Quintessentially Q (Monsters in the Dark #2)(77)

The memory of the blazing fire helped purge my mind a little of what I’d done. Almost as if it put a giant full stop at the end of a dark and disturbing sentence. What happened in there would live with me forever, but the fire made it all disappear.

The doctor sluiced Tess’s hand in orange sterilizing liquid and Suzette held a handkerchief to her mouth, gagging at the horrible sight. She bolted upright. “I, eh… I’ll come back.”

Franco sidestepped from the doorway, letting Suzette leave. I motioned for him to go, too. He nodded and disappeared.

I stayed right where I was as the doctor realigned the bone and added a few stitches where her skin had been pierced. Once completed, he smeared more orange stuff all over and wrapped it up with a splint and gauze.

“Will she be able to use it?” My voice was calm but I wanted to slam my fist into the wall.

The crushing weight of blame stole oxygen from my lungs. I did this to Tess. I let her be taken. I let her prance around with a f*cking tracking beacon in her neck.

How was I going to live with this overwhelming guilt?

Tess fell for the wrong man—a useless man who would never ever forgive himself.

The doctor nodded. “In time, yes. Don’t expect a miracle overnight, but the human body has an amazing ability to knit together and overcome injuries that look unfixable.”

I exploded. “In time. In time! That’s all you can say.” I threw up my hands, glaring at the curtain that hid the St. Andrew’s cross where I’d whipped Tess.

Normally my cock would harden. It would twitch and swell at the memory of hurting her, but nothing. Nothing because the strong woman who made me so f*cking hot for her just by answering back was gone. She’d been replaced with someone incapable of receiving any more violence.

I lost the fighter and been given a broken f*cking bird and I honestly didn’t know what that meant for me.

The beast inside mourned heavily—dug a pit to curl up in because he would never be free again.

Yes, I’d rehabilitated hundreds of women, paid for their healing, coaxed them back to life—but I never stood by their bedside and nursed. It wasn’t in me to tend to something so weak. Sickness and frailty were things I couldn’t be around, and yet, I couldn’t leave Tess to heal on her own. I would be with her every step of the way.

But by seeing her so weak, my lust would die, my need to hurt her would shrivel. I would distance myself to protect her all because she could no longer handle what I needed.

I have Tess back, but it’s not enough.

The doctor stood, snapping his bloody gloves off, giving me a sad smile. “She’ll survive. Now that she’s warm and in a healthy environment her body will heal.”

He gathered his things and headed for the door. “I’ll come back and check on her in a few hours.”

I never took my eyes off Tess. “You forgot one thing.”

He raised an eyebrow, looking at his unconscious patient. “What?”

I pointed at her neck. “Cut it out.”

His wide eyes met mine. “Excuse me?”

He probably thought I’d gone mad. I sure sounded like it.

“She has a tracker in her neck. That’s how they found her. I want it out. This f*cking instant.”

“In order to do that, I’ll have to make an incision. I’m not sure we should, given the state of her body.”

I shook my head. “You’re not listening to me. Now, doctor. I won’t ask again.” I let some of my anger show. I was ready to order him at gunpoint if that’s what it took. I’d already lost her once to f*cking stupidity. I wouldn’t do it again.

He gulped. “Fine. But I want you out of here.”

“Not going to happen.” Giving him a consolation prize, I headed to the far end of the room and sat in a wingback. “I’ll sit right here and won’t say a word, but I’m not leaving her.”

The man sighed, heading back to the bed. “You sure don’t make a happy working environment.” He reached for his bag of tricks and placed a green medical cloth on the mattress by Tess’s neck before laying a sterilised packaged scalpel on top.

Snapping on fresh gloves and opening the scalpel, the doctor brushed Tess’s hair away, ready to begin.

She never moved, deep in sleep, and it took an eternity for the doctor to drag the sharp blade down Tess’s neck.

I gripped the armrests until one of the leather studs popped and material tore from its seams.

Blood.

Her blood.

My mouth watered to taste, then a wave of nausea filled me. You’re a sick f*ck. You’ll never taste her blood again because you’ll make it your life work to keep her safe from any more pain.

I would protect Tess from me. I would care for her, tend to her, but never love her the way I needed. Never again would I hurt her.

The thin trickle of red as the doctor inserted a pair of tweezers into her neck sent me reeling back to the warehouse.

“Stop!”

“Never,” I growled, digging my blade deeper. The knife sank through his ribs and I sawed through cartilage, sweating with effort. I cleaved him open inch by inch; he screamed louder with every slice.

I cut a hole in his motherf*cking chest and licked my lips the moment he died.

The feel of his hot wet cavity as I pulled out his heart, rebirthed me to something monstrous. His heart grew cold while resting on my palm.