Page 4 of Taken By My Guardian's Fangs

"You're safe now."

Sobs rocked my body as I finally found the courage to open my eyes, and oh God, oh God, oh God—-I couldn't even count the number of dead bodies scattered all over the floor, with its once-beige tiles turned hideously dark by blood.

I started to sway as a spell of dizziness turned my vision blurry. Why, oh God? Why was I still alive when so many of them were dead? I should've been—-I should've been, oh God, I should've died instead of that poor, old woman—-

I'm so sorry, I'm so, so, sorry!

My knees gave out without warning, but a pair of strong arms caught me before I could fall, and I finally remembered to lift my gaze.

"It's alright..."

I stared up at him like an idiot and dazedly wondered if I had indeed died. How else could I explain being in the arms of a man so beautiful he appeared almost otherworldly?

His silvery blond hair was longish on the top, but cut mercilessly short on the sides. It made him seem dangerous and enticing, and the cold shade of his blue eyes only added to his lethal appeal.

A part of me wondered where all of these flowery descriptions were coming from, and if perhaps this was my brain's way of coping with what was happening. It was far, far easier to describe how the sheer gorgeousness of him made my heart ache...rather than come up with words to illustrate how heinously gory my world had become.

"You have nothing to fear. It's over."

I wanted to believe him, but with everything that happened still tortuously embedded in my mind, I was just so desperately afraid to let myself hope and believe that his words were true.

"You're safe now," the man said again, and though I did hear the words, it was just so, so hard to trust him.

I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry.

I had a sudden urge to tell him the truth, and my lips slowly parted. I needed to confess and owe up to my sins. I needed to tell him, someone (anyone!) that I wasn't supposed to be alive, and that it should've been someone else who was safe, but when no words would come out, it was then I realized...I still wasn't completely alright.

"You're in shock."

His voice didn't sound gentle, but somehow, it felt that way to me.

"Try taking deep breaths."

Every word was uttered curtly. And yet it still sounded so warm to my ears.

"Don't think about anything else. Just concentrate on breathing. You're alive. That's all that matters."

My eyes started welling up again.

I was alive, yes, and that was the problem. I should've been dead, and it was the old lady who—-

"It's alright."

He wiped my tears away with his thumb. It was my first time to feel a man's touch on my skin, and the sensation was so startlingly hot, it effectively burned through my shock.

I was still terrified.

Still confused.

But I was also suddenly, inexplicably, and dizzily aware of the sinfulness of his allure.

"You can trust me. I won't let anyone hurt you."

If someone else had said those words, then those words could have just been that. Words that were only meant to reassure, but never to be taken for a vow.

But because it was this man who said them—-

This man who made my heart skip a beat even when my knees were still weak and shaking in the aftermath of the nightmare I had somehow survived—-

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