More gunshots rang out.
She stiffened as her eyes widened with terror. “It’s them. They’re here for me.”
Rushing over to her, I gathered her gently in my arms and whispered, “Never. They will have to kill me first, and trust me, baby. I’m not easy to kill.”
And I meant it.
Every damn word.
Chapter Fifteen
Ravage
“Jackson?”
Looking up, I groaned internally.
Fuck me.
There she was. My woman, wrapped in a plush black towel, her hair still damp from her shower, with her beautiful wide blue eyes staring at me, looking good enough to eat.
And God forgive me, I was starving.
“Baby, you need to get dressed,” I muttered, my mouth dry as dirt as I watched a water droplet roll down her neck, in-between her breasts.
“Why?”
“Because I’m over here holding on by a thread, baby, and one of us needs to be strong enough to resist temptation.”
“Have you been resisting for a long time, Jackson?”
“Yes, ma’am, I have.” My voice was a rough rasp, each word a battle against the rising tide of desire. The temptation was almost unbearable, a physical ache that tightened my chest. She was so close, so innocent in her vulnerability, and I was a starving beast on the edge of a precipice. To surrender would be to risk everything, to shatter the fragile trust we’d so painstakingly built. Yet, the primal need to claim her, to finally pull her into the safety of my arms and take her as my own, burned with an intensity that threatened to consume me.
“And you think I’m not strong enough?” Her challenge was a whisper, a siren song that pulled me closer. Her blue eyes, wideand questioning, locked onto mine. The innocence in them was a stark contrast to the raw hunger I felt simmering beneath the surface.
I knew with a certainty that settled deep in my gut that this dance between us, this agonizing restraint, was as much for her as it was for me. She needed time to heal, to find her footing in this world of shadows, and I needed to be her constant, unwavering protector, not another source of pain.
“You are the strongest person I know, baby,” I admitted, my voice a low rumble, the confession costing me more than any bullet wound. “But I’m a predator, Karlyn. And sometimes even predators need to learn to wait for the right moment. For now, just know this: I’m yours, and you are mine. And when the time is right, and only then, will I claim you. Until then—” I paused, the words a painful promise. “I’ll resist. For you.” I reached out, my fingers tracing the damp curve of her cheek, a silent vow of protection etched into the touch.
“And what if I don’t want you to resist?” Her voice, a soft whisper, hung in the air, laced with a boldness that both thrilled and terrified me. Her innocence, which had so recently been shattered, was now replaced by a nascent strength, a fire in her eyes that mirrored the wildness I recognized within myself. She was no longer the fragile bird I’d found broken and bleeding, but a phoenix rising from the ashes, her spirit unbowed.
A shiver, not of cold but of pure, unadulterated desire, traced its way down my spine. She was challenging me, daring me to cross a line I had so carefully drawn, and in that moment, the predator within me stirred, a primal instinct demanding to be unleashed.
My resolve, already frayed by the constant fight for survival, began to crumble. The memory of her pain, the scars that marked her body and soul, had been my shield, my reason for restraint. But looking into her eyes, seeing the burgeoningconfidence, the unspoken desire that mirrored my own, I knew that holding back might be the greater cruelty.
She was mine, and I was hers—a truth etched in the fire of our shared ordeal. The forest had taught me to listen, to adapt, and now, it was whispering a different lesson: sometimes, the greatest act of protection was to claim what was rightfully yours, to shield your own with an unwavering ferocity.
“You scare me, Jackson,” she confessed, her voice barely a murmur, yet it echoed in the sudden, charged silence between us. Her admission, so raw and vulnerable, was a key that unlocked the cage around my heart. The predator, the protector, the man who had walked through hell and back for her—they all merged into one.
?I stepped closer, the air crackling with an unspoken promise, my gaze never leaving hers as I reached out, my hand trembling slightly as it cupped her cheek. “Then let me show you what it means to be safe,” I whispered, my voice a guttural growl of pure, unadulterated need. “Let me show you what it means to be loved.”
Her lips parted, my words lost as the tension crackled between us like distant thunder. I saw her searching my face, her trust mingling with the tremor of fear, and I realized that for the first time, she was giving me permission to step closer, to let down my own guard. The urge to comfort her battled with the instinct to protect, and somewhere in the middle, I found myself reaching not just for her hand, but for the hope that maybe, together, we could rewrite the story of our pain into something fierce and beautiful.
For a long moment, we simply breathed in each other’s presence, the tension thickening until it felt like the world itself was holding its breath with us. I let my thumb brush her jaw, memorizing the heat of her skin, grounding myself in the reality of her resilience. Slowly, I leaned in, pressing my forehead gentlyto hers—a silent plea for patience, a promise of something more when the world was no longer so sharp-edged and dangerous. In the quiet space between heartbeats, I knew we’d both found a reason to hope again, only for the moment to shatter when we both heard someone knock on the door.
Growling, I quickly kissed her forehead and then went to open the door to find Nav, Eros, and Indigo standing on the other side. Their eyes quickly diverted from mine upon seeing Karlyn in her undressed state, only for them to look immediately elsewhere, anywhere but where my woman stood dressed only in a towel. When none of them spoke, I snapped, “What?”
Nav, who found the floor very interesting, spoke first. “Um... shit... well... we didn’t mean to... Real sorry...”
