Page 38 of Fighting Salvation

A growl moved up his chest as she slammed the door and he dropped his head, placing his hands on his hips. Bás stood for a few minutes trying to get his body under control before he whipped his team’s asses for ruining his morning. The sound of the shower running didn’t help so he thought of Hansen and the child out there and his desire was gone in an instant.

With a deep breath, he opened the door and came face to face with a small child. She was looking at him with wide eyes but the fear of the previous night had eased up and his shoulders relaxed.

Crouching down on his haunches, he watched her take a cautious step back. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?” He voiced the same question he’d asked the woman in the shower.

“What is that?” She answered the question with a question and he tried not to smile. She was clearly a smart one and it seemed she’d gotten her confidence back overnight.

His eyes followed her line of sight as she pointed at a scar on his arm. “That’s a scar.”

“How did you get it?”

“I was fighting and I got hurt.”

Her eyes fell to the floor before she looked back up and lifted her top, revealing skin and bones. She was almost emaciated and it turned his gut to stone.

“I have one too.”

A small scar on her side was jagged and about three inches long. It was old and silver but gnarled with age. “Wow, that’s a big one. How did you get it?”

“I was bad.”

“What did you do?” It didn’t matter. No amount of bad behaviour from a child should result in a scar of any kind and his hands itched to get hold of the person who’d hurt her.

“I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.”

Her voice had dropped to a whisper as she looked around as if she was suddenly frightened again. He’d let her have her secret and trust that she’d share more as she grew in confidence. The last thing he wanted to do was to scare her more. “Okay, how about an easier one. What’s your name?”

“Novem. What’s yours?”

He bit back the curse on his tongue at the sound of her name and answered her instead. “My name is Niall.”

“Niall?”

“Yes?”

“I’m hungry.”

He stood with a smile and offered his hand to her, giving her the option to take it or not and was silently delighted when she trusted him enough to slip her tiny hand in his. “Let’s go find some food for you then.”

In the kitchen he found Duchess and Hurricane looking dishevelled as they cast relieved eyes on Novem.

Hurricane crouched to her level and looked her in the eye. “There you are. Where the heck did you run off to?”

“I was scared.” She dropped her head and turned her face into Bás’ leg.

“What did I do to scare you?” Hurricane looked visibly upset by the thought of upsetting the child but he sometimes forgot how big and intimidating he could be, especially to a small child.

“Not you, that.”

Bás followed her gaze to the speaker on the side. “The speaker?”

Novem put her hands over her ears. “No.”

He could hear the panic in her voice and looked at Hurricane and Duchess.

“I put it on low to listen to some music while I cooked,” Duchess said, her eyes wide and suspicious.

Hurricane cocked his head at Novem. “You don’t like music?”