“It’s all right, Meghan. Just tell me.”
“Mr. Kahler, he’s gone away. Business, they said. He’ll be gone for at least a month. That’s why—”
“Why he came here and fucked me like it meant something.” Quinn swallowed back the rising tide of bile burning the back of her throat as she turned to Adam with a calm she didn’t feel. Plucking him from the bassinet, she gave him a smile as he blinked awake.
“We don’t need him, do we, little man?”
Chapter 14
Two weeks.
Two weeks since Kahler had disrupted what had become known and, yet again, deserted her.
Huddled in the stale bedding that only held faint traces of him now, Quinn sniffled. She had tried to let Meghan put him in the nursery so her weeping wouldn’t disturb him again, but she’d become frantic within minutes. So now she shoved her face into the pillow that smelled only of salt and her misery as another choked sob worked its way past clenched teeth.
Sleep only came in disjointed fits. Her eyes looked hollow, deep purple bruises staining the thin skin under a tormented gray gaze. Every sound real or imagined made her bolt upright, expecting to see him coming into the room. Even sneering at the state of her, mocking her.
She’d take it.
Food was forced down, her only reasons for trying growing larger by the day in her belly and in her arms. Adam was sitting up on his own, making gleeful messes with goop that Meghan claimed to be peaches and carrots and peas. She tried to be as enthusiastic as he was, but every bite was a chore that threatened to come back up.
She needed his touch. Needed him to purr. Needed him.
Gods, she hated him.
Blackness edged her vision, and she hoped that sleep would drag her under. She swayed, clinging to the pillow, before hazy consciousness drew her back up. She had to sleep soon. Had to.
It had only been two weeks and there were at least two more to bear.
Quinn cocked her head, the movement almost painful as she strained to hear something. Faint enough that she was sure she imagined it, but loud enough that she didn’t care. It was a quiet roar of sound, bringing with it heavy, vivid memories of Kahler. She could almost smell him as he lay beside her. Those dark green eyes soft, almost languid, after they’d mated, his fingers tangling in her hair as if he liked to touch the fluffy curls…
Slipping sideways, she didn’t realize she had toppled over until cheek met the bunched sheets. She didn’t fight it, didn’t struggle to right herself, but fell deeper into the vision clouding out the surrounding reality. They were in his bed. Her nest. Their bodies still sheened in sweat from their mating, but even in this dream world his scent was faint, wrong somehow. Lips moving, he growled something at her, the temper at odds with the way he stroked her cheek. Somehow he was above her, smiling as he moved inside of her. Hands that were so strong and sure gripped her shoulders and shook her violently…
Shrieking as she came awake, Quinn clawed at the dark shadow looming over her holding her shoulders. Gripping, pulling, trying to wrench her free from the tangle of sheets.
Adam was screaming, Meghan’s frantic cries joining his. Curtis’ voice was a hoarse bellow at her ear as he continued to pull at Quinn. With a muted roar of frustration, he grabbed Quinn up, blankets and all, before he pushed Meghan ahead of him towards the landing.
Smoke filled the hall.
Dark, oily, billowing up on blistering drafts, it blotted out the scant light coming through the high windows as it choked the air. Wracked with a fit of coughing, lungs seizing, Quinn clung to Curtis as he herded Meghan down the stairs. Sweat beaded her brow, heat prickling along her exposed arms as they descended.
Adam’s wails became more desperate.
Red rimmed light flickered against the walls as Curtis rushed through the main hall towards the back of the house. Adrenaline surged through Quinn at the first sight of flames licking their way up the plaster. Greedy, it devoured paintings and woodwork, flared and crackled as it consumed everything it touched. The initial implosion was soundless as a wall fell, only a rush of air and simmering heat before the ground shook, bits and pieces of the fine house tumbling down around them in a rain of glimmering reds.
In a rush of clarity, Quinn tumbled free of Curtis. Bare feet slapped against the wood floor as she caught her balance. Adam. She had to save Adam.
Meghan’s screech of surprise was muffled in another blast of heat and sound. Quinn grabbed for the boy, ignoring the way tender flesh dimpled, likely to bruise, as she hauled him up into her arms. Bowed over him, protecting him from the sizzling wisps of smoldering house that scattered through the air, she ran for the promised safety of outside.
Lucidity faded almost as soon as it began as Quinn dashed through the darkness. Pools of nebulous clouds reached for her, caressing her skin, tightening like a noose around her neck. Gasping, choking, she stumbled on. She’d never known the house, but one room remained fixed in her mind. Angling her pounding feet towards the office, she dodged specters and flames.
Not until the woods appeared, rearing up before her did she stop. Cold lashed through her veins as the insidious black trunks and limbs swayed, reaching, grasping. With a strangled cry, Quinn fell back. Hoarfrost melted through the thin cotton of her dress to freeze her skin.
Not appreciating his jostling journey, Adam screamed his discontent. Even so far away from the fire working its way through the house, the wails and shrieks of an angry infant were swallowed up. People swarmed the raging bonfire, more than she had ever seen in the place. She saw no sign of Curtis or Meghan, nothing about any of the figures bathed in red and shadow familiar. Bleary gaze catching on their hurried movements, she watched them try to subdue the flames.
It was hopeless.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay. Mama has you,” Quinn mumbled as she tried to soothe Adam. It was freezing and there were only his pajamas and a thin blanket to keep him warm. Quinn wrapped him up tight, curling around him to keep as much heat against him as she could.
