Heart of a Lion by Lacey Thorn

 

Prologue

“What’s your name?”

She glanced up, then up a little farther, as she took in the man who’d stepped beside her.

“Quinn. Quinn Jensen.”

He smiled down at her, and her frozen heart gave a flutter as if waking up from a long sleep. It wasn’t the broad shoulders or heavily muscled physique. Not the short golden-brown curls that covered his head. It was his eyes. Not the blue-gray color of them, but the compassion glowing from them. It was the way he held out his hand to her and waited for her to take it instead of touching her in any way without her consent. When was the last time that had happened?

“Ever been on a helicopter, Quinn Jensen?”

She shook her head, nerves clutching at her belly again, and she dropped both hands to cup the swell there.

“How far along?”

People flowed around them, and her gaze was everywhere, searching for danger. The only person she’d really known was Ariel, and she’d been gone when Quinn woke up. She’d known Ariel wouldn’t hang around. They weren’t friends, but Ariel had been the one Quinn had found, the one who’d stepped up and helped her. The one who’d brought her to this house in the middle of nowhere to get needed medical attention. Because of Ariel, Quinn and her son were okay. For now.

“Quinn?”

That voice again. Deep and strong. Pulling her attention back to him.

“Everything’s going to be okay. We’re going to get you out of here and back home to Oklahoma where you’ll be safe.”

“I’ll never be safe.” The murmur left her lips before her brain could stop the words.

“I’ll keep you safe,” he vowed, and a mirthless laugh tumbled free from her chest. “I swear that to you.”

“What’s your name?”

“Mitch Rossi at your service, ma’am.”

“Wheels up in five!” a booming voice interrupted, and a man approached, reaching out for her as if he planned to propel her where he wanted her to go. Which appeared to be the big hunk of metal that was going to take them to Oklahoma or be the thing that finally killed her. She automatically stepped toward Mitch and away from the other man. Mitch dropped one hand to cup her hip while shifting his body weight so he was between her and the male approaching them.

“Tony.”

Mitch’s voice held a wealth of warning, but Tony didn’t pause.

“We need to get loaded up and hit the air. Ms. Jensen, that means I need you on the chopper. Now.”

A shudder went through her.

“I can’t do it.”

“I can give you something,” Tony offered and Quinn backed further away. The last thing she wanted was one more drug running through her system.

“Leave her alone,” Mitch ordered.

“Three minutes,” Tony warned then turned and walked away.

“I can’t do it,” she repeated.

“Will you trust me?”

No pressure. No force or threat. A simple request from a man she found herself instinctively drawn toward. The only man she’d ever felt a pull toward. She didn’t know if she could trust it or really even how to feel about it at all.

“Trust me,” he offered again. “I promise I won’t let you down.”

He’d be the first. No, that wasn’t fair. Her father had never broken her trust, either. She’d been the one to do that with him when she’d walked away in the aftermath of her mother’s murder.

She blinked quickly as memories flooded her. Her mother’s laughter. The love on her father’s face every time he looked at his wife. That had been a constant in Quinn’s home. Love and laughter. Then her father had met a shifter named Isaac Ericson, and their whole world had changed. For one, she’d learned the stories of shifters weren’t just stories. They were true. Shifters existed. Then she was a part of that world. Meeting men and women who turned into lions and tigers and panthers and wolves and so many other animals. It had been surreal.

Then her eyes had been opened to the hell they lived in. Hunted. Captured. Tortured. Mutilated and killed. Still, she’d only been on the outside looking in. Going on calls with her father as he’d done his best to treat them for myriad injuries, both small and serious. She’d sympathized for them. What a slap in the face, though she hadn’t realized it then. Now, she did. Now, she had empathy. She’d never quite understood the difference between the two expressions but had no problem separating them now.

“Mitch!”

Tony’s yell jerked her from her thoughts.

“You’re safe with me,” Mitch vowed again.

She swallowed then shook her head slowly. “I can’t move.”

“Is it okay if I carry you?”

