I turned my attention back to her, slipping my hands up in front of me in hopes that a show of surrender would help the situation.
It didn’t.
“I’m what!?” she shrieked.
“Being. Followed,” I said a bit slower.
She didn’t drop her fists, not for a fucking second. I was weirdly proud of her. “And how the hell would you know that unless you were following me, too!?”
“It’s a good question,” Brutus muttered somewhere behind me.
I raised my fist and flicked him off without removing my gaze from Jasmine. Fuck, how the hell was I going to get her to understand that she was safe now? That all I wanted to do was protect her? I felt someone approaching my side and her attention immediately shifted. She took a step back, her eyes widening as her strong, fiery stance faltered.
I didn’t like that look on her.
“I’m Cap,” our president said as he stepped up to my side. “My woman, Ariel, is very much cheering you on right now.”
“She’s amazing!” Ariel called out a window from the clubhouse.
Jasmine’s wild eyes darted in between us and the clubhouse behind us.
I hated seeing her like that.
“You’ve… stolen other women here?” she asked with a crack in her voice.
Cap shook his head. “No, we’ve brought them here to be safe.”
Jasmine’s posture faltered for a moment. “Safe?”
Cap nodded. “Yes. Safe. My girl was abducted in much the same manner you were, only she was taken to a sex trafficking ring housing facility deep in the state park woods.”
Jasmine froze at that. “What?”
Cap tried taking a step forward, but my hand shot out. It moved before I could think about it, slamming into his chest. His eyes slowly moved toward me, and I just shook my head.
No one got closer to her unless she gave explicit permission.
Cap stared me down for a while before turning his attention back to Jasmine. “There’s a sex trafficking ring pushing into our town, and you’re not the only woman they’ve attempted to take.We’ve got three other women here who can testify to the exact same thing.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
And in an instant, I watched her legs buckle.
“No!” I barked.
I rushed toward her without a second thought. She wasn’t hitting the ground, not on my watch. All of the strength and fire in her body gave out at a moment’s notice, and I was just barely there to scoop her up before her body slammed into the dusty ground of Redd Valley.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered as I scooped her back against me. “You’re okay. You’re fine.”
She fought against me for a moment, and I threaded my hand through her hair and brought her gaze to mine.
“I am not going to hurt you, Jasmine,” I said with as much conviction as I could muster. “But there are people who are trying to hurt you. Let me help.”
“Letushelp,” Cap said behind me.
“Got Doc!” Ranger called out.
Tears filled those gorgeous brown eyes of hers, eyes like the forest, and I pulled her against me. Her hands went from fighting me to clinging to my shirt, and I distracted myself by turning toward Doc.
