My chest constricts, rises and falls like a tidal wave as I try to soften my expression, arranging her gently against the wall just inside the back entrance.
“Listen to me.” I bite my bottom lip and put both my hands on her face. “What happened?” I lower my voice, my ears picking up any errant noise from down the hall.
I search her expression for clues. Her green eyes sparkle and dilate, and she looks down at her feet.
“I want to protect you. I want to help you. Please, let me. I have to do that.” My voice turns to a growl. “I need to know what happened here so that I can fix it.” The words grate as they come out. “You don’t understand. I have to fix it.” Her eyes widen at the desperation in my voice.
“My boss. He sort of...” I watch her eyelids close for a moment too long and I already know what she’s going to say. I can feel it pushing at my temples, and everything turns red. “He wanted me to suck —”
I push two fingers over her lips, because I can’t hear the next words. A shockwave of pain reverberates through me and if she says anything more right now I think I would die.
“Don’t move.” I grit the words out between my teeth.
I lean down, my hands gripping the sides of her head harder than I should, willing my strength to make everything in her life better. I bring my mouth down, kiss the crown of her head and turn on my heel toward the shuffling I hear coming from the office a few feet away.
“Chastity?” An irritated male voice barks and the grizzly roars to life between my ears. Four more steps and I meet him inside the office doorway. “Is that you—” Those are the last words the fucker gets out before his jaw and my knuckles are introduced.
My other hand juts forward and clutches his windpipe. My nerves sizzle and my jaw aches as I grind my teeth. The thought of anyone else touching her, anyone else expecting her to touch them, turns off any parts of the civilized Magnus.
I want to see blood, hear bones cracking; I want to hear him beg for his life.
I want to hear him apologize for hurting her. I want him to realize she is forever out of his reach. Because she belongs to me. And no one will ever get through me.
My gaze sharpens, I know this asshole from the other store. His eyes are bulging from his skull and his hands slap with a feeble attempt to pull mine from around his throat.
I shift my shoulders, pulling him around me to slam him into the wall, his feet barely touching the ground. My hatred for this man is matched by my hatred for myself.
Why did I wait?
Why didn’t I take care of her sooner?
I let this happen, and that is going to haunt me. Because she’s my responsibility. I’ve known that since the moment I saw her, and I hate that I was so self obsessed. My own turmoil and past kept me from her and led to her getting hurt.
“I could kill you.” I spit the words into his face, tightening my grip and turning his head to the left against the wall with a thud.
“Magnus—” Angel’s voice cuts through my rage. “Don’t, please, just take me away from here. If you do this, you can’t be here for me.”
No other voice but hers could reason with me right now.
I drop the piece of human filth like a lead weight, not caring if the fall breaks him. He crashes to the floor, knocking over a waste basket and landing forward on his face, blood streaming in a long string from the gash on his lip.
“You don’t deserve to live.” I kick the spilled garbage over him but it’s her I need to care for right now.
My Angel turns her lips upward and then sticks her tongue out at the lump of flesh on the floor.
“You wanna take a shot?” I can’t help it – she looks so fucking cute staring him down with me at her back.
“Naw. I think you covered it.”
A relieved smile breaks out on her lips, like finally she knows she’s going to be safe, and it’s so damn beautiful. She just made me her bitch. My cock is diamond hard, but at least today I wore armor, two layers of Under Armor, and it’s still barely enough to trap my dick so it won’t scare anyone within a hundred yards.
“Come here.” I lean down and I can’t help myself. I have to pick her up. She gives me a quizzical stare for just a moment, but she’s light as a feather, and when she opens her legs and wraps them around my waist, I know what it means to love someone more than yourself.
By most people’s standards I barely know her, but I know what’s mine and I will protect her and love her until the last breath I take.
I start to lead us toward the back door as she brings her hands to the back of my neck.
“Wait.” Her eyes go wide and my heart sinks. “My purse. It’s in the office. On the floor.” The sparkle in her eyes turns dark, her fear returning for a moment. She doesn’t yet realize that I am her shield against anything and anyone that could harm her from here on out.