Craning her neck back to look at him over her shoulder, she snarled at the male. Teeth bared, she promised violence if he dared to get close enough. Her pussy clenched around him, her body not giving a damn about anything but the knot the Alpha’s actions promised, begging for it. Uncaring of the fresh wave of tears, of the way her words came out in a broken sob, she yelled at him. “I’m not a Beta! I’m not strung out on Gods’ knows what, and I didn’t abandon my fucking child to a monster.”
“She has class,” Kahler went on, ignoring her. “She has style and grace. She listened and did as she was told.”
“Past tense, you fuck. She’s nothing now,” Quinn shrieked as pleasure threaded through the long muscles of her legs, drawing them tight. Hands digging against the polished wood of the floor, she hung her head and shoved back, matching his violence as he impaled her. How? How could she be on the verge of an orgasm duringthis?
“You ruined her! You broke her just… just like you’re doing… to me.” The last was said in a shrill scream as Quinn tumbled over, falling into the writhing, dark pit of ecstasy. Her pussy clenched around his cock, begging, pleading, the wet muscles contracting around him.
Kahler’s roar was a feral thing that should have brought the house down around them. Weight crashing into Quinn’s back, he crushed her into the floor. Delirious, Quinn whined, arching as much as she could to take what the bulge pressing against the lips of her twitching pussy promised.
He didn’t give it to her.
Fist wrapped around his knot, slapping wetly against her, he milked it as he continued to thrust into her slick heat. Driving his spurting cock into her, drenching her with the potent fluid, he denied her the one thing she craved.
Quinn struggled, screaming incoherent nonsense as the instinctual need for him was refused. Bucking against his weight, legs kicking out, she scratched at the floor trying to get to him. Kahler pushed her head flat with a palm to her cheek, pinning her there so she could not bite. His groan as the last thin spray coated her thighs was sandpaper against her nerves.
He was still leaking come down the front of his pants as he rose, never giving her the chance to launch an attack. Large hand clenched around her nape, Kahler pulled her up with him, her wrists clamped behind her back. Marched up the stairs, her stammering curses and cries fell on deaf ears. Thick and cold, his slimy leavings trickled down her legs, and she whined at the loss of it.
Confusion didn’t set in until they had passed the nursery. Kahler’s bedroom and her nest awaited on the other end of the hall. He had passed it by without hesitation.
Digging her heels into the runner, Quinn shook her head violently as realization dawned. The cheery door hiding evil loomed ahead. Kahler’s hands tightened, shoving her back into motion as soon as she gained traction.
The door was flung wide, but it wasn’t the same as she had left it. Gone was the barren, narrow mattress on the floor and the pathetic nest. In its place there was a sturdy, low bed tucked against the wall along with a bassinet. More furniture blurred in her terror as Kahler picked her up and dropped her onto the bed.
“You want to think you’re nothing but a breeder, to act like a Gods’ damned savage? Have it your way. You will remain in here. Your nest, your meals, when I decide to fuck you. It all happens within these four walls. You do not step one foot out of that door without my permission.”
“Or what,” Quinn hissed from flat on her back. Body trembling, she grasped with frantic desperation at the edges of her anger and horror.
Kahler looked at her, narrowed eyes almost black as his lips pulled back from his teeth. She flinched as he leaned down, his shadow deadly cold as it passed over her reminding her so much of the nightmare.
“Or maybe I realize you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”
The door slammed behind him as he left, the whole wall seeming to shudder. Quinn rolled to her side, arms wrapped around her middle as she gave in and just cried.
Quinn sat back in the rocker as Adam sucked at the bottle she held with loud, wet smacks. Little mouth working, he regarded her with wide eyes that judged. As if he was weighing her technique versus that of the Beta who hovered nearby.
“Tip it up, ma’am, or he’ll swallow air,” Meghan said for what felt like the hundredth time.
Sighing, Quinn angled the bottle more. Okay, so both parties in the room were judging her. It was a constant thing now, this feeling. Forever blundering, she waded through the morass of desperate emotions that seemed to contradict each other.
Weeks had gone by since Kahler’s order that she remain in the room, and he’d made good on it. Everything arrived at the door for her, even disarrayed jumbles of bedding Kahler had freshly scented. Quinn had humiliated herself in front of Meghan and Curtis both the first time, screaming and throwing the linens around the room only to cling to the slick sheets and blankets as she’d sunk to the floor crying.
Adam was with her always now, only taken away late at night when Kahler came to her. Not that he remained for any length of time. There were no more tender caresses or touches for pleasure’s sake. He fucked her on all fours, not even touching her, knotting her as if the act was repulsive to him. He ignored the way she wept sometimes, the way she screamed and railed against him at others. He only did what he came to do, then left. It was so much worse than her time before in this room. At least then he had faced her, touched her, made his presence felt every second he was with her. Now…
It wouldn’t have gone well for Quinn if not for Adam.
She found herself purring over him when he was upset, humming as she nuzzled his soft cheeks, only to push him back into Meghan’s arms, disconcerted with her reactions. She’d known the truth of it when she’d realized what Kahler had done, but she hadn’t realized how abrupt and complete her feelings for the baby would be. Put in charge of feeding, clothing, and washing him, she was growing more comfortable with his presence by the second.
She’d come awake the moment Meghan had gone to pick him up the last time Kahler had invaded the room. Half-awake and snarling, it had taken her a long second to realize what was going on. Quinn hadn’t even settled after he was gone, thoughts worrying over the now chubby boy as Kahler growled and shoved her into the familiar position.
Shaking her head at her thoughts, Quinn turned her attention back down to Adam as he worked the nipple free and smacked his lips. His radiant smile seemed to approve of her regard.
“Bet you’ll be an Alpha, huh,” Quinn murmured as she eased Adam up onto her shoulder to burp him. “You’ll be all pig-headed and stupid, thinking with nothing but what’s between your legs.”
“Ma’am,” Meghan said with a scandalized gasp. She held a hand to her chest, glancing towards the closed door as if an Alpha would barge in unannounced to punish them for Quinn’s tactless remarks.
Quinn almost felt the urge to laugh before it was swallowed up in the dark, empty place that lurked inside of her. Instead she tucked her nose against Adam’s neck, breathing in the scent of him and baby as she patted his back. There was comfort there, something she needed from him more and more every day, and that he seemed happy to give. As much as those bright blue eyes judged her at times, he snuggled against her with his hand tangled in her hair.
“I think we’ll take a nap, Meghan,” Quinn said as she stood from the rocker. While it was difficult to tell in the loose dresses that were all she had to wear now, Quinn didn’t think her belly had grown much. If anything, she felt she was growing wan and thin. Yet her center of balance seemed off as if she was always ready to topple.
