“How long?”
He shrugged noncommittally, but there was no lack of resolve in his expression. “For as long as it takes for me to be certain you’ll be safe. I need Travis Parrish and the rest of his family to understand that both you and the boy are under my protection. And if anything happens to either of you, all of them will pay.”
That heavy drum of her heart galloped harder as he spoke. She had never needed or wanted the things he was pledging now. Her pride fought against the idea, a denial pushing its way to the tip of her tongue. It melted away under the ferocity of Knox’s solemn expression.
She couldn’t believe he would alter his plans just to look out for her.
After the way he’d responded to seeing her Breedmate mark last night, she thought she’d forfeited not only his trust but any trace of respect he might have felt toward her.
Now this.
She wasn’t sure what to say, how to accept the gift he had just offered her.
“Where will you stay, Knox?”
“As close as possible.” He cleared his throat, a frown deepening between his dark brows. “I can install new locks on all your doors and windows, but doors and windows can be broken. Nothing, and no one, will get through me.”
She gaped at him. “You mean you want to stay here? In my house?”
“It’s not a matter of what I want. What matters is you, keeping you safe.”
Her breath snagged on the ferocity of his tone. She had never been the kind of woman who swooned and sighed over flattering words or unexpected kindnesses. But this was different. This was life-and-death, and until a dozen hours or so ago, Knox had been a stranger, someone who hadn’t even known she existed.
Now, he was pledging his protection to not only her, but Riley too.
“Why?” she murmured. “Why are you doing this, Knox? Last night, you said it was a mistake stopping in Parrish Falls. You said it was a mistake helping me out of the ravine. So, why do you want to help me now? What changed?”
“You,” he growled. “You changed the second I saw that mark on your skin.”
Leni’s racing heartbeat stumbled into a crawl. The blood rushing in her veins slowed, cooled. “The mark on my stomach changed what you think of me?”
“It changes everything, Lenora.” He practically bit the words off, his deep voice low and controlled. “You’re a Breedmate. That’s as sacred as blood to my kind. Women with that mark, your mark, are the most precious thing we have in this world. You’re to be protected at all costs.”
“Not me,” Leni said, needing to be clear. “Any woman like me. Any woman born a Breedmate.”
“That’s right.”
She drew back from him, averting her gaze, looking anywhere but into his intense eyes. She glanced down at her fluffy pink robe and her well-worn slippers edged in faux fur, and could hardly hold back her scoff.
The most precious thing in the world to his kind. Sacred.Ridiculous.
That’s how she must look to him right now, not only because of the way she was dressed but because of the embarrassment staining her cheeks. It wasn’t her he was concerned about. It was any woman like her. Any woman born with the same mark.
She wanted to refuse his help.
More than anything, she wanted to relieve him of his obligation and demand he leave her to handle her own problems and damn him along with his misguided sense of honor.
If she were living alone, she would have said all of that and more.
But what about Riley?
He was the one who needed Knox’s protection the most. She could take care of herself, but how would she keep Shannon’s son safe until she finally came home to be with him again?
She couldn’t. Not by herself.
And no matter how much she wanted to refuse Knox’s offer, she had to accept.
What she didn’t have to do was play along with his reasons, or think of him as anything more than a boarder for however long she had to endure his presence.
