“Good girl, pet. You haven’t been eating enough of late,” Lee said against her hair, a bare hint of a purr in his words.
As if he was ever there to see that. Quinn’s meals were lone affairs. Ilya stood by as she ate then watched her go back to her nest, a silent sentry to her comings and goings.
“Isn’t it time for her nap?”
“I have to feed her first.”
“Let’s get you two back upstairs then,” Lee said, a flick of his fingers indicating Quinn should rise and gather her daughter.
It seemed he intended to escort her. Wondering if he wanted to watch her as he had that first night and if she could stand it, Quinn unbuckled Elise and tucked the drowsing infant into the crook of her arm. The oppressive weight of Lee’s hand fell onto her shoulder.
Not until they were in the hall and he turned her towards the nursery did Quinn start to consider why Lee was there. His appearance just when Elise was due to nap was foreboding, a weight that pushed at her until the pressure slumped her spine.
Standing in the doorway to the nursery, he watched as she arranged Elise to be fed. The murky brown of his eyes were bright with avarice when Quinn worked her breast free. Not until Elise was busy nursing did he come closer, going down to one knee and forcing Quinn’s legs to make room for him.
“Such a good mother, pet.” Lee smoothed back the cotton tufts of Elise’s hair, his gaze drifting away from her busy mouth to the swell of Quinn’s breast.
He remained that way during the whole thing, stroking Elise’s cheek and arm, lavishing attention on her. Even as his other hand gripped Quinn’s leg, fingers digging into tender flesh. Caressing her inner thigh, though he stopped short of touching any higher. The discordance left her trembling, fitful hands hovering over Elise. Protective, seeking to reassure herself that Elise wasn’t aware of what the Alpha was doing.
Demeanor patient, he rose with Quinn when Elise was finished, but turned her to the unused crib. Nudged her towards it when she didn’t go at once and followed close at her heels as she shuffled her way forward. An agonizing death march, she lingered over Elise long enough for Lee to lean down, hands braced against the side of the crib.
“I paid good money for all of these monitors. She will be fine,” he whispered against Quinn’s ear. The rumble of it tried to work through her, to slip under the stiff-backed reticence and rattle it free.
It took an age for Quinn to settle Elise into the crib. What felt like hours passed before she could pull her hands away from the soft rise and fall of Elise’s chest. She didn’t want to leave her. Elise was safe only when in her arms, cuddled close and warm in the nest. The few steps from her door and an endless stretch of possibilities were too much for one infant to be left alone with. Holding the edge of the crib, knuckles blanching white, Quinn became brittle when Lee’s fingers curled over the shelf of her hip.
“Come now, pet.” Free hand reaching over the crib, he turned on the fancy monitor that would beam an image of Elise in full color, complete with sound, to Quinn’s bedroom across the hall. Pulled on her side and led Quinn to the doorway.
Knowing she shouldn’t and helpless to stop, she dug her heels in and turned back. It felt too much like abandoning Elise, leaving her to survive all the dangers of this world alone. Just as her mother had done to Quinn more often than not. Peaceful and content, Elise slept on as if nothing at all was wrong in the world.
“Now.”
Quinn gave a slow nod, refusing to take her eyes from the bundle that looked so alone in a room designed just for her. Surrounded by gadgets and luxury, she looked too small and fragile. Lower lip trembling, Quinn didn’t resist when Lee urged her forward. There was no defiance as he guided her across the hall. Not until the door closed, locking them away, did the first tears slip over her lashes.
The pad of his thumb swiped at her cheek, his groan lewd as he sucked the taste of her sorrow off of his skin. There was no gentleness in his touch as he tugged her free of the simple clothes. Even as she stifled her low sobs, shoulders shaking with the raw sounds. No tenderness as he tossed her into the middle of the nest. He was undressed before Quinn could untangle her limbs, shoving her flat with a growl that was more menace than seduction.
“Spread,” Lee husked against the back of her neck, knee heavy between her thighs as he forced her to open around him. To make room for the thick heat that nudged against her ass, leaving slimy, hot trails in its wake.
“Please,” Quinn stammered, clutching at the drifts of her ruined nest. Legs opening so as not to incite his anger, she stared hard at the monitor that had never been turned on.
“You have more pressing concerns, pet.” With a coarse growl, he fisted his length. Smeared his head through her folds, coating her with the copious fluid that leaked from his tip. Palm splayed over her hips, he shoved into the hilt.
His roar of unadulterated victory drowned her thin wail. Face buried in the mattress, futile kicks did little to ease the agonizing stretch. Unprepared for any of it, Quinn clawed at the bed. Pulled herself away in frantic inches until he grabbed her hips and hauled her back into his next fierce thrust.
The slow drag of his exit was almost as painful as his inward rush. Fingers tight enough to bruise, he worked her back and forth, pulling and pushing to the brutal rhythm he set. One agonizing surge after another had him leaking more, slicking a passage too dry to give him the pleasure he sought.
Helpless grunts pushed from her lungs, Quinn held onto the luxurious blankets and grit her teeth. Tried to quiet her keens and wails as he drove too deep. Battering her still tender body, abusing it for his own needs. Lee didn’t even make a pretense of any part of this being for her.
The knot was already swelling, growing as he forced her wider. Stretching her with every thrust to take the thick girth until she bit the blankets and screamed. Pummeled the bed and kicked, collapsing onto the mattress. Following her down, he shoved the knot deep inside of her and bellowed as the first burning wave of his release jettisoned into her. The searing shock wave rippled through aching flesh.
“Take it,” Lee snarled. Hunched over her back, he wrenched her head aside and barked in her face. “Take my knot!”
Unable to respond through the ragged sobs that tore from her throat, there was no way to appease the angered Alpha after she shook her head in confusion. She couldn’t take it any deeper. He was wedged against her cervix, locked tight behind her pelvic bone, every thick surge a burning rush.
There were no more words. Lee growled deep in his chest, aggression rolling off of him in suffocating waves. Lips touched her back seconds before his teeth sunk deep. Dug in, sawing through flesh until blood flowed.
With a shattered scream, understanding came on the first twisted swell of shock. Vicious, demented memories roiling through her mind, every muscle locked tight before she convulsed through another tide of agony. Too much like the moments Gerry had inflicted unbearable pain to give him what he wanted from an unwilling body.
Her cunt squeezed his knot in a vice like grip as she writhed, milking the next spray of come. Ushering it deep inside of her body as he made monstrous noises above her.
