Her rising panic brought him out of the thunderous cloud where her words and actions didn’t. A sharp inhale preceded the deepest resonance, the stiff fingers curled against her scalp loosening to massage away the tension riddling her body.
“Is it the kids?” The thought alone was enough to ruin any efforts he made. Struggling against his hold to stand, to rush out of the room in a blind rage to hurt whatever dared to threaten her children, Quinn found herself tipped back over his arm. Hand against her throat and tight to her jaw, Tobias forced her to meet his hard gaze.
“They are fine. You need to calm down.”
“But—”
“Everything is fine. I need you to calm down and rest, little bird.”
“Don’t you lie to me,” Quinn hissed, the red hazed sheen of her anger shearing through the bond.
He stiffened under her, hand closing over her throat for a moment before he forced it down to Quinn’s shoulder. Dragging her upright, he put her back into the submissive position and kept her there while he took several long breaths.
“I had a meeting earlier. It did not go as planned. Everything is fine, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about, Quinn.”
“What and who you are very much affects me and my children—”
“Ourchildren, Gods damn it. Do not forget who gave them to you, little bird.”
“As has been proven several times over, and for you to pretend anything else is stupid,” Quinn finished, acting as if he hadn’t interrupted.
“For the love of the Gods, woman, you are the most difficult, bullheaded female I have ever encountered.”
“Thank you. Now tell me.”
Tobias snorted, a bemused smirk playing across his lips. His bewildered humor was derisive and adoring all at the same time, as if he both loved and hated how difficult their exchanges were. His grip at her neck loosened, though he didn’t allow her to sit up from the cowering posture.
“I had a meeting, as I said. Things became heated. Then he backed down. That shouldn’t have happened.”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
Tobias muttered under his breath, pulling Quinn back so he could trace the lines of her face with his appraising gaze. “He wasn’t so much weaker than I am. He’s a man with his own territory, albeit a small one.”
“So, why did he?”
“I don’t know. One moment we were arguing, the next…” Tobias let out a hard sigh before nuzzling Quinn’s crown. Voice muffled in the thick curls of her hair, he continued, “The next I swore I could smell you, taste you in the very air of that dank warehouse. Everything changed in that moment. He stopped talking, looked at me, and then lowered his head in submission. Politely requested if I would consider a trade arrangement for his exports as if he hadn’t been threatening me seconds before.”
“So…?”
“So, perhaps there are even more surprises in store,” he murmured, fingers dipping below the neck of her gown to trace the lines of his mark on her shoulder.
Quinn’s eyes widened, a single brow reaching skyward as her gaze slipped down to where she knew her mark upon him lay hidden. Her defiant act, using her end of the bond to bring Tobias to his knees, shouldn’t have been possible, and yet…
“Maybe,” she whispered back, and there was no one else there to see how she batted his hands away so that she could curl up deep in his arms as a smile gave a tentative pull at her lips. Burrowing under his jacket where his heat and musk were stronger, Quinn hummed, realizing that this was why they did not allow Omegas to claim their mates in return.
She held power over Tobias now.
Whatever other benefits there might be, that alone was enough to implode her world of what was and wasn’t safe. If her hold over him made an already formidable Alpha stronger, what else might she get in return?
“I can hear the wheels of your mind turning, little bird.”
Quinn lifted her lip in a snarl, hating that he insisted on using the pet name even in moments like these.
“Before you start planning your world domination, get some rest. Annan will be by later to talk about discharge.”
