Quinn's Undying Rose

“You were disgusted with what I had become,” Quinn recalled in turning back to her, his face composed. “Yet you became a vampire shortly after that. Don’t deny it: you look the same as you did when I came back. You must have gotten turned within a year of my return.” His voice turned to stone again. “I want to know what happened. Everything.”

The dangerous undertone in his voice was unmistakable. But she couldn’t comply with his request. If he knew how she’d gotten turned, he would suspect what else she had done. And if he found out, she would be as good as dead.

“It’s not important. What’s important is that our grandson Blake is in mortal danger. I need your help to protect him. I can’t do it on my own.”

As hard as it was to admit that, she needed his expertise. After all, he was a bodyguard, and of all the things that she’d found out about Scanguards and the people he worked with, she knew they were the best. If anybody could prevent Keegan from digging his claws into Blake, it was Quinn.

“What makes you think I will help you after all you’ve done to me?”

She gasped. “After all I have done to you?” Had he already forgotten what he had done to her?

“Yes, you! Would you like me to make a list for you?” His glare intensified. He lifted his hand, counting with his fingers. “You tossed me out after I came back from the war. I professed my love. You stomped on it. You hid my daughter from me. And then you even made me believe you were dead when in reality you were living as a vampire. You became what you hated so much about me. Yet, you never came back to me, not even after you became what I was. Why is that, Rose? Why did you do all this to me? Did you hate me so much for taking your innocence, for leaving you with child?”

There was a hunted look in his eyes. Involuntarily, she reached out her hand, wanting to soothe his pain. He jerked back, as if he couldn’t bear her touch.

“I can’t talk to you right now.”

He turned on his heels and stormed out faster than she could get another word past her lips.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, but he was already gone.

If only she could tell him the truth, but the truth would get her killed. And she wasn’t ready to die.

8

Quinn inhaled the cool night air and fought to regain his composure. To no avail. His entire world had just been turned upside down. And by the looks of it, it wouldn’t be fixed any time soon.

As he brought distance between himself and Rose, stalking through the night, more and more questions bombarded his mind. But no matter how long he pondered them, only one really mattered: why hadn’t she come to him after she had become a vampire?

They could have lived a happy life together, a life full of love, companionship, and laughter. Instead, for almost two hundred years, he’d been lonely, his heart remaining cold despite the many women who had warmed his bed.

He felt betrayed by the only person who had ever mattered to him.

Rose had never looked lovelier or smelled more enticing. Even now, her scent still clung to his nostrils, eliciting a bodily reaction he had barely been able to suppress when he’d been in her presence. He hadn’t allowed himself to give into it, not wanting to give her the satisfaction that he still desired her even knowing that she had been hiding from him all these years.

But now that nobody would be witness to his weakness, he let the feelings she’d conjured up wash over him. The result was instantaneous: blood shot into his loins, making him harder than the metal pole that had saved his life tonight.

“I wasn’t finished.”

The voice jolted him, made him whirl around in a split second. Rose marched toward him with a determined gait, her long hair blowing backwards in the light breeze.

“I was.”

It was a lie, and he knew it. There were so many questions he wanted to ask her, but he knew himself well enough to realize that he was in shock. Therefore a continuation of their heated discussion should be postponed at all cost—until he had himself under control again, until he could treat her with coldness and indifference.

But clearly, Rose knew him too. And she was obviously bent on exploiting his weakness. Damn her for that!

“I still need your help. Blake is in danger. If you don’t protect him, he’ll perish. He’s your flesh and blood, the only one who’s left. Is that—?”

“What kind of danger?” Quinn interrupted, wanting to keep the focus on business rather than delve into the emotional baggage he and Rose shared.

A slight relaxation in her stance confirmed that she had been unsure whether he would respond. However, her face remained as impassive as before. Did she have any feelings left? Or had whatever had happened to her, purged them from her heart? Was his Rose still in there somewhere?