With Ties That Bind: Book 3 (The Broken Bonds 6)

I toss her on the bed with a grunt. “I said you’re not leaving. If I have to put you on lockdown here, if that’s what it takes, I’ll do it.” I huff out a labored breath.

She looks up at me, shock widening her eyes. “You wouldn’t.”

I cock an eyebrow, my posture resolute and unyielding.

“You can be such a fucking caveman,” she shouts.

I shrug a shoulder. “And you can be irrational. Sometimes it’s sexy, sometimes it’s not. Like now. You’re staying your little ass here.”

She groans and flings back against my bed.

“Look. Let Carson trail the perps to The Lair tonight. We are working a plan, just trust it. Trust me.” Using Wells

’ trophies to ferret out the Alpha might not work, but it’s all we have. Avery won’t be involved in this in any way.

She pushes onto her elbows, staring up at me with a pinched glare. “I should be there. If they spot me at The Lair—”

“Then you think the Alpha will just show up.” I move closer until I’m leaning over her, fists pressed into the bedding.

“He’s watching me, Quinn,” she says, stealing all the air from my lungs. “I don’t know how, but he is…” she trails off, glancing away before she meets my eyes again. “As a solid detective, you know the best way to ferret him out is by giving me the trophies and letting him find me.”

I hold her gaze, my mind chewing every word. He’s watching me. “Who found the print on the drowned vic?”

Her features draw together. “What?”

“Who found Wells’ fingerprint?”

My question pushes her to a sitting position. She wraps her arms around her legs. “Aubrey. But, Quinn—”

My jaw clenches. “The FBI medical examiner. Someone’s been watching you,” I repeat back to her. “And someone slipped that letter into your mail, because there wasn’t any postage, Avery. Think about it.”

She does, her body noticeably shivering. “You think Aubrey planted Wells’ print on the body.”

“He had access.”

Despite the dark room, I see her cheeks flush. Her emotions giving way to fury. “I’ll find out.” She scoots forward, and I grab her hips, plopping her right back down.

“If I have to wrestle you all night, I won’t mind one bit.” I climb onto the bed, positioning myself over her.

“This isn’t a joke,” she says, averting her face away.

I hook her chin, turning her gaze on me. “I’m not laughing. Much.” I can’t completely kill the smile forming at her scowl. “Seriously, Aves. I’m not letting you out of my sight tonight. I’ll do what’s necessary to keep you safe. Even if that pisses you off. I can take it.”

Since she’s no longer fighting, I press a light kiss to her forehead, lingering there to breathe in her alluring scent. Her soft sigh wraps around me, heat threading my muscles. I move lower and taste her lips, sinking down against her soft body.

She releases a frustrated sound, her fingers digging into my shoulders. “You’re trying to distract me. Stop it.”

“Not distracting—” I kiss her forearm “—just wanting. I don’t want anything in this world more than you.”

An angry tear slips free as her gaze snaps to mine. “I’m going to make choices in this. I should get to decide what my role is, since it’s me that’s in danger. Me, Quinn. You and Sadie don’t decide everything in my life.”

She’s lashing out, and that’s all right. If it were me, I’d tear the damn doors from the hinges and break every stick of furniture in my way to get to the asshole. And once I do some digging on the FBI medical examiner, if I discover that he’s involved even the slightest, there will be fucking hell to pay for the hurt I’ll put on him.

Avery’s fear screams louder than her heated words. She’s frightened beneath that anger. I can’t take it for her, and it kills me.

“Fight me,” I say, and her eyes flash wide. “Punch me. Slap me. Kick me if it helps.”

Appall blazes across her face, and she again tries to remove me. “I’m not hurting you. That’s sick.”