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What was that?
“Baby, I’m a Malone. And Malones don’t allow their women to head into danger. They protect them from the danger. So get any thoughts of going to Stefan out of your head right now. It’s not happening.”
She closed her eyes, leaning against the wall. God, she was so tired. And it wasn’t just the fact that she was worn thin physically. Or that her emotions that were near breaking point.
It was . . . every. Fucking. Thing.
She really wanted to just fall into his words. To wrap that protection around her.
But she couldn’t.
“You don’t understand.” She opened her eyes and looked up at him imploringly.
He ran a finger down her cheek. “No, baby. You’re the one who doesn’t understand. I will protect you. My family will protect you. All four of you.”
“And I want your protection. For them. But I have to go. There’s no way that he’ll ever stop looking for me. And if you try to stand between me and him, then you’ll die. Don’t you understand?”
Please let him get it.
She couldn’t handle anything happening to him.
Tanner cupped her face between his hands. “I know that you’ve been making all the decisions, doing everything you can to protect your friends and yourself. You’ve been on the run for so long that you’ve run yourself into the ground. You’ve stopped eating and sleeping, you don’t know how to relax, and you’re in a constant state of stress. It has to stop.”
“And it will as soon as I kill Stefan. Um, you didn’t hear that Linc.”
Linc just snorted.
“Don’t worry about Linc,” Tanner told her. “He might have a stick up his ass, but he doesn’t like abusers any more than the rest of us.”
“I do not have a fucking stick up my ass. I’m an officer of the law.”
Tanner widened his eyes at her. She wished she could laugh, she really did. But there wasn’t anything funny about any of this.
“Tanner . . .” she said in a low voice. But she didn’t know what else to say. Her mind was a mess. It went from one thought to another, chasing them around and around.
And she wasn’t being fair to Ryleigh. This was her moment and Lilac was stealing the attention.
Suddenly, Tanner slipped his arm around her, the other went under her ass. He lifted her up to cradle her against his chest. “Lilac is getting tired. She should be in bed. She needs rest and care.”
“We need to pack up her things and bring her out to the Ranch,” Alec said.
She stiffened in Tanner’s arms. She thought Alec didn’t want her there if she was a risk to his family? Moving her there would be a definite risk.
“All four of you will be coming with us,” Alec declared. “If you could pack up everything, I’ll call West and get him to bring another vehicle to transport everything.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think I should move out to the Ranch.”
“Too bad you don’t get a choice,” Tanner told her cheerfully “You’re coming.”
“Tanner, the only way he’ll stop hunting me is if he’s dead.”
“Then we’ll kill him.”
39
Why couldn’t she catch her breath?
It was trapped in her lungs. Strangling her.
