Page 41 of Saving Nevin
I wanted to argue. I didn’t want him to leave, but I knew he’d be safe at home with Mom. “Okay, Xan,” I agreed. “Drive safe, please.”
“I will, bro. I’ll text you when I get there. Love you.”
My chest ached at the words. After Xan left, I gently lifted Nevin so that he was sitting on the couch. I wrapped him in his blanket and placed a kiss on his lips, gentle and sweet.
“Hey. Will you be okay if I step outside and call Mom real quick? I need to tell her what’s going on, so she can alert the pack.”
Nevin’s smile was wan, but he nodded and grabbed the remote off the coffee table. The TV blared to life, no doubt to keep his mind busy. I stood and walked out onto the front porch, leaning against the sturdy railing as I dialed Mom’s number.
She answered on the second ring. “Hi, honey. What’s up?”
“Hey, Mom. I need to give you a head’s up. Xan and Nevin were attacked at the mall today.”
“What?” Alarm rang out in her voice. “What happened?”
“They’re okay,” I assured her. “Xan’s on his way home right now. He’ll be there soon.” I growled softly, shaking my head, then dropped my voice to a hush. “It was Nevin’s ex. The man who brutalized him and left him for dead. He caught wind that Nevin’s pregnant and now he wants him back. He threatened to take him and Xan both. Thankfully, Xan’s a smart cookie and carries mace. The two of them got away, but we need to be proactive.”
I swallowed hard. “I can’t lose Nevin, Mom. I can’t. It’ll break me.”
“You won’t lose him, honey,” she promised me. “We’ll figure this out. I’ll send out a pack-wide alert, ensure the enforcers scout the territory more often, and tell everyone to keep their eyes and ears open. Don’t worry, Kace. Everything will be okay. Just keep him close.”
“I will,” I promised her.Oh, I will.
28
NEVIN
I wokeup clawing at the sheets, wrestling with the man from my dreams as he dug his fingers around my throat and squeezed. I could feel his claws burying in. I cried out and thrashed, tears wetting my cheeks.
“No! Please!” I shrieked, only stopping when my leg connected with something—no, someone—and I heard a soft, familiar, “Oof.”
“Easy, Nevin. It’s me. You’re safe.” Kace was right there at my side, flipping on the bedside lamp so that the room was bathed in light. There was no monster in this room. It was just the two of us. Me and my loving, worried mate.
I collapsed against the mattress and began to sob. “Please, don’t let Rex take me back there,” I begged. “I don’t wanna go back there! Not when I’m finally happy.”
Kace wrapped me up in his arms and held me tightly to his chest. His lips caressed the back of my neck as he hushed out, “You aren’t going anywhere, honey. You’re home and I’ll do everything within my power to keep you safe. You have my word.” He gently kissed my nape, then breathed in deeply. “Breathe with me, Nev. In and out...”
I couldn’t shut it back off, though. My nerves were strung too tightly, and even as I laid beside Kace in the darkness, even as my mate’s breathing evened out as he fell back into a peaceful slumber, my nightmares lingered. All I could see was Rex’s twisted face in my mind’s eye, leering at me with his cruel golden eyes.
I hated him.
It snowed most of the day. I sat by the window and watched the thick flakes come down, coating the ground in a blanket of white. Depression hollowed me out. I knew Kace was worried about me, but I couldn’t seem to pull myself out of my funk.
“I have an idea,” he announced, a few hours before dinnertime. I glanced up, but tugged the blankets tighter around me with a shiver. Kace didn’t take my silence for me ignoring him, though; he knew me better than that.
Instead, he flashed a smile. “How about we go to the Festival of Lights tonight? On Greymercy Square? They do it every year. It’s wonderful. We could make an evening of it, grab something to eat there.”
I frowned, puffing out my lips. What if it wasn’t safe? What if Rex was lurking right around the corner, ready to snatch me up the minute he saw me? Right now, I didn’t want to go outside again…ever.
Kace sat down beside me and placed a hand on my leg. His smile was gentle. “Nev, baby. You can’t hide in the house forever.” Tears sprang to my eyes and I quickly blinked to try and clear my vision. He squeezed my knee. “There will be a lot of people there, way too much of a crowd for Rex to make a move, and I’ll be right beside you the whole time. I won’t let you out of my sight.”
I still didn’t like the idea, but he looked so damn earnest. I hated letting him down. “You promise?”
“I promise.” He leaned over to kiss the tip of my nose, which made me giggle softly. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Kace. So much.”
So, against my better judgment, we bundled up in coats and hats and scarves and piled into Kace’s truck. He drove us into town, and he was right—the square was packed tight with people. We were lucky to find a parking spot that wasn’t two blocks away. Thank god. My poor pregnant self couldn’t handle that much walking.
