by Lacey Thor
Softly whispered, her answer echoed around the room until that single word was all Mitch heard. Christ, what had this woman endured? All because some sick bastard had taken advantage of her in her grief and sent her into a danger she’d been unable to fathom at the time. Sent her in and abandoned her there. For years. Years spent at the mercy of a man who was known to have none.
“What’s his name?” Mitch asked when a single tear tracked down Quinn’s cheek. That tear, shed so silently, ripped a hole in his heart.
“What?”
“This strong, gorgeous boy. What’s his name?”
“Emery. His name is Matthew Emery. Named for the brave and powerful lion he is.”
She lifted her gaze to Mitch’s, and he knew before she spoke that she was ready to talk. He nodded, hoping she knew he’d be there for her. However she needed him. She turned her glance to Gideon and Diane.
“I want to speak to my father first. Him first. Then you’ll have your answers. Or at least, the ones I can give you.”
Diane nodded. “I sent Miles to check in with Professor Mueller for me. On the bloodwork we ran after your last transfusion. Gideon?”
The other man nodded. “I’ll go get him.”
“I’ll let Tah know you’re ready to talk,” Diane said as she headed toward the door. “Most of the council will want to be here. They’ll have questions. Not an interrogation, Quinn, despite what it may feel like to you. We care about you. Like it or not, you’re one of us now, as is your son.”
“Thank you.” Another tear slipped down Quinn’s check.
“I’ll just go grab you something to wear first,” Diane offered, heading toward the door.
“Not Tony. I don’t want him here when I talk. Not yet.”
Mitch didn’t blame Quinn. Hell, he was mad as hell at Tony, also. Knowing Tony, he’d chosen his words specifically to get some type of reaction out of Quinn, though surely not the one he’d received. Whatever his agenda had been, and Mitch had no doubt he’d had one, Quinn had shut him down quickly. She’d dropped a bomb at his feet and not blinked when it had exploded.
“He won’t be here,” Mitch answered. He’d see to it personally if Tony tried to force the issue.
Diane merely nodded and left the room, giving them a few moments alone before Quinn’s dad headed in.
“Do you want me to be here?” Mitch asked. His heart jerked when she shook her head no.
“Not with my father. I… I have to make things right with him on my own. I don’t know what I’m going to say to him, but I can’t keep trying to protect him from me.” She swallowed, and Mitch caught his breath at the anguish reflected in her gaze. “I can’t do that with you, either.”
“What are you talking about? Why would either of us need protection from you?” he demanded.
“You’ve seen me. Claws and all. Seen the blood I’ve shed.”
“None of us have clean hands, Quinn.”
“The things I’ve done…” Her words trickled off, but the raw emotion remained on her face.
“You did them to survive,” he finished. “You’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever known. I knew it the moment I saw you fighting yourself to get on the helicopter.”
“That wasn’t strength. That was fear. Weakness.”
“Weakness is one thing I’d never associate with you.”
“Is it any wonder I’m falling for you? I don’t want to. I’ve been fighting it tooth and nail. But no matter how I try, I can’t shut you out. I don’t understand it, either. We’ve never even shared a kiss. We’ve never—”
He followed instinct and leaned in to press his lips against hers. Warm, lush, and slick, he couldn’t resist running his tongue along the seam of her lips. She opened on a gasp, and he slipped inside, teasing and coaxing her to follow his lead as they explored one another. Reluctantly, he eased back just enough to watch her flutter her eyelids open.
“Stop fighting what you feel for me because I’m feeling it, too. I won’t back away from it. Not knowing you feel the same. There’s something about you,” he admitted. “I can’t place my finger on it. I don’t need to. I’ve never felt such an instant connection to another person in my life. Not the way I have with you. I’ll protect you with all I have. And that spills over to this little miracle in your arms as well.”
She cupped his face with her free hand. “Let me talk to my dad first. Then I’d love it if you were with me when I talk to the alpha and his council.”
