Page 26 of Knight’s Absolution

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 her cheek. Her skin was silky smooth and cool. It warmed when she drank from him, but cooled again quickly. Probably because her heart wasn’t beating.

She flinched, and he quickly pulled his hand back.

“Do I really frighten you?” he couldn’t stop himself asking.

“I…don't think so.” She licked her upper lip again and frowned. “Only Sir was allowed to touch me, still some of the other demons, not just Greg, liked to hurt me when they knew they’d get away with it. I guess I’m just not used to being touched in a way that doesn’t cause pain.”

A sledgehammer came down on the calm he’d been working so hard for, shattering it with one mighty blow. He refused to let Luna see it this time, though, and the effort was so Herculean, he trembled. “I’m sorry, love. Next time, I’ll ask before I touch you.”