“Quinn,” Tobias roared, as he hauled her up once more, flinging her slack body into the front seat of the sedan. Careless of the shattered glass littering the smooth leather, he shoved Quinn flat to the seat as he jerked the car into gear and peeled out of the lot.
* * *
Curled into a tight ball and shaking so hard her teeth chattered despite the sedatives Dr. Annan had brought her and the intense heat of Tobias at her back, Quinn stared into the empty air.
She could still feel the lurid warmth of his blood even after she’d scrubbed her skin raw to be rid of the thick strands of gore and the tacky film of blood. Could still see that ghastly smile on his dead lips. He’d leapt at her in the last possible second, taking the bullet through his skull to save Quinn.
Not Tobias.Her.
The woman he considered trash, hated that his employer and sometimes friend brought her here, and yet, he’d sacrificed his own life for her. There was no way for him to know her claim marked Tobias’ shoulder, that her death could mean the ruin of her mate. Not with how careful Tobias was with it. He couldn’t have known. Yet he’d done it anyway.
A man was dead because ofher.
Her cut cheek and the gashes marking her arm had taken eight stitches altogether. Dr. Annan patched her up, slapped a bottle full of sedatives onto the table, and then gotten out of there in a hurry.
The bullet grazed her shoulder as it exited Curtis’ skull. The smallest mark. A pink welt that would be gone in a few days at most.
“I have you, sweetness,” Tobias said through the purr that did nothing to dull the disarray of her thoughts or even calm the rapid stutter of her heart.
Kids long since put to bed, there was the urge to see them. To pet their hair, assure herself that they were whole and well. Somewhere in the thick tangle of dizzying horror was the very real need for Tobias to make it all go away. To fuck her into the sunlit oblivion where she felt nothing.
It was pushed away, stamped down until all that was left were rich golden brown eyes and a disbelieving smile.
What felt like hours passed. Quinn would begin to drift off, only to hear the crack of the gunshots reverberating through her skull once more. Flailing as she came awake, clawing at her skin, it would take Tobias shackling her wrists to stop further injury.
Somewhere in the dark hours before dawn, Tobias pulled away. Abandoning her in the nest, he slipped on his robe and padded from the room. Leaving her to sob into the pillows as she tried to banish that damned smile from her memory.
“Quinn.” The growl of a command buried under the depth of his purr, the kids didn’t stir as he tucked them in beside her. Pulling the heavy blankets piled on top of Quinn tight to her chin, he pulled her cold arms around their little bodies until they were snuggled against her chest. Mouths slack in sleep, they made quiet murmurs and wrapped their arms around one another as well as Quinn.
“I have to take care of this, little bird. You need to keep them safe until I come back. Do you hear me?”
Quinn’s nod was jerky, but she managed to choke down another ragged sob before it could tear free and wake her babies. Burying her face in their downy hair, she breathed in their warmth and the sweetness of innocence. It didn’t make Curtis’ smile go away, didn’t bring her any peace, but Quinn refused to terrify her children with her hysterics.
Listening to Tobias move around the room, there was the rustle of his clothing and the usual soft sounds of him getting ready. So much like any other day it seemed inconceivable that Curtis was dead and another with grave injuries. Had that one survived?
Taking a shaky breath to ask, concern twisting through her, she was silenced with Tobias’ kiss. Lips crushed against hers, he took without question in a violent assault using little more than tongue and teeth. Pinning her to the bed with the intensity of his presence, he continued on until Quinn gasped and trembled beneath him.
“Keep them safe.” He didn’t wait for an answer, gone before Quinn could muster up the ability to form coherent thoughts let alone words.
Backs of her eyes scalded with unshed tears, she curled around her sleeping children and settled in for a long night of watchful unrest.
Unable to do more than drift through a hazy world devoid of true sleep for the haunting smile, Quinn watched the minutes tick past on the small clock beside the bed. Feeling each second drag out into hours, the world twisted and slipped into something horrifying and unclear.
A place to be afraid.
In time the sun rose, bathing the room in golden light and waking the children. Meghan appeared not long after, looking as haggard and unwell as Quinn felt. Dark smudges under her eyes, pinched and dull as if she’d had little sleep. The normal rosy cheeks sallow, she looked sickly green in the morning light with an unkempt air that didn’t suit her at all.
Foolish to want nothing to ever harm anyone ever again, but Meghan was Quinn’s only friend now.
“Everything okay, Meghan?”
“Yes, of course, Miss Quinn.”
“You sure? You’re not looking so hot. If you need a day off—”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Miss Quinn! Unless… Unless you’re dismissing me for the day?”
“No, not at all,” Quinn stammered out, hands held palm out to stop them from veering off to a path Quinn never intended. “I just thought maybe… I don’t know what I thought.”
