Precious Angel (Alpha Province #4)(16)

"Baby, look at me," he demanded hoarsely.

She shook her head and sucked in a tremulous breath. He cursed when he  saw a tear seep from the corner of her eye causing his heart to clench  with pain. Jordan shoved Jay aside, scooped Kenzie up into his arms and  held her in his lap. "You have no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed,  mate. I knew you were special the second I saw you and you've just  confirmed how special you are."

"You don't think I'm strange?" she asked hesitantly, softly.

"You aren't strange, Kenzie," Jay said. "You're a fucking angel."

"Our angel," Jenson said.

"I'm not a-"

Jordan placed a finger over her lips. "You are to us, baby. We never  expected to find a mate, that one special woman made just for us, but  here you are. And you've never been touched by another man. I wish I  could say I've, we've, never been with another woman but we can't.  However, no woman could ever compare to you."

"Jordan's right, sweetie," Jenson said as he frowned at Jordan. "Not  that we'd ever compare you to any other woman, but you're special.  Amazing. You're our own sweet little angel."

"We were just going through the motions of living, honey," Jayson said.  "There was no happiness, no joy or light in our lives. There was just  mundane, dark numbness. You've given us back our hope, emotions we'd  locked away after fighting wars and getting blown up. We never expected  to find our mate. Why would we when no other woman would look at us for  more than a few seconds, would turn away because they were repulsed by  our injuries, our scars?"

Jordan captured Kenzie's tear on the tip of his finger and brought it to  his mouth. He wanted to take any part of her he could into his body,  his heart and soul. He and his brothers needed her way more than she  needed them. She was everything that was innocent, good and kind. They'd  been so filled with emptiness he wasn't sure how he kept rising each  morning to face another day. Kenzie had given them everything to live  for and if she agreed to be their mate, he would do everything he could  to make her happy and feel loved. There was no way he was ever going to  take his woman for granted.

She raised her gaze to his and cupped his face. "They don't know what  they've lost. You are all wonderful, caring men." She met each of their  gazes before she continued. "They were shallow bitches not worthy to  breathe the same air as you, let alone look upon your handsome faces."

"I'm not handsome," Jayson said as he covered the patch over his eye with his hand.

Kenzie caressed Jordan's face before she eased from his lap and held her  hand out toward Jay. "Help me over," she ordered. Jay lifted her into  his arms and held her against his chest. She palmed his cheek and  slipped a finger under the elastic strap of his eye patch. "You are one  of the most handsome men I've ever seen." Kenzie slowly inched the  elastic up giving Jay time to stop her if he wanted.

Jordan stared with intent wonder as Jay remained still and let Kenzie do  whatever she wanted. If she'd been a man he would have laid her out  flat with one punch. If she'd been another woman, not their mate, he  would have clasped her wrist and turned his back on her.

Jay closed his eyes when Kenzie tugged the patch off and flung it aside.  She shifted on his lap until she was straddling him, her hands grasping  his shoulders, and rose higher on her knees. She held Jayson's face  between her small, delicate hands, leaned forward, and kissed the  intricate web of scars over and around his right eye. "You are handsome,  Jay. You are more worthy and deserving of happiness than any person  I've met before coming to Ambrose. I would be proud to be your mate."

When Jay opened his eyes, and stared deeply into Kenzie's, Jordan had to  blink back tears and swallow around the constriction in his throat. No  one had ever, ever made him, Jayson, or Jenson feel valuable. Kenzie was  the perfect woman for them in every way. Not just because she was  beautiful and had a sexy body, but because she had such a big, loving  heart.                       
       
           



       

She made them feel self-respect, treasured, and loved, and they weren't even mated yet.

The fates had sent them a precious angel with a heart of gold.

"You don't need to wear the patch, Jay. I understand if you feel more  comfortable with it on when you're out and about, but there is nothing  hideous about you and you have nothing to hide. You're so handsome you  take my breath away."

Jay went to wrap his arms around her waist but must have remembered her  cracked ribs when he hesitated. Instead, he gently held her bruised,  swollen face between his hands and kissed her softly, reverently on the  lips before drawing back. "You're my world, honey. Please, stay here  with us?"

Kenzie nodded and after kissing him on the cheek she turned toward  Jenson, slowly crawling toward him. "Take off your shirt, Jenson."





Jenson swallowed audibly and after the briefest of hesitations, grabbed  the back of his shirt and tugged it off with one move. Kenzie knelt when  their knees were touching, gazed over the burned puckered skin on his  forearms and followed the marks up to his shoulders.

He had no idea how he and his brothers had survived when other humans on  their team had been blown to pieces, but right now he was glad they  had. He kept his breathing deep and even as he watched their mate caress  over the burns on his skin. He kept his gaze from hers, feeling  vulnerable and self-conscious about all the marks. Did she find him ugly  because he was damaged? How could she bear to touch his flesh when  other women couldn't even stand to look at it? The strong instinct in  his gut was telling him to jerk away from her, but she was his mate and  he loved having her hands on him. His heart, mind, and body were in a  tumultuous tug of war and he had no idea which part of him was going to  win.

"Your skin is so much hotter than mine. I love the different textures of  your flesh under my fingers and hands." Kenzie caressed her way up his  arms, over his shoulders, toward his neck. He held his breath when she  palmed his face between her small, smooth, perfect hands and met her  gaze. "Thank you for fighting for our country to keep it safe. Thank you  for taking me into your home to protect me, but most of all, thank you  for caring about me. No one has cared for my wellbeing, physical or  mental, since I was thirteen years old.

"You are so big, muscular and handsome, whenever I look at you I find it  hard to breathe. You deserve to have love and happiness, Jenson. You're  warranted in wanting to have a woman in your life, and I would be  honored if that woman was me. You have my respect and appreciation.  You've already managed to touch my heart. I don't know if what I feel  for you is love yet, but I don't think it would take much to send me  tumbling head over heels. I would be honored to be your mate."

Jenson struggled with the tears stinging his eyes and didn't know how he  won the battle, but was glad he did. He didn't want to look weak in  front of his mate, although he didn't think she would see his emotion  that way. However, he hadn't cried since he was a kid and wasn't about  to start now. Nonetheless, he needed to show how much her words meant to  him. Their mate was like a breath of fresh air. He felt as if her pure,  light, loving spirit had just blown through his body washing all the  darkness inside of him away. He'd been ecstatic and saddened when he'd  first seen her. Ecstatic with hope and sadness for what had been done to  her, the pain she was in, but what he hadn't realized was that a small  cynical part of him had been expecting to be rejected, again. There was  no rejection or revulsion in his mate's eyes. There was acceptance and  love, even if she wasn't ready to admit it. His heart surged with joy  and elation.

Jenson clasped her wrists in his big hands, leaned down and kissed her.  It wasn't a passionate kiss, although the desire was still simmering  deep in his gut. The kiss they shared was tender, compassionate, and  romantic. She turned her head to gulp air into her lungs, caressed his  cheek and then turned toward Jordan.





Kenzie's heart was so full of emotion, admiration, and reverence for  these three men, she was barely containing the tears that kept  threatening to get free. Her ribs were hurting as was her bruised face,  bruised body, and while she was glad she could see out of both eyes,  there was no way she was going to voice how much she was aching. What  she was dealing and had dealt with was nothing compared to what they'd  been through.

Her men had been hurt so badly they had permanent scars, and from what  she'd been told, shifters healed quickly. Their wounds had to have been  life-threatening and if they'd been human, she had no doubt they'd be  dead. She was glad they had panthers inside of them who'd helped them to  heal, to keep them breathing. If they hadn't had their inner beasts,  she would never have met such special men.