She only needed him.
Quinn didn’t know when it happened. At what point she came to love the monster that ruined everything for her. It had happened though, and she’d be damned if she let it go. If someone thought it a joke to snatch him away just when she was realizing that, she would murder them, too. Deity or human, their blood would flow before she fell into death.
“I thought we agreed you would be naked.”
Quinn’s shrill scream pierced the crimson shaded darkness, shredding through the quiet of the sleeping house. Men flowed into the small space, black guns gleaming in the uncertain light. Aggression and danger swirling around them, jammed down Quinn’s throat as she threw herself back against the windows. Hands splayed, clinging to the night cold glass, she stared in horrified relief at the spectacle of violence before her.
Covered in blotches of scarlet and crimson, hair in disarray, it was indeed Tobias. The green of his eyes swallowed be the darkness of his pupils as he tracked her small twitches and heaving chest. A predator viewing his prey.
“Get out.” Words mangled by his growl, the men understood it all the same. They disappeared into the shadows once again as Tobias came to her. Hands grabbing hold, pinching, squeezing. Dragging her away from the windows, he pulled her along with him as his long strides took them back to the bedroom.
“Are you all right,” Quinn stammered out, fists twisting in the ruined front of his shirt.
It was torn, stained with fresh blood. A ragged cut marked his chest where something had clawed through linen and flesh. Further inspection as she pulled his shirt back reveal yet more cuts and the telltale threads of puncture wounds sewn up.
“Oh, Gods, you wereshot?”
“Stop screaming, little bird. I’m fine.”
“Being shot is not fine,” Quinn hissed, ripping the shirt back to see what other damages were being concealed. A jagged moan if distress pouring over her lips as a sinuous curve following the line of his hip came into view.
“Bastard brought a knife to a gunfight, can you believe it?” Tone easy, cocky as hell, the smile he angled down at her with a bounce of his eyebrows was nothing if not easy arrogance. “I would have thought an Alpha running Grayfall to be smarter than that.”
Quinn balked at the display.
“Y-You could have… It c-could have…” Sniffling, she denied the tremble of her lips. Thought she for sure would have no more tears left within her, but as they scalded her wan cheeks, she understood that had been simple wishful thinking. Sobs ugly and wretched, she clung to the idiotic male. Slapped the sides of her fists against his bruised shoulders and cried all the harder when he flinched from a blow.
“Have a little faith in your mate, little bird. It was a glorious win and I’ve expanded my territory,” he husked against her hair, nuzzling the soft strands as he ripped away his shirt. Skin beneath sterilized, reeking of alcohol and other vague medicinal scents, he sought to prove he was well.
When Quinn continued to blubber about the danger he put himself in, Tobias led her to the bed. Seating her on the edge he went to his knees and wedged his bulk between trembling thighs to wrap trunk like limbs around her.
The rumble of his purr intense, it roared over Quinn. Threaded through the bond, invading her heart and soul in one fell swoop to leave her soft and devastated in his embrace. A comfort she never allowed herself, castigating herself when she did bask in it, now she clung to it. Wrapped herself up in the heady vibrations of his offered comfort. Let it ease away the hurts and aches, the things she couldn’t speak out loud for fear of ruining everything.
He was alive. Wounded, bruised, patched holes littering his skin, but alive. Another Alpha lay dead somewhere, defeated in glorious fashion with his head cut off. The ritual of it denying the challenger their last rites. Images of a man resembling Meghan tried to surface in her mind’s eye, but she shoved them aside and breathed in the rich decadence of chocolate and chilies. Took it deep inside of her where it would never fade again.
“You’re still not naked,” he said through the purr when she’d calmed, the sound twisting into a far darker rumble.
Shivering as it snaked down her back, leaving a delicious tingle in its wake, Quinn pressed her lips to his neck. Kissed the steady thumping of his pulse. A sudden frenzy of motion, she tugged and squirmed at the clothes she wore, sudden desperation making her hands shake.
“Too late. I think you need a lesson about keeping promises.”
Standing, he shoved her back onto the bed. The long skirt she’d worn rucked around her hips with a swift move of his palm up her thigh. Quinn’s squeal of surprise was muffled by his other hand, his smiling face coming close as he called to her. Deep and rich, it exploded through her, plunging into the cradle of her hips and sending a rush of slick dripping from her pussy in answer.
“You have to be quiet, little bird,” he husked against her shoulder while pulling at their clothes to free them both. “These walls are too thin for you to be screaming about my cock inside of you. There’s something else you owe me, too. I’m going to hear it before I give you what you want.”
Quinn’s pale eyes blazed, lighting the air with a string of vivid curses that trickled past his hand in grunts and mangled syllables. Punching his shoulder made no difference, tugging at his hair failing to alter his course as he mouthed the hard points of her nipples through the thin shirt.
“Say it, sweetness. Tell me how much you need me, how much you love me,” he murmured against the swell of her breast. Pressing a hot, wet kiss against the center of her chest where the bond resided.
Quinn bit his palm. Hard. Earned herself a shake of her head and a warning growl, his fingers tightening over her cheeks to pinch the soft skin. Pinned to the bed by his hips, he tore at her clothes with his free hand, ruining them as he flung the ragged pieces away.
The sound he made when she lay naked before him was savage, pure male need. Dark green gaze alight with his lust, he shoved an arm under the small of her back to move them further up the bed. Giving him room to sprawl atop her as he rubbed his body against hers.
Each slow glide had his scent permeating her skin, the throbbing length of his cock smearing the pungent evidence of his need across her twitching thighs. Teasing at the swollen, wet folds of her pussy but never entering. Denying Quinn the glorious fullness of it.
Taking his hand from over her lips, he cradled her cheeks. Brushing a careful kiss against the edge of her snarling mouth, he prodded at her entrance. Edged back when Quinn twitched her hips in welcome and slid down her body when she tried to pull him back.
“Say it, little bird.”
