Thanks so much for the reviews and favorites and follows for this story. So glad people are loving it. Heavy emotional chapter but its bringing them together and I am so glad Roman has an ally too and they start getting more pieces of the puzzle here too.
Have a great weekend!
Should be updating my Prison story with very fun intense chapter if I have enough time today possible too or tomorrow...
Please review...they are like rainbows and sunshine to writers and inspire us to write faster...
A soft knocking woke Roman from a sound sleep as his eyes flew open and he looked around the room. It was darker now, the sun looked low in the sky barely peeking through the curtains he had tightly closed earlier.
He bent his head, already feeling his arms still wrapped around the precious woman he had vowed to protect. Taking one quick inhale of the sweet and feminine scent of her hair he swallowed a groan wanting to be free. She made him feel so damn good and she wasn't even doing anything. It was like just her very presence, her essence, her just being there soft and warm and so peaceful in his arms felt like the most soothing feeling in the world.
She looked to still be fast asleep too, her eyes closed and a relaxed smile spread across her face. She looked angelic in the fading sunlight, Roman thought, as he smoothed a lock of hair back from her cheek.
God he wanted to kiss her again...
How the hell did any kiss they shared still feel wrong and yet so so right? He knew this last time it had only been to pull him away from his fury, his rage at what her husband wanted in his message. She had been the most amazing distraction to his anger. He wanted to focus on her healing not anything else. She just needed him to be there for her and let her lead in whatever happened.
Near quiet knocking again and Roman's head spun slowly toward the door. He thought he had heard something before but wasn't sure what it was.
Carefully and gently he untangled himself from her arms around him. Her one small hand was still hugging his side under his shirt and he didn't want to take away any comfort she was getting from him. But he was so sleepy he had no idea who it was and did not want to risk waking her either.
Roman slipped off the bed, tying his hair in a bun at the back of his head and tucked her back in, pulling the covers over her. He quietly picked up the gun from the table and held in front of him as he headed over to the door. Peeking out the peephole he let out a sigh of relief, tucking the gun back in his jeans, slipped on his shoes and opened the door quickly.
"Oh thank goodness, Dean! I had totally forgot you were coming by later," he said while opening but closing the door mostly behind him to hide their voices from the sleeping Emily.
Dean nodded at him and pointed toward his SUV. "Um, there are noises coming from your trunk man. Not loud, but when I pulled up right beside it I could hear like thumping." The blonde doctor raised his eyebrows at him curiously and motioned toward the vehicle. He was dressed more casual now too, like he was, just in jeans, a black t-shirt and gray leather jacket. His new friend seemed a lot his style.
Roman swallowed nervously, flashing back to kicking the cop in the head back at the house, and then cuffing him and throwing him into the trunk. That was the one thing he had left out during their little run in in the parking garage at the hospital. "Yeah...about that...Um."
Oh God, how could he tell someone he barely met that he kidnapped a police officer?
Dean put his hand on his shoulder before he could say anything. "Look I have no idea what you all had to do to get her out of there. Away from her cop husband you said was abusing her or how you even knew about it. But I'm in this with you if you need me. But you need to kind of let me know how deep we are?"
Roman nodded slowly back at Dean, deeply appreciating the support. It was like they communicated that without words between them. He sucked in a shaky breath and moved to the trunk and used his button to unlock it. The hood sprang up and the cop was wide awake, struggling behind his taped mouth, fighting being cuffed still and was kicking hard at the back of the SUV.
Dean passed Roman a look and Roman looked helplessly back at him. He had no idea what the hell to do with this guy. "Yeah, I know. THIS is how deep I am and I can barely swim with these fucking sharks," Roman pulled the guys weapon from the back of his jeans and ordered him to stop struggling, pointing it at him. He nodded at Dean, leveling the gun at the cop. "You still wanna help?"
Dean looked back and forth from the cop to Roman holding the gun. "You can't do this all by yourself man. You said the girl's dirty cop husband is a sergeant and there are more?" Roman nodded, hardly believing what he himself got into.
His new friend just smirked and winked at him. "Hell ya, I'm in," Dean replied and he grabbed the cop by his collar and dragged him out of trunk. "But he can't stay out here with all the noise he was making."
Roman looked around fast as he watched Dean drag the guy out of his trunk and so far it looked like no one had seen them. They were in the back of the motel and not a really fancy one at all in a great area of town so he could hope they could stay off any cop radar for awhile yet.
