“His claim, baby girl,” Alton said against her collarbone. The soothing purr came as Quinn stiffened. Teasing hands turned comforting to ease the disquiet from tensed muscle.
Clarity came on the loudest rumble. Her fingers clenched in his hair, drawing Alton’s face down into her neck so he wouldn’t see her horror. She realized what was so off. The purr was a comfort, but no more than that. She knew his heady scent permeating every particle of bedding, but it didn’t excite her. Feeling no more for the man that had destroyed and rebuilt her than she would her own father, Quinn placed the last of the pieces in the muddled puzzle.
“I won’t let him hurt you, baby girl,” Alton continued with vicious thunder, trunk like arms wrapping around her. Mistaking the astringent bite of her fear, he thought to give solace with the muscled body she knew he could use with deadly effectiveness. “Just say you want it. I’ll get you the good stuff and it’ll be just like old times.”
Just like old times. When she spent more time on her back than anything else, waiting for the stick of a needle because he liked an Omega in heat. The dark days of rules and punishments that seemed to have been created just for the purpose of Quinn to fail at. Cold and slimy, memories worked their way down her spine. Gooseflesh prickled across her skin.
“I have to eat and rest. I put it off too long this time. I don’t even know how long it lasted.” The words were flat, a robotic speech as she watched from a far-off place inside her mind. Her hands petted at the rippling shoulders, cheek rubbing at his temple to calm him. He was eager, ready, the evidence of it pushing at the soft skin of her thighs and leaving a pungent smear.
Trailing kisses down her chest ended in a smooth chuckle. The flat of his tongue slid up from the shallow valley between her breasts to nip at her chin. “You are such a bad, bad little girl. We’ll have to go over the rules again, make sure you remember them.”
“Yes, sir,” Quinn whispered as he rose above her. Even knowing what was expected and what depended on it, she still hesitated. It was only a fraction of a second, but it felt like a lifetime before she put her hands out to feel the firmness of his chest, to flex her fingers over his hips. “I look forward to my lessons.”
Golden gaze hooded, he observed her as he stood and pulled on tattered jeans. The smallest misstep under those watchful eyes could bring a world of pain. She’d always been body shy, but it was one of the rules. She clenched her fists into the sheet to keep them from pulling the blankets up. When he only continued to stare, panic seeped in through the cracks of her composure. What had she forgotten?
“I’m happy you’re back, baby girl,” Alton murmured as he leaned down and cupped the back of her neck. A pleased sound reverberated from his chest as he looked down the line of her body. Fingers tightening, crimping over delicate vertebrae, he lifted her from the pillows. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you left me though. Every action…”
“Has consequences,” Quinn said, finishing the sentence through clenched teeth. Though shoulders hitched to her ears, she remained pliant in his grasp. Much like with a ravaging bear, playing dead was the best course when Alton felt the need to reprimand. Except on those rare occasions where he wanted a fight though he hadn’t given her the subtle cues to tell her so.
“Good girl.” Easing her back, he tucked the heavy covers up around her chin. His palm smoothed the tangled fluff of her curls away from her forehead where he kissed her. “I’ll be right back with food.”
Quinn didn’t hesitate this time. Snuggling down into the bed that wasn’t too hard or too soft, yet still uncomfortable, she let her lashes drift to half-mast. A soft smile turned the corners of her lips up. For all intents she was a contented woman, basking in the bed of her Alpha.
Too bad she felt anything but.
Chapter 5
It was two days before Alton would let her leave the room.
Hours were spent arguing her case. Her need for rest before he induced another heat was real enough. Putting his hands on the washboard quality of her ribs, letting him feel the hard shelf of her hips, had done more to sway him in the end.
Lying in bed alone for hours on end wouldn’t help her get any stronger either. Not with the hollow ache in her chest reminding her that everything was terribly wrong. Alton’s plans for her would change it all, but it was a price Quinn wasn’t sure she was willing to pay. There would be no slipping out in the dead of night this time. There was no sanctuary out there for her should she try to escape his hold again.
Even after she had convinced Alton to let her into the large space that served him and his people as a gathering place, it was at the end of the leash of her arm. Though she wasn’t allowed to interact with anyone other than him, it was nice to see faces other than his. It was even a treat to hear the myriad voices and accents that flowed through his doors again. The two weeks she’d been in his care would have been an endless agony otherwise.
As it was, fourteen days with him had the opposite effect than what she had thought would happen.
Sleep was a fitful thing, marked by the hours of tossing and turning until Alton pressed her into the mattress with his body and purred loud and deep. Upon waking, she needed his closeness and the comfort he gave even in front of his people. The purrs and warm touches calmed the fraying strands of her sanity in a way nothing else did. The appetite she would have sworn was ravenous upon her arrival waned until every bite was a struggle no matter how he soothed her.
A decision had to be made. The Alpha’s concern grew daily, his possessive hold on her flourishing under her need for him.
Perched now on Alton’s thigh, Quinn faced the main area as he conducted a meeting in what might have been German. She never had figured out how he’d become fluent in so many languages or how he managed to rule over so much of the seedy underbelly of Alderbrook. Alton Rippin’s hands seemed to be in everything and everyone seemed to owe him something. Drugs, guns, tech, humans—nothing was sacrosanct if money could be made from it.
“What the fuck do you think you’re looking at?”
Startled from her thoughts, Quinn cringed away from the violent timbre of Alton’s voice only to change direction at the last moment. Unsure of whom or what had provoked him, it was always a good idea to appease him. Pivoting on the bench of his leg, she tucked her body tight against his chest. It wasn’t until his arm came over her back, the fingers of his other hand kneading her thigh that she realized someone else had the full strength of his ire.
“S-Sorry, Rip, I just… No one told me it was for her. I have the stuff.”
The pain was as instant as the voice was familiar. Lucas. The Beta who had been assigned to watch over her while Alton was off on some business dealing the night she’d managed to get out. Quinn was surprised he was still alive, let alone still working for Alton. She had felt a world of guilt over the idea someone else had suffered for her like that. Seeing—well, hearing—that he was alive and well was a balm for the angry scars that marked her soul.
From the corner of her eye she saw the vials set down on the table, clinking together as Lucas’ hand shook. Thick, milky fluid bubbled and crested. Ice sluicing through her veins, Quinn suppressed the shiver that tugged at her spine.
“It isn’t,” Alton said, pulling Quinn tighter against him so he could nuzzle at her ear. “Not yet, anyways.”
The hand pushing her to her feet was unexpected. Quinn stumbled a little, bare feet skittering across the worn floor until Alton’s hand came down to pin her in place. She had a front row view as the women from the other side of the room were called forward from their tight huddle.
“Cherry, Teresa, come here.”
