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It was all I could envision for his future and the thoughtbrokeme.

What little of the wall still standing around my heart fell away and crumbled in an instant, exposing the ugly realization that somewhere deep down inside I had known all along.

I couldn’t lose this man.

Icouldn’t.

The thought made me want to claw my eyes out.

My body was on fire.

Pain laced through me.

Everything I had gone through tonight should have been enough to knock me on my ass, but there was only one thought in my mind;keep him safe.

My heart demanded it.

Maybe I wasn’t having the standard reaction to having just witnessed a murder, but I didn’t care. He was here, standing over me, protecting me like a lion, and I had never feltmore.

He stood over the body of the man that mere minutes ago was alive and seconds away from raping me.

The savage, ruthless side to Hunter I had been exposed to didn’t make my feelings dwindle, either.

There was no going back now.

For either of us.

His lonesome, blue-eyed expression as he looked at me was my breaking point.

I could love him the rest of my life andneverdeserve him.

Emotions ripped me open as I stood in the middle of the blood and the horror with my gaze firmly on him.

As for feelings?

I wasdrowningin them.

Anger, hurt, pain, and gratitude were all flooding me, but the most predominant emotion of all was the overwhelming amount of love in my heart I was feeling for the man in front of me.

It was threatening to consume me, and just like a pressurized dam, every moment, sensation, and emotion I had bottled up this past year burst clean open from the weight of my feelings, as they poured out of me, directed entirely towards him.

"You need a doctor," he continued to say over and over, voice torn, eyes locked on my face.

"I needyou," I choked out, though it was hard to speak, as I clung to his body for dear life, thanking god for that message I sent him tonight telling him where I was. I was so grateful that he hadn't given me the space I had asked him for. "You saved me…saved my life!"

"Hope, I can't fix this, baby. You need a doc–"

"You, Hunter," I hissed. "Justyou." I didn’t need a doctor, or maybe I did and just didn’t care anymore, but whatever the reason, his touch was grounding me. His presence alone was keeping my sanity intact.

All of my previous fears and insecurities seemed so stupid to me now – so unimportant and shallow.

I had spent too long lying to myself and denying what I truly felt inside. After what had just happened, and how close I had come to death, I was through with the lies and the pretenses. I was through with hiding who I was and what I felt.

"Don’t leave me…please don’t make me leave you," I strangled out, trying to pull him away, though I wasn’t sure where. I just needed him to come with me, wherever that was.

"I'm not going anywhere, HC," Hunter promised, pulling me into his arms. "I'm right here."

He pressed a kiss to my hair and jerked his head back when I whimpered in pain.

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