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Her eyes lock to mine and my chest tightens until I feel like I’m being crushed by the weight of her stare. Is she scared of me? She’d seen the full force of my anger in there. I’d unleashed without holding back. I hadn’t quite blacked out, which is growth on my part. Last time I’d gone off the deep end, Hawk had to knock me out.
Is this where she walks away?
She’d be smart to. Trick had done something monstrous, and I’d reacted to that with violence. That need to destroy beats inside me too.
I hold my breath until I feel like I’m drowning.
Then her mouth curves into a sad smile and she says the sweetest fucking words that I didn’t know I needed to hear. “I want to be here.”
She closes the space between us, and I get a split second to brace before she throws herself into my arms.
CHAPTER15
SKYE
I’m relieved as Rage pulls me tight against him, crushing me to his chest as if he’s scared to let me go. I sink into his embrace, showing him without words that I’m here and I’m not afraid.
The violence I witnessed leaves me trembling, but not because of what Rage did. The man who came at me wanted to hurt me, and if Rage hadn’t attacked him, he might’ve done worse than he did.
My throat burns and swallowing is painful, but I’m still breathing, which didn’t feel like a sure thing moments ago. I cling to him like a life raft tossed into turbulent waters, trying to control the tremors wracking my body.
“You’re safe,” he soothes, and I don’t know if he’s saying this to me or to assure himself. I feel his heart thumping against the side of my cheek, and I sense his fear at what just unfolded.
“You calm?” The question comes from Hawk, and I lift my head slightly from Rage’s chest to look at him before I tighten my grip around him.
I’m scared they might pull me out this room and away from him.
“If it was Wren or Lillia he had his hands on, would you be fuckin’ calm?” Rage enquires, his tone biting.
I press my fingers into his spine, letting him know I’m here and I’m okay.
“No,” he admits, not bothering to sugar-coat it. “I’d have done exactly what you did. Probably worse.”
Terror slaps a hand into Hawk’s chest hard enough that a thud reverberates through him. The big man lets out a grunt, firing a glare at him.
“Let’s go. We’re gonna be needed with Trick.”
I’ve never been so grateful for someone intervening. I want to talk to Rage about what happened, but I can’t do that with all these people in here.
Hawk glances at us, his gaze moving between us before he shakes his head. “You need us, call.”
As the three men head for the door, Terror pauses and turns back to us. “You were reserved. If he’d touched Hope like that, I wouldn’t let anyone stop me from killing him.”
I scowl at him. There does not need to be more accelerant added to this fire. Rage is already on the ceiling. Terror glances between us before he leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. The scraping of the lock tells me we’re imprisoned, but for the first time, I don’t mind being trapped.
Rage relaxes against me the second we’re alone, his fingers sifting into my hair at the back of my neck before he grips my nape. “You sure you don’t need a doctor?”
“I’m fine.” I’m not, but I’m not going to fall apart either, and I don’t want him to worry. “That’s the guy whose wife was murdered?”
Rage blows out a breath, his chest vibrating against my cheek. “Yeah, that’s Trick.”
My chest feels like it’s been speared with a harpoon. That little girl lost her mother and then her dad. Trick is breathing, but that anger inside him is a cancer that will eat away at everything he is. I don’t know anything about him, but I can’t help but think maybe he should be kept away from his daughter. He’s clearly deranged.
“You protected me,” I say, pulling back so I can peer up at Rage. His brows are heavy, the tension making his shoulders tight, but his eyes soften at my words.
“I’ll always protect you.”
A shiver runs up my spine that has nothing to do with what happened. I like how that sounds. Rage makes me feel safe, which is weird considering he just beat a man to a bloody mess in front of me.
