Quinn watched the door for only a moment longer before she sighed and turned back to the drawer she had been looking through when Silvia had interrupted. Her head was throbbing a little but it didn't feel bad enough that she would need a trip down to the infirmary.
"Maybe you should sit down," Liam was saying, but she ignored him, opening the drawer again so she could continue her exploration.
A little wolf figurine posed in a howling position caught her attention and she carefully picked it up. She could tell it had been hand carved from a piece of dark wood she couldn't identify, every detail perfect from the proportions of the wolf to the detail of the fur.
"My father made that for Chris when we adopted him into the family," Liam explained, coming to stand beside her. "A Hunter raid wiped out his pack and he was left on his own. It's one of his most cherished possessions."
I suppose that explains a lot, Quinn thought sadly as she carefully lowered the figurine back into the drawer and slid it closed. No wonder the Alpha was finding it so difficult to deal with her.
Liam took advantage of her distraction and gently caught her face between his hands so that he could look at the side of her head.
"Chris is going to go ape shit when he sees you," he commented. "No one was to come anywhere near you."
Quinn shrugged. It was nothing new when it came to Silvia, really.
She was about to say as much when the door burst open so hard it was almost thrown off its hinges and Liam jumped back from her so quickly it was as if she had suddenly grown horns or something. Quinn turned to the door see a positively livid Christian standing in the doorway, holding a silver tray from the kitchen in hands that were shaking so badly it was a wonder the contents of the tray weren't on the floor.
"What the fuck happened?" the Alpha demanded, his gaze moving from Quinn to Liam and then back again. "I thought you had people watching Silvia, Liam!"
Quinn frowned. How did he find out about the altercation so quickly?
Christian didn't offer any hints as to how he could possibly have found out about her fight with Silvia as he stalked into the room and dropped the tray on top of the chest of drawers in front of Quinn. He then grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her through the bedroom door into a small sitting room and guided her onto one of the couches.
"Can I not leave you alone for ten minutes without you getting into some kind of trouble?" he asked with a sigh as he carefully turned her head to the side so he could see the damage Silvia had done. "Liam, there's a first aid kit under the sink in the bathroom."
Having followed them quietly out of the bedroom, Liam moved at once, going into the en suite bathroom while Christian sat down on the low coffee table in front of her.
"Honestly," he said. "What am I going to do with you, little hunter? It's starting to feel like every time I turn around you're either needing a trip to the infirmary to be patched up or a trip to the pack councilor for a breakdown."
Quinn prickled at his words, unable to form a retort because what he was saying was true. Ever since she'd started living with the pack, she had turned into an emotional mess. All of the self-discipline she had been taught growing up seemed to have gone out of the window and she was either snapping with rage or she was dissolving into tears.
And most of the time, it was because of the man sitting in front of her.
Liam returned from the bathroom and handed his brother a clean cloth and a bowl of warm water that smelled of disinfectant.
"It's not like I plan for these things to happen," she mumbled, turning her face away when her Alpha tried to place the cloth to her wound.
"Don't be a child," Christian scolded in mild irritation and grabbed her jaw with his free hand so that she couldn't turn away again.
Quinn let out a soft hiss as the cloth came into contact with her head wound. It stung and the smell of disinfectant made her stomach turn.
"You need to put a stop to this, Chris," Liam growled from where he stood leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. "Quinn's perfectly happy to get in a few shots of her own now that she knows you're not going to send her away, but she's never going to really lay down the law with Silvia. She's too afraid you'll be pissed at her."
Quinn shot Liam a seething glare over Christian's shoulder. What the hell was he still doing here? "Don't you have some duties to perform? A mate to hover over and annoy?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Christian's lips spread into an amused smile at that, seeming to find her anger funny, which only made her more irritated. Something shifted in the back of her mind and Quinn was filled with the sudden urge to growl.
"I'm so glad you two find my anger entertaining!" she snapped and was shocked into silence when a real growl rumbled from her chest.
Liam blinked in surprise and then roared with laughter, clutching at his stomach. "Ah, Chris, she looks like a little pup afraid of its own bark!"
Christian himself looked as if he was fighting to hold back his own laughter and Quinn's initial shock at her actions immediately dissolved back into anger. She made to stand up and leave the room, but her Alpha's hand shot out and closed around one of her wrists, pulling her back down onto the couch.
'Calm down, little hunter. Liam likes to tease and your irritation is just encouraging him further.'
Quinn's eyes shot to her Alpha's face in alarm when she heard his voice in her mind. That had never happened before. From the knowing expression in his ice blue eyes, this new form of mental link between them was completely normal.
Meanwhile, Christian's hand had left her wrist to come to rest on her knee, his thumb drawing slow, soothing circles. Quinn was too shocked at the sudden touch that she didn't even try to shove his hand off of her. It was warm and despite herself, she found the way his thumb was moving was making her feel a little better.
