Her lashes lifted just enough to peek at me. Fingers trembling, she combed them through my beard, and the action seemed to calm her a little. “It’s not fun to remember,” she finally said after a few minutes had passed. “I was a little girl, and my head sometimes blows up what happened. Distorts it and makes it scarier.”
“No matter how big the monsters are, I will always slay them for you, firecracker,” I vowed.
That earned me a tiny smile. “I believe you could take them all on.” She traced her index finger over my dimple, and I turned my head so I could kiss her hand. “I was taken from my parents. Not once, but twice. By the same person.” She shivered again, and I pulled her back down beside me, using my body heat to warm her. “The first time, it was my own fault. I didn’t know about the person tearing up my uncle Shane’s bus. I was too young, and I probably wouldn’t have understood even if someone had told me anyway. That night, I was being a brat because I wanted to see the end of the concert. My dad’s band was closing the show, and I just wanted to watch him sing for me.”
I tucked her head into my shoulder, kissing the top of her head.
“They told me I couldn’t go. It was late, and I was already grouchy. They left me on the bus with my baby brother and the nanny. But once everyone was sleeping, I snuck off.” Her breathing came faster, and she wrapped her arms around my middle, clinging to me. “I…I didn’t get far before Helena found me. The whole time she was running with me, all I could think was how mad Momma was going to be. How sad she would be if she never saw me again, and I struggled to get back.”
“How did you get away?” I asked, my voice more choked than I realized.
“My aunt Gabs. She’s not actually my aunt, but my friend Jordan’s. But she will always be one of the family after what she did for me.” Her voice steadied for a moment as she remembered the woman. “She saw Helena take me and followed us. I really don’t remember a lot of what followed, but Aunt Gabs grabbed me and ended up getting shot for helping. She…” She gulped. “She nearly died.”
“But she’s okay now, right?” I tried to remind her.
“Yes,” she agreed. “She’s fine now. But Helena got away that night, and she took us both months later. Us and my uncle Shane’s wife. With the help of Helena’s cousin, they locked us in a barn and set it on fire.”
“This Helena bitch sounds psychotic,” I growled.
“She was. All because she thought my uncle was in love with her.”
“But why would she take you if she was after your uncle?” I asked, confused about the woman’s reasons.
“She hated my mom. To repay some sort of debt she thought my mom owed her for keeping Uncle Shane from her, Helena decided taking me away from Momma was the best revenge. That’s what I was told, anyway.” Sighing heavily, she pushed her nose into my neck, inhaling slowly. “I don’t remember a lot of the second kidnapping. I was drugged, nearly overdosed from it, they gave me so much.”
I clenched my eyes closed, realizing she could have been taken from this world long before I ever got the chance to even meet her, let alone hold her like I was right now.
“My nightmares get out of hand sometimes. Like Helena turning into a dragon, trying to set the world on fire. The smell of smoke is an actual memory, so it only makes it more real.” Her fingers traced random patterns on my bare chest, soothing herself—and me in the process. Her touch calmed something inside me that hadn’t needed calming until she brushed her fingers over me.
I kissed the top of her head. “I’ll slay any dragon you need me to, baby.”
I felt her smile against me. “I can just see my Beast taking on the nightmare dragons that chase me.”
“Your Beast?” I repeated, liking the sound of it a hell of a lot.
“I mean…” She groaned. “Hell. That’s exactly what I meant.”
“I hope so.” Kissing her forehead, I sat up on my elbow so I could look down at her. “I am your Beast. Don’t forget it.”
Mia looked up at me through her lashes. “Are you sure about that? There’s not some Beast groupie coalition that will be after my head if I get to claim you?”
“No, there probably is somewhere,” I half joked, because there were plenty of groupies who would be pissed as hell to find out I was taken. “But I think you could take them.”
Laughing, she shoved at my chest. “Not funny. I’m serious, Barrick.”
My grin disappeared, and I cupped her beautiful face. “I’ve never been more serious in my life. I want to be yours. But more than anything, I want you to be mine.”
Those big green eyes I always felt like I could happily drown in darkened. “I think I already am,” she whispered.
Skimming my nose over hers, I felt her inhale deeply. “I want you to know, not just think, firecracker.” Touching my lips to the corner of her mouth, I forced myself to keep the contact short so I didn’t scare her off. “Because I already know I’m yours.”
“Barrick—”
But the sound of my phone had her mouth snapping shut, and we both frowned at where it lay on the nightstand beside my bed. This early, it could only be one person, and I clenched my jaw to keep from cursing my stepfather’s name.
Sitting up, I snatched it, and sure enough, it was him. “Why don’t you go get some coffee while I take this, baby? Braxton is already up by now and probably has breakfast started.”
Hurt flashed in her green eyes before she could mask it, and she quickly got to her feet. Pulling on a thin robe over her pajamas, she didn’t even give me another glance as she slammed the door behind her.