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Quinten turned away and winced. Dare had him there.
It wasn’t that it hadn’t occurred to him last night. He just hadn’t had the strength to push him away, not after what Caden had said. He wasn’t sure why it had affected him so much, but the idea of a shifter who had three times his strength and speed could turn to him and feel safe and protected…
Intoxicating.
He knew Dare and the others felt comfortable around him, but it didn’t extend to him physically protecting them. They could take care of themselves—and Caden could too. Maybe not at the moment because of the weakening from the collar, but he had lived his whole life not needing a human to keep him safe. But instead of turning to Dare or Nero, he’d crawled into Quinten’s bed.
Then he’d whispered in the dark how safe Quinten made him feel, all while pressing his hot, silky skin against him.
He just couldn’t resist.
It might make him a terrible, terrible person, but he found he didn’t really give a shit. He had done far worse things in his life. Things that had left blood on his hands and enemies who held grudges.
Spending one night with his arms wrapped around Caden after making him feel good?
No, he couldn’t regret that.
“Are you going to come sit down?” Quinten asked with a smile.
Caden was busy looking through one of the bottom rows on a bookshelf all the way across the room. His sexy ass was up in the air, wiggling back and forth enticingly as he went along the spines.
When Quinten had found him earlier, he’d told him it was time for them to have a talk. He needed to know what had happened to Caden so he could be adequately prepared to protect him.
Caden had pouted, but Quinten held firm somehow, compromising by agreeing to have the conversation in the library instead of in his office.
“Just one second,” Caden called, head still nearly touching the floor. Fuck, he was bendy. “I’m trying to find something Robbie told me about.”
Quinten shook his head, but he wasn’t really annoyed. He leaned back on the love seat he’d chosen from the small sitting area, prepared to wait as long as Caden needed to be ready. There were two bottles of water and a box of tissues on the table in the middle of the space.
Just in case.
The handful of things that Caden had said in passing over the last few days had hinted that there was more to his story than just getting captured and collared. That alone was traumatizing, especially with how close he’d come to dying.
It took nearly fifteen minutes before Caden finally wandered over toward him, and Quinten had to suppress a smile at the stack of three books cradled in his arms.
“You know, you don’t have to take everything you want right now. You can come back later,” Quinten said, remembering the large stack on the bedside table he’d spotted that morning. The books definitely hadn’t been there before Caden’s arrival, and for some reason, it had warmed his villainous heart to see them occupying the table on the side of the bed he never used.
“I don’t want to forget,” Caden said with a shrug.
Quinten stared at him for a second. “Why don’t you just make a list on your phone?”
Blushing, Caden set the stack of books on the table next to the tissues and then sank into a chair across from him. “I don’t have one.”
Instead of asking why, he sighed and pulled out his own to send a text to Mrs. Burns. “There. It’ll be here by this afternoon. We’ll get you all set up.”
“That’s not necessary—”
Quinten cut him off. “It is necessary, and it’s not a big deal. Don’t fight me on this, kitten.”
If anything, Caden blushed even more, though he wasn’t sure if it was about getting the device or the endearment. Tucking his phone back in his pocket, Quinten relaxed again, keeping his posture open and nonthreatening.
Caden, on the other hand, was hunched over, hands twisting in his lap and eyes on the floor.
“Caden,” Quinten said softly. “You don’t have to be embarrassed about anything that happened.”
“I know,” Caden said. “It’s just…”
Quinten didn’t say anything, giving him space to organize his thoughts and to find his courage. He knew it was in there. Nobody could have survived whatever Caden had and not have been courageous, though he wondered if he didn’t see it that way. If he’d had to do things to survive that made him feel cowardly.
