“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to frighten you even more.” Running a hand over his jaw, he waited for her to make another move. She affected him like no other, made him want to do unspeakable acts, but it had only taken a couple hours for him to fall to his knees and give her the world.
She looked down and smoothed her hands over the remains of her shirt. He told her he would wait until she was rested to know what had happened, but maybe she needed to tell him now.
“Do you want to tell me what happened with him?” Smothering her was not what he was going for, and a surefire way for her to book it out of there was for him to push her too fast and too hard.
“I—” She took a deep breath, lifted her head, and looked up at him. There was indecision and hesitance written across her face.
“Listen, you don’t have to say anything right now. I know I can be an assertive ass on the best of days, but I am a male of my word, and I will protect you and keep you safe until I’m no longer breathing.” Bram hoped she would eventually trust him enough to tell him what the shifter had done to her, but he didn’t blame her for her uncertainty.
Just thinking about the male had blind fury coursing through him. Taking a deep, somewhat calming breath had him relaxing enough that he didn’t want to rush out of the house and find the fucker.
“Let me show you where you’ll be sleeping,” he said again. For a moment, he thought she might object, and he felt another flash of fear. It was a strange emotion, one he didn’t care for, but his mate brought out a lot of unusual emotions inside him.
He couldn’t help but be protective of her, but even if she wasn’t his mate, he would have taken care of her, given her situation. He was glad she didn’t put up a fight, because he could see the exhaustion on her face, and he was hanging on by a thread himself.
He pushed one of the guest bedroom doors open and turned the light on. It was the smallest room in the cabin, but it was the one right next to his, and if she wasn’t going to be sleeping in his room tonight, he wanted her as close as possible to him.
“I have a pair of sweats and a tee you can wear tonight, but tomorrow if you’re feeling up to it, we can go into town and get you some clothes.”
Maybe it was presumptuous of him to assume she would just stay with him, but he was fucking serious when he said he wasn’t going to let her go. Finding a mate was a big fucking deal, and he had been graced with having Kenzie walk into his life. That didn’t happen every day to a shifter, and he was grateful fate had given her to him. She may have had a broken past, but he was going to make sure she had a bright future, whether she wanted to believe him or not.
He left her in the room long enough to grab some clothes and headed back to the guestroom. For a moment, all he could do was stare at her as she sat on the edge of the bed. The scent of her tears was profound, and he found himself moving forward and kneeling in front of her. She didn’t pull away when he grabbed her hands and covered them with his.
“You have nothing to be afraid of, not now, Kenzie.” He wanted her to trust him, to open up and let him carry the weight of her burden, but he also knew he was asking a hell of a lot. When she lifted her head and he saw the product of her sorrow, he couldn’t help himself.
Bram leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. She moved her head away from him, and her surprise slammed into him. After a suspended moment, she relaxed, and now it was his turn to be surprised as hell.
She didn’t move for several long moments and just stared at him. There was clear shock and uncertainty in her eyes, and it was the latter that made him feel like a bastard for even trying anything on her. But then he had seen her broken expression, and all he wanted to do was take that away from her and replace it with something softer, sweeter.
“What are you doing?” Her voice was low, filled with curiosity and apprehension.
“I just want to make you feel better, Kenzie.” He leaned in again, but she stopped him with a hand to his chest. “Not like that. I would never take anything from you that you don’t willingly give.”
He kept his eyes locked on hers, trying to convey with his eyes that what he said was the truth. She was a scarred and scared little deer, and even though he could smell the reality of what he knew to be a painful life, he also scented a very strong female, one that could hold her own if given space and encouragement. She was a fighter, his little fighter, and pride filled him that she had survived. “I just want to take away that sad look, Kenzie. Just a kiss. Nothing more, nothing less.”
If she turned him away, slapped his face, and screamed that he had no right to ask her for anything, Bram would understand fully. But Bram could scent that although they had just met, she knew his words, his actions, and everything he did toward her was all with the best of intentions.
He just wanted her safe and sound beside him, and that she was his mate had him wanting
