Page 104 of Protect Me
“Really?”
I sniffled. “He was still coming at me, so I nailed him in balls while he was down. After that, I ran.”
He regarded me, then let out a relieved laugh. He pulled me back into his hold and pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
“Sweet baby pineapple, as you would say,” he muttered, “you’re one hell of a woman, Kate.”
“Thank you.”
His fingers combed the hair out of my face. “Always, Kate. Always. I will always come for you, always protect you. Sounds like you don’t need me, though. You protected yourself just fine.”
Yes, I did.
“No,” I murmured, tucking myself back into his arms. “I will always let you protect me.”
The chatter of a radio broke behind us. Arms still around me, Vik canted to the side, calling over his shoulder.
“Hernandez, over here.”
Hernandez stepped into view, brow drawn low in professional concern. He strode over, boots a dull thud on the trail.
“Where is he?”
“Down the trail,” I whispered. “On the left, he has a camp on the edge of the lake. He’s . . . laying in the grass.”
“What?”
“She sprayed him, kicked him in the throat, and then the balls.”
Hernandez chuckled. “Niiiice,” he drawled. “Girl gets her justice. No worries, you two. I got this. Meet me back in the parking lot so I can hear your side of things, all right?”
He swept past, speaking into his radio.
Vik tightened his hold on me. He pressed a kiss to my temple. “C’mon. Today, you are the Kingslayer. Let’s head back to the car. Hernandez said he’d call for backup on his way here. We can get this all over with for you, then go home. With me,” he added. “Where you will always belong.”
ChapterTwenty-Six
VIKRAM
Twirling lights, an ambulance, several police cars, and a gaggle of people later, I led Kate to the passenger door of the Jeep.
She leaned into me as she walked, a bit dazed. Sometime in the interim, Hernandez had returned with her backpack, which I carried on my shoulder. In the past hour-and-a-half, I hadn’t let go of her. She pasted herself to my side, close as breath.
Somewhere back in the tangle of police cars and EMT’s, Hernandez dismissed the ambulance with a slap on the side. They pulled away from the gravel turn-off without sirens, whisking the bastard away. Timothy lay on a gurney with a bruised trachea, chemical burns on his face from the pepper spray, and an ice pack on his crotch.
A lifetime of regret awaited him.
As deputies dispersed, and Kate’s questioning finalized, the adrenaline had subsided. Her knees didn’t knock together anymore, nor did her voice rattle. The shock bleached into disbelief, then a deep-seated relief.
Closure.
Power.
Kate could live free again. She’d been given the rare opportunity to stand against her assaulter and come out king.
The Eternal Second advanced to Kingslayer.
She always had it in her.
