Page 14 of Her Avenging Angel

“No, I’m not. And to be sure I’m not, Raven has set Dax on me. He’s in the kitchen cooking right now.” She rolled her eyes as she said it, hoping to convey how she thought it was overkill.

“He’s just taking care of you, darlin’.”

She shot him a frown, not thrilled with the way he called her darling, but it seemed he called all the women that, whether he was interested in them or not, so she let it go.

“He is. He wants you to feel safe. He wants you to want to be here, at least enough to not take off first chance you get.”

Her frown grew deeper. “What do you mean?”

Freud tilted his head to one side and looked at her with a frown. “Haven’t you noticed?”

“Noticed what?” She had no clue what he was talking about.

“The way he’s always here, he’s always looking out for you. He won’t let anything happen to you, and growls at anyone who even glances in your direction.”

“I didn’t notice.” She let her gaze drift off into the distance as she tried to recall every interaction she’d had with Raven for the last several days. Was she missing something? Did he really want her to stay? Did that mean he was interested in her, despite everything she’d been through, all the men she’d been forced to be with?

Taylynn shook her head, not sure she could believe it. Either way, she couldn’t think about it, not right now. She had things to do, and this wasn’t the place.

Chapter Eleven

Raven sat in his office, the door open so he could hear if Taylynn had any trouble and glared at the doorway. He wanted to be out there. He wanted to stay where he could see her, where he could make sure she was okay, but having him hover over her all the time was doing no good. Sure, it kept his brothers from getting anywhere near her and that was what she had needed for a while, but now that she was mostly healed, at least physically, it was time she learned that not everyone was like the men she had encountered with the Iron Demons

Whether she chose to stay around the Fallen Angels or not, she needed to be able to deal with men. Who better to help her get used to that than men he trusted not to touch her, if only because they knew she was his. Men who knew he would kick the ass of anyone who dared try anything with her.

Once she felt more at home, more comfortable around them all, he planned to teach her to defend herself, both with and without weapons, so she could know she had options, no matter what happened to her. She would have the ability to fight back. But that had to wait until she’d healed. Until firing a pistol wouldn’t send more pain through her body than triumph. Until then, he would do everything he could to protect her. Even if it was to sit in another room, forcing himself to let her do what she felt the need to do. He made himself stop glaring at the door and turn his attention to the club concerns that needed him.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, though it seemed like days since he’d had to force himself to stay put and not go check on Taylynn a dozen times. A knock sounded on his open door, making him look up. Dagger, the club treasurer, stood in the doorway.

“You got a minute?” Dagger asked.

Raven motioned to the chairs on the far side of the desk, then leaned back in his own chair, rolling his shoulders to relieve some of the ache he’d just noticed there.

“Sure, what’s up?” he asked once Dagger sat.

“We’ve got that run to Bozeman in a couple of days and I wanted to see if we could nail down who was going.”

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