Page 17 of A Wilder Wedding

It had put more fear into me than anything.

And I had no words for that. None at all.

CHAPTERFIVE

Amos

Rage poured into me so violently that I thought I was going to scream. I couldn’t get the sound of Naomi’s shouts out of my mind. I knew they would echo forever in perpetuity, taking away my soul ounce by ounce. Nor could I get the sight of that man pinning her to the ground out of my soul. It would always be there. But she was in my arms now, shaking as she cried.

My Naomi. She rarely cried. Though sometimes it felt like that was all she was doing around me these days, because I was such a fucking asshole, but I’d be damned if I would let this hurt her. I couldn’t.

I just held her, crushing her close, even though I wanted to run after the asshole who would dare hurt her. All I knew was if I let her go, that would be the end of this. I couldn’t let her out of my arms. I had to make sure she was safe. Which meant I had to let someone else do the running.

Trace and Ridge came through the vines as three other security team members went in the direction that the attacker had run. They must have seen this on the cameras we had over the vines. They had seen this but hadn’t been close enough to stop it.

Just like I hadn’t been close enough until it was nearly too late.

I had done my best to keep her safe but it wasn’t good enough.

None of it was fucking good enough.

“I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you.”

She just clung to my shirt, her fingers digging in as she began to calm down.

Only there was nothing calm about me.

“Amos. We’re here. Naomi?”

She froze at the sound of Trace’s voice, as if coming out of a trance.

And then she moved back, her tears drying on those pale cheeks of hers. She had such fair skin, delicate skin. And she had a red mark on her face. One I was sure would turn into a bruise soon.

That man had dared put his hands on her. I knew I would see similar marks on her wrists. I wasn’t sure I could look. If I did, I would run towards the man and rip his face off. No matter where he went, I would find him and end him.

I hadn’t realized I would kill for someone before, but I would do it.

“Baby, your face.”

She frowned up at me, her hand going to her cheek, before letting it fall.

We didn’t say anything, just looked at each other, and I wasn’t sure what there was to say.

“I’m fine,” she muttered, before she scrambled off my lap and to her feet. She staggered back, as if her legs were weak, and nearly fell into Ridge, who reached out and gripped her elbows to support her. Part of me wanted to growl, to step forward and pull her out of his arms. To yell at him for daring to touch her.

Naomi wasn’t mine. And me being a territorial asshole wasn’t going to help any of this. Even though it felt like it was the only thing I could do in this moment.

“Naomi, you’re okay. You are okay, right?” Trace asked, using his best calm voice.

“I’m fine. But Amos was tased.”

I was already up on my feet and scowled at her.

“It was barely anything, I’m fine.”

Trace cursed under his breath as he took a step closer, but I held up my hand. Yes, my hip was going to be sore later, but the damn thing had mostly surprised me. That was the reason I had let go off the man. Of course, I would have let him go to check on her anyway. Because my mental wires were fried and I needed to make sure that she was unhurt. Only that hadn’t been the case. That bastard had marked her. Had put his hands on her.

I was going to kill him.

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