“What are you going to do?” Gnawing at parched lips, her hands slid over his waist until they came to rest at his back. Allowing herself the moment to be weak, she clung to him and let Tobias soothe away all the tension riddling her spine.
“That’s not for you to concern yourself with.”
“Don’t kill her. Please. I know she probably deserves it, but… Please.”
“Rest, Quinn.”
“Tell me you’re not going to kill her.”
Tobias sighed, the rumble of a growl hinted in the hard exhale. Pushing Quinn to her back, he tugged the sheet and blankets up to her chin. Tucking her in tight, he forced her to remain where he put her with hands braced on either side of her body, pulling the blankets taut.
“Tell me.” Touch soft as butterfly wings, she felt the bond. Brows knitting in furious concentration, she tried not to let it overwhelm. Delicate as spider’s silk, she attempted to show him.
The massive male hovering over her shuddered, muscles bunching and flexing under an unseen force as he lowered his chest to hers. The purr drowned everything out, a rockslide of sound limned in sheer outrage as he comforted her.
Quinn would know if he lied. That much she understood as the bond twisted and jostled under the tentative caress.
“I will not kill her.”
A jagged pulse of dismay and shock crackled along her nerves from him. He couldn’t believe his answer, agreeing to something less than mayhem and violence. In a move she didn’t understand, instincts guiding her hand, Quinn tugged at his nape and nuzzled along his neck. Soothing the man whose purr did not falter despite the turmoil rioting within him.
Her confusion at her actions grew as she gave another faint tug. Bringing Tobias climbing over her small body to lie against her side where the medical paraphernalia didn’t hold so much sway. The bed was more than large enough to hold them both, even if he did refuse to allow more than an inch of space between them as he settled alongside her. Wrapping her in his arms once more, he scrubbed at her scalp just the way she liked. Cocooned in the man, she strived for some sort of peace. He’d agreed with her. She should be happy.
She also knew there was a lot you could do to a body before it died.
The crimson splashed scene from Lee’s basement flashed through her memory. The man ripped apart and still begging for mercy that would never come. Her hand slicing through the air, the knife at the end of it cutting him open. Letting thick, wet things spatter to the floor and all over her body as she attacked with a single minded determination.
“Shh, little bird.” Purr somehow louder, Tobias made any space between them disappear. Holding her so tight she half sprawled over him, he tried to banish the images stampeding through her thoughts.
“I killed—”
“Stop.”
Quinn dragged in a shuddering breath only to let it out in a rush. Plunged deep into heady warmth, the golden brilliance of Tobias through the bond drowned out everything. Leaving her limp and placid in his arms as he curled around her, the purr infecting every particle of her being as she began to drift off into an easy slumber.
She could have fought it. The thought was there, lingering just out of reach. That she could twist the slippery strands of the bond in her hands, rip it open so that delicious honeyed warmth spilled out into nothingness. Knew she could do it if she had to.
The problem was, she didn’t.
Maybe it was weak and pathetic, but she didn’t care as she slipped under the balmy waves of Tobias’ enforced calm. It was quiet and so peaceful, and somehow the knowledge that she could be free whenever she wished it made it that much better. The rough rasp of her purr joined his as she twined her limbs with his, snuggling into the deep shadows of his arms.
Chapter Nine
Quinn groaned as she woke, burrowing deeper into the cocoon of warmth surrounding her. Body still aching, it was better than the first time she’d woken. Still tender and sore in a myriad of places, but the agony had abated. Maybe they’d given her pain killers.
Reaching for a source of true heat, one that would purr for her and send her back into sleep, her eyes flew open when all she found was cold, empty air.
Shoving up to a sitting position, wild gaze darting around the room, she let out a ragged sigh of relief when she found Tobias sitting by the window. Gaze shadowed under a brow heavy with the weight of brooding thoughts, he came towards the bed. Instead of climbing back in with her as Quinn expected, he wrapped her up in the still toasty blankets, pulling the lot of them with her as Tobias picked her up and carried her back to his seat. A moment of surprise that the IV no longer dangled from her arm was replaced by concern as he sat. He settled her in his lap, cradling the back of her head to press Quinn’s cheeks against his chest.
Frazzled strands of turmoil slipped through the bond, tightening around Quinn’s spine and making her straighten to ease the uncomfortable sensation. Only to be pushed back, held in the submissive position as if he needed her to remain subordinate to some cue she missed. He wasn’t angry, not that she could tell from sight or scent. Confusion wove a tangled web inside them, agitating them both until Quinn curled her fingers into his shirt and pulled hard. A physical touch tugging him away from his roiling thoughts.
“Be still, little bird.”
“Let me up.”
“I said, be still.”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
