outside of the barrier. Fritz met us in a similar fashion to our arrival a month ago, his expression equally as wary.
“Where’s Quinn?” I asked.
“In the palace,” he replied.
I nodded, then shadowed to the hallway outside of her suite and knocked on the door.
Kieran opened it, his gaze searching. “Is Lorcan with the jet?”
“Yes.”
His chin dipped. “I’ll give you two a moment.” He disappeared in a blink, leaving me with my best friend.
She took one look at my face and threw her arms around my neck. “I’m okay,” she promised. “I’m okay because of you.”
“Tell that to Lorcan,” I muttered before filling her in on our jet ride here. “So yeah, he thinks I withheld information. After everything we’ve been through, why the hell would I do that?”
Quinn twisted her lips to the side. “He’s just being protective. It’s what Kieran’s Elites do.”
“I really don’t envy you,” I told her.
Her smile was a little sad. “You’re really not going to try to make this work with him, are you?”
“Neither of us wants a mate, Quinn. As Lorcan has said, this is just a mating of convenience.” I shrugged. “Maybe it’ll be useful later on.”
That was what he’d implied, anyway.
If the Sanctuary needed something, I would be able to notify him quickly, which could be a good thing if anything ever went wrong.
“I once considered my mating to Kieran to be aconvenienceas well,” she hedged. “You see where that got us.” She placed a hand over her belly and the baby growing there.
My lips curled. “I am so happy for you, Quinn. But we both know that’s not my future. I’ll just have to settle on being an awesome aunt to your future little one.”
It was a sentence I would have voiced a month ago with a laugh at the end, because the notion of having pups of my own had never appealed to me. Yet there seemed to be a hint of longing in my voice as I spoke the words just now, one I hadn’t anticipated hearing.
Most Omegas thrived on the concept of procreation, craving motherhood and the experience of nurturing a young one. However, I’d never possessed that desire before. I’d assumed it was the result of Fare and his friends fucking it out of me.
Although, a small part of me wondered what a child with Lorcan would look like. The visual passed unexpectedly—and undesirably—through my mind, giving me momentary pause.
Then I blinked it away with a subtle shake of my head.
That’s never going to happen.
“I guess we’ll see,” Quinn replied, her response timely with my thoughts.
We wouldn’t be seeing anything, but that was a debate for another time. For now, I needed to say goodbye to my best friend.
“Call me if you need anything,” I told her. “And keep me updated on the search for whatever Alpha asshat is behind all this.”
“I will,” she promised, giving me another hug.
I walked with her through the palace and along the grounds to where Kieran stood waiting with Lorcan. We’d both moved toward them without much thought, their auras resembling glowing moons to our inner wolves.
