I pulled back just enough to look at her, my hands still framing her face as I met her glossy eyes. “Please believe me when I say I will not be the one who makes things worse for you by sharing your secret or your lineage, and I promise I’ll protect you while you’re here.” I tucked a stray, windblown lock of hair behind her ear. “And if, for any reason, this place stops being safe too, I will go with you wherever you need to be.”
She gasped, like she hadn’t expected something like that from me. But I meant it, every damn word of it.
“I won’t let anyone take you back to him,” I said, my voice dropping as something darker threaded through it. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, do you hear me?”
She nodded, and I watched as her features softened slightly, something easing in her expression that hadn’t been there before. And I knew she believed me.
“Thank you,” she said softly, her face tilting toward mine.
I met her halfway, closing the distance until our lips found each other again.
This kiss was different, carrying everything we hadn’t said out loud, everything she had just trusted me with, and everything I had just promised in return. Her lips were warm against mine, and when she pressed closer, I let her, my hands on her as the moment deepened into something that felt dangerously close to too much and still not enough all at once.
She pulled back first, just barely, her breath brushing against my lips as she tucked herself closer against me, her body finally relaxing fully in my arms.
And in that moment, I knew she truly felt safe. Not just comforted, not just reassured, but safe in a way that settled deep into her bones, the kind of safety she hadn’t been allowed to feel in far too long.
“What happens if the town finds out?” she asked quietly, like she was already bracing for something to go wrong.
“They won’t,” I said without hesitation. “And if they do, I will fight for you to stay.”
“And if they don’t let you? If you lose that fight?”
“Then I leave with you.” The words came just as easily. “I meant what I said. If this place stops being safe for you, I won’t let you face that alone.”
She pulled back just enough to look up at me, something searching in her expression, like she was trying to find the catch.
“But... why?” she asked. “Why would you do that? This is your home, and I’m just...” she hesitated, her gaze dropping slightly, “some stupid human who made a bad choice.”
Something in me snapped at that.
“You are not stupid!” I said immediately, my words cutting through whatever she had been about to convince herself of. “You were taken advantage of. You were tricked, manipulated, and all of it happened because you were trying to help someone else.” I shook my head once, my hands still holding onto her. “That doesn’t make you weak, and it sure as fuck doesn’t make you stupid. It makes you good. And youaregood, Kara. I can feel it. Not just when I touch you, not just when I take theemotions you carry...” My thumb brushed lightly along her cheek. “But in everything you do.”
I let the words settle between us before continuing.
“Despite everything you’ve been through, you still laugh. You still try, and you still find ways to smile, even when you have every reason not to. That’s not weakness, Kara. It’s strength.”
I exhaled slowly as I held her gaze. “And I find that noble. So yes, I would follow you anywhere you went.”
I paused then, aware of how intense that might have sounded and how easily it could be mistaken for something possessive, something she had already lived through. The last thing I wanted was for her to think I was trying to claim her. Even though, deep down, I knew I wanted to, never the way Zavier did, never with threats or harm, only with gentleness and care.
“If you asked me to, that is,” I clarified. “If youwantedme to.”
Her mouth found mine again, and that was answer enough as her breath caught softly against my lips. The kiss deepened gently, her mouth moving with mine in a way that felt like she was placing every bit of trust in me, and she would be right to. One of my hands slid to the back of her neck, holding her there as I leaned into it, letting myself feel every second of this.
Until she pulled back.
My breath was still uneven when I looked at her, my mind still catching up to the sudden absence of her mouth against mine and to the space she had created between us that I already wanted to close again.
“You promise,” she said softly, her eyes locked onto mine, “you’ll go anywhere I ask you to?”
“Yes.”
“Well, right now, I want you to come with me back to my death-trap of a cottage.” She bit her lip as her gaze moved over me, like she was studying every inch. “And I want you in my bed.”
Everything in me went still at her request, because every part of me wanted to say yes and follow her without question. Still, my jaw tightened slightly as I searched her face, needing to be absolutely sure this wasn’t coming from obligation or habit or tied to anything she had just told me.
“Are you sure? I’m not him, Kara. I won’t...” I shook my head, trying to find the right words. “I won’t take anything from you just because you feel like you owe me.”