'It's a benefit of the bond,' she heard him say in her head. 'While we're bonded, we'll be able to communicate like this no matter how far apart we are.'
At least for the next few days, Quinn thought miserably. Then it's back to mild neglect or all-out war all over again.
Christian's smile deepened and warmth filled his eyes. 'I promise you, little hunter, that's never going to happen again. I'll be with you every step of the way.'
Quinn stared at him. He was reading her thoughts now? This bond thing was getting more irritating by the second. A thought occurred to her and she wanted to die of mortification. Would he be able to see her dreams?
'Maybe,' she heard him say and the way his lips turned up at the corners in a smirk of real amusement made Quinn want the ground to open up and swallow her whole. 'Why? Is there something you dream about in particular you don't want me to see? Or someone?'
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun," Liam was saying, oblivious to what was happening between Quinn and his brother. "She's so adorable when she's surprised. I can't wait to see what she does when she has her first change. I bet she'll be barking at her own shadow!"
Quinn's mind was reeling. She had actually growled, just like she had heard the other members of the pack growl. Christian was talking to her in her mind. He could hear her thoughts. He'd be able to see her dreams, where she had no control over whether or not he was a feature.
And this was all because Christian had bitten her? Or was it because she had drawn on the sleeping wolf inside of her, opening the door for it to take over?
Quinn was beginning to feel overwhelmed and Liam's incessant teasing wasn't helping.
She was beginning to shake. She wanted to shriek at Liam to get out. She wanted to get away from the Alpha in front of her so she could try and process everything. She curled her hands into the couch cushions to try and curb the urge to launch herself over the coffee table at the bespectacled man.
Her gaze fell on the bowl of water beside Christian and she started reaching for it, intending to hurl it across the room at Liam. That would surely shut him up. But Christian's hand shot out and grabbed hers before she could get to the bowl.
"Don't even think about it," he warned her aloud, pushing the bowl out of her reach for good measure, and seeing Quinn was at her very limit, he sighed. "Liam, that's enough. Piss off and go annoy Sophia or something."
Liam's laughter began to die down and he removed his glasses to wipe the tears from his eyes. "Come on, Chris, even you have to admit this is funny."
Quinn snapped. Her mind went blank and she launched herself from the couch with an almost animal like screech. Christian was ready for it and his arms slid around her waist and pulled her back against his chest, keeping her from getting to his brother.
"Out!" he snarled as he struggled to hold Quinn in place without hurting her. "Now!"
Still laughing, Liam raised his hands in mock defeat and made his way to the exit, only to stop and turn back to them before he opened the door. His laughter was gone and in its place was a thoughtful expression.
"Looks like Quinn's a little live wire, huh?" he said, his eyes roaming back to the bedroom door. "Just think of all the cleaning Sophia's going to have to do once that bond is permanent. All those poor feather pillows ..."
Through her haze of rage, Quinn felt Christian tense just a little and she looked up to see what part of Liam's words had got to him. There was no longer any amusement in his ice blue eyes. He was clearly angry now, but his face ...
Is he actually blushing? Quinn wondered.
"Okay, okay," Liam was saying through choking laughs. "No need to look at me like you're going to skin me alive, brother. I'm going."
An almost evil smirk played on the younger St. Clair brother's lips as he looked down at Quinn briefly. "I'll leave you to 'play' with the little hunter. Maybe spending time with her will help get the stick out of your ass. Just try and spare the bedding, will you? Feathers are a bitch to clean up ..."
"Liam!" Christian snarled, twisting so that he could pick up a pillow from the couch while still keeping a firm hold on Quinn, who had since stopped trying to attack Liam as she tried to figure out what he could possibly have said that would make Christian St. Clair actually blush.
"I mean it, now," Christian growled, tossing the pillow at Liam, who only just barely managed to duck in time to avoid being hit in the face. "Fuck off!"
With that, Liam was out of the door and Christian dropped Quinn as if she had electrocuted him, causing her to land in a graceless heap on the floor. He mumbled a quick apology and awkwardly helped her back to her feet.
Quinn massaged the hip she had landed on when her Alpha had dropped her. "What the hell was all that about pillows and bedding? Does he think we're going to fight or something?"
She watched in surprise as Christian looked away and his cheeks began to tinge pink again.
"It's nothing," Christian said awkwardly and then stalked off to the bedroom where he had left the food. "Your food's getting cold."
Quinn stood alone in the living room, watching her Alpha retreat and feeling as if she had missed something vitally important.
What the hell had just happened?
~*~*~*~*~*~
That's it for this chapter. I really enjoyed this one, getting to play with Liam's annoying little brother persona for a change :D
That, and Quinn's little obtuse moment at the end lol
Please remember to comment and vote!