Thaddeus in all his golden glory haunted her, but in a far different manner.
He should be here, not Brandon.
She batted that thought from her head more times than she could count. Thaddeus was the last person who had any business being near her. And yet…
“No one will know unless you tell them. There’s nothing to see on your lip, sweet. But if he comes at you again, if you wear any marks from his hands again, he willnotwalk away unscathed.”
Cael implied he’d been the one to heal her lip. Despite the adrenaline and twist of emotions at the time he’d interrupted Thaddeus, she’d calmed enough to realize her lip had stopped bleeding by the time they reached her car. She’d caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror in Cael’s foyer, realized her lip was no longer swollen.
BeforeCael healed her.
She’d spent nearly twenty minutes assessing her wounds in the bathroom of the hotel while waiting for Brandon. Or where wounds should have been. Yes, her lip was completely healed.
So were the bruises on her neck.
ThoseCael hadn’t mentioned, but Thaddeus had traced. His touch had been both delicious and tormenting. Threatening and seductive. The memory had sent her mind spinning and her body flooding with heat. His lips against her ear and temple. The deep timbre of his voice as he whispered his scathing comment about worthlessness like a twisted melody to lure her to her demise. His voice hadbeen soothing and beautiful, but his words cut like a hot blade.
She had checked her arm where the skin and muscle remained tender to the touch after Rich’s brutal grip. Dark purple markings had formed in the shape of his fingers. They had not disappeared. Neither Thaddeus nor Cael had known about this injury, and therefore, it wasn’t tended.
Which meant…
Rori twisted in the bed, pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes. God, if she could only sleep! She didn’t want to weigh the possibility of a monster having healed her. Not after he went through her room, found those pictures and used them in his scheme to break her. After all, wasn’t that his plan? Break her? Do away with her? Mate or not, Thaddeus was soulless and cold. He held no room for the slightest bit of compassion, and he certainly didn’thealher.
You’re smarter than this, Rori. Those wounds were gone, or near gone, by the time Cael got home.
Then why would Thaddeus torture her with the horrors of her past?
Why force her to relive that night in a carousel of projected pictures?
“Hermosa, it’s four in the morning. You’ve been tossing all night.”
Rori dropped her hands from her face and turned her head. Brandon watched her from the other bed, head propped up on his fist, moonlight cutting across his handsome face. Worry creased his forehead, the sharp edge in his dark eyes softening.
“I know you’ve not told me everything. I feel it in the air. You’re carrying a burden far greater than a run-in with Rich.”
Damn it. Brandon had always been able to read her well. His acuity when it came to her emotions caught her off guardthis time. “I keep replaying his assault. I can’t get it out of my head.”
His lips pursed, expression strained. After a few heartbeats, he threw back the covers, adjusted his position on the far side of the bed, and opened the blanket. “Come here. Get under the covers. I’ll stay on top.” He smiled. “Let me see if I can help you sleep by holding you.”
Warnings blared in her head.Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. You have a mate. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.
She hesitated. The guilt curled low in her gut, tightening its unwanted grip. She shouldn’t. Really, she should keep her distance from Brandon. They were friends. Close friends. She knew he wanted more, but kept their relationship friendly. She didn’t want to cross a line they couldn’t come back from, or lead him on only to hurt him.
Thaddeus is your mate.
Damn conscience.
Fuck Thaddeus. It won’t be the first time Brandon has helped me sleep.
With a deep breath, she climbed out of her bed and slipped into Brandon’s, allowing him to tuck the covers around her and pull her into the curve of his body. He rested his chin on top of her head, his even breaths fluttering her hair.
A strange chill rolled through her blood. Her stomach twisted. This…this wasn’t right.
Nothing is right, yet Brandon is safe.
Tension began to melt, and the relentless reels of the day’s events slowed until, at last, they came to a stop, giving her the reprieveshe desperately needed.
“We’ll head to the police department to file a report. He broke the restraining order and will go back to jail until his court date. There’s no reason you should be hiding in a hotel room because of him.He’sthe one who should be stripped of his freedoms.”
