Page 205 of Bleed with Me

“Mostly,” she wheezed. “You’re squashing me.”

I released her so quickly my hands flew into the air.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” My voice caught up in my throat.

“I’m fine.” She smiled, wiping the blood from her mouth. “Surely better than him.” She nodded toward the corpse of her ex-fiancé.

A sound broke from my throat, somewhere between a laugh and a sob. I cupped her face, avoiding every bruise, and pressed my forehead against hers.

“You couldn’t wait five fucking minutes?” I brushed the hair from her eyes.

“They touched our girl,” she whispered, suddenly deadly serious.

“What?” I pulled away from her, startled by the insanity glowing in her gorgeous eyes.

“No one touches my baby girl.” She clutched my forearm, her long fingernails burying into my flesh. “No one.”

“Okay,” was all I could muster. I was shocked, truly shocked by the violence she was capable of, by the brutality with which she erased danger. But most of all, I was proud and so fucking grateful I could barely breathe.

“Daddy?” A small cry came from behind the loading platform.

“Angel,” I whispered, turning on my heels. Golden hair appeared between the wooden crates. Aryna crawled from her hiding place, her hands still bound in front of her and tears covering her face.

“Daddy!”

She ran to me, and I dropped to my knees and caught her against my chest. The impact nearly knocked me backward, but I held on, one arm around her and the other reaching blindly for Nina.

She glimpsed her bloodied clothes, but came down beside us. Aryna sobbed against my neck, clinging so tightly that her plastic restraints dug into my skin.

“It’s okay, angel,” I whispered into her hair. “You’re safe.”

Her whole body trembled in my embrace, my heart almost breaking under the weight of guilt. This could never happen again.

Carefully, Zyon reached between us and freed Aryna’s hands.

“She saved us,” Nina said proudly, patting Aryna’s head gently. “She bit the bad guy.”

“You did?” I pulled away slightly, my brows raising in surprise. Aryna nodded carefully, a tiny smile appearing in the corner of her mouth.

“He screamed.” She looked at Nina shyly.

“He really did.” Nina laughed. “And then she listened and hid from another bad man.” She leaned closer and tenderly kissed her forehead. “You did amazing, angel. I’m very proud of you.”

Aryna’s eyes shone brightly as she stared at Nina in awe.

“I’m proud of both of you,” I added, squeezing them. Aryna squeaked like a trapped mouse, but what slightly startled me was Nina’s painful gasp.

“I’m sorry.” I immediately let her go. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

“I’m fine,” she protested, but I didn’t listen to her. Effortlessly, I lifted her off the ground, and Aryna clapped excitedly.

“Mommy!” she squealed. “You’re like a princess from my book.”

“Yeah. A true damsel in distress.” Nina rolled her eyes, but her head rested against my shoulder. I kissed her forehead and moved to the door, passing Zyon.

“Lucas and Matteo are checking the perimeter with our men,” he informed me, then looked at Nina with an expression I had never seen him give anyone outside our family. Respect.

“Pretty impressive for a spoiled mafia princess.” He winked at her. “You had all the fun.”