The fact he asked brought tears to her eyes, and she squeezed them tightly closed to hide. Her emotions were everywhere. Pregnancy and exhaustion. Probably in equal measure. It wasn’t easy carrying a child, much less one that was so much more than she’d ever imagined. Her little lion.

“Quinn.”

Her name again in that deep tone, dragging her back to the present and the big metal bird she had to get on. She nodded and tried not to moan as he scooped her up in his arms as if she were weightless. Gentle. That was how he held her. As if she were the most precious thing in the world. Or the most fragile.

“Hold on.”

She bit her bottom lip, wrapping one arm around his neck as he carried her to the helicopter. It was an irrational fear. Especially after all she’d survived at the hands of the hunters she’d been sent to infiltrate. All in the hopes of avenging her mother. She’d definitely not accomplished that. Instead, she’d become the personal experiment of the hellish Dr. Victor Talbot, a man much revered among the different hunting clans, the largest of which was headed by Marcus Blane. She’d met Blane a time or two, as well. Where Talbot was completely mad, Blane radiated evil. She’d always done her best to stay hidden in the corner and completely silent when the two were together. Surviving her time there should have stripped her of any other fears. Clearly, she was more fucked up than she’d imagined.

She felt the vibration in the air the closer they moved toward the whirring blades of the copter. Then Mitch ducked down, and her heart lodged in her throat at the thought of those blades cutting through flesh and bone or worse, malfunctioning midair and sending them all plunging to their deaths.

“Shh,” Mitch crooned in her ear, making her aware she’d whimpered aloud. “I’ve got you.”

He kept saying that as if eventually she’d believe him. Maybe, he was right. She curled into him, not leaving his arms even when he sat. They were belted in together, and he wrapped her more tightly in his arms. She heard his voice, muffled by the drum of her own heartbeat heavy in her ears. The thrum of voices all around her. The words Riverton, Oklahoma and pride flew around her, and a wave of emotions crashed over her. She was heading home. Would her father be there? Would he forgive her? Would she and her son be safe there, or would the pride try to take him from her when they found out the truth?

A dam broke as past and present and worry and fear collided in a deluge of emotion that threatened to drown her. Tears poured even as she struggled to hold it all inside. She didn’t make a sound, though. No more whimpers. Nothing to draw attention to her in the small confines of the helicopter. She had no one to trust. Once again, she was on her own amid a group of strangers. Something that had almost proven fatal in her past.

“Let it all out,” Mitch crooned to her again. “I’ve got you, Quinn.”

He continued repeating those assurances throughout the ride back to Oklahoma. When they landed, he didn’t offer her the opportunity to stand, keeping her tucked in his arms and holding her close as he jumped off the bird and moved away with her. She appreciated it. She wasn’t sure her legs would have held her had she tried.

“There’re people here to meet us,” he warned. “If you’re not ready, tuck you head in my neck and close your eyes.”

She shuddered in his arms. Her father was there. She knew it and wasn’t ready to face him. Not yet. There was too much between them. She wasn’t the same girl who’d gone off on an anger bender to deliver the justice she didn’t think he was capable of. God, she’d take it all back if she could.

“Quinn! Quinn!”

That was her father’s voice. Eager. Loving. Accepting. Things she didn’t deserve from him. More tears slipped free, sliding down her cheeks and brushing along Mitch’s neck as she tucked her head in tight.

“She’s asleep, Dr. Jensen.” Mitch’s voice was deep, calm, soothing, working on her frayed nerves. “If one of you will show me where to take her.”

She wanted to scream out for him to take her with him, to let her sleep where he did, but it would be totally inappropriate. Not to mention, it would be taking advantage of his kindness, something she hadn’t been shown in far too long. He didn’t deserve that from her.

“This way,” her father answered. “Follow me. We’ve got a room set up at the medical center.”

She shuddered, and Mitch squeezed her tighter.

“You don’t have a cabin where she can stay? Maybe, one you stay in?” Mitch asked.

“I keep a room at the center. I travel a lot to shifters in the outlying areas. Plus, with Quinn’s pregnancy, and…the father no longer in the picture, she needs to be as close to medical help as she can be. This makes the most sense. She’s too important to me to risk not having her close to help if anything arises.”

