Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Carver

I stompthrough the forest with even less grace than usual, sending small animals scurrying in every direction. There’s an awful pinch in my side that I haven’t inspected yet, but I can only think of finding my Lainey. Holding her. She’s not supposed to return to me until Saturday night, but waiting isn’t an option. I need her so badly, my head is turning inside out. Every second pushes me closer to insanity. Last time I saw her, she was standing in that tempting red bikini, her beautiful face in distress, and I only want to cure her ofit.

A twig snaps to my left and I hear a sob. It’s a familiar one, too. I remember it from last night when Lainey was in pain after falling and hitting her head. It occurs to me in a sickening flash that the men who attacked me tonight could have also tried to harm Lainey—and the possibility has me battering a tree with my fist, its roots ripping out the ground at myfeet.

“Lainey!”

“Carver?”

My heart hammers back to life in my chest as she comes stumbling through the trees, her arms wrapped around herself to stave off the cold. Without waiting, I scoop her up into my arms and begin rubbing warmth back into her limbs. “Princess, you should not be out here on such a cold night.” I search her for injuries—didn’t I hear her sob before? “Are you safe? Did they come after you? I should not have sparedthem—”

“I’m okay.” She clasps my face between her hands and I notice the tears in her eyes for the first time. “I was worried about you. I left as soon as the girls were asleep to warn you they were coming, b-but they’d already left. Oh God, I’ve been so scared something happened toyou.”

“You are crying forme?”

My question seems to make everything worse. “Of course I am.” She wiggles until I set her down. “What happened? Did they—” Her breath leaves her in a rush as she prods my side. “You’re hurt. Oh God, you’re bleeding.”

“I feel no pain,” I say honestly. How can I feel anything but pleasure when this girl cries for me? “They brought only five men. It wasn’t much of a challenge forme.”

Her laughter is watery. “This is all your fault, you know. You just had to abduct me in front of everyone. Couldn’t you have waited until nighttime, at least?” She peels up my shirt, wincing at my injury. “No one would have known and you wouldn’t be bleeding rightnow.”

“I apologize, princess.” I brush hair away from her tear-stained face. “It was my first kidnapping.”

She peers up at me through her eyelashes. “If they took the time to know you, they wouldn’t think you’re a-a—”

“A monster?” I tilt her chin up. “I only care what you think ofme.”

“I think you’re beautiful.” I’m still reeling when she says, “I want to know how you got your scars. Will you tellme?”

A sound leaves my throat, images of glinting silver assaulting me. “It’s not a pretty story. It doesn’t belong in your beautifulhead.”

“My story isn’t that pretty, either. I can take it.” She takes me by the hand and I let her lead me away. “But first I’m going to bandage youup.”

I don’t know where Lainey is taking me, and I don’t care. I’ll follow her to the ends of the earth, so I’m content to watch her cute backside swish back and forth in the moonlight and marvel over the fact that she’s mine. The solitude I’ve known for so long in the woods has come to an end as of tonight, but that’s a problem I will solve tomorrow. I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep Lainey, though. That is a fact set in stone.

After about ten minutes of walking around the camp perimeter, we reach a small cabin, with a sign on the door that reads INFIRMARY. Lainey pulls a key ring out of her pocket, unlocks the door and goes inside, turning on a dim lamp that fills the room with a glow. I duck through the tiny doorframe behind her, taking in the room full of beds, the shelves full of medicine and supplies. Without sitting on one of the beds, I know they will not hold my weight easily, so I pull my shirt off and lean back against the counter. Lainey has been collecting antiseptic and bandages from the shelf, but when she turns and sees me naked from the waist up, she gasps and freezes.

“I’ve never seen you in the light before.” She rolls her lips together. “You have so muchhair.”

“There’s a lot of me to cover.”

Her laughter is halting. “You don’t say.” When she comes closer, I see that her nipples are in tight peaks, causing my cock to lengthen, preparing to fuck my mate. “Oh, wow. Okay,” she says, watching the front of my pants tent. “I guess your injury isn’t thatbad?”

“I could hack off a limb and still get hard for you while I’m bleedingout.”

Her mouth forms an O. “How…romantic.”

I grunt, trying to decide if she’s being serious. Her nipples are still hard and her thighs won’t stay still in those tight, black shorts, so I don’t think she minded what I said. Still, the reminder about being romantic reminds me of something. “I brought you agift.”

