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“You’re mine, Sadie. My possession. You think of no one else, do you hear me?”

I bury my face into Maverick’s strong chest, breathing in the scent of his body wash, the same cedarwood I’d used last night.

The music fades. and a door slams.

He pauses, then shifts me again, and a second later, we’re moving again, another door slamming behind us.

“Are you hurt?” Maverick demands. He sets me down on something soft, and a shadow moves in front of me, but my eyes are so full of tears I can’t make out his features. “Sadie, are you hurt?” He doesn’t touch me now, and somehow, I miss the way it felt to be carried by him. To have him so close I could hear the beat of his heart.

“I. Can’t. Breathe,” I choke out.

“You’re safe, Sadie,” he tells me.

I shake my head. He can’t know that. He can’t know that I will never be safe again. That my monster said he would always find me.

Maverick mutters something under his breath, then lifts me again. The feeling of his arms offers me some relief, and I use that to further root myself in the present.

Cool air hits my face, and the panic eases its death grip on me just enough that I can breathe. He sets me down, but he doesn’t leave. Instead, his hand goes to my back.

“Breathe, Sadie. Breathe.”

I focus on the sound of his voice.

On the cool air on my face.

There was never any cool air in that cellar.

Never any relief.

And I focus on that, allowing it to bring me back.

My heart rate begins to slow, the tightness in my chest easing just enough that I can take in another unburdened breath.

Then another.

The tears begin to slow, but my body continues to shake uncontrollably.

“I’m. Sorry,” I choke out. “So. Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m going to get you some water.” He starts to stand, but I reach out and take his hand.

“Please don’t.”

Slowly, Maverick sits back down beside me. “You’re safe,” he says again. “Just breathe.”

MAVERICK

There have been many times in my life when I’ve been afraid.

In combat.

When I woke up in a hospital bed with no recollection of how I got there.

But seeing Sadie down on the floor in my bar? Her eyes wide and terrified, face pale as death, has topped every single one of them. I’d assumed it was a fight that had Ryker waving me over. I never expected to find her down on the floor.

Adrenaline still courses through my veins, the desire to eliminate the threat so strong I have to actively fight the urge to go downstairs and find the guy who wouldn’t keep his hands to himself.

But that would require leaving Sadie.