“It was like... I don’t know. A blind spot? Somewhere in my brain? It was so hidden and small, it was easier to think it was just me being screwed up.” She dragged her fingers through her hair, pulling it all back. “It wasn’t. It was my stupid brain forgetting the most important thing that ever happened to me.”
“Your brain was trying to protect you. And if you call yourself stupid one more time, sweetheart, I’m going to get upset. And I really don’t want to do that.”
She tilted her head, staring at him. “Are you seriously threatening me right after I relived the worst trauma of my life, which is linked to violence?”
“Yes,” he said without flinching. “Because I care about you enough to get mad when you talk about yourself like that. Because I’m stable enough not to make my anger your problem. And because you’re smart enough to know I’ll never use it to hurt you.” He reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair from her face. “You piss me off? I’ll call you out. You frustrate the hell out of me? I’ll take a walk, come back, and we’ll deal with it like grownups. But I won’t punish you. That’s not what caring for someone looks like. That’s not what I do.” His dark blue eyes bore into her, serous, no hint of the mischief that always sparked underneath. “You’re safe with me, even when I’m mad. Especially then.”
She huffed, but then plopped back down against him and nestled close. He was only too happy to wrap his arms around her again.
“I remember waking up at the hospital,” she said, voice low but steady. “My aunt–my dad’s sister–was there. She only saidmy mom had passed. Said that my father was in jail, likely for good, and I was going to stay with her.” She paused, sighed, and wiped a tear from her face. “I was so... happy, Hunter. I wasn’t surprised he killed her. I think I always knew it was going to happen. It still broke my heart, but I was relieved, too.” She wiped at another tear. “What does that make me?”
“Human.”
She sighed. “The last thing I remembered was taking my teddy bear and walking to the kitchen. Everything else goes black from there. They told me I probably got scared because of the fight, ran, and fell–and I was satisfied with the explanation. They never realized I saw it all.Inever did. Or that he tried to end me, too.”
What was he supposed to say to that?
While this didn’t change where she was today, who she was, it changed things nonetheless.
For once, he–a demon who had spent millennia guiding people through their worst nightmares, literally–was short on words. If he could just take a peek into her mind, it would make things easier, but no, he had to go and promise he wouldn’t do that. So now what? Now he had to do the horrifying, uncomfortable, emotionally mature thing: he had to ask. “How are you feeling?”
“It’s very odd,” she said after a pause. “Because this doesn’t really change anything. I mean, Iknewhe’d killed her. IknewI had reasons to be afraid of him.”
It was exactly what he’d expected, so it made sense she’d keep walking through that reasoning. “But?” he pushed, because of course there was going to be abut.
“Everything has changed. Not about what happened or how it shaped me. But now I can look at that blind spot and see it for what it is.”
“It’s a good thing. Right?”
“Yes. I think. It fills that part of me that was unresolved. It wasn’t me being screwed up. It was a piece of memory, lost.” She rested her head on his chest. “So, yes. It’s a good thing. I’ll need professional help to figure out what to do with it, but it’s good.”
They stayed in that hushed moment for a while, then her voice came out sleepy when she murmured, “Thank you.”
“No need for that.”
“Maybe. I want to tell you, though. I would’ve been okay by myself. I’m better because you were with me.”
“Always.”
And with the weight of her on his chest, the lullaby of her even breathing, he let himself close his eyes and drift to sleep.
No nightmares would touch her tonight.
Chapter 6
Daphne was under no delusion that she was all healed. But at least now she understood why she still needed help, and she could admit it with full awareness. A different therapist, for sure, as Hunter had pointed out.
But one thing was worth saying: she’d had no nightmares last night.
And while that might have been thanks to the strong, warm body she’d curled into like a lifeline, she liked to think her system had finally,finally, started moving toward real peace.
She’d opened her eyes, still wrapped in Hunter’s arms, Hunter’s warmth, his sleep-heavy breath against her shoulder, and promptly spent a decent amount of time having indecent thoughts about him. Very indecent. The kind that would’ve made her old therapist raise a brow.
He’d been right the night before, about not using sex as a way to avoid feeling something else. About not rushing into anything to drown the echoes of pain.
But she hadn’t started wanting him because of the trauma. She’d wanted him before the breakdown, and she wanted him now, clear-eyed and emotionally grounded.
She’d watched him sleeping, his face somehow even more perfect. His hair a glorious mess. The hard edges of him softened by dreams. He’d stirred slightly as she began easing herself out of the blanket cocoon, but she had a plan that revolved around him, and it was time to start making it happen.
