Page 12 of Blade’s Protection

She'd convinced me to stay last night—"just to sleep"—and now her warmth pressed against my side, one hand curled on my chest, her curves soft against my body. Every inhale brought her closer. Every exhale tested my control.

The kiss at the clinic yesterday had been a mistake. Letting her convince me to share the bed—bigger mistake. But the way she'd looked at me, asked me to stop fighting this...

My phone vibrated on the nightstand. I grabbed it before it could wake her, careful not to disturb the arm she'd thrown across my chest sometime around midnight.

Phoenix: Someone got past us. Found an envelope shoved under the building's main door. You need to see this. I'm outside.

I slipped out of bed, immediately missing her warmth. She murmured something, burrowing deeper into my pillow, and my chest did that thing where it felt too tight and too full simultaneously.

Phoenix stood in my doorway, face grim, manila envelope already torn open in his hands. "I'm sorry, brother. Whoever delivered this came and went before my patrol came around. Found it ten minutes ago."

Three AM, and I lay next to Tiffany in my own bed, counting her breaths and calling myself fifty kinds of fool.

She'd convinced me to stay last night—"just to sleep"—and now her warmth pressed against my side, one hand curled on my chest, her curves soft against my body. Every inhale brought her closer. Every exhale tested my control.

The kiss at the clinic yesterday had been a mistake. Letting her convince me to share the bed—bigger mistake. But the way she'd looked at me, asked me to stop fighting this...

My phone vibrated on the nightstand. I grabbed it before it could wake her, careful not to disturb the arm she'd thrown across my chest sometime around midnight.

Phoenix: Someone got past us. Found an envelope shoved under the building's main door. You need to see this. I'm outside.

I slipped out of bed, immediately missing her warmth. She murmured something, burrowing deeper into my pillow, and my chest did that thing where it felt too tight and too full simultaneously.

Phoenix stood in my doorway, face grim, manila envelope already torn open in his hands. "I'm sorry, brother. Whoever delivered this came and went before my patrol came around. Found it ten minutes ago."

"How bad?"

He handed me the contents. Photos. Dozens of them.

Tiffany at the grocery store. Walking to her car. Through the clinic windows. At her old apartment before I'd moved her. The last one made my blood freeze—taken through my bedroom window last night, showing her changing into my t-shirt.

A note in block letters: 24 hours expired. Start delivering or we start taking. The nurse is just the beginning.

Rage flooded my system, hot and familiar. But underneath lurked something worse—fear. Not for me, but for her. These fuckers were escalating, getting bolder. And I'd been too distracted by my dick to notice someone photographing her through my window.

"Blade?"

Tiffany stood in the bedroom doorway, my t-shirt hanging off one shoulder, hair messy from sleep. The morning light from the kitchen made the thin fabric nearly transparent, outlining every curve. My body responded immediately, want mixing with the need to protect, to claim, to keep her safe from everything including myself.

"What's wrong?" She moved closer, then saw the photos spread on my kitchen counter. The color drained from her face. "Oh God. They were watching me change?"

"Pack your things." My voice came out harder than intended. "I'm moving you to the clubhouse. Multiple eyes on you at all times."

"But—"

"This is escalating beyond what I can handle alone." I started texting my brothers, setting up a protection rotation. "You need more than just me."

She crossed to where I stood, her hand covering mine on the phone. "I don't want more than just you."

The words landed perfectly, too perfectly, burrowing under my defenses. Too much for three in the morning when she stood there barely dressed and I could still feel her warmth from our shared bed.

"You don't know what you're saying."

"Stop telling me what I know." She took the phone, set it aside, then pressed against me. All those soft curves against my bare chest, just the t-shirt between us. "I know these threats are getting worse. I know you're trying to protect me. And I know that last night, sleeping in your arms, was the first time I've felt safe since this started."

"Tiffany—"

"I also know you're going to try to push me away. For my own good, right? Because you think you're too damaged or too old for me or too…something." Her hands slid up my chest, and I had to lock every muscle to keep from grabbing her. "But I'm not going anywhere."