He opened the door to the room quickly, tucking the gun back in his jeans and looked around for where they could put the guy. The bed was further into the room with a closet right near the front area so maybe that was the best area for him for now.
Roman helped by motioning for Dean to pull him into the closet and he uncuffed his one hand and wound it around the closet rod before cuffing him back up and had him sit slumped over on the suitcase stand. He had nowhere to go and he hopefully could not make as much noise in there.
He raced back to his bag of stuff he had grabbed at the hospital and had thrown some duct tape in there from a tool box he found in the stock room and brought it back to tape the cop's ankles to the stand so he could hardly move to alert anyone of his presence.
Emily looked to be waking up as they finished with him and Roman saw lights flashing on the floor as he was heading back to the bed. It was the phone lighting up from under the blanket where she had tossed it.
Dean was just closing the closet as Roman scooped up the phone and turned away from the bed and more toward the window to hide from her that anyone was texting at all. She had been through so much already. She did not need more tonight. Please no.
Clenching his jaw Roman flicked on the phone and the screen lit up. Sure enough it was a message from Hunter. Roman had almost dropped the phone when he turned it on because part of the message had been a picture, and it was of her...zoomed in on her eye, the only one not almost swollen shut. Hunter had zoomed in on her eye and had smiley faces below the picture.
The fear in her eye he knew had to be from the picture she took to send him. He took a second to scroll up and sure enough it was there. The picture he could not even look at when she took it cause it was HIS hand that was around her precious throat making it look like HE was strangling her.
The image staring back at him, made him sick. He hadn't even looked when she took it. Why the hell had he looked now?
Oh he knew why...it was because of his horrific message below that sick...that zoomed in picture of her fear in her eye...
Roman shut his eyes slowly and did not even know how to respond. He wanted to shatter the phone into a million pieces, but then Hunter for sure would know something was up if he could not reach his guy. But he could feel himself want to scream and just lose it at what kinds of things such a small, sweet and tender woman had already survived.
Dean came over to him and looked like he could see the rage building on his face and was motioning silently to him in a 'What the hell is going on?' type look back at him. Roman let out a quiet growl and he wanted to explode on Hunter, but he was nowhere nearby. He heard Emily start to wake up and passed the phone to Dean, holding it up for him to see the sick words.
What Hunter had wrote under the smiley faces of the fear in her eyes was enough to make Roman want to gag.
You know the rules...but your present to me...means I can offer you something just once.
Roman froze and read it again. Present. What the hell did that mean? That man was sick. He was pretty sure he understood. Offer something? Her? Oh God, how much had she been through?
And that instant all he wanted was to hold her. Protect her from all of them. From the memory of them. From any touch she had ever had on her body. Every damn fucking thing...
He strode fast back to the bed as he watched her sit up, tossing the blankets off her and turn her body towards him as if to get up. Roman gathered her in his arms without a single word, spinning them so he was sitting off the edge of the bed with her in his lap and buried his head against the crook of her neck and cried against her soft skin.
He had no idea how he would feel or what he would do once she was in his arms. All he knew was he needed to hold her right that second and shield her from the past, the present, the future. He had no idea.
And tears, more tears... Damn it he had lost count how many times he had cried in her presence already. She must think he was a complete pussy the way he could not just reign in his damn emotions. But when it came to her, he had no idea why he was so unhinged. It was just that everything felt so freaking crazy.
Everything was so wrong, so heightened, so dark and sad. It felt like he got sucker punched, with each new revelation of how dark her life had been before him. How dark her life still was because somehow she still had to go back to that monster until she could find her daughter.
He nuzzled his face against her throat, drowning his fear of everything they had to face by just seeking out her closeness. Her mere presence was like peace to the fear. Roman held her tight, his arms wrapped around her like a vise not letting anything in.
Seeing that sick message and knowing her husband actually offered her to his friends when she was already hurt and beaten...he literally had no words for how much he was hurting for not saving her, knowing her sooner. He had no capacity to know what way the message meant but everything just scared the hell out of him right then.
Emily had likely no idea what prompted this massive, possessive bear hug he had her in and yet he could feel her small arms squeezing just as tight, offering him comfort too. He knew she could hear him crying and she had smoothed his tears from his cheek a couple times already with her one palm.
