Page 21 of Hated By the Gargoyle

Her mane of dark curls slid over her shoulders, dangerously close to the flames.

I forced myself to look away from the sight, but turned back just as quickly. I could not let her burn herself.

Stepping close, I reached my hands out, grasping her at the delicate thing she called a waist, and pulled her away from the flames.

Her back hit my chest and she gasped. I felt the way she inhaled, the intake of breath traveling down to my core.

“Do you have no regard for your safety?” I whispered.

My hands were still on her waist and she shivered within my touch. I felt that in my core, too.

“I’m sorry.” Her own voice was a whisper to match mine.

I could not help the way my hands trailed up her sides the same way hers had explored my own skin. I was mindful of my size and strength, being gentle as I had ever been with anything in my entire existence. The black tips of my claws reached her hair, flicking aside the strands from her shoulders.

It was rough, the texture in wide spirals that caught within my fingers.

She winced as if I had hurt her. I immediately pulled away from her, turning my back. Everything was muddled, and the haze she caused made me frown.

I did not relish in being cruel, but I could also not explain that it was for the greater good of us both. If I fed her, I would be one step closer to keeping her, and she did not want me as much as I did not want her.

I would not tie either of us to one another when my perfect wife was already waiting…

A dull thud sounded from behind me.

I whirled, only to find Lucero on the ground, unmoving.

I darted forward, heart pounding up to my throat, and lifted her from where she lay.

Her heart beat an unsteady rhythm, but she did not move. Even as I held her close enough to press my ear against the spaces between her breasts to hear for more.

I shook her. “Feral creature?”

She did not move.

“Human!”

There was no response.

Pain clawed through my chest at the sight of her so immobile. I had grown far too used to her chatter, to the flitting movements, to her essence that seeing her so still made a tightness grow where it should not have.

“Lucero?”

Fuck.

I let out an internal curse. She spoke the truth. She was malnourished. She needed sustenance, but…

I warred with myself, unknowing what to do.

As much as I did not want to, a larger part of me could not let her die.

With a muttered curse, I lifted her in my arms. She scarcely weighed a thing. Slowly, I took her towards the nest and laid her atop the furs.

Just this once, I vowed as I turned and left the den to find her food.

Just this once, I would care for her.

Surely, it would not bring us closer together.