Heart of a Lion by Lacey Thorn

Chapter Fourteen

Quinn didn’t mind Amia driving them back to the med center Quinn had called home for far too long. Hell, she didn’t really have a home yet. She’d simply moved from the pride’s facility to Tony’s house. Neither was a home. They were just temporary bases while she got her shit together.

At the moment, she was taking her son back to the medical center, so Diane could check him over again. Make sure he was strong and healthy and there were no issues developing that Quinn was unaware of. She held him close, snuggling him against her while Amia drove them. She was still mulling over Amia’s plan.

“That’s your big idea? Lock ourselves in with Talbot and get him to talk?” Quinn shook her head. “You really don’t know that much about Talbot, do you?”

“I know enough. I have a scar courtesy of one of his tools. And a phobia of small, enclosed spaces. That’s a real winner.”

“You know what he’s capable of, but you don’t know how his mind works. It’ll take more than locking ourselves in there and demanding answers. That won’t get us anywhere, Amia. We need a plan. A solid plan.”

“Then let’s come up with one. Reno’s staying close to the medical center. Mitch is dealing with the hunters. Once you’re done at the checkup, we have the rest of the day to think of a plan.”

Amia drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove.

“Reno said he’s expecting you—Talbot that is. He kept saying you’d come for him. That they couldn’t stop you. He’s waiting for you. Any ideas why?”

Amia flicked a glance Quinn’s way before turning her gaze forward again. A million scenarios went through Quinn’s head.

“Because he’s not finished yet.”

“With you?”

Quinn nodded. Talbot would never be finished with her. He’d never leave her alone.

“Because he knows I gave birth.”

“I don’t think he does,” Amia admitted.

“Because he wants to fuck with my mind some more. Remind me that I’m his creation. That I belong to him.”

“You know that’s not true, right?” Amia threw another glance Quinn’s way. “He didn’t create you, and you sure as hell don’t belong to him.”

Would they still think that when they knew all the things he’d done to her? The things he’d forced her to do? Would she lose any chance of staying with the pride? Would she lose Mitch?

“Answers, then. I need them, and he has them. What did he do to me? Why am I exhibiting animal behavior, including their advanced healing, when I’m human? Or, at least, I was before Talbot got his hands on me. What other changes can I expect? What about my son? Did he do anything to him?”

Her heart punched in her chest at the thought of her son experiencing some anomaly they weren’t prepared for. She needed to know he was okay. That he would remain okay. Diane could keep watch for some things, but they needed to know what Talbot had tinkered with while Emery was in utero.

“You know he did something,” Amia stated quietly. “You had open incisions when Ariel found you.”

“I found her,” Quinn corrected.

“The point is, we all know why he’d leave you with open wounds. He was up to something, and it definitely wasn’t anything good.”

“So, what? You want me to bust in and demand answers? He’s not going to give them to me. At most, I’ll give him a good laugh.”

“They’re keeping him in a cage. I doubt he’d laugh,” Amia fired back.

“Like I said, you don’t know him.”

Quinn liked the idea of him in a cage. Something small and confining like the ones he was fond of locking shifters inside. Easier to drug them. Easier to break them down. Only the strongest could survive the cages without breaking down and screaming, begging for release. Talbot definitely loved the mind games. He didn’t care so much about breaking the body. Anyone could do that. He was about breaking the mind. In any and every way he could. She knew that firsthand.

No! Please! No more! He can’t take anymore! Please! I’ll do anything you say! I swear. Please. I swear. Just leave him alone.

She’d been in the corner of the room, back to the wall, knees to her chest, fist pressed to her mouth to try to hold in the sobs threatening to tear free while Talbot had Lander or one of the other shifters chained down on a table. She still smelled the blood that saturated the air. Mixed with the scents of piss and sweat and body odor. The screams had ripped through the air when those tortured could no longer hold them in. Lander always lasted the longest, passing out before he’d give in to the need to cry aloud. It was always worse for him. Talbot always took things another step further until there was no hope of survival left. Until Lander had stared at her while death finally took him away from the hell he’d lived in.

Then Talbot had left her locked in the room with his body. Ordered her to clean him up, so they could bury him, only to laugh at her as he had the body thrown out for the animals. She hadn’t eaten for a week afterward, gagging at the mere thought of food. She’d finally passed out only to wake up chained down herself with an IV pumping her full of fluids as the mad doctor cut her open…while she was still awake.