She heard her father swallow before he added in a lower voice, “She’s all I have left.”

His words wrecked her. What would he think if she told him everything she’d been through? The things Talbot had subjected her to? Would he still love her? Or would he see her as the freak Talbot had promised he would?

She peeked through her lashes as they moved inside the building. It was larger than some of the places where she’d been kept, but it gave off the same vibe. Clinical. A place where experiments could easily be conducted. A place to stay quiet and hidden, desperately working not to draw attention to herself.

“In here.”

Her father must have pushed open a door for Mitch, who carried her inside. She felt him turning this way and that as he apparently looked around.

“It looks like a hospital room. This is where you expect her to stay?”

“For now,” Miles answered. “We’ll change up things for her, and it’s only for the short term during her pregnancy. It’s for her safety.”

Mitch made a noncommittal sound she seconded in her head.

“I’ll get her settled then.”

Mitch’s words were met with silence as the two men seemed to have some sort of silent standoff. She had the impression Mitch was waiting for her dad to make his exit, and her father was waiting for Mitch to put her down and leave.

“I’ll just check on her in the morning,” her dad finally said.

Looked like Mitch won that round.

“He’s gone,” Mitch whispered shortly after, and there was no judgement in his voice.

She expected him to put her on her feet then head for the door, but he sat her on the side of the bed instead then took a seat beside her. She glanced around, taking in the white walls and tiled floor. The bed had been centrally placed. It wasn’t a bad room, but it was clinical. It made her feel like a specimen under a microscope. There were no bars on the windows or doors. No cameras mounted in the corners. Yet, it still fed her anxiety.

“Hey.” Mitch took her hand, giving her fingers a squeeze. “Breathe.”

She inhaled deeply, hating the way her fingers trembled against his. She felt weak. God, she hated feeling weak. Hated it with every ounce of her being. She wanted to be strong, to be fierce. She wanted to roar like a fucking lion with the brawn to back it.

“No more tears or we’ll have to worry about you dehydrating.”

He brushed his fingers along her cheeks, wiping away her tears. What the hell was going on? She’d held in everything for so long. Now. Here. It was all pouring out of her. Literally.

“I’m not as fragile as I seem,” she tried to reassure him. “I swear.”

“I can’t imagine anyone fragile coming out of what you have. I won’t pretend to know what you’ve been through, but I have known others who were kept in the labs and facilities run by members of the hunting society. No one here would doubt how tough you are. I promise you that.”

“Thank you.”

They sat in silence for a moment then Mitch stood. “I should probably leave you alone. I’m sure you’re tired.”

“Don’t leave me!”

She practically leapt to her feet as she reached for his hand again.

“Wow. It’s okay. I can stay as long as you want.”

She bit back the apology that hovered on her tongue and shoved down the words that would tell him she was fine, just fine, and he could go. She wasn’t fine. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be fine again. Plus, there was something about Mitch Rossi that called to her, that made her feel as if she didn’t have to hide in the dark anymore.

“Will you stay with me?” she asked instead.

He scooped her back up and lay her on the bed.

“I’d be happy to. Let’s get you comfortable first.”

He took off her shoes then tugged a blanket from under her feet and pulled it up so it covered her legs. Then he kicked off his shoes and joined her, turning on his side then encouraging her to do the same until her back was snug against his chest, her buttocks resting in the curve of his groin. He pulled the cover up further so it rested almost at her neck. He draped his arm over her stomach, rubbing the bump. They both froze when the baby kicked.

“You’ve got a little fighter,” Mitch observed.

“Yes.”

“Boy or girl?”

“Boy.”

Her son. She’d do whatever it took to protect him. He’d never know the fear both she and his father had known. She’d see to that. She dropped her hand to cup her belly and Mitch put his hand over hers. His touch soothed her, calming that part inside her that always seemed to be enraged. The part that scared her. Needing that calm, she linked their fingers. Another tear slide down her cheek when he gave her a squeeze and joined their fingers more firmly.

“Go to sleep, Quinn. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”

And somewhere inside, the girl she’d been before her life had become a living hell, struggled to believe him.