Heart of a Lion by Lacey Thorn

Chapter Seventeen

Mitch wasn’t surprised Quinn waited until the drive back before asking questions.

“What did Jess mean when she asked if you’d had your talk? Has something else happened?”

“I had a chat with Jonah while we were outside.”

No need for him to go into detail on what they’d been doing. Quinn knew exactly what they’d been taking care of.

“What did Jonah have to say?”

“He suggested there could be someone spying from the inside.”

“Because of how easily the hunters made it to the medical center?”

Mitch nodded. “We’ve only mentioned the idea to a select few, so everyone can keep their eyes and ears open in case it turns out we have a mole.”

Quinn appeared deep in thought for a moment. “It would make sense. The attacks started when I got here, not when Talbot did. We know Talbot’s people don’t want me to live. My son either. Whatever Talbot did, he wasn’t supposed to lose me. I was never supposed to make it out of his labs alive.”

They were going to be sadly disappointed then because Mitch wasn’t letting them get their hands on Quinn or Emery. After hearing both Abby and Jess vow to Quinn that she was no longer alone, he hoped it would finally sink in. He felt confident she’d finally accepted he wasn’t going anywhere.

“You said someone on the inside helped you get away?” Mitch asked, wanting her to go over her escape with him again.

“There was a woman. I hadn’t seen her before. She said she’d been told to locate me and get me out. I didn’t question it. Talbot had been threatening to terminate my pregnancy any day. When she offered a chance for me to flee Talbot, I took it. I didn’t feel I had anything to lose at that point.”

“What made you head to the Walker Trading Post?”

“Lander mentioned it several times. He drilled it into my head, making sure I knew how to get there if we were separated. I didn’t know the place had been abandoned until Ariel told me later. Lander mentioned Thomas Walker a lot. I’m pretty sure he knew him personally.”

“You said Lander was held by Talbot for years?”

Quinn nodded. “Talbot is fond of keeping his projects around just long enough to fulfill whatever agenda he had in mind for them. I’m not sure what he had planned for Lander. I know I’m the only one he forced to travel with him, but I’m beginning to understand why that was. What with the growls and claws and glowing eyes. Probably wanted to keep a close eye on me.”

Mitch was happy Jess was working with them now. He knew she’d find a way to push Tony to share information until they found answers. Like Lyra and of course, little Regan, Jess held a special place in Tony’s heart. Mitch wasn’t sure what had made them so close, but Jess was one of few people who could make demands of Tony without the other man balking.

He thought of Aleksy as he pulled up in front of the house. He wanted to thank the other man for donating blood to Quinn. It still baffled him that she continued to need shifter blood post-pregnancy.

“Is Tony at the house?”

Mitch paused then headed over to help her and the baby out of the car. Once she had Emery cuddled against her, he pulled his phone from his pocket, sending quick texts to Tony, Aleksy, and Jonah.

“Why don’t we get little man settled? I’ve got a surprise in the room for you.”

His phone chimed, and he thumbed it open, reading quickly.

“Tony’s out of pocket until morning, but he’ll meet us then. Sound okay?”

“I know he has other things to do, but he has information I need. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him since the surgery, and I really need to.”

“I know you do. I’d like to be a part of that conversation, as well,” he admitted.

Quinn sighed. “Yes.” Then reluctantly, as if she didn’t want to admit it. “I don’t like not having you beside me. I need to know where you are, or I lose my mind.”

That must be why Jess had told Quinn to bite him. She must suspect that he and Quinn were mates or would be if one of them was an actual shifter.

“I feel the same way when it comes to you,” he admitted and watched the tension ease from her frame. He couldn’t resist leaning in and dropping a kiss on her lips. “We’re in this together, remember?”

She cupped his face with one hand and pulled him down for a longer kiss. “I’ve done nothing in my life to deserve you—”

“Don’t,” he warned, but she pressed her fingers to his lips.

“Let me finish,” she chided. “But I’m not giving you up. I need you, Mitch. I’m only calm when you’re near.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised, taking Emery from her and brushing his finger over the baby’s soft cheek.

Emery blinked up at him, gave a cooing sound then dropped his eyes closed again, settling in as if he knew he was safe. It made Mitch’s heart beat faster. He wouldn’t give Emery a reason to ever feel any differently. He was falling as fast for Quinn’s son as he had for her. The baby boy continued to react to the sound of Mitch’s voice. He’d wave a hand or clasp Mitch’s finger or watch him with those big eyes of his, and Mitch fell a little deeper every time.

He pushed open the door and watched her face as she took in the crib that had been set up in the corner along with a changing table stocked with supplies.

“How did you manage all this?”

She wandered over and ran her fingers over the bedding, gave a chuckle at the mobile that held a range of big cats, then paused as she discovered the clothes. She glanced over, eyes luminescent with emotion. He wanted to take all the credit but he wasn’t the one who’d done it.

“Tony.”

The man might have pushed her for whatever reason, but he’d also accepted her as part of their group. The crib and supplies were his way of apologizing and showing her that she was welcome. Mitch gathered by the soft look on her face that she realized that, as well.

“He’s a complicated man, isn’t he?”

“Mmm,” Mitch said noncommittally as he eased Emery from his arms into the crib. The baby settled in easily, doing that little mew with his lips before relaxing. “He’s beautiful.”

“He’s…everything,” she tacked on after a long pause. “Lander would have loved him.”

