I’m not too worried about her attack. However, I am concerned about her hurting herself. It’s clear how weak she is and that she’s favoring her right side a bit.
Although, it’s her ripped shirt and exposed breasts that cause something possessive in me to rise. All my tactical training and everything I’ve learned as a Dom mix together and kicks in.
“Easy,” Noah says.
She continues to pound at my chest. I hold my hand up to warn Noah off and give him my rifle. Once he takes it, I grasp her by the face and restrain her hands behind her back. In one swift motion, I bring her chest to mine to shield her. We’re face to face now, her eyes locked on mine.
I breathe her in as she freezes, breathing heavily. I note her wince of pain and loosen my hold. She bares her teeth at me. As tough as she’s pretending to be, I can see the fear deep in her eyes.
“Get the others out of here,” I say to Nate and Noah.
We’re on limited time. They begin to usher the others out and into the transportation, we brought with us. The sound of Wyatt’s voice reaches me, but I stay focused on the scared brown eyes in front of me. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Then get off me,” she growls.
I nod. “Are you going to stop swinging?”
She nods and I slowly let go. As soon as I do, she swings at my head and grabs for my balls. I block her hand quickly and restrain her again.
Noah’s ass chuckles somewhere nearby. I want to kick out and put him on his back, but I keep my eyes on the woman before me. Woman, she’s not a girl.
Up close I can see she’s not as young as many of the others. She looks like she could be in her very early twenties, but she’s not a girl like a lot of the others. She also looks like she’s on the verge of starving, but she’s still beautiful.
There’s something about her eyes. Though sunken, something about them calls to me. I get pissed at myself. This is why I’m in the situation I’m in back home. I always need to fix shit.
At the moment, I want to fix what placed that look in her eyes. I want to erase the haunted glare that’s staring back at me.
She starts to scream, and I move to cover her mouth with my hand. Her eyes harden, almost causing me to smirk. She’s tough. That means she’ll make it through this.
“Listen to me. You’re safe. I would never hurt you.” I pause to let my words sink in. She searches my eyes for a moment, and I can feel her relax when she finds whatever she’s looking for.
“We don’t have much time before they come looking for all of you. We have to get you out of this truck and to safety. Do you understand?”
She nods and this time I do give her a small smile. I note that she’s trembling. I loosen my hold again.
When her eyes lose some of the fear, I continue. “I’m going to release you and this time you’re not going to swing on me or try to grab my shit. I’m going to take off my shirt and give it to you to cover up. I’ll turn my back to give you some privacy.”
She gives me another nod.
“Guys, we need to move,” Nate warns.
“We’re coming,” I grunt and turn to shield her with my back as I get my things off to give her my shirt.
Making quick work of taking off my hustler, I hand it over to Noah. I take off my vest and place it between my legs. Next, I peel my black thermal off and hold it over my shoulder.
“Thank you,” she murmurs.
“You’re welcome.”
I start to tug the vest on over my tank shirt. When I go to reach for my hustler from Noah, I feel more than see her reach for my blade in my leg hustler. Damn, she’s not going to give it a rest.
I spin out and grab her hand with the knife, placing it behind her back. With my free hand, I grab the back of her neck and lean down until we’re face to face. She bares her teeth again.
“Let me get you out of here and I’ll let you kick my ass all you want, but we don’t have time for this now.”