Never feeling safe.
“I’m not sure every woman would want that,” I muttered. I sunk lower into the seat. Grim lifted an eyebrow. “But I do like it with you only.” And his eyes softened. “I don’t know why. I should fear you, but I don’t.”
Instead, I’m horribly turned on.
“What do you feel, Journey?” Grim let go of the arm of the couch, sitting beside me. “And don’t run away from me, because my primal side will chase you.”
I choked on my spit.
“It sounds silly. I don’t want to say.” I gripped the pillow tighter. “This could be some sort of Stockholm syndrome or something. Maybe I’m not in my right head space.” I shook my head.
Grim’s gentle touch moved my jaw to face him. “I can tell you what I feel,” his low voice said. “I feel an undeniable attraction, a pull to you, Journey. And I never felt this want, this need so strongly before. The thought of something harming you, taking you away from me—” His fists tightened until his knuckles popped so loud I thought they would break. “I would crush them into pieces to protect you.”
Should be a red flag, but nope. Body liked it. Hell, I liked it.
“Tell me, what do you feel, Journey?” His forehead lowered, touching mine.
Both of our eyes closed, and that spark ignited inside me all over again. The fear of being taken away, of being sold, of doing the horrible things I used to do left my mind. The only people here in this world were Grim and me.
“I feel it, too. Something strong pushing me toward you. That I’m supposed to stay here,” I whispered.
He grinned. A full-on grin showing me his pearly white teeth and the canines that were too large for his face.
“But I’m a broken woman, Grim. I’m not whole like I once was,” I said sadly.
“That doesn’t matter to me.” Grim pulled my body into his lap, putting my face into his neck. I smelled his wonderful scent that was just him. He rubbed my cheek with his thumb.
“Because I’m broken too, and with two broken pieces, we can make ourselves whole.”
Chapter Fifteen
Journey
Myhearttuggedatmy chest. The sweet aroma of his scent washed over me completely. It was a wave of heat that settled below my waist, and the tingling between my legs only grew greater. The low rumbling in his chest, the twitch in his body as he straightened, caught my attention while he shifted me off his lap.
“How can you be broken, too?” I asked incredulously.
Sure, he was quiet, more reserved than his friends. He had some scars from fights, and if the fight he had with Aedar was any indication, he could hold his own. He was confident, more so than I had ever been, and it would take years for me to become whomever I was truly meant to be.
“One day, I will tell you, as one day you will tell me what you have been through,” he said, looking away. “You need to sleep for now, little one.” I raised an eyebrow at the nickname.
I did not find myself small in the slightest; in fact, I was of average height. He was the one that was ridiculously tall.
But I liked the endearment.
When he left the couch, the aura of warmth left when he reached the kitchen, tapping a small canister, two pills clinking out into his large hand. He opened the fridge for a bottle of water, and he twisted the cap gently and handed it to me. In one sip, the pills were gone, but he nodded his head for me to continue to finish downing the bottle.
I shrugged my shoulders, listening. He had taken care of me so far and taking care of myself for so long had been tiring. I fully accepted he wanted me safe, an irrational feeling after what I had been through with men using me, but I was at the end of my rope.
Before Grim, I had little will to live anymore.
But now I was here in this apartment, and for the first time in my life since I was a tiny child, I felt safe.
“These will help you sleep,” his voice said with a strained rasp. He winced as he said it, and my hand went out to grab his.
“It hurts for you to talk for a long time?” I tilted my head in confusion.
“I haven’t used my voice much, had nothing to say until you.”