“Quinn?”

She shook herself out of the memory, pushing it back down deep, shoving it in the darkest corner of her mind.

“We’re here.”

They walked up the steps and entered the clinic. By habit, Quinn turned and looked toward the room she’d stayed in. She hadn’t gone back in since the shooting. Had pushed it all away, compartmentalizing. She was the queen of compartmentalization. She couldn’t miss the bullet holes and reddish-brown stains from the blood that had been spilled.

“So much blood and chaos.”

The thought left her mind and spilled across her tongue. It was too reminiscent of what she’d left when she’d gained her freedom from Talbot. Instead, she’d brought it with her, let it spill over into the pride.

“Quinn!” Diane moved toward them, drawing her attention from the room. “I’m glad you came in. I’ll take you downstairs, and we’ll give you both a checkup.”

“Not me. Emery. Make sure everything’s good with him, please. I need to know he’s okay.”

“Are you worried about something?” Diane immediately looked over the baby.

“No.”

Quinn’s reply was true, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t scared out of her mind. No, she hadn’t seen anything to indicate Emery might have any health issues to worry about. But it was early days. Who knew what surprises Talbot had waiting for her down the road? Things she couldn’t possibly prepare for.

“Okay.” Diane gazed at her as if she were waiting for a longer answer, which Quinn wasn’t going to give. After a pause, Diane continued. “I’d still like to take a look at you, too. Your body’s been through a lot in a short amount of time.”

“I’m fine,” Quinn promised then handed her baby to Diane. “Go ahead and take him down. I’ll be there shortly.”

Quinn’s gaze went back toward the bullet-riddled door.

Diane nodded toward the room. “We haven’t had a chance to do much since everything happened. I didn’t think to grab your backpack. I don’t even know where you put it.”

“I’ll grab it real quick and meet you both downstairs.”

She paused at the door, emotions boiling up inside her. Still, she pressed inside then paused on the threshold, taking in everything. There were bullet holes and remnants of spilled blood that no amount of cleaning would ever remove. She moved through it all, going to the bathroom and opening the cabinet under the sink to grab her pack and remove it.

She’d stuffed it away when she’d awoken that first morning and found it on the chair in the corner. She hadn’t pulled it out since. It was past time she did. She carried it to the other room, so reminiscent of another room where blood had stained the floor. She sank to her knees and hugged the bag close. Once she opened it, there would be no going back. No more pretending her best friend, the father of her son, wasn’t gone. No more shoving down the guilt she felt. It was the moment of truth, and it took every bit of will she possessed to unzip the bag and reach her hand inside.

She escaped into the past. Memories filled with quiet conversations and shared dreams. Lander’s smiles. His big blue eyes that always showed kindness. The way he spoke about the girl he’d loved. The one who’d never known how he felt. The way he’d spoken of his home, his family and friends. The way he’d described the trees and grass and blue skies he hadn’t seen in so long. The way he’d urged her to stay strong no matter what Talbot did. The way he’d begged her to end his suffering. There was no way to keep out the pain. No way to stop it from bleeding in and wrapping around her.

I can’t keep surviving. He’s winning, Quinn. Some days I think I’m already dead.

I wish the bastard would just kill me and let me stay gone.

He’s done playing, Quinn. No matter how much you beg, he won’t stop this time. Don’t let him break us both.

She shuddered as it all came back to her. Talbot’s words flooding her mind.

Wake him up. Now. What do you mean he won’t wake up?

The way they’d beaten Lander while he hung there, limp. The rage in Talbot’s gaze when Lander wouldn’t open his eyes. The way he’d ordered them to bleed him out while she screamed and fought against the hands holding her back. The blood. So much blood. But the worst was knowing he’d never open his eyes again. Never find the girl who’d made him smile at just the memory of her. How he’d never see the grass and trees and sky again.

She pulled out the paper crane Lander had made her and clutched it tight in her hands. He’d told her the crane was a symbol of good fortune, and when it was folded into origami, it was believed that a person’s heart’s desire would come true. His was that she’d get free and live happily ever after. She tried desperately to swallow the emotion back down. To pull herself together. But she couldn’t.

She couldn’t hold in the cry. There was too much pain spilling out of her. Too much loss. Too much death for no reason other than hate. She opened her mouth and screamed her fury to the world. Screamed until her throat was raw, her soul gutted. Until she was shattered from the inside out and wondered if she’d ever be whole again.