Page 14 of Protect Me
Maybe it’s his promise. Maybe it’s the drugs. Soon, I’m sucked into a dreamless sleep that, for the first time in a long time, feels like peace.
Chapter4
Bracken
Exactly four hours after Killian last checked on her, I’m walking into Helen’s room, a mug of steaming water in my hand. The sound of her even breathing tells me she’s sleeping, so I move quietly, creeping inside and shutting the door behind me. Her form is slight in the bed with only pale light from the bedside lamp to illuminate her slumbering features.
I stop beside her bed, setting the mug down beside the herbs Adaya left before taking a few minutes to study her in the soft glow of the lamplight. The harsh lines of mistrust are gone now, her expression peaceful. Thick dark lashes, long dark hair, pouty fucking lips I long to trace.
Fuck me.
There’s something about her, something that calls to me. And my lion? Well, he’s already decided she belongs.
The scent of her blood still clings to the air, and I bite back a growl, wishing like hell I could revive that fucking hunter just so I could break a few more bones and kill him again. I reach out and take a strand of her dark hair between the tips of my fingers and tuck it behind her ear.
A soft moan leaves her lips, and she arches into my touch. My cock hardens despite her injuries. And when her lids flutter open, those beautiful amber eyes peering straight up at me, I force myself to take a step back.
“Bracken?” she chokes out.
“It’s time for your tea,” I say. My name leaving her lips is so damned delicious it makes me want to groan.
She sits up, and the blankets slip from her neck and my mouth dries. The gown she wears is thin, and the swell of her breasts is on full fucking display.Mine.The lion in me snarls the word, and I shove it back.
No fucking way he picks this woman. What coincidence would it be that my mate would show up just as broken as I’d been when I came here?
“Sorry,” she whispers as she pulls the covers back up over herself.
“Not a problem,” I assure her. I put some of the herbs into the steel ball I brought up with the hot water and place it into the mug to steep. “How do you feel?”
“Like I was dropped from a building.”
“Were you?” I question.
Her gaze narrows on my face. “I tripped and fell on the floor.”
I grin. “That’s what Killian said. Though, we’ve been looking for said floor and can’t find it.”
“It wasn’t local,” she replies as she leans back against the wooden headboard, blankets clutched to her chest.
“I know it doesn’t feel like it, but you can trust us.”
She peers at me through dark eyes with enough scars behind them that I know she’s seen far more than she should have in this life. The darkness that surrounds her is soul deep. I wish I could steal it from her and carry that burden. After all, I have my own that I already shoulder. What’s a little more?
“No offense, Bracken, but the lastfloorthat told me that ended up nearly killing me.”
A low growl escapes from me, and I close my eyes to gain control over a predatory drive that is demanding I hunt. Demanding I track and kill whatever put such fear in her heart. “We have nothing to gain from lying to you,” I tell her.
“Not yet you don’t,” she whispers, then brings her knees up and lowers her forehead to them. She’s so closed off, so burdened.
“If you don’t tell us what happened, we can’t protect you.”
“I’m here,” she replies when she finally lifts her head again. “That’s protection enough.”
“Three days is hardly enough time to recover from what happened,” I argue.
“I’ll be ready. I wasn’t lying about what I can do.”
Her confidence pisses me off for some reason.