He had pulled her onto his lap sideways at first but now she turned slightly and shifted enough to wrap her legs around his waist too and wound her arms tight around his neck and curled her head to his too.
They stayed like that a few minutes till Roman heard Dean clear his throat and hold up the phone and walk closer. Roman cursed under his breath. Was there another message?
Dean just looked so sadly at Emily as he moved closer, but held up the phone. "Um, was he expecting some kind of reply at all do you think or were you good?"
Roman looked back and forth between Dean and Emily and reluctantly showed her the message. She turned back to him right away and stroked her palm down his cheek. "Is this why you came over here like that and just lost it in my arms?"
The dark haired man nodded slowly and leaned into her hand and she offered him a weak smile. He had no idea what to say but he felt so protective of her and would do anything to make her feel safer. He dropped his head to her shoulder, the one that didn't have the bad cut on the top and nuzzled her neck. He felt her hands wrap around his body, holding him, cradling his much larger body against her and being the support he needed right then as he just broke down in her arms.
He could feel her stroking her hands down his back up and down and he just closed his eyes and soaked up and feelings of her softness and soothing calm she was offering.
Slowly he pulled his head back up, feeling better, more focused. He needed her to fall apart into.
Emily handed the phone back to him. "The cop Bobs here right?"
Roman nodded, remembering the guys name from seeing it in his phone already.
"Yeah you should ask him. Hunter does talk to him or any other guy he sends to guard me when he is away. So he would know what to say. But that depends on if you can get him to cooperate with you."
Dean chuckled at that and smiled from where he was lounging in the chair by the table. "Oh believe me sweetie you have very good guys in your corner now. Doctors are supposed to do no harm. But after seeing that," he indicated of the message," I don't think I give a damn about that oath, do you Reigns?"
Roman was listening to them talking but he was also staring at her face and all the gashes and cuts and the long deeper cut along her hairline too. Her eye swollen and her the other one black and blue...hell no he didn't give a damn about his oath with these assholes.
She was still sitting straddling his lap on the bed and he moved his hand up to stroke his fingers down through her hair and cradle her face in his palm, just like she had done to him a few minutes ago.
He shook himself from his trance when he realized Dean was still waiting for an answer from him. Clearing his more than dry throat that had been choked up by his tears so many times already he spoke. "Yes, uh, completely. I'm not a doctor when it comes to the creep in the closet," he nodded back to Dean.
The blonde doctor stood up quickly. "I say we ask him then and make damn sure we are good and then I help you get the young lady stitched up."
Roman looked back at her and saw Emily give him a weak smile and he smiled back before looking back at his new friend. "Okay, sounds like a decent plan Ambrose."
Emily started trying to climb off his lap but was already cringing in pain at moving any and all of her muscles. Roman bent down and she put her arm around his neck and he helped her stand up shakily and they both made their way to the closet and Dean opened the door.
The cop was wide awake and struggling against the cuffs and trying to free his taped up legs. Roman stepped forward and ripped the tape off his mouth, smiling at the near whimpered sound he made as a result and stood back. Holding the phone up with one hand he pulled the gun back out of his jeans with the other.
"Tell us what you would reply to the damn boss. The truth, so he doesn't suspect anything is wrong here or you are in for a world of pain man." Roman warned him, letting him read the message before passing the phone to Dean, as Emily stood behind his shoulder. She still held onto him, her hand wound around his arm as he backed up and leveled the gun at the man.
He could see the cops eyes find her and start to snake down her body and he immediately pulled her gently more back behind him.
"Hey!" Roman snapped at him, punching him in the gut, calling his attention back to him and cocking the gun. "Eyes here! Your little arrangement with your boss ended the second I caught you. So don't you even THINK of looking at her! You are NEVER hurting her again!"
The cop glared back at Roman, fuming and gasping for breath but didn't say anything or look like he dared to look back at Emily again.
Roman leaned his head back more behind him to check on her and she was standing tall but staying back and letting him keep himself between her and the perceived threat.
She leaned up and locked her eyes with his and smiled at him and he bent to kiss the top of her head. Nodding slightly Emily looked okay and he nodded back at her, just so fucking glad he knew what was going on and could do what he could to protect her.
