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she’d seen the night before. But, damn it, he wasn’t just some run-of-the-mill man. He had years of training in this kind of stuff, co-owned a personal security company with his brother. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to keep a person safe.
    Safe from the bad guys, not from him, because she was about to learn how much the wolf and the man in him wanted her, no matter what had happened in the past.
    “Nikki, they aired a segment on the news last night and this morning. He knows you’re out here, honey. Fuck, barring that he’s a complete idiot, which is highly unlikely, he knows you’re at this fucking hospital.” A subject which his brother, Caelan, was broaching right now with the local police out in the hall. The bastards couldn’t have put out a bigger ad as to where their witness was.
    “Then I’ll go with my parents.” Her voice was muffled against her pillow, aggravating the shit out of him. She almost seemed shy.
    Fine, if she wouldn’t come to him, he’d go to her.
    “I know about what happened, Nikki-Raine.” He slid his hand along the crook of her arm and tore the blanket from her tight little fist, covering it with his own, feeling her out-of-control pulse along her wrist as he did so.
    Just as he thought. She was scared to death. Not only of the killer, but him. His throat burned when she tried to curl into a tighter ball under him. The way he had her pinned beneath his armpit only curved her more fully into his chest and arm so that he was essentially holding her, cradling her body with his own.
    “Like you said, it was just on the news.” She sniffed again and with his thumb, he flicked a tear off the only side of her nose he could see, not letting go of the hand he held.
    He pushed at the stray wisps of her beautiful, usually glossy, black hair and tucked them behind her ear. Leaning closer to her ear, careful not to touch her shoulder, he whispered to her, “I know about everything, sweetheart.”
    Her body went rigid, her breathing stopped. And then she cried, hiding her face even more, while he continued stroking her hair back from her sweaty face and caressing her fist with his thumb.
    He would not give her a chance to back away from him, not even as her soulful sobs tried to squeeze the life from him.
    “I know, and I don’t care.” It wouldn’t bother him if her arms and legs were rearranged. He certainly wasn’t going to be concerned about a scar on her cheek. Hell, he had his own share of scars.
    Eli kissed her ear, smiling as he licked the lobe. She shivered and sniffed but at least stopped crying. He moved on to her shoulder, kissing gently along the bandages peeking out from beneath the blue floral print hospital gown. Then he levered himself up on the bed with one knee so he could lean more fully over her without hurting her.
    His lips traveled up her shoulder into the sweet curve of her neck, which she granted him access to, along the curve of her jaw, and up to the corner of her mouth. Eli teased her lips with his tongue, and then licked along the path a tear had cut across her cheek, before adding a last kiss to her eyelid. She smelled so damn good.
    Beneath his jeans, his cock hardened. If he didn’t get off of her, he would do something stupid like roll her onto her back and flip that flimsy gown over her head so he could touch and sip at her small breasts. It was fucking hell imagining what color her sweet nipples would be, and how much of them he’d be able to get in his mouth.
    They’d taste like ripe berries. He’d drown in them, sucking them strongly along his tongue and biting at them until she arched her back and begged him to touch her some more. And then he’d mark her skin with his teeth, announcing to every pack in the world who she belonged to.
    Fuck. Fuck! He had to stop kissing her. Had to get her the fuck home where she’d be safe and he could ease her into his world. Having Tieran in the house would help, he hoped. His sister-in-law