Page 36 of Knight’s Retribution

Rocco stood there, silent, pain rolling off him. “We move at your pace, baby. You don’t want me to touch you yet, I won’t touch you.”

She nodded, but it wasn’t what she wanted, it was what her body was demanding. He passed her the soap, but she was too weak to even wash herself.

“You want me to get Scarlet? Would that be okay?”

Kyler nodded, and Rocco climbed out of the tub, dried off, and pulled on his jeans. He headed for the door, then stopped. “I failed you, Ky, and I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this. I promise.”

His voice was rusted steel, and it lifted goose bumps all over her. She lifted her eyes to his. “Just be here,” she said.

“Always.” His eyes turned black, and the demon moved under his skin. “No one’s ever taking you from me again.”

Chapter 10

A fire crackled in the fireplace, and Rocco turned his head on the pillow, looking at Kyler through the shadows. Scarlet and T had given them the bedroom and made up a bed for themselves in another room, a kind of office or library space that Lucifer had used for fuck knew what.

His gaze moved over Kyler. Christ, he desperately wanted to reach for her. He wanted her so badly, he was having trouble thinking straight. Just to hold her, to be close to her. To reassure himself that she was truly there with him.

But he’d wait. He’d wait a lifetime if that’s what she needed. What he wanted wasn’t important. Giving her what she needed was all that mattered.

So he kept his arms at his sides and tried to even out his breathing. It wasn’t easy when his blood was rushing through his veins and his heart was smacking against his ribs. He had her back. Right now, she was safe, and he was going to keep her that way no matter what it took.

“Fuck, I missed you, pumpkin,” he said into the darkness.

The sheets rustled, and he could see her glistening eyes in the dark. “I never thought I’d see you again,” she said, her voice so goddamn small.

“From the moment you were taken from me, getting you back has been my whole world. You’re my whole world.” He curled his fingers into a tight fist because that instinct to touch her was so incredibly strong.

There was more rustling. She’d moved closer but still kept a wide space between them. “Taren showed me images of you…you were with a woman. You kissed her and took her to the alley and you…you had sex with her against the wall, and he made me watch, until the end, he…”

Rocco growled and went to grab her and yanked his hand back. “That never happened. I don’t want anyone else. I will never want anyone else, Kyler. Jesus, you have to believe me.”

He felt her fingers brush his side. Then they were gone. “I know it wasn’t you, Roc. As soon as I saw you for real, I knew it wasn’t you. The images he was feeding me, you didn’t look like you do now, you looked like you did before.”

His gut gripped tight. “But you believed it? You thought I’d do that to you?”

She was quiet for several painstaking minutes. “They played with my mind and my emotions so much, I started to doubt everything. So yeah, I guess I did…at least while I was watching it happen.”

He was breathing heavy, every muscle clenched tight, the fury pounding through him making his vision blur and his demon shriek in rage. What she’d been through was something he would never forgive himself for. Not ever.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

And he had to bite back another growl. “Fuck, baby, I’m not angry at you. You did nothing wrong. I’ve just got all this…this rage inside me. I want to tear Diemos to shreds for what he did to you, and I’ve got nowhere to direct it. I can’t win against him, not on my own. Shit, even with all my brothers fighting with me, we still couldn’t beat him. That’s why I’m pissed. Not at you, never at you.”

They both lay there for a while not saying anything, and Roc concentrated on calming the hell down.

“I had an escape from it, Roc,” she said into the silence. “Every single night.”

His throat worked. “Yeah?”

“I dreamed of you,” she whispered. “Of us, together. Every single night without fail. Sometimes I was positive I felt you beside me. Honestly, it saved my sanity.”

Rocco griped the sheet. “Before they brought you here, I could sense you, feel you near, and then I couldn’t anymore…unless I was asleep. I felt you beside me then, too.”

She made a soft sound, then she reached out and took his hand, wrapping her fingers around his. She was just holding his hand, but fuck, it was everything, it was all he needed.

“Is that okay?” he asked.

“Right now it is,” she whispered. “Because I’m the one holding you.”