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She nodded quickly and squared her shoulders, standing taller. “On it, will you be okay here for a few minutes?”
Her concern for me was surprising, given her past behavior, but she’d shocked and impressed the hell out of me in the last half an hour. I’d heard her pull a gun on Ronan and back up the guys, amongst all the white noise, while I’d been kneeling on the ground. I figured there was something major going on with her, but it would have to wait for another day to figure it out.
I nodded to her before I turned back to Sam, only to find his attention already fixed on me. As I opened my mouth to speak, he held up a finger in my face. I saw red instantly.
He was about to get a thorough tongue lashing, and not the good kind, when he suddenly spun and grabbed an alpha who thought he had seen an opening and tried to bolt. He’d somehow worked the duct tape off his legs without us noticing and sprang to his feet.
Sam was on him before he made it a single step, sweeping his leg out and dropping him to the ground with a thud that made me wince. Sam had him pinned in a heartbeat.
“Damon may not be here right now, but that doesn’t mean you have nothing to fear. I will hold you down and let my girl kick you in the balls so hard you won’t be able to piss without crying for a week. Do you hear me?”
Dominance rolled off Sam with raw aggression, and the alpha underneath him froze, as did the alphas nearest to him. Threat hung heavy in the air in a thickening wave that was spreading dangerously.
I’d frozen too, but in a totally different way. Sam had just referred to me as his girl, while I could feel his dominance brushing teasingly over my skin. Not in anger, though, not towards me. More like a caress. It offered protection and shelter.
It lit something up inside me and that memory of a passion fruit scent teased my senses again. Begging for release.
Shit. I needed to get a grip on myself. I needed this day to be over so I could curl up somewhere and process these new sensations that were hitting me relentlessly.
I pushed on my stomach again and I must have groaned, because Dio whipped around to face me and Dave stepped up close behind me. I leaned into Dave subtly and he let me, banding his arm around my chest to hold me close.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered in my ear. But that only made things worse. The feel of his hot breath skating over my skin caused sparks to ignite. It was too much. My head got heavy and foggy with desire.
I stepped away from Dave abruptly, hugging my arms tight to my body, and yelled at Sam. “Can you please reign your dominance in?”
Sam sprung up and whirled around at the sound of my voice. He clenched his fists and his nostrils flared, but he looked like he was trying to get himself under control with extreme effort. Ava dashed over and re-bound the alpha’s feet with duct tape, Cary shadowing her every move with the gun. I noticed him throwing glances my way, too. Checking on me.
“I would never hurt you,” Sam ground out, eyes raking me and taking in the way I was standing protectively. He seemed to be unaware of what his dominance really did to me and thought I was afraid. That was a good thing. I needed it to stay that way. For now.
“Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know you. But this isn’t your average farm and I’m not just concerned for myself. I need you to listen right now, because you’re going to have to handle this with your men if you plan on staying. This is important. When Damon inherited this farm, it was already a community, but it became more than that. It became a refuge.”
That fact had always been a closely guarded secret, but the world had gone to shit and we had bigger threats we needed to protect these women against now.
“Most of the single women here, including many of the ones working in the kitchen behind us, have escaped abusive assholes. They’ve been through hell and came out survivors. They’re some of the strongest women I’ve ever met, but a lot of them are still traumatized.”
Dave spoke up from close behind me. “The refuge side of the farm is Lexie’s doing. She finds and helps abused women. Many of them are hiding here, some of them with their kids. It’s the reason we had fences and security in place before the crash. It’s also the reason I’m here. To keep them safe and keep abusive assholes out.”
I held my hand up to Dave, but gave him a small sideways smile so he’d know I wasn’t angry at him. I appreciated his support, but I could speak for myself.
“I have no problem with you fucking up these alphas. I’ll even help. I also appreciate you coming to our aid. But I will not tolerate you or any of your men scaring or intimidating these women.”
I took an unconscious step closer to him in the sudden silence. My need to protect these women took precedence over my own fears for myself.
“Your dominance is going to terrify some of these women, and I won’t hear of dominance barks being used against any of them. By you or any of your men. Or you’ll deal with me and I’ll do more than knee you in the balls. Are we clear?”
Sam looked like I’d just punched him, yet he took a step closer to me too, as if he was as drawn to me as I was to him. He was almost vibrating with dominant energy that he couldn’t seem to tone down. I could feel it leaking all over the place. He ground his jaw so hard it surprised me when he didn’t crack a tooth.
“Dio,” he ground out.
Dio stepped up behind Sam before he’d even gotten his name out and wrapped an arm around his chest.
“Are you a survivor, too, Lexie?” Dio asked quietly, a tight focus settling over him that made me miss his easy going laugh from a moment ago.
The question took me aback and startled me. I suddenly noticed how close I was to these dangerous alphas and took a giant step back, but I ended up running into Dave.
“That’s none of your business,” I said rapidly, stepping to the side and moving away from all three men.
“Lex,” Dave said, as he watched me carefully. He was always watching and always so careful. Except for that one time.
