Page 14 of Cherished

“Brent!” I scream into his hand pleadingly. But he can’t hear me. He just smiles and brandishes the knife cruelly.

“This time, Mia, I’m getting what I want. And if you fucking scream, I swear I’ll—”

With a grunt, Brent goes whipping sideways. The knife clatters from his hand across the ground. I gasp as the grizzly bear slams him into the ground and roars.

Hang on, what? I blink and stare, and I realize it’s not bear. It’s a hulking beast of a man in a dark hoodie, looming over Brent. The man roars like an animal, and his fists rain down like thunder on Brent. My would-be attacker is sobbing, and the man in the hoodie lifts him by the throat with one hand and slams him into a wall.

Brent drops to the ground in a heap amongst the piles of garbage bags. The man in the hoodie turns, and my eyes widen as he surges towards me.

“Are you hurt?” Hunter all but yells. I blink in shock. My lips try and form words, but it’s like I’m frozen.

“Are you hurt, beautiful?” he groans. His huge hands scoop me up into his arms, and suddenly, I collapse into him. “I’ve got you, Mia,” he groans deeply. “I’ve got you. You’re safe, you’re mine. You’re mine. You’remine.” He repeats it over and over. And every time he does, my heart swells a little bigger.

“Let’s go,” he whispers hoarsely. We turn, and I see another man standing at the top of the alley. It’s Roger, looking grim and pissed.

“You know what to do,” Hunter snarls.

Roger’s eyes harden. “Punished, or vanished, sir?”

“Hunter…” I whisper softly. I know they’re talking about Brent. And I know he’s a piece of garbage, but the word “vanished” sends chills through me.

Hunter’s eyes find mine, and he nods in understanding. He looks back at Roger. “Punished. Severely.”

“I’ll call my friends in the NYPD,” Roger snarls. “If she’ll give a testimony later, when she feels up to it, they can take it from there.”

Hunter bristles, but I nod. “I can, and I will,” I say softly. I curl into Hunter, and my face presses to his chest. I inhale the scent of him, and something flutters in my core. He smells like home.

Roger grunts into a radio, and suddenly four other guys in dark suits flood into the ally. They march over to Brent and yank him up.

“Sir?” Roger looks around nervously. “We need to get you back, right now.” Hunter nods, looking haggard and hard. Roger quickly ushers him with me in his arms out of the alley and into a waiting van. Inside, Hunter sits on a bench along the wall with me in his arms still. Roger gets into the driver’s seat, and the van pulls out into traffic. I’m a little confused, since his building is barely a block away. But I’m also fine to be in the semi-dark in his arms like this.

Roger drives around the block and then into an underground garage. When he opens the sliding door, he again looks around nervously, which strikes me as odd.

“We’re clear, sir,” he mutters. Hunter again nods curtly and lets Roger usher us quickly to the elevators. Roger punches in a security code, and the doors close. We rise up to the top of the building, waiting inside while Roger glances out first and opens Hunter’s front door. But then we’re across the hall and inside.

Roger leaves with his usual curt nod, and I sink into Hunter’s arms as he strides through the large apartment. We bypass the guest room, and I tremble with a jolt of heat in my core when he takes me right into his bedroom. He carries me to the bed, slides in with me in his arms, and pulls the blankets up around us. I look up into his eyes and see that same haunted and haggard look from back in the alley.

“Hunter?”

“You’re safe,” he says gently but firmly. “You’re safe now, beautiful.”

All I can think of is him uttering “you’re mine” over and over again earlier. I cling to him tighter and drop my face to his chest.

I like being his. I like being his a lot.

8

Hunter

Thank fuckingGod she’s okay. My phone beeped with the front door alarm the second she left. I ended my meeting four seconds later. Part of me thought maybe she’d run—that I’d freaked her out too much and she wanted nothing to do with this anymore. Then I saw her note, and my fears spiked.

For the second time in three years, I left my prison. Again, for her. I ran blindly past strangers on the street, my head reeling at the proximity to so many damn people after being alone for so long.

When I found him with a knife to her throat, I wanted to kill him. I almost did, and I would have. But not in front of her. I couldn’t let her see a horror like that. Roger would have gotten it done for me in the blink of an eye, with zero mess or remorse. But it was her hesitation that stayed my hand.

We’re safe now, and all alone. She’s in my arms, where she belongs. We’re surrounded by my security system, hundreds of feet above any danger whatsoever. But still, the roaring in my head won’t go away.

I could have lost her. And I almost did. The thought sends terror screaming through my very soul, and I hug her as tight as I can.

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