Kissed by a Dark Prince(54)

She swallowed and lowered her head again, as if she couldn’t bring herself to look at him or the scars. Loren’s heart went out to her when tears raced down her cheeks and he realised he was wrong. She was trying to hide her tears from him. She didn’t want him to see her crying.

Loren moved next to her and gathered her into his arms, holding her with her cheek against his chest but giving her space so she didn’t feel stifled. She leaned into him, one hot palm pressing against his left pectoral. He focused and sent his armour away from his chest, partly because he wanted her to be comfortable and resting against cold metal scales was not going to achieve that, and partly because he wanted to feel her against him, skin-to-skin.

He stroked her hair, keeping his caress light and slow, not wanting to startle her.

“I thought he was going to kill me. He almost did.” Her voice was hoarse, quiet, and he could feel her struggling with her emotions, battling to gain control of them and stop the tears from coming.

“What happened?” He leaned down, closed his eyes, and pressed his lips to her hair. Her soft fragrance filled his lungs, warming his heart. His female. He would make her feel better if she would only let him. He would give up everything to have her.

“Archangel.” She rubbed her eyes, her voice gaining strength now. “They burst into the flat and pulled me away from him. They thought I was a victim.”

“You were.”

“No,” she snapped and he expected her to shove away from him, but she remained in his arms, leaning against his chest. “I was his sister. I tried to stop them but I couldn’t... I told them he was just sick and he wasn’t a threat. I thought they were police or some government drug squad. They refused to listen to me and dragged me from the room, and then they—”

“Shh,” Loren whispered and stroked her hair, keeping his breathing and emotions level, giving her an anchor of calm to hold on to if she needed it. She curled against him, burying her face against his bare chest, her tears hot against his skin. She didn’t need to tell him what had happened. He could fill in the blanks.

Archangel had killed her brother.

Olivia was silent for long minutes, her uneven breathing loud in the quiet room. Loren held her, keeping up the motion of his fingers against her hair, giving her time to collect herself and refusing to rush her to satisfy his curiosity.

He focused on the motion of his hand and the feel of her in his arms. He had never comforted someone before, had never even considered doing it or what it would feel like, or even how one went about it. It seemed to come naturally to him where Olivia was concerned. He knew to hold her like this, to keep her close but give her space, room to breathe. He knew not to rush her, and to let her set her own pace. If she needed it, he would sit like this with her all night, never moving and never speaking, just giving her comfort and expecting nothing in return.

It fascinated him.

Olivia sighed and shifted, resting her cheek against his chest again. “Archangel questioned me about Daniel. I didn’t understand any of what had happened until they explained what he had become, and even then it had been difficult for me to believe.”

Understandable. She was a scientist. A doctor. She had sought a medical explanation for her brother’s behaviour and Archangel had given her one that must have sounded crazy to her.

“What made you believe?” He looked down at her and she frowned and brushed her fingers over the scars on her wrist.

“They had a vampire in captivity. They showed her to me and I saw her fangs and her red eyes with their strange elliptical pupils, and... she looked like Daniel had.” She paused and closed her eyes. “After that, Archangel told me that there were other creatures out there, and that they needed more staff to research them. They told me I could help.”

She drew out of his arms and looked up into his eyes, her dark ones lined with tears.

“I signed up because I wanted to promote a better relationship between the fae and demons and mankind.” She wiped the last of her tears away.

“You are very noble, Olivia.” He brushed his knuckles across her flushed cheek, staring deep into her eyes. “There are few humans in this world who could live through what you have and still seek to help the demon and fae species. I admire your compassion.”

She had been through a lot though, not just what had happened with her brother but what had happened to cause the other scar on her arm and the deeper one on her heart. An event that had made her heart fragile and made her fiercely protect it. He could see now that she would never give it to him, even when he had begun to desire it.

“Loren?” Her eyes flickered with nerves that he could feel in her, but there was determination and other emotions flowing through the connection between them too. What was it she desired to ask, but feared he wouldn’t answer?