Bound by Danger (The Alliance #6) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,80

he made bail. I was given a restraining order, but I still don’t understand what it was supposed to do against someone like him.

“I packed up all my things and left my home behind for a third-floor apartment because I wanted to be near other people. I preferred not to be all alone again, and I wanted someone who could hear me scream if he came back. And my life went on.

“As the case against him progressed, I learned he had a history of harassing women. It had never progressed to what happened between us, but I was his third restraining order. One of the women moved to California to get away from him.

“The night the Savages took me, I was out celebrating with friends because my life was returning to normal. It had been three months since I heard anything from him, and though his trial date was still pending, he’d left me alone. I didn’t understand what good a restraining order was, but obviously, it was good enough to deter him. My life was finally mine again, and then it all came crashing down.”

And he was continuing to tear it apart, he realized with a sick sensation in his stomach. He was ordering her about, locking her way, and keeping her from doing the only thing she’d asked of him since arriving here. All he wanted was to keep her safe, but he was breaking her in the process.

Rising, he crossed over to sit beside her. When she didn’t stop him or tell him to get away, he hugged her against his chest. Lowering his head to hers, he rested his cheek on top of her hair.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. When he got the chance, he’d find this Carter and tear his spine out through his mouth, but he kept that to himself. “It never should have happened.”

Callie didn’t say anything as she curled into him. In his arms, she could almost forget the nightmare Carter unleashed on her life.

He kissed the top of her head and inhaled her sweet scent. “We’ll go get your things tomorrow. I’ll see if some of the others can join us, and we’ll cordon off an area to keep an eye out for Savages. If we go in the day, we should be safe.”

It had been long enough; if the Savages had ever watched her place, they’d most likely given up by now. He was being overprotective, but he couldn’t stand the idea of losing her like he lost Coralie. If he could change her….

He shut the thought down; he was losing it, but after what she revealed, he wouldn’t push her to join him. She’d been pushed around enough by Carter without him doing it too; she had to decide in her own time and way.

He could and would control himself until then. Even as he considered it, the demon part of him stirred. It didn’t want to be denied what it craved so badly, but it didn’t have a choice. He would wait until she was ready.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Anything for you,” he said as he kissed the tip of her nose.

Warmth and love flooded her as she hugged him.

Chapter Thirty-Four

They went to her apartment the next day but didn’t go inside. Instead, they set up a perimeter around the three-story, blue building and watched for any sign of Savages from four different SUVs. Declan and Willow were in one vehicle on the other side of the block. Saber, Logan, and Asher were in another SUV.

Killean and Simone were on the other side of the block, but they were soon leaving to return to the motel and rest before coming back to relieve someone else from their watch. Callie stared at the building four houses down and diagonally across the street. With its fresh coat of blue paint and white shutters, it was cheery.

She clearly remembered the day she moved in. She’d stared up at the building with a box in hand while she welcomed the fresh start it offered.

That fresh start was over, but as she reached across the console to rest her hand on Lucien’s thigh, she realized she had a new fresh start ahead of her. “When this is over, I want you to change me.”

Lucien tore his attention away from the quiet, suburban street to focus on her. His heart hammered with excitement as his fangs tingled, but he maintained control. “Are you sure?”

She smiled. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.