“I’m sure he does,” Mitch agreed. “He’s probably watching over you both.”

She leaned into him, lying her head against his shoulder.

“I like the thought of that. Him watching over us.”

“What did Lander say when you found out you were pregnant?”

She closed her eyes, pushed away from him, and crossed the room. “Lander never knew about Emery.”

“What?” Mitch turned his back to the crib and stared at Quinn.

“I completely broke down after Lander’s death. Talbot could have killed me easily then. I wouldn’t have cared.”

It broke his heart to hear her say that.

“Instead, I woke up splayed on a table with Talbot messing around inside my abdomen. He told me he’d mixed Lander’s sperm with one of my ova, and it had taken. That I was pregnant. That if I was a good girl, I could keep a piece of my friend with me forever. I didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not. As I felt Emery begin to grow, I knew it didn’t matter if it was my egg and Lander’s sperm or not. He was my baby, and I’d do anything to protect him.”

The sick bastard! Christ, the things he’d said and done to mess with Quinn’s head. It was a miracle she was still as strong as she was.

“After that, he would remind me anytime I balked that my baby’s life was in his hands.” She shrugged, turning away again.

“What did he make you do?” Mitch asked then added to his question before she could speak. “And don’t say whatever he wanted. We know that. No one will ever blame you for what you did. I promise you that.”

She shook her hands, paced a few steps forward then back then walked to the corner, turned and slid down the wall, wrapping her arms around her knees and hugging them close to her chest. She was in the dark and shadows, hiding. Christ, he hated the way she tried to hide herself in the room. He wasn’t sure she even realized that she did it. It spoke a lot about what she’d learned under Talbot’s constant thumb.

“I wasn’t allowed clothes. I was a thing, not a person, and things don’t require clothing.”

The shadows in her eyes had questions building on his tongue, but he bit them back. Not wanting to make her feel any more uncomfortable.

“I’d grown used to it by the time Emery was growing inside me. I was… still grieving at first. My mind wrapped up in Lander and Emery wasn’t…” She paused, waving her hand in front of her face.

“I understand.”

He did. It must have been hard for her in the aftermath of her best friend’s death. To be told she had a piece of him wouldn’t outweigh the grief of losing the man himself. Especially since the baby had probably been more of an abstract concept then. Plus, Talbot was into head games. Quinn probably understood that better than any of them.

“I didn’t believe Emery existed until Talbot let me hear his heartbeat. My face must have showed my joy. Talbot knew he had me right back under his thumb then.”

And the son had replaced his father as the person used to keep Quinn in place and doing as she was told. If Mitch hadn’t already hated Talbot, this conversation would have sealed it.

“Sometimes he’d have me watch while they tortured someone. If I broke and begged them to stop, it only got worse. If I sat silent, trying to hold my emotions in, he’d say they wouldn’t stop until I said the word. It didn’t matter. Either way, he only stopped when he wanted to. Then there were the times when he’d make me watch the games.”

He wasn’t sure he wanted her to continue but knew she needed to. She needed to purge everything she’d endured. It was eating her up. The guilt. The self-blame. She deserved none of it.

“Those fucking games were the worst. The first time he pulled me in, there were two women. Naked like me, but there was rage in their eyes. He asked me which one I’d choose. I didn’t know what he meant to do so I kept my mouth shut. The next morning I woke up tied to his table. He told me he’d taken the baby.”

He couldn’t stay away from her. He moved to sit beside her, tugging her into his body and offering her as much comfort as she’d accept.

“He let me cry for hours before he told me he’d lied. Then he warned me the next time he asked me a question, I better answer it or I would lose my child. Lander’s child.” He eyelids fluttered shut as tears escaped to roll down her cheeks. “So I did. I chose, knowing I held their lives in my hands. I sacrificed every single one of them for my son.”

At some point, they’d have to get her to accept she’d never had any control over what choice Talbot made. It had been another way for him to control her, to screw with her mind. The bastard had taken pleasure in making her think the lives he’d decided to take where at her whim when she’d never had an ounce of control. God, Mitch wanted to rip off Talbot’s head, to gut him and splay his body as a warning to any others who might try to hurt Quinn.

He scooped her up, moving her onto his lap and holding her as she cried. Then she surprised him.

“I never had any chance of saving any of them,” she whispered. “No matter what Talbot told me, they were always going to die.”

“Yes.”

He hated agreeing. Hated seeing the acceptance and devastation in her gaze.

“I want to see Talbot.” She glanced up at him, gauging his reaction. “I have to. We both know he’s waiting for me to go to him.”

“That doesn’t mean we should parade you down there. We have no idea what his agenda is.”

“It doesn’t matter. He knows where the female bear shifters are. He knows if the shifter Blane gave him is a member of the pride. Knows if that shifter is still alive. And he knows why I’m having the issues I’m having.”

“That doesn’t mean he’ll tell us anything,” Mitch argued, but he knew she wouldn’t let it go.

“We have to try anyway. I have to try. If I can figure out what buttons to push, I think he’ll let something slip. I think he won’t be unable to stop himself from gloating. Especially if he sees the changes in me. I’m his greatest experiment.”

“You’re not a fucking experiment,” Mitch corrected.

“I am to him,” Quinn acknowledged. “That’s what matters. It’s time I see if I can turn the tables and get inside his head.”

Mitch knew she was right, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept.

“And if you can’t?” Mitch asked.

“Then it’s past time Dr. Talbot paid for his sins.”