Stifling the hard sob that ripped free, Quinn snatched the thick towel from the bar beside her. She shoved the plush terry between her teeth, stuffing it into her mouth to muffle the ragged sounds as she sunk to the cold tiles of the corner.
She sat there until her legs went numb, bones creaking in protest. Until her mouth was dry and raw, the towel soaked through with her despair. Crawling to the sink, she levered herself up. Used the cold stone to prop herself up as she leaned in to splash her face with water. Stood there for ages more to watch the water swirling down the drain. A fitting image for the metaphor of her life.
Easing back into the bed, Quinn let her body go limp as Kahler pulled her to him. Groggy, he made a small perturbed sound when cloth met his seeking hand.
“Cold,” she whispered to the darkness beyond, even those shadows leaving her be for the moment as the Alpha at her back wrapped her up in his body. Suffocating her in too many ways to count.
“It will all be better soon, sweetness.”
It would never be right again.
“You will always be mine.”
Chapter 16
Quinn groaned as she came awake.
Heat suffused her limbs, a steady tide of blistering warmth that lapped at her skin and pushed her into the hazy space between awareness and dreams. It urged her to writhe, to bask in all that glorious pleasure.
Her gasp was quiet even in the dim light of early morning. Hips twitching towards the slick slide of pressure between her thighs, she exhaled on a breathy moan. Blinking hard to dispel the bleary edge of sleep, she sat up on her elbows to stare in plaintive dismay at the man nestled between her spread thighs.
It was then Quinn realized her clothes were gone. Not just that, but she was beyond wet, soaking Kahler’s chin and the bedding with slick as her body responded. Falling back, Quinn bit her lip and stared at the ceiling. Hating herself for how he could do this to her. Forced into willing submission with his touch and growls.
“You taste incredible,” he murmured against her swollen flesh. Tongue working through her folds he drew it in long, slow passes through her wetness. A teasing caress against the hard nub of her clit given before he nibbled at taut lips.
Quinn dragged in a breath, filling her lungs to painful capacity, and stared at the pure white of the ceiling. Closing her eyes wouldn’t make it better. Too much became unknown, shadows and memories tangling their way through her until every touch was clawed fingers grabbing, the brush of skin the hard impact of a hand.
It had been so much easier before. The need for an Alpha to keep her and an unborn baby alive, she’d been able to withstand it all. Even after, with Elise so dependent on her, she’d been able to lay under Lee without the urge to cry. She’d even schemed and plotted while giving her body up to Lee and Ilya both.
Now it was nothing but horrors and terrors waiting to rip her to shreds.
All she could do was wait for instinct to drown her. For the primal urges that resided deep in the recesses of her mind to overwhelm her and let her surrender to what was happening.
“Give me your hand.”
Brows twitching, straining to scowl, Quinn threw her hand over her hip in a boneless flop. Tried not to flinch when he tangled his fingers in hers but failed all the same.
“Look at me.”
Quinn made disgruntled noises as she shoved a pillow beneath her head one handed, angling it up so she could see down the line of her body. To see him staring up at her from between her legs. Gaze drifting to the marks, the scars, thoughts unbidden shrieked their way in. A pileup of half formed visions slammed into her chest. The one who had bitten her hip so hard, as if he’d wanted to tear the flesh off. The other that lapped up the blood from where his fingers clawed her thigh. Alton’s fists landing blow after blow as he crushed her into the filthy carpet.
Kahler growled low in his throat and tightened his hold on her fingers, crushing the delicate bones as he demanded her attention. Kept her gaze as he lowered his mouth back to her cunt to feather kisses over reddened folds.
“You taste incredible,” he whispered with another slow lick, tongue rolling to savor her taste before swallowing it down.
“You already said that.” Skin tight and uncomfortable under the strain of watching, she twitched away when his chin dipped down again.
“It bears repeating.” A maybe smile flitted over his lips, gone before it ever appeared. His inhale was slow and deep, nose flush with the soft roundness of her slit.
Waiting for him to begin again, Quinn jumped, scrambling back on the bed when his lips pushed against one of the ugly streaks of puckered flesh marking her thigh. Squawked a protest when he dragged her back down to his waiting mouth to lick and nip at another jagged line.
“Stop!”
“Shh, little bird,” Kahler husked, trailing yet more kisses over her scarred flesh.
On and on, he lavished attention on those awful things. Continuing until she dug her heels into the bed to squirm away. Jerking at the hand still clenched in his, he shoved her thighs open around his shoulders. Mouth descending, he covered her pussy. Lapped at the delicate folds with a groan that vibrated through her. Sucking at the tender nub of her clit hard, drawing a ragged cry of surprise from her lips.
As it became too much, pleasure threading through her veins and overwhelming her senses, he turned away. His mouth moved over her legs, her hips, even dragging her arm between her thighs to lick and suck at the tender skin of her wrist as Quinn ground her clit against the back of her hand seeking oblivion.
