Heart of a Lion by Lacey Thorn
Chapter Six
Mitch wanted to follow Tony out the door and demand answers. He’d known Tony had secrets, but he’d never once considered they’d be something like a connection to one of the biggest monsters within the purist hunter society. It was hard to wrap his brain around. Made him wonder if anyone else knew, mainly, Aleksy, the black liger shifter who was like a brother to Tony.
“I don’t—”
Quinn’s words jerked his attention back to her in time to see her hit the floor hard. He passed the baby back to Diane and moved to scoop Quinn up against his chest before placing her back in the bed. Her side bled heavily, and he glanced around to see he’d been left alone.
By the time he reached the bed and laid Quinn down, Diane was bustling back in with Gideon at her side. She passed the baby back to Mitch with a warning. “I think it best if you’re holding her son when she wakes. You seem to be the only one she trusts.”
He shrugged at the unasked question behind Diane’s words. He wasn’t sure why Quinn trusted him, but he’d damn well do his best to make sure she knew she always could.
“She needs someone to trust,” Diane continued. “Don’t screw it up.”
“Her side isn’t healing.” Gideon’s words claimed their full attention. “Didn’t she say her healing ability usually kicked in once she was awake?”
“Yes, but she’s passed out now. Would that stall it?” Mitch asked.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Diana murmured.
“What about any of this makes sense?” Gideon challenged as he went to work suturing Quinn’s side closed again. “We have a human woman clearly displaying shifter attributes. The growls, the claws, the changing eye color.”
“She was pregnant with a shifter baby,” Diane reminded.
“As were you and Abby and Darby. All human women. None of you have exhibited shifter traits like those. Enhanced senses, yes. Claws and lion growls, no.”
“What about what Talbot did to her?” Mitch asked when Gideon paused.
“Obviously, his actions caused the changes within her. But how? How has he managed to change her physiology in such a way? It shouldn’t be possible,” Gideon challenged. “Shifters are born. Not created in a lab.”
“What the hell did he do to her?” Diane asked again, horror clear on her face.
“Whatever he wanted.” Quinn whispered the answer as she blinked open her eyes. Her gaze immediately went to her son, and she held her arms toward him. Mitch moved closer and eased the baby down to her. The baby immediately cooed and nuzzled at his mother. Shared blood or not, she’d carried the baby and obviously created a bond with him.
Diane wasn’t as enthralled with the maternal picture Quinn and child created.
“That answer doesn’t cut it any longer. We need to know what happened, Quinn. What did he do? How did you end up with this gorgeous little boy in your womb? What happened to his father? There’s too much at stake here for us to be flying in the dark. We need to know what was done to you if we’re going to be able to give you and your son the best care we can. I don’t like operating blindly.”
Quinn never moved her gaze from her son. “I am telling you. He did whatever he wanted to me. He took everything. Everything.”
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.”