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“Help me!”
SIX
AX2
He’s through the door in a fraction of a second, eyes scanning every detail of the room while he moves across the floor to the bed. Toher.
Nothing is amiss, yet the wild thrashing of their bond tells him that something is horribly wrong, as clearly as his mate’s gasping breath and tear-streaked face.
“Help me!” she cries again, hands fisting in her duvet. “Please, please, help me!”
“I’m here,” he says as he kneels on the mattress, surveying her. Her eyes are large and unfocused, but she leans toward him like a flower to the sun. There is no outward sign of injury. “Where does it hurt?”
She lets out a soft gasp and paws at her ribs, where she shredded her own flesh before he could save her, and he understands.
Grimly, he catches her wrist before she tries to hurt herself again. She doesn’t pull against his hold, and he releases her hand to reach for the hem of her nightgown.
“Nononono!” It comes out as a garbled shriek, and she flails to grasp at his arm, nails digging in.
“I’m just checking your wound. I won’t hurt you,” he says, his voice softening at the look of terror in her still-unfocused eyes.
She stares up at him, lower lip quivering, but when he pushes the garment up, she doesn’t fight him.
There are angry, pink scars on the pale skin under her left breast, fresh and shiny, but with no hint of seepage. The pain still throbbing through his own chest isn’t from any physical injuries.
“All right.” He huffs out a breath and lets her nightgown fall before he wraps his arms around her trembling body and pulls her close. “You’re okay. It’s gonna pass in a minute. Just breathe.”
He expects her to be stiff in his grasp—to resist the forced proximity. Instead she lets out a choking sob and loops her arms around the back of his neck, flattening herself against him in her efforts to get closer still. When she nuzzles at his neck and her breath ghosts over his skin in a deep inhale, his cock jumps.
Shit.He tries to shift his hips without breaking his hold on her, but all he achieves is to rub his swelling cock against her hamstring. Electricity zings through his system at the added stimulation, and there’s nothing he can do to prevent a full erection.
But rather than retreating in horror, she digs her fingers deeper into his back muscles andsobs.
“Shh,” he whispers, the ache from their bond mixing with pain that’s wholly his own. “I’m never gonna hurt you like that. Just breathe, girl. Breathe.”
It takes a long while, but slowly her sobs quiet to shaky breaths. A few moments more, and she calms enough to sniff at his neck again, instincts she’ll never acknowledge in the light of day urging her to soothe herself with her mate’s scent.
AX2 sits entirely still, jaw clenched against the desire to rub his nose along her jugular and scent her in response. Their bond is quieting, the throbbing of it turning duller, and he expects the return of the cold monster he knows so well. But when she finally lifts her head to look at him, it is not with her usual hardness.
Her unfocused gray eyes search his, and the uncertainty in them makes his gut clench.
“Why can I still feel him?” she whispers, her voice so quiet it almost doesn’t sound like her. “He’s gone. You took his place. Why is he still there?”
“Because you sent me away,” he says, his words devoid of the anger he felt before. “I can’t protect you if I’m not by your side.”
She swallows, her throat bobbing with the motion as a fresh bout of tears clouds her eyes.
“Shh,” he hums, shifting her weight more fully onto his lap to ensure the closeness she needs. Only in doing so, his cock rubs along her hamstring and nestles against the apex of her thighs. Even through his fatigues, her heat is overwhelming, and he swallows a groan.
She goes rigid in his arms.
“Shit,” he mutters, twisting his hips to the side to break the direct contact with her soft pussy. It makes his now throbbing dick grind maddeningly back down along her leg, and he can’t contain his moan this time. When he looks back at the woman in his arms, she’s shaking like a leaf.
“I couldn’t force you, even if I wanted to,” he grits, too frustrated with the ache for pleasure and his inability to calm his mate to keep his voice soft. “You will always be able to command me to stop.Always.You’re safe.No one’sgonna hurt you like that again. I would break them apart before they could.”
She stares silently at him, but her body stills in his grasp and the fear in her eyes fades as she takes in his gritted jaw and the seriousness of his expression. She knows he’s right—he sees the moment she finally fully accepts that he speaks the truth. Her shoulders slump, her fingers softening against his back.
“I can command you,” she whispers, more to herself than him.