“I’ll be right by your side,” he promised. He traced his finger over her puckered brow. “Trust me on this, though. Whatever worry is eating you up inside, no one here will hurt you or Emery. You’re his mother. You are. No matter what Tony alluded to. All anyone has to do is look at the two of you, and the bond is clear to see. You’re safe here. Both of you. I promise you that.”
“I don’t want us to stay here anymore. This room. This place. I need privacy. I can’t… It’s too clinical. Being here, in this building, is like I never left the hunters’ lab.”
He was appalled. “Christ, Quinn. Why didn’t you say anything? No one wants you to feel that way. Hell, why didn’t we think of that? They wanted to keep you close to the medical equipment. To be able to have everything immediately on hand for your transfusions, for labor and delivery, for anything that might have arisen. No one even considered how it might make you feel, and I should have. Lying here with you every night, I should have known. I’m sorry for that.”
“I don’t expect you to know my every thought. I could have said something. Going forward, I will. I won’t hide things from you.”
“Neither of us will,” Mitch agreed.
“Do you have a place we could stay?”
She was shy as she asked, as if uncertain of his response. He’d been with her every free moment he’d had and even stayed with her when responsibility should have pulled him away. Now, here they were. She wasn’t asking if he had a place of his own, though those had been her words. She was asking if she’d be welcomed in his personal space.
“I share a cabin with Jonah while I’m in Oklahoma.”
“Oh, no worries. I—”
“You’ll be welcome there. We can stay in my room. It has a queen-size bed, but there should be room to set up a crib. Or we can use the second bedroom for a nursery. Jonah can bunk somewhere else.”
“I don’t want to cause any issues.”
“You won’t. You couldn’t. Besides, I want you with me. I’ve gotten used to sleeping with you in my arms. Not sure I can fall asleep without you. That okay with you?”
“I’d like that.”
“I’ll get plans in motion while you’re speaking with you dad. As soon as you’re healed up and it’s safe to move Emery, we’ll go. Okay?”
She nodded. He knew she wanted to leave immediately, but he wouldn’t risk her or Emery. They were too important to him. He dropped another kiss on her lips then forced himself to step away. Now, that they’d had their first real kiss, he couldn’t wait to taste her again. He’d never get enough of her.
“I’ll be back later.”
They shared one more kiss before he ran his finger along Emery’s smooth cheek then headed for the door. He’d been going slow with Quinn, out of respect for her and her emotional and physical state. But also due to being uncertain in his footing when it came to her. He’d reached for her immediately when they’d met, hauling her up into his arms and holding her while she cried. At some point during that, he’d fallen. Hard and fast. Logic might have had him moving with caution, but his heart had engaged from the first. It made no sense, but there it was. The thought of her in his bed felt right. She could have asked to move anywhere, requesting a place on her own with the baby. Instead, she’d chosen to stay with him. She’d chosen him. She wanted him. It made him feel like a giant. Still, he cautioned himself to move slow.
He paused mid-step, watching Diane head back into Quinn’s room with clothes in her hand for Quinn. He’d talk to Jonah first. Fill in
his best friend on Quinn moving in. Persuade Jonah to relocate elsewhere for the moment. Jonah would tease him, joke with him about letting a woman lead him about, but when push came to shove, Jonah always had Mitch’s back.
Then again, knowing Jonah had his back, made Mitch decide to head for Tony first. Not to find out if what Quinn had said was true. Tony’s reaction and Quinn’s certainty left no doubt there. But why had Tony hidden it from everyone? No one would ever doubt his hatred of the hunters who made up the purist society. So why not come clean from the beginning? And why had he gone after Quinn as hard as he had? Hell, she could have ripped out his fucking throat. Did Tony have a death wish?
Answers. Mitch needed so many answers. From Tony. From Quinn. From himself. All his decisions going forward depended on the scope of those answers.
