There was something more than that, but he either couldn’t put his finger on it or was deliberately trying to not acknowledge it. After a few minutes, he stood up and went to the kitchen, retrieving a couple of bottles of water from the fridge. Unlocking her door, he stepped in with them, climbing onto one side of the bed and handing one to her.
She was tucked into the covers now, a warm glow of satisfaction on her skin. Perhaps she was able to handle what she’d just done better than he thought she would. He hoped so, as consensual or not, he never wanted her to feel like he had in any way taken advantage of her sexually, defiled her, if you will. He was a lot of things, but a pervert wasn’t one of them.
“Are you sure you want me to do this?” Fergus asked her.
“You already did, I believe,” she replied.
“No, I mean the photos. Even if it works, if you leave him, he could use them against you.”
“He has other naked photos of me, so he could do that anyway.”
“Aye. I see.”
Fergus was surprised to realize he felt jealous but didn’t let on. This was sex and nothing more. It had been great, but he knew grudge sex when he encountered it. She’d fucked him because she’d found out her Prince Charming had fucked other people. It was her way of getting even. Fucking the man who had taken her was just her way of evening the playing field.
It didn’t matter much to him. It was great sex, and he’d be more than happy to fuck her all she wanted while she was there. At least she had come around to see why he was doing this and would be on board with helping him however he needed. It would make things a lot easier not having to watch her like a hawk, though he wasn’t fully trusting of her just yet.
It was one thing for her to finally understand that Doyle was a monster that needed to be taken down, but it was another to think she wouldn’t still want to get away from him. Just because she understood what he was, didn’t mean she wanted to be a part of bringing him down. He couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t really her problem. She had her own issues now—number one being that her fiancé turned out to be the head of a crime family that sold heroin that could be fatal and was heavy into human trafficking.
“Do you think he sells the women, you know, to men?” she asked.
“Some of them.”
“And the children?”
“Aye. Those that he feels he can get the right price for. Others are turned into drug mules or dealers. They’re taken far away from their families so that they are dependent on the organization. Many of them will become users themselves and be dead before they even make it to adulthood.”
She lay beside him, the darkness that fell across the room parted by a single beam of moonlight that fell across her bare breasts that had slipped from beneath the covers, either purposefully or accidentally. He couldn’t make out her face, but he had a feeling he’d find sadness there. It wasn’t easy to know someone you loved was capable of such atrocities. He felt a wet spot on his shoulder and knew she was crying, but he offered her no comfort.
“I’m going to go have some more wine. Welcome to join me if you like.”
“Maybe in a bit. Will you leave the door open so I don’t have to beat on it?” she asked.
“Aye,” he told her.
He was aware it could be a ploy. Fuck him, earn his trust, sneak out when he let his guard down. It was a paranoid thought, but in his business, it paid to be paranoid. Still, he’d be out here with his eye on the door. She couldn’t go anywhere without coming through it. As long as he didn’t let her slip past, she wasn’t going anywhere, and even if she did, his bear ran faster than she could travel on foot. He wondered what she would think about that side of him.
His clan always made a point of keeping their bear counterparts out of business whenever possible. They fought men as men unless absolutely necessary. Doing otherwise was a death sentence for their opponent, which wasn’t always what they wanted, and it brought too much attention to them. It had only been because he’d been shot in the earlier encounter with Ciaron’s men that he’d been forced to shift, so the others joined him, knowing they needed to dispatch the men quickly to get his wound in check.
Granted, they could take care of that, but it involved making sure they knew about everyone who had seen them shift, and that wasn’t always possible. People could see things out windows or capture them on cell phones. The last thing any of them needed was for a video of men shifting into bears to go viral.