“You need to eat more.”
“I don’t feel well.” Restless shifting was met with an impatient sigh and the tightening of his hands before Kahler slid them around. Palms flat low on her abdomen, he nuzzled her neck. Disregarding the fact Curtis stood by with posture rigid as steel, full lips a narrow slash of distaste.
“All right, little bird.”
Rising, taking her with him, he manhandled her with ease until Quinn was cradled against his chest. A distracted goodnight murmured through her hair as Kahler headed for the stairs, already nipping and licking at the exposed skin he could reach. Fingers kneading at her thighs, her breast, he didn’t care who saw.
“I really don’t feel well,” Quinn mumbled to the floor when he deposited her at the foot of the bed, seeking hands pulling at her clothes.
That had been another change, albeit a small one. In the mornings he started to drag out long dresses with wispy sleeves, airy blouses and flowy skirts. All things that didn’t conceal every inch of her while still keeping her hidden away. He undressed her more often than not, though, skin to skin as he rutted her.
“The doctor said they might make you feel unwell for a bit,” Kahler said after tossing the loose dress aside. Already turning to bring the evil white pills to press into her palm as he waited by with a glass of water fetched from the bathroom.
He never named them. Fertility drugs. Meant to be a gentler form of the injections, to increase her hormones over time so she would have a natural heat, the same poison that Ilya had been sneaking into her without her knowledge. The stupid man still wouldn’t accept the fact she wouldn’t be giving him any more children. Still insisted that she could be his breeder.
Never mind that she hated his touch, hated him, hated all of this complicated dance that decided her fate each day.
Ignoring the fact her body was ruined.
“Just do the shot and get it over with.” Quinn swallowed the pills dry, the leaden weight of them grinding down her throat as she hurried past him to the bed. The uneasy prickling along her spine told her he watched. Unnerved by the attention, she threw herself into the bed, tugging at the blanket until it covered her to the chin.
“Oh, I think these are working just fine.” One corner of his lips twitched, long strides bringing him alongside the bed where he deposited the glass on the table beside her. Making a great show of moving towards her, each action slow and obvious, he leaned down to card his fingers through her hair. A kiss placed on each of her cheeks. “But you still need to eat more.”
Waiting for him to flick the light off, to climb in on top of her, Quinn clenched her fists in the sheets. Felt the delicate fibers stretch and creak under the strain of her fear when he began to remove his clothes in unhurried movements. Always with the suits, three pieces and fresh off a press. Shoes that gleamed with a high polish.
A single blink and it was Lee standing before her, watching her as he loosened his tie. The predatory way his gaze worked over the hills and valleys of her hidden body as he unbuttoned the pristine shirt. Deep green replaced with earthy brown, golden brown substituting for rich black.
Shallow breaths pumping in and out between parted lips, Quinn gripped the sheets tighter. Twisted them up into her hands to feel the smooth glide of fresh cotton. There was no smoky violence here, no hot ash of anger. Just the rich spice of Kahler.
The thought didn’t help.
Not when he loosened the belt and eased the slacks from his hips. Tossing it all aside to be cared for by someone less important than him. Standing proud and naked before her, the heaviness of his cock held it low despite its hardness.
Mistaking her staring for attention, the Alpha preened. Postured as he began the slow climb up onto the bed, letting her drink her fill of the nightmares swirling through her. Jagged ice flowing through her veins as he came ever closer, he didn’t mark her fine trembling.
Lungs seizing as his hand glided up the length of her leg, ankle to thigh, all Quinn could do was stare. Swearing it wasn’t him, that Lee was dead, shot down in that evil room made no difference.
“Quinn, sweetness, look at me.”
No. No, he never called her by name, never gave a term of endearment, but it was still somehow that smoldering voice. The one that oozed into places it shouldn’t. Black, malevolent, it ate away at her bones. Chewing her up.
“Look at me.”
Unbidden, her gaze dragged up the length of him. A helpless sound escaping her as she paused for too long on the tumescence aimed at her, threatening to tear her apart.
“Quinn.”
The command was impossible to ignore. Her eyes traveled up, leaving behind the terror that was known for a nameless one above.
“Look at me,” he husked, thumbs tracing her jaw before he caught her, holding her there so Quinn had no choice but to stare at his face. “See your Alpha, little bird. Me. No one else.”
Hiccupping a watery sob, the scalding edge of tears pulled her eyes tight. Refusing to close her eyes even as he inched closer, he became a hazy blur as he kissed her slack lips. A careful touch, he held her firm between powerful hands as he eased back to gauge her reaction.
It brought her back, the murky shades of brown fading into shadows and then nothing. Bringing Kahler into focus as he hovered over her. The indelible bonds that connected her to him slithered within her chest. Silken strands that encased her heart until Quinn could swear she felt two rhythms pounding against the back of her ribs. One slow and steady, the other a quavering staccato.
“Yes, Quinn, that’s it. See me, your Alpha, your mate,” Kahler said, his purr a near hum of satisfaction as he leaned in to take her lips again. A slow violation where he urged her mouth open, slipping inside to slide against her tongue in a playful tease.
Quinn felt it down to the marrow of her bones. A creeping tide that sucked at the tension running ragged through her shoulders, bleeding it out on a quiet sigh as she melted back into the disheveled bedding.
