Reclaiming Quinn - Parker Williams Page 0,4

be. Was Deke willing to accept that? If he and Quinn could never truly be together, would having his mate in his life be enough? That wasn’t even a question worth asking, because Deke would do anything for Quinn, even if it meant never touching him.

Fucking Ryker. Deke knew it wasn’t charitable, but he was glad—grateful really—that Gareth had killed the demented son of a bitch, but Deke wished he could have been the one to do it. The one to inflict agony of a thousand lifetimes on Ryker, to watch as the light left his eyes as he died. Deke didn’t believe for a second he would feel bad about it.

He closed his eyes and breathed in Quinn’s scent. He couldn’t touch his mate—yet—but he could take comfort in their closeness. One day, he prayed, he and Quinn could be mated in the truest sense of the word.

As sleep took him, that thought was bright in Deke’s mind.

One day.

Chapter Two

QUINN’S EYES snapped open. He didn’t even need to look at the clock to know it was four in the morning. He’d been getting up every day for the last ten years of his life, ready to be at Master’s… at Ryker’s beck and call.

Goddess, it felt so strange calling him anything but Master. It was like he was blaspheming against him, admitting he wasn’t Quinn’s master. The fact he was had been something they’d beaten into Quinn since the day he’d been dragged into Ryker’s complex. A snort to his left caught Quinn’s attention and had him bracing for a hit. Then he remembered he was in bed with his new master. He lay there for a few moments, taking in Master’s features. With his slightly crooked nose and pouty smile, Deke wasn’t a traditionally handsome man. But to Quinn he was the most beautiful person Quinn had ever met.

The green of his eyes reminded Quinn of the moss on rocks, dark and mysterious. That, coupled with his black hair, gave him an unearthly quality that had kept Quinn’s attention since the moment Deke came into Sean and Gareth’s kitchen, then gave Quinn what he so desperately needed: direction. Until that time, Quinn had been floundering, uncertain what was expected of him. Gareth and Sean kept telling him he didn’t need to do anything, that he was free to make his own choices, but that couldn’t be right. Quinn needed the orders; he had to have something to do. Deke, in one heartbeat, had come into his life and given him that.

With a strength he didn’t know he possessed, Quinn stopped himself from reaching out to stroke Deke’s face. He wanted to know what Deke’s skin would feel like, to see what made Deke smile. Quinn wanted…. Goddess, he wanted so much with Deke. His master.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“No, Master. It’s time to start my chores.” Quinn sat up. “I’m sorry if I disturbed you. I’ll leave you to rest.”

Before he could get off the bed, Deke clamped a hand around Quinn’s wrist. “Who am I?”

Was this a trick question? If Quinn got the answer wrong, what would his punishment be?

“Quinn, who am I?”

“You’re Master.” He paused. “My master. He who must be obeyed in all things.”

Goddess, please let that be what Master was looking for.

“Then if I’m your master, and I say you should close your eyes and sleep, what do you think you ought to be doing?”

No, he couldn’t. He had so much to do. There were dishes to wash, and he needed to help Dani with breakfast, and he had to—

“Quinn, what should you be doing?”

There was a lump in Quinn’s throat that he couldn’t swallow down. “I should sleep, Master?”

“Was that a question? Was my order not specific enough?”

Quinn couldn’t help the tremble that rushed through him. No answer would be good enough. He was going to fail this test, like he’d failed all of Ryker’s.

“But, Master, I—” He bit his lip and waited for the fist he knew would come for contradicting his master.

“You what? Go on, tell me what you’re thinking.”

“No, nothing, Master. If you say I should sleep, then I will.”

He lay back and closed his eyes, but Quinn knew he couldn’t sleep. Better to just take the beating and get on with his chores.

“Master?”

“Yes?”

“I have work that I should do. I help Dani in the kitchen, preparing food for the people from Mas—Ryker’s pack.” He drew in a breath. “I know you’ll have to punish me for my disobedience, but—”

“Yes, I’m