Outlaw (Wolves of Royal Paynes #4) - Kiki Burrelli Page 0,29

invisible shield."

She sat a little straighter and narrowed her eyes. Her gaze went distant like she was lost in her thoughts. "Didn't you say there was blood on the door, Diesel? Demon and angel? Could that have something to do with why Quinlan couldn't leave?"

Diesel grunted, the only indication either of us would receive that said he would ask the rest of the team what they thought.

Dr. Tiff pursed her lips together, so slightly I wouldn't have noticed had I not already been looking at her mouth. My heart pounded, and Diesel leaned forward, clearly listening in on that too. I knew what the doctor was going to ask, where this conversation was going.

"Did he ever attempt to starve you?"

Oh good. We were starting in the shallow end. My wraiths slid between my head and the back of the bed, acting like a pillow. "No, he never starved me. He always asked me what I wanted to eat, and if I answered, which I didn't often, he would actually go and get it."

Another bone cracked in Diesel's chest.

The doc's annoyed gaze flicked from Diesel and back to her clipboard. "Did he ever subject you to any kind of sensory torture; loud, sustained sounds, extreme heat or cold?"

I'd gone through a great many tortures in that room, but none to my physical body. Pierce had promised never to hurt me the moment I woke up and demanded to be let free. If we defined that as not inflicting harm on my body, then he'd kept that promise to this day.

"He took care of you?" Dr. Tiff's head tilted, her body the shape of a question mark.

Damn, I hadn't meant to say any of that out loud.

Diesel's heart must've been exploding from his chest for all the deep rumbling, snapping growls that came from it.

"Diesel, I see the merit of you being here, but if you can't refrain from adding your own commentary, then I will have to ask you to leave." Dr. Tiff's cheeks burned, two bright red circles.

I couldn't help my smirk at seeing the grizzly bear of a man dropping his head, his hair covering his thoroughly chastised face.

"He provided what I needed to meet my basic needs," I corrected her, telling myself immediately after that my heart didn't feel light from the way Diesel's lips had twitched up in the corners. I would never say that Pierce took care of me.

"He made you see things, though. And he made you sleep. What do you mean by that?"

Diesel's lips weren't pressed together, but his face was by no means relaxed.

"Gas. I don't know what kind. I'm pretty sure he pumped it in through the vents in the ceiling."

Dr. Tiff's expression darkened. "How often did he knock you out?"

"Varied. In the beginning, it was daily. That slowed down once he saw it wasn't having the desired effect."

"And what was that? The effect he desired?"

The muscles in my face clenched as though searching for a way to contract that allowed them to speak without Diesel hearing. I was a little shit to him, I knew, but I'd never inflict this kind of misery. "He wanted me to choose him."

There was a loud cracking sound, and I looked to find Diesel had snapped a wood shelf in pieces under his tight grip.

Dr. Tiff shot him a sharp look. "Diesel—"

I couldn't have him taken from me, not now, when he so clearly needed to be by my side. Or, more specifically, at the side of the Quinlan he wanted me to be. That hurt like a still-glowing iron poker, making my skin sizzle. "Technically, that wasn't commentary," I muttered under my breath, knowing both shifters in the room would have no problem hearing me.

"You're repairing or replacing that." Dr. Tiff leveled Diesel with a stern glare. She tightened her ponytail before looking to me, indicating I keep going.

"That was his goal all along. The reason for everything. Why he showed me his truths. He was always the hero of the story, if there was a hero."

Dr. Tiff sat straighter, pressing pen to paper. "Did he rape you?"

My heart pounded. I wasn't afraid of my answer; I simply hated that we were talking about this. How would this help anything? All these questions would do was magnify just how far removed I was from who I'd been. "No."

Dr. Tiff frowned along with Diesel. "It's important that you tell the truth."

Fucking shifters and their internal lie detectors. I was anxious and likely giving off all