Daisy inhaled a staggered breath, and her head tipped to the side. Those pretty features pulled in desperation as she tried to get through to me.
To reach me.
That hand was back on my arm again. “I didn’t know who else to go to. My ex-husband…”
A rush of possession slammed me from out of nowhere. Heart a squall of repulsion at the thought of someone else touching her.
At the thought of someone else having her.
Only I was a selfish enough prick to consider her mine.
I tried to get my shit together. To focus on what was important.
The fact she had come here for help.
My mind had already sprinted into the abhorrent, rage clouding my sight at the thought of someone doing her wrong, though if I were being rational, she could be here for any number of things.
But right then, I wasn’t feeling so rational.
“Are you in danger?” The question ground out like shards of glass, and my gaze swept the perimeter, hunting for anyone lurking in the canopy of the forest.
When I was satisfied I didn’t feel anyone else there, I forced my focus back to her.
Anxiety gripped her expression, that sexpot mouth that was really fuckin’ distracting tweaking at the side as she chewed the inside of her cheek the way she always did when she was upset.
“I…”
Fear clouded her features.
It sent fury blistering through my insides.
She looked back at her children, and her throat trembled as she whispered, “Can we stay with you? I don’t want to talk about it out here when I’m half naked, and we don’t have anywhere else to go.”
She looked down to bring attention to the fact that she was still standing there wrapped in a thin towel, hair dripping wet, her pale skin pebbled with goosebumps.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I did not need the reminder.
Irritation lit me up like a flame, and I scrubbed a palm over my face.
What was I supposed to do? Turn them away? I’d committed my life to protecting the vulnerable.
But I didn’t need to take them on myself. I had options. I could pack them up and take them to The Sanctuary, where Theo could keep watch over them until we hashed out exactly what was happening and set up a plan to protect them.
Place her under Sovereign Sanctum’s wing.
I knew that was exactly what I should do as I felt that connection pulling like a magnet. Tugging me in her direction.
Motherfucking compulsion.
One I could never heed.
I looked up at the deep blue sky stretched overhead. The sun was beginning to set, its rays turning to a glittering gold as it dipped toward the spires of the trees.
A slight chill had begun to fill the air as the day faded away.
It would be night soon, and there was no chance in hell I could leave them out here.
