He took several steadying breaths, locking it down.
Luna needed him to keep his shit together right now.
He took her in and made himself fucking breathe. It helped.
The days of feeding and sleep had transformed her. She was almost back to the way she’d looked the first time he’d seen her.
Luna. Yeah, the name suited her.
Her skin was like pale silk and utterly flawless despite the grime smeared here and there. Her hair was long and jet black, framing her heart-shaped face. She licked her lips, lips that were deep crimson and so plump and perfectly shaped he was desperate to know how they’d feel against his. How they’d taste.
But those eyes, fuck him, they were gorgeous. Her irises had been deadly pale when he’d found her, so drained of color they almost got lost in the whites of her eyes. Now, they were deep violet. Stunning. Christ, they stole his breath—
And right now, they were wide—and filled with fear.
Fuck.
He took another steadying breath, trying again to cool down. Though after holding her in his arms for days while she was nothing but skin over bones—feeding her, while she’d been so lost to her hunger, all she could do was whimper and shake, and so weak she could only suck for a short time before she passed out—he wasn’t sure that was possible.
She was still eyeing him warily.
Good thing he’d remembered to take off the gold cross he’d been wearing. It was hers, he had no doubt, and if she saw it, she’d have questions, questions she wasn’t ready to hear the answers for just yet.
Uncurling his tight fists, he lifted them in surrender. “I’m not going to hurt you.” The fact that he needed to say it cut him to the quick.
She nodded again, but he could see in her eyes she was still deciding whether or not to run.
“I need you to listen to me, love, okay?”
She nodded, those eyes still wide as hell.
He cleared his throat, trying to cull the growl in his voice. “There is nothing you could do, or say, nothing, that would cause me to harm you in any way. You don’t know me yet, I get that, but I swear on my brothers’ lives, you have nothing to fear from me.”
Her pale, delicate throat worked. “Okay.”
She was telling him what he wanted to hear, but she didn’t believe it.
That image from all those months ago—of his hand around her throat before he knew she’d helped Grace—flashed through his mind again, and he felt sick to his stomach.
“I know you’re scared. You don’t know us. But you know Grace, yes? You think she’d take shit from anyone?” He grinned, trying to cut through some of the tension. “Yeah, sure, Chaos can be an asshole sometimes, but you think she would’ve mated with him if he was a total dick?”
A small smile played at the edges of Luna’s lips. “She ah…helped me remove a demon's head the first time I met her.”
Gunner chuckled. “Sounds about right.” He let her barely there smile warm him. He liked that. Wanted to make her smile more. All the time. He still couldn’t believe she was here with him. That she was alive.
“The demon’s name was Greg,” she said. “He liked to hurt me when Sir wasn’t around. I have…or at least had a high pain threshold. That asshole liked to test it. Killing him felt…good.”
His chuckle stuck in his throat, and he had to fight another growl as his demon howled, wanting to break free and kill Greg all over again.
“You’re angry again,” she said.
“Yes,” he said, going for honesty. “I don’t like the idea of anyone hurting you.”
She blinked. “I’m alive. He’s not.”
Gunner took her in, unable to get a true sense of what she was thinking, feeling.
“Will you stay, Luna?” He needed to tell her who she was to him. The last thing he wanted was to fuck around with this after so long without her, but she’d barely recovered. She was confused, and she was also wary as hell of him.
He’d give her some time to get used to him, and then he’d tell her the truth.
“Are you sure your wards are strong enough? Sir’s powerful…” Her lip trembled, fear sneaking back into her eyes before it was quickly replaced with anger.
“They’re strong enough to keep him out, I promise you that.” He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear before he could stop himself, and the backs of his fingers brushed