Lower lip trying to tremble, Quinn lifted her chin as the door opened to allow Tobias to enter. Pausing just inside the doorway, his darkened gaze took in Quinn’s position. Tablet smacking against his thigh just the once, he went to the couch and settled his heavy frame into the soft cushions. Generous space to one side, the usual place that held Quinn prisoner between him and the armrest remained a gaping maw of disquiet.
He didn’t like her not being where she should have been, liked it even less she’d curled into a defensive ball. Eyes cutting sideways, he looked at the empty spot then fixed Quinn in his sights. Single dark brow rising, he directed without words what he expected.
He could go on expecting until the end of days, as far as she was concerned. Crossing her arms over her shins, she barricaded against the crawling itch to go to him. Chin to upturned knees, she glared back.
“Suit yourself. Sit there and pout.” Tobias flipped the tablet around and flicked the cover back. Screen coming to life, it cast the hard lines of his jaw in stark contrast with its eerie blue glow. Rapid taps of his fingers did something, swipes and what might have been a thumbprint getting him to where he wanted to be.
Colors flashed across the scowl painting his features, blurred lights reflected in his eyes as Quinn tried to watch without being noticed. Minutes slid by, the gripping need to pace and snarl growing louder by the second.
“What are you doing,” Quinn snapped, even the frayed thread of patience dissolving under her temper.
“Watching security footage from one of the warehouses.”
“Do you care to explain what the ever loving hell—”
“Calm down, little bird.”
“I will not calm down,” Quinn hissed as she launched from the chair, sending the heavy piece scuttling backwards a meager inch in her rage before she began to pace the seating arrangement.
“Be quiet.” Tobias lowered the tablet by a fraction, the dark sweep of his brows coming together. The glow from the screen froze in his eyes, turning the deep green a brilliant chartreuse as he narrowed his gaze at her in a glare.
Quinn’s gasp rattled through a chest too tight to drag it down into frozen lungs. Palm flat against the cold bands cinching ever tighter, wild grays swung towards the man sitting so still it was eerie. Panic ran rampant through her, coiling through delicate vertebrae and forcing her shoulders high against an expected blow. Not until she whined and crashed to the floor, cowering before the bright gleam of his stitched loafers, did Tobias move.
“I told you to be quiet,” he growled against Quinn’s throat as crippling heat melted away the brutal cold. With rough hands he shoved Quinn into the scant space beside him, dragging her head to his chest with a fistful of her curls.
Quinn sucked down one sultry breath after another, panting in desperate time to the staccato of her racing heart. The room swirled and slipped, murky gray threatening the edges of her vision until the overwhelming thunder of his heart caught hold. Grabbing hers, hauling it into a rhythm not its own, he forced Quinn into a languid calm that her body fought. Left shivering and sick while turbulent swells of heat and cold bashed her against the splintered rocks of Tobias’ will, she snarled and clawed at the exposed bit of flesh on his neck.
The roar of his heart dimmed, scalding heat lessening. He let Quinn breathe through the last violent tremors with her teeth set deep into his skin, the faint taste of copper coating the back of her throat. Not enough to mark, at least not for long, but enough to ground her as she unfurled from the tight huddle. Sliding down his body until she lay sprawled over his lap, she choked back the sob that tore at her throat.
“Don’t. Do. That.”
“You need to listen—”
“Don’t you fucking do that to me again, or I swear to the Gods, you will regret it, Tobias Kahler.”
“Are you threatening me, little bird?”
“It’s a promise,” Quinn said, fading into a murmur as she became distracted. The tablet lay in front of her, the recording frozen on a grainy image. Pulling back, she blinked hard to focus on the small figure enlarged on the screen. “What is that?”
“A street in the warehouses, between the club and housing.”
“I… don’t understand.” Quinn sniffled, running the back of one hand across her nose as the other used his clothing for handholds to pull herself up to kneel beside him.
“Do you know what this is?” Voice too soft to be passed off as casual, his fingers tripping down her spine became another warning. Touch possessive, he angled the tablet so Quinn could see it all the clearer.
“No,” Quinn whispered, fingers hovering over the image of Marina paused in mid step, looking tired and all the worse for being portrayed in shifting grays.
“A gift for my little bird.”
Tobias tapped at the image and the footage began to play. Marina walking down the alley, coming ever closer to the camera. The exhausted woman pausing, the tension drawing her shoulders back felt even through the miles of optic interference. Straight to Quinn’s heart where it wrenched the aching muscle. Quinn understood that fear, even recognized the smile her mother slapped on when she identified whoever it was that had their backs to the camera. Face cold and hot in turns, Quinn’s fingers clenched over her stomach to stop the sickening tide of foreboding.
“What are they going to do to her?” Fingertips glancing against the screen sped the recording up, her question answered as the men rushed forward. Crowding Marina against the filthy brick and stone, the gaudy layers of her clothing torn away. There was no doubting what would happen then.
“What she promised to do to my mate.” Deadpan delivery, Tobias gave no hint of how he might feel about his order. Not even the stony green of his gaze as Quinn caught and held it gave away his emotions. The bond lie still and quiet, waiting with bated breath.
“They’re… just going to take her somewhere else, right,” Quinn asked, refusing to acknowledge any of it. Pretending that the words never slipped over his tongue as the world shook and crumbled around her. The choking dust of so many emotions left to wither into ashy confusion. “She’s my mother, Tobias.”
Tobias’ lip lifted, the beginnings of an impatient snarl settling before it could claw its way free. “She is an employee who betrayed my trust.”
