Hand sliding up, the breadth of his palm cupped the delicate line of her throat. Fingers closing, he held tight as he brought his lips closer. Snarling, his words were almost lost in the rage filled sound. “You are my mate!”
Quinn wheezed as his fingers tightened, stifling her breath even further. Wide grays stared up in paralyzed horror, fists twisting into the sheets. Not daring to struggle, to claw at his arm as she saw the tempest of fury swirling in the depths of his dark eyes. His rage burned, pounding against her, making the air too thick.
“You aren’t a strung out Beta whore who was more than happy to put my son in danger,” Kahler hissed while his fingers clenched. Shifting closer still, the edge of his teeth raked her lips. “You aremine!”
Quinn slapped at the bed, heart thrumming in her ears as she strained for a single breath. The pungent taste of blistering chilies coated her tongue, but she couldn’t fill her lungs past the choking grip. Unable to answer, unwilling to hit at the enraged Alpha, she pleaded with eyes gone hazy.
Releasing her so fast all the blood rushed from her head, Quinn tried to roll. To hack and cough as her lungs expanded too fast, too hard with that first ragged breath. Kahler kept her to her back. Settling his weight on top of her, pushing her into the mattress. Covered her with his heat and the acrid bite of his scent as he growled inches away from her face.
“I’ve destroyed so much for you. Ruined so many things.” Fingers delving deep into her hair, twisting the strands in his fists, he forced her to meet his eyes. “I’ve given you everything. I have done everything to make you happy. I searched for you, brought you back home where you belong. Twice! Our daughter is here and safe. Adam is as much yours as Elise, and he adores you. I tried to be patient with you. I showed you the pleasure we share yet you insist on acting like a whipped dog.”
Lungs working like bellows, relearning how to breathe, she didn’t respond. Quinn couldn’t believe the idiocy flowing from his lips, couched in that savage vibration that was nothing but anger, a promise of more pain.
“I am your mate! Your heart and soul are mine in this Gods damned bond,” Kahler raged, lowering his face. Lips close enough to kiss, he snarled his tirade. “What more do you want from me?”
“A choice.”
Quinn blinked hard, not believing she had whispered the words. Hadn’t thought she had the spine to in that moment. There were two ways to appease an enraged Alpha. Sex and violence, so close, intertwined in their base needs. Yet she’d flung away years of hard earned knowledge and instinct for a moment, just to once say what she wanted.
Unwilling to close her eyes, to not meet head on whatever her indiscretion might buy her, she saw the second the decision was made. There, in the twilit darkness of his green eyes, the moment he resolved her fate was marked by their sudden widening. Blistering hot, pupils expanding, she tasted the burnt flavor of him over her tongue and waited for a swift end.
It made it all the more surprising when he cupped her face with brutal hands, the kiss he pressed against her lips distressing in its tenderness.
“From the moment I saw you moping about in that disgusting club, I knew you would be mine. Not just for Adam. You made my blood fucking sing, and I knew I wanted nothing else.”
The tender words could not be aligned with the way he snarled, biting them out as if he cursed her with every breath. Gripping her face so hard it throbbed, she felt the tingle of bruised flesh beneath digging fingers as he forced her to keep his gaze. To look back at him as he brushed another whisper soft kiss against her slack lips.
“You wanted a breeder—”
“I wanted you, Gods damn it. Wanted the little Omega who kept her chin so damned high and proud. So fucking strong, it killed me not to take you that very second. The one who didn’t sell herself like a cheap tramp. You, who didn’t let just anyone touch her, I knew you would come apart in my arms and you would be mine.”
“You took me to be your whore.”
“I took you to be my fucking mate!”
“I can’t give you what you want. Why won’t you leave me alone?” The tears that had dried up in her confusion slipped free again, rushing over her lashes to trickle down her cheeks. “Get someone else, some bitch who will spread and pop out whole fucking litters for you.”
“I don’t want anyone but you,” Kahler bellowed, inches away.
“You can’t even look at me,” Quinn screamed back, the fragile strands of her composure snapping, sheared away under the force of her misery and his violence. “You rape me, every Gods damned night in this bed, but you won’t look at me! You don’t care what they did to me, how they fucking hurt me—”
“Oh, I want to look at you. I want to touch every inch of you, but each time I think of how I wasn’t there to protect you. How many times they hurt you andI was not there. I felt it, Quinn. Every Gods damned time they fucking touched you, I felt your pain. Your anger. I felt it when you fucking came. I felt… I felt you fall apart, and I thought I had lost you. I thought I would die with you, wanted to.”
His kiss was not gentle. It was an assault, silencing her low cries with lips and teeth and tongue. Invading her as he wrapped her up in his body, forcing her to mold to his heat and the hard planes of him. Crushed against the immovable force of him, she screamed. Let him swallow it down as she let out months of torment in a single ragged sound that held until her throat burned and her head spun.
She bit and clawed, raking her nails down his back. There was no satisfaction in the taste of his blood, the coppery scent of it drifting in the livid haze between them. Beating her fists against whatever she could reach, he took the minor blows, holding her tighter still. Kissing her even when she scored his lips with the edge of her teeth. Stroking her hair as she thrashed against him.
A festering wound split open, she purged it all. All the terror, the anger, the rage. Everything that had built up inside of her came out in a steady rush that threatened to destroy her under the crushing pressure. All of the pain laid bare, shoving it in the face of the man who swore he’d keep her safe and hadn’t. Damning him as much as herself for all that had happened, hating herself as much as she despised him.
He held her until she went limp, the sounds escaping her raw and hoarse. Rising, lifting her with him, Kahler took them to the bathroom. He held her tight as he ran the bath, cuddled her close as he sat in the too hot water with her wrapped around him. Touch far more gentle than it had ever been before, he washed away the sweat and blood from their bodies.
Purring the entire time, he washed away all that he could, even if he would never touch the murky darkness that stained deep into her soul.
Wrapped in a warmed towel, Kahler sat her on the bench. Quinn flinched as he came up behind her, trying to slide away when his fingers worked through her soaked hair. Shoulders rounding, she huddled as he made a gruff sound and came around to her front. Crouched before her, he purred harder, skimming his knuckles against her cold cheeks before he began to dry her hair with calm, slow motions.
A tug on her hand pulled her up, dragging her into motion as he led her back into the bedroom. Her feet pointed her towards the closet, the promise of the obligatory clothing not half as demeaning as it had been before this night.
Except he stopped her. Pulled her back against his front and pushed her towards the bed.
