Before any of the men could take Jaysus out with one of the many guns pointed directly at him, Jenna pulled the trigger and shot him right in the temple. He went down like a domino and Jenna curled her lips in disgust and hatred, giving him one last look of contempt, before she slid down the wall, her legs no longer able to hold her up. She carefully placed the gun to the side and buried her face in her hands, heartbreaking sobs shaking her entire body.
Isaac slid down beside her and simply wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap, anchoring her to his chest as he rocked her back and forth, tears stinging his own eyelids while Jenna wept as if her heart was broken.
“Baby, you have to stop crying,” Isaac choked out. “I can’t bear it. I can’t stand to see you cry. It makes me crazy. You have to know that I’m utterly helpless against your tears. I’ll do anything to make it right again, baby. God, I love you so much. You have no idea how fucking scared I’ve been since the moment you disappeared from the bathroom. My heart stopped, baby. And it hasn’t beat worth a damn until ... now. Right here and right now with you in my arms, I can finally breathe again. I can live again. Please look at me, baby. Tell me you’re all right. Tell me what to do for you.”
He was begging and pleading and didn’t give one damn who saw. He ignored the others as they surveyed the carnage of Jaysus’s earlier rage.
Jenna finally lifted eyes filled with so much grief and devastation to Isaac that he wanted to die right on the spot.
“He k-killed them,” she wept, gesturing at the bodies that were still fresh, rigor not having set in yet. “And he wouldn’t let me heal them. He wanted me to see them die and all I wanted was to seehimdie,” she whispered as if confessing a great sin.
Isaac cradled her gently in his arms and then shakily stood to his feet, determined to get her out of this room of horrors. The stench of blood and so much death clung to his nostrils, and he wanted nothing more than for both of them to be cleaned of the whole experience.
Shadow waited until they were outside the door, and then he stopped Isaac and tucked his hand beneath Jenna’s cheek. “Look at me, angel face,” he said gently.
When she reluctantly lifted her gaze to his, he leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her forehead. “Not a single person blames you for wanting to see him die or for being the one to kill him. He drew and would have shot Isaac. You saved Isaac’s life as well as your own. Don’t know how the hell you managed to get the upper hand, little bit—hell, you didn’t even need us—but I’d sure as hell love to hear the story sometime when you’re up to it.”
She offered him a shaky smile. “Maybe one day. Right now I just want to go home.” She glanced up at Isaac, a pleading look in her eyes. “Can you just take me home now? To our home? Please?”
If he hadn’t been holding her in his arms, his knees would have given out in that moment and he would have face-planted on the floor in relief. After failing her time and time again, all she’d asked was for him to take her home. Totheirhome.
“Baby, you don’t even have to ask me for a damn thing that’s in my power to give you,” Isaac vowed. “There’s nothing I’d love more than to take you home so you can rest in my arms for as long as you need. Always whatever you need. I’ll give everything I own to make you happy, my angel.”
THIRTY-TWO
ISAACcarried Jenna into his bedroom, in his house, marveling that he could finally bring her home—totheirhome—instead of having to move her from safe house to safe house because of the constant source of threats she was forced to live under.
She was already sound asleep in his arms, having succumbed to exhaustion halfway into the ride home. He gently laid her down and very carefully removed the clothing that still had blood on it, anger building all over again as he examined the bruises on her small body from the repeated blows Jaysus had given her.
Her poor little face was swollen on one side and a dark bruise covered one cheek. He bent to kiss it, unable to control himself. In the morning, he’d draw a bath and wash away every last memory of this night and of the bastard who’d terrorized her, and he would wait on her hand and foot every single day until he was satisfied she was fully recovered.
Stepping back, he stripped off his own clothing and after hesitating to leave her even for the briefest of moments, he ducked into the bathroom to take the world’s fastest shower, because he wouldn’t taint their bed or her with so much as a drop of the blood on his clothes and skin.
He strode back into the bedroom in the act of toweling himself dry and then dropped the towel and rushed to the bedside, sliding beneath the covers to wrap his arms around her when he heard her pained whimpers that whispered past her lips in her dreams.
He held her tightly, running his hands up and down her body, kissing her hair, her face, whispering his love for her, telling her he’d always love her and protect her with his last breath.
After a moment, she quieted and he relaxed, curling himself completely around her so that no part of her wasn’t surrounded by him. He had nearly drifted off in the heaven of her body when the nightmares began again, and this time she began weeping softly in her sleep.
His heart breaking, he kissed away every tear as soon as it slid from her eyes. Then he began talking to her, telling her all over again of his love for her and that he’d never allow her to hurt again.
Each time he soothed her, she immediately settled, but it wasn’t long before she became lost in the throes of another nightmare, convinced she was still in hell. She called out his name, over and over, and he was in agony that nothing he seemed to do could rouse her from the horrible things happening to her in her dreams. He finally broke down and cried with her, because it tore his heart apart to think she was so desperately calling for him and thought he wasn’t there or that he wasn’t coming for her.
“Please, baby, come back to me. Wake up and see me. I willneverlet you go again. I’ll love you more than any woman has ever been loved before. I’ll never let anyone or anything hurt you again. I’ll wrap you in the finest cotton and never let you so much as stub your toe without going insane. Just imagine, angel, you could already be carrying my baby,” he whispered. “And I’m going to love you both so much that I’ll spend every day taking such good care of you and all our children, that you’ll never want for anything.”
Once more, she settled, burrowing more tightly into his embrace, clutching at him even in her sleep as if she’d never let go. He’d neverallowher to let him go, he vowed with such fierceness that he shook.
He didn’t sleep the rest of the night, instead keeping watch over his sleeping angel, soothing her when she began to whimper and become agitated as dreams held her in their tenacious grip. He kept swearing his love for her and making her every promise under the moon, until he was nearly hoarse from the constant reassurance he offered.
When the first faint rays of dawn entered the room, lending their soft light and warmth to the couple so tightly entwined in the bed, Jenna stirred, and at first, Isaac assumed that she was once more in the grip of the terrible dreams that had preyed upon her all night. He was so immersed in the urgency to silence the demons attacking her that he didn’t realize that her eyes had lazily fluttered open until he saw her staring back at him, her expression so very warm with love that it took his breath away.
“Isaac, I don’t need you to promise me the sun, the moon, the stars and the world,” she said, her lips curving upward into a soft, inviting smile. “All I’ll ever want or need isyou. Your love. It’s all I’ll ever ask of you.”
“First, youneverhave toaskme for something that is already yours, will always be yours and has alwaysbeenyours since the day you fought death for me and healed more than just my physical body,” he said, his tone utterly serious. “And secondly, I’ll spoil you ridiculously as is my right, and there’s not a damn thing you can say or do that will ever change my mind, so if you won’t ask me for anything you want or need, then it’s my duty to provide for you as I see fit.”
Her delighted laughter warmed him all the way through, melting away the regions of ice and darkness that had re-formed in the time she’d been taken from him.
“We’re getting married as soon as possible,” he said with utter gravity, staring into her eyes so there was no possible way she could misunderstand his intention.
