Page 37 of Her UnBearable Protector

His eyes narrowed on her. “Don’t think you know what’s in my head.” He took in a few bellow-like breaths, his chest filling with air. “You don’t know.”

“Okay.” She set her book down in her lap and devoted her attention to him. “You’re right. I’ve always tried to put myself in other people’s shoes, but I shouldn’t have assumed anything.”

His breathing slowed, and maybe it was just some kind of whimsical thought that popped up in her head, but as she gazed into the dark of his eyes, it felt like his bear wasn’t the one glaring at her. That cold consideration was coming from Uberto.

“Maybe,” she nudged her book and it dropped off onto the couch cushion before she stood, “I should just go into my bedroom until Salvatore comes back. I don’t want to upset you any more than I already have.”

Taking the silence as a nod she picked up the blanket from the sofa and dropped it over the back. She gestured to the kitchen. “Please, feel free to have something to eat. Salvatore had a bunch of groceries delivered. I’m sure you’ll find something in there that will be to your liking.”

Squaring her shoulders, Natale walked toward the hallway with as much confidence as she could manage. She’d no sooner set foot on the hardwood floor of the hallway than she heard a deep indrawn breath of air.

“Wait.”

Taking a moment for herself she turned and met his eyes. They were human again, but somehow that didn’t make her feel better. What would people say if they knew she felt it was easier to look into the eyes of a bear than the man standing before her?

“You should know,” he started to speak, taking his time with each word, “that my brothers think I’m making this too hard on everyone.”

Yeah, she wasn’t going to touch that one with a ten-foot pole. She’d already gotten herself on his bad side by opening her mouth.

He took a few steps closer and she tensed. Her body wanted to run. Her head was too damned curious to do more than stand and listen. Uberto seemed to sense her mood, it was likely the bear in him, she doubted that the man who inhabited his body cared much if she was afraid or not.

“We followed Valerio to New York, because he thought that we’d make a home here,” he looked off to the side, his eyes taking in the room as if he hadn’t seen it before, “that we’d find what we hadn’t found before.”

“You mean who you hadn’t found before.”

His eyes met hers a moment later, a deep, searching look narrowing as he stared silently at her. “I said what I meant, Miss Durante.”

“Oh,” she nodded, and tried not to let his words hurt, “I see.”

“Our father was destroyed when our mother died, he didn’t live long after she passed away.”

She saw something in the tight set of his chin, the pinch of tension at his temples. She didn’t say anything, choosing instead to listen.

“She was like you.”

Natale lifted her hand and set it over her heart, sure that she wouldn’t feel anything, sure that her heart had stopped.

His lips pulled back, baring his teeth, showing her more than a hint of fang, more fur than hair on his face. “She was human.” His breath turned into a snarl, his nose and jaw changing by the second. “She killed him!”

She opened her mouth to speak and suddenly he was there. Breathing into her face, his broad nose, a hair from her cheek, his fangs just a short snap from her skin. She had no doubt that if he wanted to – he definitely wanted to – but if he let himself go, gave himself the tiniest bit of permission, she’d be dead before she hit the ground.

But he didn’t move.

And she didn’t back down.

Natale heard the distinctive snap of bone within his hulking form, felt the shadow he cast over her grow and still she met his eyes.

“You’ll kill him too.”

The words hurt because she could hear the truth in his voice. He believed what he said. And that, she realized, she couldn’t fault him for.

“You’re trying to protect Salvatore from me.”

“I’ll do what I need to, to protect my brother’s life.”

Those words held a meaning she didn’t understand. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. Uberto would probably enjoy explaining it, and that really scared her.

“I don’t intend to hurt him, I would never-” she had started to say that she would never put his life in danger, but hadn’t she done that? By knowing her, by taking the responsibility for keeping her safe, he’d put himself in danger.

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