But as he turned toward the closet again he heard the man laugh under his breath and Roman was already glaring as he faced him. In a split second he lunged forward and punched the guy hard on the jaw and the cop's head jerked to the side. Blood dripped from his now split lip and he laughed again as he looked back up at them, his eyes zeroed in not on Emily at all but now right at Roman.
"You really think you are smarter than the boss? That you can just take what's his and he won't come after you? Kill YOU for daring to even WANT what isn't yours hero?" He spit blood out on the rug and smirked up at him. "If he knew what I have already seen...you would be dead..."
Roman was ready to punch him again and moved forward fast, making the man flinch. "Well I'm not! And maybe you won't be alive to tell him any different after we are done with you?" Roman grabbed the guys hair and yanked his head up. "You really value your loyalty to him over your own life?"
He glanced quickly back at Emily who was leaning on the closet door and staying back as he let out at least some of his anger. She was quiet but looking at him like she understood his fury and this was the only person near enough he could get to that had hurt her. Was he serious? Threatening the guys life? Had he moved up to death threats?
Emily looked scared for him though with what was all being said and he saw her eyes wide with fear. He moved closer to her and pulled her to his side and she wound her arms around his waist, leaning her head to his chest.
The cop laughed again. "See? Just like that. That bitch isn't yours. And never will be! Hunter would KILL HER before he ever lost her to anyone!"
Roman felt Emily literally shiver in his arms and he held her tighter. But in holding her closer all that was doing was making cop glare darker at them both. Damn it this was scaring her and he had no idea this was what could happen. What the hell had they opened up in confronting this asshole?
But the cop wasn't done running his mouth. "He lets us play with her. Rewards us in ways with her, sure, like you saw in the message...he lets her dance for us.. and more fun ways. But we aren't even allowed to fucking touch her more than to restrain her ever and clearly you already crossed that boundary pretty boy."
"She is just a tool to secure the drug trade here too and its been working amazingly well for years already and Hunter would destroy anyone that messes with his precious system and we all benefit from the supply."
Their captive smirked and his eyes grew dark as he licked his lips and dared to look back at Emily again for only a second before his heavy glare was back on Roman. " But if he EVER thought we were developing any kind of feelings for her that would be the end of it right there and we would be dead! And he has buried men who have had feelings for her. In fucking cement!"
Roman felt a literal chill race though him at those sick words and it just made him hold her closer as he felt her shaking and bury her head against his chest. "Fuck you! Fuck all of you!" Roman yelled at him, having no idea what else to say right then. Everything felt unreal, and terrifying.
Dean moved forward and just kicked the guy in the teeth and he slumped over unconscious. The two men looked at each other gravely like they now knew this was deeper than they had originally thought. Dean slammed the closet closed looking like he did not want to look at the creep for one more second.
Within seconds Roman felt Emily start to waver in her balance at his side as whimpered cries were muffled by her face against his chest. She was cowering now too in his arms and shaking more he could feel and he scooped her off her feet into his embrace, her arms wound tight around his neck and her legs around his waist as he held her.
Dean nodded without a word and slipped outside the door and closed it quietly behind him giving them privacy and Roman smiled in silent thanks.
Turning his attention back to her he didn't even move them back to the bed back just leaned her back on the wall beside the closet and dipped his head down to find her face hiding behind her curtain of blood streaked hair.
"Hey, baby girl, I'm right here," Roman soothed and nuzzled his nose to hers. He had no idea what she was thinking and knew so much of what was said must have scared her. "I'm so sorry. You didn't need to hear that. I thought we could get some information out of him. God, Emmie I am so so sorry."
Emily looked up in his eyes and he saw the tears slipped down from hers. "I'm so tired of being so strong Roman. SO tired!"
God he was so sorry. Sorry for everything.
"Everything hurts! My heart, my soul, my body!" she cried and held onto his neck tighter and dropped her eyes from his. He felt her tears dripping down his throat now and soaking into his gray shirt.
Roman's palms, were rubbing back and forth on her back on top of her thin lace green tank top and she pulled him closer, holding tighter to his neck as he rubbed up and down on her back. He had no idea what to do or how to make anything better for her right then and just held her as close and as tight in his arms as he could.
Her body felt so tiny, so fragile and he was worried he was hurting her but he heard her moan and her head nuzzled closer to his too as he held her up against the wall. A moan was better than crying he thought. Anything was better than hearing her crying in his arms.
