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A sentiment reinforced by the way he sneered at the decorated tree when he walked in thirty minutes later, brushing the snow away from his black hair.
“There are a few baubles left if you want to add some?” I suggested, deciding to be the bigger person.
“Why would I care about a stupid tree?” He laughed derisively. The venom in his voice cut through me, but I maintained a neutral expression on my face.
“I just thought it would be good to make some fresh memories, so you could look back and think of Christmas as fun, not sad.”
The look of fury on his face told me I’d made a massive mistake. He went from dismissive to outright murderous in a heartbeat. Before I could react, he was in front of me with his hand around my throat. I tried to suck in some oxygen, but his grip was too tight. Panic flared and my body went limp as my freeze response kicked in.
“How dare you reference something you know nothing about! I don’t need your fucking sympathy, and I sure as fuck don’t need you feeling sorry for me,” he snarled, just as Silas walked back in with two cups of coffee.
“Leave her the fuck alone!” he roared, dropping the cups. Hot coffee splashed all over the hardwood floor and I inwardly cringed at the mess. Tanner’s eyes were pure black as he loomed over me, but his grip loosened enough that I could suck in some air.
The panic receded, and I calmed. I should have been scared. When enraged, Tanner was terrifying. But now I’d had a chance to look at him - really look - it wasn’t anger I saw, it was pain.
Tanner was hurting, and he didn’t know how to handle the pain.
“It’s OK,” I whispered.
There was a brief second when something softened in his gaze. Then he let me go, knocked aside by Silas. The two men fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs, Silas doing his best to kill Tanner, who wasn’t fighting back.
“Stop!” I screamed. “Stop hurting him, Silas!”
Silas looked up mid-punch, confused. “He tried to kill you!”
“No, he wasn’t, he was just…never mind.” I shook my head and wiped a stray tear away. “Please, let him up, I’m fine.”
I could tell Silas was angry as hell, but he did as I asked. Both of them had cut lips and Tanner’s eye had begun to swell.
“You touch her like that again and I’ll fucking end you, brother or not,” Silas growled.
Tanner didn’t reply. He just shook himself and nodded, the anger gone. I watched as he limped away, heading toward the laundry room.
“Are you OK, sugar?” Silas touched the skin around my throat and then snarled. I had a feeling there would be bruises forming there already because swallowing was painful.
“I’m fine, honestly.” There were puddles of coffee cooling around the table and shards of shattered mug everywhere. What a mess. “We need to clean this up before Cole gets back from the woodshed. He’ll have a fit if he sees it.”
Silas looked at me for a few long moments, his jaw tense and his eyes pure gold. I knew from what they’d told me that this meant his wolf was trying to break free and he needed to calm down.
“Honestly, I’m fine. Stop worrying. I’ve been through far worse than Tanner losing his shit because of something I said.”
“It’s a challenge because seeing you hurt, and imagining all the things that have happened to you in the past, makes me angry enough to kill him and anyone else who’s hurt you,” Silas said through gritted teeth. “I care about you, Eva.”
The anguish in his eyes tore me apart. Unsolicited touch was usually something I actively avoided because it made me uncomfortable, but I didn’t protest when Silas drew me into his arms.
He held me close, and I inhaled the scent of him: damp pine needles after a rainstorm with a hint of citrus. It was intoxicating. I lifted my head to thank him for leaping to my rescue, but before I could say anything, his lips found mine.
Silas’s kiss was soft at first, like he was testing whether I would allow it, but when I relaxed into him, it quickly deepened. A hand came up to cup my the back of my head while the other pulled me against his hard chest. Everything about him was hard, not just his chest, and a wave of heat swept through my body.
This was my first ever kiss. For all Tanner’s late night games, he’d not yet kissed me. I guessed it was because kissing was intimate and Tanner was afraid of intimacy.
Silas was different. He poured his heart and soul into the kiss, and by the time he pulled back, I was under no illusion of how he felt about me.
“I want you, Eva,” he whispered as he caught my bottom lip between his sharp teeth. The hand cupping the back of my neck slid down my back and gripped my ass. He pulled me firmly into the cradle of his thighs, his erection throbbing against my belly. “But I’m willing to wait. Take as long as you need because I’m not going anywhere, sugar.”
My whole body felt feverish and my core ached with a need to be filled.
“Silas, this is—”