His phone vibrated at his hip, and he heard Jonah’s voice before he even got it to his ear.
“Get the fuck over here now!” Jonah yelled. “He’s killing him. Fuck me! He’s going to kill the bastard!”
“Who?” Mitched fired back, already breaking into a run.
“Tony! He’s going to kill Tony.”
Chapter Seven
Quinn watched her father cautiously enter the room He appeared sad yet hopeful at the same time, and she wondered if she’d broken him completely when she’d returned. She’d never forgotten the gut-wrenching sobs he hadn’t held back when he’d found her mother. She’d known he’d put every bit of grief and anger at her mother’s loss into doubling his efforts to save the shifters. It had enraged her then. She hadn’t understood. Hadn’t felt anything other than her own loss. Instead of speaking with him, she’d raged with hate, spewing vile words at him, and leaving him with that memory.
“I’m sorry.”
They both spoke the words at the same time, but her father frantically shook his head back and forth as he rushed across the room to her.
“I’m sorry, Quinn. I let you down. I let Isaac manipulate you and me. Let him take advantage of a loss that ripped apart my world. I’d give anything to go back and…change all of it.”
“We can’t go back, Dad. I’m sorry I let you down.”
“No—”
“I did. I reacted like a child.”
“A child grieving the loss of her mother. No one can blame you for that.”
“I left you. After screaming how much I blamed you. How much I hated you. That was grief speaking.”
“No.” Her dad shook his head again. “I was to blame. I am to blame. I made the choice to help Isaac Erikson when he came to me. That choice changed all our lives. Mine, your mother’s, yours. I brought us into this. I’d like to say I didn’t know what I was getting into, but even then, I had a clue about what it might cost. Isaac didn’t lie to me about that. But I never…” Another broken pause. “I never would have sacrificed your mother. Or you.”
“Mom wouldn’t have let you stop helping shifters any more than you would have wanted to. I know that. I knew it then. I know it now. Logic gets lost in grief. I hate that we lost mom. Hate the way they left her, but I turned that rage on the wrong person.”
“I’m so glad you’re home.”
“I missed you, Dad. Every day.”
There had been nights when she’d cried for him, screamed his name over and over again inside her head as she begged him to come for her, to find her and free her from the hell of her own making. When it had all boiled down, she’d wanted her daddy to come save her. Only, he hadn’t been able to. No one had. And she’d been left at the mercy of a madman.
“I’d give my life to take away the shadows I see in your eyes.”
“No. Don’t ever say that,” she warned. “I made my choices.”
Her father looked as if he wanted to say something more, but Emery made a rumbly growl in his sleep and both their gazes fell to the baby.
“Can I hold him?”
She glanced up and took in the love for her son that shone in her father’s eyes. Tenderly, she handed the baby up and took in the easy way her father snuggled him. He held out his finger, and Emery clutched the digit in his waving hand before settling back down.
“He’s so strong. And bright eyed. He’s not like any newborn I’ve seen, and I’ve seen my fair share of both human and shifter babies over the years I’ve practiced medicine. My grandson is the smartest and strongest and bravest little boy.” He leaned down to speak to Emery. “I know you’ve done your best to keep your mom safe. Watching over her from the inside. I’ve got you both now. And I’m thinking a certain man also has the two of you in his sights. I like him, by the way. He comes across as a solid guy. A protector.”
“Dad.”
“I’m just telling you I like him. For what it’s worth.”
Their gazes met again.
“Tell me about Emery, Quinn. I know you’re planning to tell Tah and the rest of them whatever you can but tell me about my grandson. Because he is ours. Our perfect little boy.”
“I’d just lost his father, and the grief and rage hit me hard. I tore apart the room they kept me in. Talbot had me drugged. When I woke up, I had incisions on my stomach. Talbot told me I was carrying a baby and that my life and that of the child I carried was in his hands. He reminded me of that often.”
