Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
I didn’t believe for one second that he’d spared Max from being arrested out of fear.
I pressed my lips together, forcing myself to wait in tense silence until Max and I had some privacy.
When we got out of the cab, he kept my hand ensnared in his, guiding me toward a shabby apartment building. He unlocked a door on the first floor and led me inside, sliding the deadbolt in place behind us.
As soon as we were safely inside, I rounded on him, my hand tightening around his.
“Will he hurt you?” I asked, breathless as though I’d run a mile. “Niko said he would hunt you down. Would he really…” I swallowed hard. “Will he hurt you?”
Max’s big hand cupped my cheek, his fingers threading through my hair. I leaned into the tender touch, my body showing no signs of fear despite the vicious way he’d threatened Niko.
“No, Bambi. I won’t let him.” The words were grim, his mouth a harsh slash.
My heart stuttered, but I didn’t pull away. “Did you mean it?” My voice was little more than a fearful whisper. “When you said you’d kill him?”
Max’s jaw ticked, and his eyes tightened with something like pain as he stroked my hair. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
That wasn’t an answer to my question.
“Max,” I prompted quietly. “Did you mean it?”
“I won’t let him hurt you,” he vowed, his tone rough despite his tender touch. He held me as though I was utterly breakable and precious.
“You can’t mean it,” I said tremulously. “Tell me you don’t mean it.”
Something would break inside me if Max murdered Niko for my sake. I couldn’t bear the thought of him committing such a heinous crime, all out of a desire to protect me.
His jawline was sharp enough to cut as he clenched his teeth. “I would do anything to keep you safe.”
I cupped his face in both hands, drawing him closer so that he was locked in my desperate gaze. “Promise me you won’t. Please, Max.”
He shuddered in my gentle hold, and he closed his eyes as though suppressing pain. When he opened them, they were dark with anguish.
“I can’t lose you,” he rumbled. “I can’t fail you. Not again. Never again.” He breathed the last like an agonized oath.
I’d seen him like this once before: when his cousins had attacked me. He’d been driven close to madness then too. He’d thought he’d failed me.
Just like he thought he’d failed to save his mother’s life when he was little more than a child.
All that rage, all that pain…
My heart tugged toward his. I trailed my fingertips over his scar, the awful mark his own father had branded on his beautiful face. He leaned into my touch, as though he couldn’t help himself.
“Allie…”
“Promise me,” I demanded on a fierce whisper. “You didn’t fail me. You won’t. I know you’ll protect me. But you have to promise me that you won’t kill Niko. I can’t… I don’t want you to be that man.”
He flinched, but I threaded my fingers through his black curls to hold him steady.
“You don’t know what I’m capable of, Bambi.” The warning was roughened by pain, not menace.
I swallowed hard. I had a terrible feeling that I might be coming to realize what he was capable of.
I shoved the thought away. He was all that mattered to me right now: soothing him, promising him that I was safe. That I would keep him safe, no matter what.
“I love you,” I vowed, keeping him locked in my earnest stare. I let him see straight to my soul, to the absolute truth of my love for him. “Promise me, Max.”
He closed his eyes as though enduring some invisible strain, and he pressed his forehead to mine. “I promise,” he rasped. “I would do anything for you, Allie. I’ll be better for you. I can’t lose you.”
He wasn’t talking about losing me to his enemies. He knew something would break between us if he followed through with his murderous threat to Niko.
I placed my hand against his sculpted chest, resting my palm over his racing heart. “You won’t lose me,” I swore, fierce and determined. “I’m right here. I love you.”
I would say it as many times as he needed to hear it. He might not be ready to say it back—he might not be able to make himself that vulnerable.
Love is hard, but blood is everything.
My love for him would never come with cruelty. He could trust me with his heart, just as I was putting my trust in him to keep this promise between us.
His jaw remained tight, not soothed by my declaration. “What was that bastard doing at your house?”
I pressed my hand more firmly over his heart, trying to ground him in the present moment with me before darkness could claim him once again.