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Sol snapped the first aid kit shut, the edges of his lips twitching. “She’s a fiery one, kid. I would start sucking up now if you want her to forgive you by the time the Council member arrives. You wouldn’t want to snuff out that light before this relationship really goes somewhere.”
Blowing out a slow breath, I snuck a quick peek in her direction. It wasn’t a surprise to find that jaw raised up with defiance painting her face while her lips were pressed together. There was no doubt in my mind that she was borderline livid. It did leave me with a surge of regret. I’d brought her to Sol’s business tonight to help her see another part of my world - one that every demon enjoyed dangling in front of the other races.
It wasn’t difficult to see that I had lost control over the evening when Antonio had chosen to call me out in front of a chunk of our kind. Granted, I couldn’t let myself look like a coward by refusing to fight the bastard. Taking him on had certainly ensured that I did have the balls and the strength to hold my own. That didn’t mean it was how Quinn saw it.
“Acknowledge the error of your ways…and then ravish her.” Sol offered a quick wink before he tucked the kit under his armpit. “Get your ass in the shower, kid. I’ll have one of my staff bring you a fresh suit. We’re burning that one.”
“Thanks.”
Sol gestured at Quinn with a nudge of his head, lipping, “Start sucking up, boy” before he left the locker room.
I stared at him as he made a rapid retreat, the metal door swinging shut after him. Does he not realize who I am? The fucker might as well be speaking Latin. Sucking up was not in my personality. It was literally not anywhere in the book for me. If he had attempted to tell me the same goddamn thing for another woman, I wouldn’t have hesitated to remind him of his place.
Still. It wasn’t a random pussy that he was referring to. Quinn wasn’t just any woman. That much had become clear during our time together. This had gone from buying a pet for an occasional fuck to an ancient bond sealing us together. Which literally threw out everything I knew. It also emphasized what Sol had already repeated under his breath.
Her rage wasn’t going to be tamed by absolute silence. Letting her simmer in it would only give it more strength and I had yet to see this woman overwhelmed by rage. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she would match my own temper - if not surpassing it entirely.
I drew in a deep breath, trapping the air in my lungs until the organ started to ache with protest. I didn’t allow it to escape until I shifted along the bench and eased back onto my feet. The room tilting around me certainly left me with no choice but to pause until it settled. Combined with one hell of a headache, there was no doubt in my mind that Antonio had managed to dish out a decent amount of damage. Concussion it is, then.
Those beautiful gray eyes didn’t flicker in my direction, not even when I managed to shrink down the distance between us until I was hovering above her. My pet simply continued staring at the open shower stalls while the muscles in her jaw occasionally flexed.
“Quinn.” I reached down to catch her by the chin. Every part of me expected to be able to turn her head easily, like all the times that I had in the past. When she refused to budge, I stilled. I had underestimated the anger flowing through those veins. It wasn’t until I brushed my magic against her aura that I realized it had gone a lot deeper than I originally realized.
“Was that really necessary?” Her voice was quiet.
Never in my life had I ever been put in this position - at least, not where it threatened to slice all the way into the depths of my soul. My rage toward Antonio had simmered long ago, leaving absolutely nothing to stop the guilt tearing through me. Now that I was being forced to look back at the situation, I realized that caving to the bastard’s demand had been reckless. I’d gone into that ring with the assumption that I was still the same man when I wasn’t.
I had someone to fight for now, to protect.
I didn’t attempt to turn her head, settling for grazing my fingers along her cheek. It didn’t occur to me just how deep these emotions ran for her until those eyes fluttered shut and a single tear escaped down her cheek. Damn it. I’d definitely fucked up. Tangling my fingers in her hair, I simply closed the distance between us and allowed her head to fall against my abdomen. “I apologize for putting you through this, Quinn. That wasn’t my intention.”
At first, she didn’t do more than rest her weight against me. “I…I’m trying to get used to this world that you’ve grown up in, Asher. It’s so easy for you to go and do all these things because you’ve done them all your life. But for me? I was kept in a fucking dog crate downstairs in a basement for a good chunk of my life. I’ve been starved and treated as a waste of space. I certainly didn’t think things would improve when you bought me.”
My grip tightened, yet my pet didn’t flinch. She simply sniffled and gods, how my soul wanted to shatter into a million pieces. The only times I had come close to this was when my father informed me of my mother’s passing -and when I’d found that boy in the closet at the hotel. This wasn’t a feeling that I enjoyed enduring.
Which only made me wonder just how much worse it was coming from within my pet herself.
Quinn finally raised a hand, digging her fingers into my waist. “I don’t mind you introducing me to things like this… Especially when it’s simply a part of your world. But don’t fucking ask me to depend on you and then put yourself at risk like that. What if something had happened to you during that fight? How am I supposed to protect you against someone with so much rage? Where would that leave me if he managed to kill you?”
The final words that left her mouth left my body completely void of all warmth. I immediately lowered onto one knee, despite all the ways my body protested the movement. There wasn’t a single word I could utter as I drew her into my arms, bringing her head just beneath my chin. As her body shook with the overwhelming urge to sob, all I could do was hold her close.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I needed to change the way I approached things. Simply answering a challenge like Antonio’s just to appease the endless rage that haunted the two of us couldn’t be my reality any longer. I wasn’t moving through this life by myself anymore. I had someone who depended on me to show her the way of the demonic world and I certainly couldn’t do that dead.
“One day, you’ll find someone to open up your heart to, Asher.” My mother’s voice leaked out of the darkness, where it had been suppressed and buried for so long. It was surreal to hear her voice echoing across those memories. “When you find someone worthy, protect them with every fiber of your being. Change yourself for them.”
I shifted my head, pressing my lips against her hair. It was time to stop seeing only what I wanted from this bond. While Quinn was the ideal soul to stand by my side when I took over the family empire, she was also someone that needed to be treasured. Protected with every goddamn fiber of my being.
The kiss simply unleashed the dam she was trying to hold back. It was almost as if she knew what thoughts were running through my mind.
My pet didn’t need to change. I did.
Although my body was protesting in agony with every passing second that I remained down on my knees, I didn’t budge an inch. I kept my arms wrapped tightly around her with my lips against her head until those sobs finally ceased. The shaking continued for several more long minutes until she eventually sagged against me. “I am so sorry for putting you through that, Quinn… It will never happen again.”
“D-Don’t make a promise that y-you can’t keep.”
I pulled back just enough to where those red-rimmed eyes had no choice but to rise up to me. “It will never happen again,” I swore. When those lips parted to emphasize her point, I was quick to rest a finger against them. “I acknowledge that I need to change my ways, pet. I’m not walking through this life alone any longer. You are my mate and our bond is to be treasured. For as long as I breathe, I will protect you however I must. If that includes rejecting a challenge like Antonio’s, then I will. The childish rage we both carry does not matter more than you.”
My pet stared at me for several long minutes, not attempting to break the silence that leaked into the air. She finally drew in a deep breath and nodded slowly.
