“Nest.”
Quinn was thankful when his heat left her, less so when he only disappeared into the closet to return with fresh bedding. Releasing a shuddery breath, she went through the motions. Her hands knew what to do, her mind didn’t need to be involved. Stopping short when he began to help, when he dared to drag away the old to be replaced, Quinn’s lip lifted as she scowled at the crumpled ball of sheets and blankets he manhandled like so much refuse.
“Nest.”
The growl of a command underscored the word, sending her hands back to work though her eyes kept straying towards him and where he stuffed the old linens into the hamper then pulled on a pair of shorts. He’d gotten rid of everything that reeked of her fear, his anger, his lust. Everything she arranged now was flat and lifeless.
When she’d positioned it all to her liking, he took her towel and urged her in. Tucking the blanket high up to her chin, he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Then left the room.
Imagination running rampant in her bewilderment, Quinn sat up and clutched the blanket to her chest. Worry about what it meant, what he was doing, what would happen gnawed on her thoughts, rats on a rotting bone. Clawed at the space in her chest that was infected by him and him alone.
His expression was troubled when he came through the door to find Quinn dressed and pacing in frantic circles. He looked at the bed then to her, a single brow sliding upwards as he closed the door and lifted the plate towards her.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed,” Kahler said as he went to the low table and chairs by the windows. A crook of his finger beckoned her closer.
Shuffling over because she saw no way out of this, she raked her fingers through her hair one last time to smooth the disheveled mess of it. She couldn’t help the involuntary sigh as she collapsed onto the nearby chair. Peering at the offered plate, a single pale eyebrow quirked up to match his.
“You’re still not getting cheeseburgers in this house.” Kahler slid the plate closer, something of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips before it faded away. “Pizza, though…”
Chin dipping in a nod, Quinn sidled closer. Folding the large slice of pepperoni and mushroom in half, she brought it up to her mouth and willed herself to take a bite. Somehow managing the act of chewing and swallowing, she repeated it twice more before her stomach churned in vicious circles. Setting the food aside, she dragged her gaze up to meet his.
“What are you going to do to me?”
“I’m going to put you to bed after you’ve finished.”
“You know what I meant.”
“You are my mate, Quinn. It’s high time you realize that fact will not be changing.”
Chapter 15
Aside from a few questionable decisions in her life, Quinn had never been stupid enough to think that things would change after her tirade. So she wasn’t surprised when things continued on as they were.
If Kahler was more careful of her, making sure not to come up behind her and that she saw him when he touched her, it made little difference. Making her look at him, to see him as he climbed on top of her made no change at all. He still forced her every night and most mornings. Turning her body against her, leaving her drowning in shame and disgust.
The Gods showed her a little of their favor when the tension between him and Curtis reached a boiling point and he began leaving the house to do whatever it was he did. The hours of the day that he was gone were spent hidden away in the nursery where Quinn tried to break through the crippling depression and the despair that infected every breath. At least enough to play with Adam and Elise, to be amazed at how they talked to each other in that way only the very young understand as if they were longtime friends.
It helped that the nursery was the one place Curtis did not dare to tread.
The Beta had always been aloof, but now he was downright cold. Every exchange full of sneering contempt, his glares filled her with a trepidation that left her skin crawling. He never did anything outright, a subtle hatred that she couldn’t complain about. Not that she’d ever say anything to Kahler even if he did. She’d known he didn’t like her, that he never cared for Kahler bringing home street trash. They both knew she didn’t belong there. Neither knowing how to resolve the situation they found themselves mired in, they perfected a ritual of avoidance. A delicate dance where they strained to pretend the other did not exist.
The hardest times were the meals they were forced to share.
Disinterest continued to plague her, souring her stomach to the point that hunger became transient, a fleeting thing that was ushered away with a single thought. Kahler hadn’t lied. He noticed and decided to do something about it. Dragging her into his lap right there in front of everyone, he purred and coaxed her to force bite after bite. When even that failed to make her choke it down, his quiet growls and demands did. Telling her she had to think of Adam, of Elise, that she wasn’t being a good mother by allowing this to continue.
As if she had any control over any of it.
The mind works in strange ways, and it was during moments like these that she found herself thinking of Ilya and his near gourmet skills. While she might try to concentrate on the way he’d always had something prepared, something she’d love and ready the moment she left her nest, it would devolve from there. The way he had touched her, purring and cuddling as he talked to her. Treating her like a human being for the first time in her life.
Had he ever cared about her or had it been a way to keep her compliant? Why that was the question and not how she could miss the man who not only allowed, but orchestrated, such gruesome things to happen to her Quinn didn’t understand.
“Where do you go when you look like that, little bird,” Kahler murmured against her ear, his fingers tightening over her hips to bring Quinn flush with his chest again.
Straightening from where she’d leaned her elbows on the table to contemplate the too sweet custard and berries, Quinn rolled a shoulder in a shrug. Deciding she could at least miss the Alpha’s cooking, she set the heavy spoon aside and waited for Kahler to release her from the shackles of his hard grip. Stomach unsettled, she wasn’t sure if it was the food or the man that made her sick. No amount of his coaxing would make her choke more of the cloying shit down.
Chin rising to take in the room and its final occupant, she caught Curtis’ disapproving glare. That wouldn’t make her eat it either.