Emily's head was leaned against his now and they were both barely moving. He could feel the shaky exhales of her breath by his ear. "I didn't know that..." she said quietly with barely any emotion in her voice.
Roman had no idea what she could be talking about . There was so much that had been said, good and bad. He lifted his head and tilted her head up to find her eyes. His one palm was under her bottom, holding her up while his other one now stroked his fingers through her hair by her cheek. "What beautiful?"
Emily's lips started quivering. "That he would kill me!" she whimpered. "That he would kill you for what you are doing right now." Another tear slipped down her cheek and Roman ached for her pain.
God what could he do? He damn well knew he was falling so fast for her and everything about what they were facing scared the hell out of him.
Roman kissed the tears slipping down her cheeks and could taste the saltiness on his tongue. He saw her eyes fall closed as he moved to catch the tears falling on the other side of her face before they slipped to her lips.
He meant the action to be innocent and soothing yet as his lips dove to chase the tears down her cheeks his lips found hers and they met with hers already open and eager to let him in and he promised himself he was not going to deny her anything she wanted.
"God Roman I need you," he heard her moan between kisses and felt her fingers clutching at the back of his neck, pulling his mouth harder against hers.
"I need you too...so much," he breathed, slipping his tongue between her lips," He was just as hungry for her and pressed her body more fully against the wall, cradling her in one hand while the other was up behind her head too, holding her head to his.
Emily wound her arms tighter around his neck, and whimpered again into his mouth as they both pulled each other closer. He started kissing down her throat and her head fell back against the wall. He felt her fingers tangling in his hair as his lips warmed her damaged skin and could feel the deep cut on her one shoulder as he cradled her in his arms against the wall.
Roman felt her hands pull his head back up to hers before he got to her chest and within seconds he had locked eyes with her teary brown ones. Everything inside him broke for her pain. He could see so much just hidden in the depths of her eyes.
And she pulled him back to her lips, hard and fast, mouths open and already grabbing harder for his head. "Nothing but you feels safe," she whispered between hungry kisses. "Nothing ever has."
Roman let her hold onto him as tight as she wanted to and ran his hands up and down her sides on top of her thin tank top. She felt so small and like glass in his arms, like anything could shatter her more. But she was clinging to him and he wanted to be all the safety she needed. Could he really save her from the insanity that was her life? How on earth could they get away and find her daughter?
They kissed ravenously like their feelings were all consuming and neither pulled away first. Roman didn't want to take one moment of this away from her. This was what she wanted. She led. She was in charge and he wanted to let her be in control of her life in whatever small way she could be, maybe for the first time in her adult life.
They stayed hidden on the wall behind the closet, away from the door and Roman knew Dean could come back in any minute too so he did not walk her to the bed like he had thought of since the moment they started kissing. He would have loved nothing more than to pin her under him, tangled in the sheets and press her body into the mattress.
But no, this wasn't the time for that. He had no idea how far things would go if they would make it to the bed. Dean was still here and they still needed to stitch her wounds up too and he needed to take care of her that way.
Emily's arms that were still around his neck snuck down the back of his shirt and he groaned feeling her fingers gliding along his shoulder blades and still lower. He jumped her slightly higher in his arms, allowing her to dip her arms further down his back as he moaned her name in her mouth.
Roman heard the sound of the door creaking open and he was so reluctant to pull away from her kiss swollen lips. She looked positively radiant, with messy hair now too and it would not be a secret at all that they had just been through ally enjoying each other. He was happy he was able to be a distraction from her fear just like she had been from his anger before too. He knew he would do anything to help her in any way she needed.
Dean stepped forward and didn't say anything about the intimate position he saw them in. He simply nodded to Roman and looked like he understood how vulnerable she must have felt. Roman nodded back very grateful for the understanding before motioning back to the closet as he set her back on her feet. They might as well get the crap with the cop over with first and then he could focus fully on her while Dean help by stitching up her wounds.
"Oh hey Dean, you are going to need to check my stitches later too. With helping carry her lots lately it hasn't been good for your handiwork and I know I need to get it looked at sooner than later," Roman nodded to him and his friend nodded back.
"Sure thing man, I can definitely take a look when we take care of your girl too and repair anything."
Roman smiled gratefully and knew he had more than strained his healing wound plenty in the last day and was glad he even remembered something about him to look after when his thoughts had been consumed with nothing but her protection and safety.