“They said you had open incisions when Ariel took you to get help, before we arrived.”
Her father brushed his fingers over her hair, something he’d done often when she’d been a child. The soothing motion made her ache for the time they’d lost and the scars that lay between them.
“He ran tests daily on how Emery was growing and the physiological changes in me while I was carrying a shifter baby. There was no point in him closing the incisions he planned to open up again.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you,” he whispered. “So sorry I let you down.”
“No.” She sat straighter so she could reach for her dad’s free hand. “Don’t think that. You’ve never let me down. What I went through, every moment of it, was due to my own impetuous temper.”
“And Isaac Erikson.”
She nodded then shook her head in frustration. “I’d like to blame him, and I did for years. But the truth is, he only took advantage of my emotions. He didn’t force me. I made my own choice. Even then.”
“He fed your need for revenge, for justice, knowing the entire time what you were walking into. You didn’t. At least, not fully. I won’t be as magnanimous as you. Isaac was my friend, and he betrayed my trust in a way I’ll never be able to forgive.”
There wasn’t anything she could say to that. Eventually, her father would have to make his own peace with what had transpired. Just as she would.
“I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you since I got here.”
“Why have you? I thought it was because you still blamed me.”
“No. Never,” she rushed to assure him. “I think part of me has always known Talbot won’t let me go. Not really. And anyone who’s close to me is in danger. It would kill me if you were hurt because of me.”
“Oh, Quinn. I’ve always been in danger. From the moment I told Isaac yes and started helping my first shifter. Every day, I was at risk. Put our family at risk. Your mother paid the price for that, and so did you.”
“Dad—”
“No,” he interrupted. “You did. You never would have met Isaac if it hadn’t been for me. I know that. I have to live with that every day. You’re not protecting me by staying away from me, and I won’t let you anyway. I lost you once. I won’t lose you again. You and Emery are all I have left.”
“I need you to understand something. Talbot… He did things to me. Things I’m not sure of.”
“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re here, with me, and I have this gorgeous grandson.”
“It does matter,” she corrected. “Whatever he did has consequences. For me and maybe, for Emery, too. Talbot made a lot of threats. Told me things then laughed and told me he’d lied. I don’t know
what’s truth and what’s fabrication. But I know I’m not the same girl who left here years ago.”
“You’re still my Quinn, and whatever he did to you, we’ll figure it out. And deal with it. Together. I’m not going anywhere, and I hope you aren’t either.”
She blew out a breath. “There’s something inside me, and it scares me. Sometimes, I don’t feel in control. Whatever that is, it could be dangerous to those around me. It already is. The hunters who are coming here aren’t coming for Talbot.”
“Why would you think that?”
“They’re coming for me. And Emery. They won’t stop. They told me that during the last attack. As much as I want to stay, I’m a danger to everyone here.”
“Any member of this pride will tell you they’re always in danger. Every single one of them has a story to tell. You know better than I do what they’ve gone through at the hands of hunters. You’ve experienced it firsthand.”
She squeezed his hand. “Don’t. Don’t try to imagine. I’m not there anymore.”
He wrapped his arms around her and Emery, holding them close while remaining gentle as if he understood how fragile they were.
“I’m so glad you’re home.”
He eased back and sat beside her on the bed, running his fingers over Emery as if he couldn’t resist. She understood that need.
“Tell me about his father.”
Such an easy thing to ask. Yet, it ripped a hole open deep inside her. One that had soul-shattering pain flying free and lodging in every corner of her heart. It brought tears to her eyes that she tried unsuccessfully to blink away. But she’d tell him about Lander. He deserved to be remembered. To be mourned. God, she could see him in her son’s eyes.
“His name was Lander. I met him when Talbot took me with him to another lab. I discovered later it was a place where they were working with fertility and conception outside the body. I’m not sure how long Lander was there. He didn’t remember. He was a good man. One of the best I’ve ever met. A father Emery can be proud of.”