When Elise’s mumbling cries filtered through the monitor, the bright screen showing her pouting face as she sat up in bed, Lee began to retreat. Stiff as he unfolded his arms where they still held Quinn so tight.
“Lee,” Quinn murmured, carding her fingers through his hair as she put a questioning pout on her lips. Dampened the mother’s instinct demanding she go to her child as she turned his face to her.
His brows slipped down, shadowing his gaze as his eyes flicked from the monitor to her face. Unable to believe it, Quinn saw the uncertainty in his dark eyes the moment it came to fruition. Saw the war of emotions flitting through his gaze before he settled on a suspicious scowl.
“It’s not time for her to nurse yet.” Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she let it roll out. Slow, purposeful, the pinkened flesh ripe with promise. “Ilya can handle it.”
“You trust him with your child?”
“I trust him not to hurt what’s yours.”
It was the truth, and it was easy to use it as a lie. Made it easier to put the smile on her lips as Lee lowered himself over her, his long arm reaching out to silence the monitor before it wrapped around her once more.
His growl was rough as he pressed it against her neck. Quinn let it work through her whole body as Lee wrapped her up in him. Touching and being touched, it was learning the hills and valleys of a new lover. The scratch of nails, the rasp of his bristled cheek, there was no urgency in what they did. It was nothing at all like the first time he’d taken her all those months ago. He watched her every reaction, taking note of what made her hum and gasp.
The door being flung open had Lee tensed in seconds. Every muscle rigid, Quinn felt more than heard the growl vibrate through his chest as he turned to see the intrusion. A red faced Elise, cradled in Ilya’s arms, sucked on her pacifier with obvious discontent.
The moment stretched as Quinn turned her head to face them. Pinned under Lee, she gazed into icy blue eyes. Ilya returned her stare, nostrils flaring as he took in the scent of sex. She tipped her head back, angling her chin. Baring her shoulder, the bloom of a vivid purple-hued bruise surrounding crimson punctures staining the smoothness of her skin. Her attention flicked down to her sniffling baby in his arms then back. A faint twitch of her eyebrows, she put every plea she could into that look.
Lee’s growl built, thundering through the room. A challenge and warning both, it sent the other Alpha back into the hall. Ilya continued to stare, his gaze centered on the expanse of flesh Quinn had shown him. Eyes narrowing, he took another step back.
The door slamming was loud and final, cutting them off from the outside world.
“Where were we… ah, yes,” Lee murmured as he lowered his lips to hers. Tongue teasing before it delved into her mouth. Tasting her.
Quinn hummed and closed her eyes, arms wrapping around the broadness of Lee’s shoulders.
Chapter 7
Days slipped by, Lee never leaving her side. As if she was in heat, he prowled over her body day and night. Tasting, touching, fucking. He demanded her attention and touch, reveling in them. Her only reprieve from him was when she nursed Elise and when he allowed her to eat on her own. Watching her every movement, it often devolved into him feeding her from his fingers, making her suck the digits clean. Sometimes he wouldn’t even wait for her to finish before mounting her again.
Quinn’s smile never faltered. She purred and hummed, touching the Alpha with reverence as she praised his prowess. Her cries and screams urged him to take her harder each time. The act was so complete she found herself losing the thread of the plan, coming hard around the utter perfection of his knot.
Relief swept through her when Lee announced he had to go to the office. She made the appropriate noises of soft petulance that she couldn’t go, that she had to remain behind while he continued his awful reign of Highriver. Standing in the foyer dressed in nothing more than a thick robe that hung askew from Lee’s latest fervent kiss and claiming hands, she waved him out the door.
She was still standing there when Ilya came down with Elise in his arms. Shoulders rounded, Quinn had slumped, hunched as if braced for a blow. Shivering in uncontrollable fits, the heel of her palm worked to grind away the reddened flesh of her chest. Though she heard him approach, expensive boots slapping against the tile, she didn’t face Ilya until he thrust Elise towards her.
“She is changed. She needs to be fed.”
His voice was rough, the grating rasp of it worse than she had ever heard. Biting her bruised lip hard, she turned large, wet eyes up to him as she reached for Elise.
“Thank you.” Her voice wasn’t much better. Hoarse, ragged, it showed the strain of the past days where she had spoken little and screamed much. A small sniff sent a fat tear slipping down her cheek as she gathered her daughter close, cradling Elise to her chest.
Ilya’s grunt was the only reply as he turned to stalk away. Eyes trained on his retreating back, Quinn made another sniffle before she began the slow, weary trek back upstairs. Each step landing hard, she felt every second of her time with Lee. Exhausted, drained, she pressed her lips to Elise’s hair and contemplated her next step.
Ensconced in the nursery after taking the time to put on real clothing for the first time in days, clear of the overwhelming scent of an Alpha in rut, clarity seeped into the fog that had been invading her. Now she could gather her thoughts and bolster her ragged determination. Take these few precious minutes to collect her strength.
It was all working and far better than Quinn had ever hoped it would. Lee was enamored of her now, downright obsessed if she was being honest. Even when she had been pregnant, the pheromones of a fertile Omega ripe on her skin, he hadn’t been this eager. Not just to take her, but tohaveher. Her pleasure, her screams, her cries.
The problem was that each time his teeth came to her shoulder. Every time he bit down just a little harder, the threat real and terrifying.
Outside of a heat, she wouldn’t last with the weak claim. She’d go more insane than she already was. The nightmares hadn’t gotten better with Lee by her side, and more than once she had to feign faintness from lack of food or exhaustion for blacking out.
Everything was getting worse. She had to act. Soon.
She had to get Elise out of there.
Settling Elise against her chest, she gave her first true smile in what felt like forever. A possessive, protective hand swept down the soft cotton onesie as Quinn headed towards the door.
