Page 4 of Protected By the Wolven

“So I vould stay with human voman and hermalemate?” My voice just betrayed me. I imagine my fear is obvious.

“These are good people. I’m sure once you meet them—”

“Lash! You back from patrol?”

Blin!Just when I’m getting comfortable, another male barges in, a red-haired male with piercing blue eyes. Terror flashes through me.

“Fang! Don’t come—”

I think Lash was trying to protect me, keep me from being terrified, but he was too late. The male called Fang has already burst into this room. Although I know I shouldn’t react like this, I can’t control my urge to push myself into the far edge of the couch, place my feet on the seat, hug my arms around my legs, and tuck myself into a little ball.

“Fang, this is Zoya. She’s come for protection. We’re going to give it to her.”

Chapter Five

Lash

I’m almost thirty years old, so I never expected to find a part of my personality I’ve never encountered before. But here it is, this fierce protectiveness that feels as though it’s pumping through my veins, pounding through my very DNA.

“Sure. Hi, Zoya. Uh… want some tea?”

Why didn’t I think of offering her tea? And food! She’s so thin I imagine that asshole Max hasn’t been feeding her properly. I feel like a shit that Fang thought of it before I did.

Her answer to Fang’s question is to shake her head, but I don’t believe her.

“Yeah, bro, why don’t you get her some tea?”

He glances heavenward, obviously thankful to have a reason to escape the awkward situation, and then leaves us alone.

“So while you’re sipping tea, I’ll arrange a place for you to stay tonight. How about that?”

Zoya peeks at me, her chin still tucked behind her raised knees, and whispers, “No. Please? Can I… can I stay with you?”

“I don’t have a roommate. I mean, it would just be you and me. That wouldn’t be comfortable for you, right?”

“You are safe. A safe male. I would like stay vith you. Please?”

This is wrong. A bad idea. Misguided in a thousand ways and guaranteed to blow up in my face. A human woman with an angry asshole looking for her? If Max found out, it wouldn’t just put her in his sights. He would want to kill me and everyone else in the Zone.

“Please. I trust you.”

Shit! Why did she have to say that? It was as though she reached inside my chest and squeezed my heart. I never knew I had a savior complex before, but there’s something about this woman that makes me want to risk everything I hold dear to keep her safe.

“Just for tonight, Zoya.”

She sits up, looks straight into my eyes, and gives me a glimpse of how beautiful she is when she flashes me the smallestsmile. Wow! Blue eyes, perfect teeth, plump cheeks despite her emaciated state, and a pointy chin that makes me think about cupping it as I kiss her.

Kiss her? The female who raised me here in the Zone would tell me my mind is “going in the wrong direction.” But damn, I can’t get the picture of kissing pretty little Zoya out of my mind.

Fang has good instincts. He bypasses her to deliver the steaming chamomile tea to me, and then I rise to hand it to her. Before she takes it from me, she softly grips my wrist, looks into my eyes, and whispers, “Thank you, Lash. You are saving me.”

My heart thuds in my chest and keeps fluttering to the point I wonder if I need a defibrillator as I watch her drink her tea. After she sets her cup on the side table, I walk her upstairs to my apartment. All the Wolven Warriors live here, above the first-floor offices and den.

My place has one bedroom. It’s almost a hundred years old and is nothing fancy. Shabby would be a good word to describe it, although it’s clean.

“I’ll sleep on the couch. My bedroom has a lock, so you don’t have to worry.” I don’t finish the sentence with “about me,” although we both know that’s what I meant.

“No.” For the first time since I met her, her voice is forceful. “I sleep on couch. That’s fair.”

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