She sets down what she’s holding on the counter. “Youdid?”

Nodding, I pull the present out of my pocket, holding it up. “Foryou.”

“Is that hair?” Her nose wrinkles, but it’s not long before understanding dawns on her face. “Is that…Manny’s ponytail?”

“Yes.” Just thinking of the way he looked at her this afternoon tightens bolts in my temples until red bleeds into my vision. It took all my willpower not to crush his skull on the banks of the lake, but I knew murdering him in front of the campers would displease Lainey. “He will not bother you again.”

Finally, she accepts the ponytail, laying it down on the counter. “Is he…didyou…?”

“He is alive, but in considerable pain.” After not touching Lainey for so long, I’m starting to grow restless, so I snag a finger in her tiny shorts and pull her close, sighing when she lays a cheek on my belly. “He lusted for what is mine. His consequences were well deserved.”

I’m alarmed when her body begins to shake, until I realize she’s laughing. “Some guys show up with roses. You bring mehair.”

“Roses are more traditional, are they?” My mouth feels unfamiliar. I’m…smiling. “These are things I will learn.”

“Don’t. Don’t learn anything. Don’t…change.” Ducking her head, she pulls away and prepares a bandage before coming back and pressing it to my wound. I can’t take my attention off her, she’s so beautiful in her concentration, a little line running down the middle of her eyebrows. My dick is still firm and pulsing with blood, but now I’m torn between wanting to fuck her and rock her like a baby. “Will you tell me about the scarsnow?”

Pressure eases down on my chest, my throat closing. “I was always bigger than everyone. Much bigger. It was…hard. Whenever someone new moved to my neighborhood in Detroit and wanted to prove themselves, they picked a fight with me. I never lost and people started to hate me. Fear me.” I swallow and focus on the sensation of her fingers on my side. “I thought things would be different when I joined the Marines. Thought they might have some value for my size. And they did.” I pause, recalling the title I haven’t used in a decade. “Lance Corporal Carver Shade at your service.”

“The name suits you,” she breathes.

My nod is jerky. “They sent me overseas. For the first time in my life, I was part of something. I had…friends.”

Lainey wraps her arms around my waist, careful to avoid my injury. “Oh God. I’m afraid of what’s coming.”

“Do you want me tostop?”

“No.”

I hold Lainey close, dropping my nose to her hair and inhaling her aloe vera and pineapple scent. “We were ambushed one night on patrol. My friends were going to be taken, probably killed. I couldn’t let it happen after what they’d done for me.” Lainey begins planting kisses on my belly, and I shudder, pleasure piercing through the pain of my memories. “I didn’t realize there were so many of the enemy. Not like tonight. They had forty, maybe fifty men…and even I couldn’t win that fight. My friends escaped to the truck, though. At the time, that’s what mattered.”

“They captured you.” She traces a scar in my back. “And this is what they did toyou?”

“Yes. Before I got free.” I clear my throat, but the discomfort remains. “When I returned to camp, slashed and bleeding…the looks on their faces. If my friends could look at me like that, I couldn’t imagine how a stranger would see me. So I found this place. I found a way to stay away from everyone.”

“Carver.” Lainey looks up at me, her eyes shining. “They were forced to leave you behind. They were probably looking at you with guilt. Not fear or disgust.”

Could she be right? I was half delirious in the time leading up to being shipped home, bandages wrapped around my face and body, I only remember flashes of my men’s expressions, their clipped words. “I don’tknow.”

“I do. And if they looked at you any other way, they didn’t deserve the sacrifice you made. You shouldn’t be ashamed of those scars. You should be proud of them.” She shakes her head. “And you definitely shouldn’t be hiding yourself away in the woods.”

The crowded feeling in my chest moves higher, into my throat. “I can’t imagine walking down the street likethis.”

“I would hold your hand, my king,” she whispers, unzipping my pants slowly and tugging them down over my hips. “I’m not going to push you before you’re ready. I’ll be here when that day comes.” She guides me over to one of the beds, and I sit, wincing when it creaks long and hard under my weight. But when her knees land on the floor between my splayed legs, I think of nothing but her mouth. Watching it, my cock surges, moisture bubbling from the slit and dripping onto my stomach. This can’t be happening in real life. “In the meantime, you’re going to get the hero treatment you deserve.”