The closet door was opened fast startling the cop, before Dean sauntered back to the table. He slid his arms out of his jacket and dropped it to the chair nearby and cracked his knuckles while smirking back at him.
Roman who was ignoring the cringing pain in his side he was feeling again, likely from holding her up in his arms a little too long as he walked her away from the closet saw his friends devious smile. Dean looked to be enjoying being in deep with the cops and he was so grateful he wasn't facing all this on his own.
"So what we doing? Should I go get the medical supplies and find a scalpel? Can I carve him up if he doesn't start talking?"
Roman almost laughed out loud at the shocked expression in the cops wide and terrified eyes at that. He didn't look as tough as he sounded. Bob started fighting to break free again, trying to tear the tape from his ankles and was screaming from behind the gag.
She stayed leaning on the wall further back from both of them and Roman moved to join Dean and held the gun up and placed it right under the cops chin. "You done fighting us?" he hissed at him, shoving the muzzle of it against his throat. He leaned in closer to his ear, "Or should I let my friend find his scalpel?"
Bob looked like he was glaring fire at Roman but nodded slowly and bent his head. Roman ripped the tape back off his mouth fast and held the phone up again. The cop stared at it a minute more and then looked soberly back at him.
"I'll tell you. Just don't beat me for what I tell you to type...okay?" The guy looked scared but was relenting and Roman sucked in a shaky breath, not knowing if he even wanted to hear it.
He opened his mouth to reply when there was another ding, another message. Fuck, he didn't know if he could handle more tonight.
The screen flashed to life and he saw that it was Hunter again wondering what was taking him so long. But her husband also said he had really been out of it from their fight that afternoon and then her running away so he got way too high and drunk so he and that he wanted to make sure the guy checked on her more during the night to see that she was okay.
That she was okay? She was as far from okay as you could be! Roman thought and could have hissed out loud. Roman wished he could reach through the phone and choke her husband. He wanted to make sure she was okay but he was the one that caused all the injuries? He was insane!
Hunter then said No hospitals for sure. But if there was no choice then to blame the guys who mugged her the night before for finding her and attacking her. Make their place look like the muggers came while he was gone.
Roman felt his knees buckle as he read that and he swallowed bile he felt in his throat. God damn it these fucking cops had thought of everything.
He felt her small hands around his shoulders as he knelt in front of the closet and turned his head to see her beautiful eyes looking just as sadly back at him.
Fingers pulled the phone from his grip and Roman turned to see Dean at his side and he motioned to him to pass him the gun too. "Go man. I got this. I'll handle it," his new friend said with a concerned look on his face. He had his back. Roman was so grateful and nodded wordlessly handing him the gun and stood up and Emily helped him move to sit back on the bed.
She went to sit back on his lap and tilted his head down to hers, seeking his eyes. "Hey sweetie, talk to me. What are you thinking? Let me in please?" Emily begged him, tenderly stroking her palms down his cheeks.
She undid the hair tie at the base of his neck and let his long hair loose too and it fell in waves down his shoulders. Her fingers stroked down the length of it making him moan in pleasure and his eyes fell closed.
"Mmmm that feels so good. I'm thinking..." he whispered trying to swallow another moan, " that I just want to stay here with you... like this."
Emily sighed in his arms as his hands ran down her bare arms and squeezed them gently. "And we can. But before, I want to know how to help you. I feel like everything just breaks you more Roman. I don't want to hurt you..."
He leaned his head to hers, still not looking in her eyes. It hurt him so much to see her so bruised and so broken. "No, you aren''t. I promise. It's what they did to you. What he let them do, what HE fucking did. That's what breaks me beautiful."
Roman opened his eyes finally and haunting gray sought out her dark as night brown eyes as he ran his thumb down her deep cut on her face and circled her swollen eye.
She was breathtakingly beautiful, inside and out. Her strength, her soul fire, her passion, her fight, everything about her was so damn beautiful. How anyone would ever want to hurt her he had no idea.
Was her husband scared of the fire he saw in her? The passion for life. The raw beauty and purity that was so unbelievably inspiring he just had to snuff it out because he hated its power?
God, her strength and mere survival against so much made Roman love her more.
Love? How on earth could he even be thinking of something that deep SO soon? Could he really love her? He felt such a mad passionate fire in himself to protect her from anything that she had faced alone before.
But love? He had no idea. Or did he?