I sit with her on my lap instead of setting her down.Neither of us seems ready for space.For a while, we just breathe.I keep one hand at the back of her head, and the other spread across her back, stroking slowly up and down while she shakes.
“You’re safe,” I murmur.“He’s dead.He can’t touch you again.”
She nods against my throat.Small.Fragile.
I hate it.I hate that there’s fear in her again when I promised there wouldn’t be.
My bear, calmer now that she’s here, huffs inside me.Not your fault,he says grudgingly.But never again.
Never again,I agree.
After a few more minutes, Vivian finally pulls back to look at me.Her eyes are red-rimmed and glassy.Seeing her like this feels like a knife in the ribs.
“I thought…” She swallows.“I thought I was being paranoid at first.”
I brush her hair back from her face.“Tell me.”
She licks her lips.“I left lunch early because I missed you.As I was walking back, I felt like someone was watching me.I turned around, and he was there.”
A growl rises in my throat before I can stop it.Vivian flinches slightly, not from me, but from the memory, and I force the sound down.
“He said they’d been looking for me.That Michael wanted me back.”Her voice shakes.“I screamed, and he grabbed me.”
My jaw locks so hard that it hurts.
Michael.The cult leader.The man her parents tried to give her to.I already wanted him dead.Now I want it with a violence that borders on the unholy.
“They’re not getting you back,” I say, my voice low and rough.“Ever.”
Vivian studies my face for a second, then nods.“I know.”
Two simple words, but they hit me hard enough to steal my breath, because she means them.She believes me.
I press my forehead to hers for a moment and breathe her in.“Good.”
She’s quiet after that.I can feel her thinking, can see it in the slight furrow between her brows.
“What are they going to do now?”she whispers after a minute.“If one of them found me that easily…”
I don’t lie to her.I never will.“They’ll keep trying.”
Her face pales slightly.
I tighten my hold on her.“And we’ll keep stopping them.”
She swallows.“I hate that I brought this here.”
“No.”The word comes out sharp enough to make her blink.I soften my voice immediately.“You didn’t bring anything here, Vivian.They’re the ones making this choice.Not you.”
She looks down at her hands.For a second, I’m not sure she believes me.
Then she whispers, “I was starting to feel safe.”
My heart fucking breaks.
I cup her jaw gently and make her look at me.“You are safe.”
“But what if?—”
