Page 232 of Redeemed

Silence, and then a timid, “Is it safe out there?”

“Safe out—what are you talking about?”

“He can’t get to me if I’m in here. You’re the only one with the key.”

Oh.When I got the idea to put her in the cage, it was to keep her in her place. Eventually, I hoped she’d come to like being in there—that she’d see it as a set period of time where there was no pressure on her. I wanted her to eventually crave the idea of me locking her up, but I never imagined it would make her feelphysicallysafe.

“It’s perfectly safe out here.” I reach in and tug on her arm. “Come on.”

“He’ll—he’ll find me,” she protests, even as she slowly climbs out of the cage.

“He won’t.”

“But—”

“Shh.” The second she’s all the way out, I lift her into my arms and carry her to the bed. I’m not used to her clinging to me like this, and a wave of memories and suppressed desires flood my mind. “I’ll protect you.”

“Like you used to?” she asks.

I grit my teeth while I set her on the bed. She’s not even trying to get under my skin right now, but she’s managing to do it anyway. “Yeah.”

The moment I crawl under the covers next to her, Haven clings to me like a koala. Her stuffed dragon is sandwiched between us, flattened like a pancake because she’s trying to erase any distance between us.

“Colt?” she whispers.

It’s just the shortened version of my name, but hearing her say it is like a stab to the gut. She stopped when she betrayed us, I think as a way to put emotional distance between her and me. I did a similar thing with what her nickname morphed into—an insult instead of a token of my obsession with her.

“Yes?”

“What if he comes in here?”

“He won’t.”

“But—but what if he does?”

I sigh. “Angel—”

“Will you kill him for me?” she asks, so quietly I can barely make out the words. “I know I said—I know I asked you not to. But I don’t… I can’t… I won’t survive there.”

My lips part as I stare down at her in shock. She’s been so adamant that we can’t kill him. Are these her true, unfiltered thoughts? Is this what she actually wants but refuses to let herself have? Only for the sake of people who stood by and watched her get hurt again and again?

“Please,” she begs. “Please, Colt, please will you kill him?”

“I will,” I say softly. “I’ll always keep you safe.”

That finally gets her to stop rambling, but she’s still trembling against me. I need her to relax, goddammit. There’s no way either of us can sleep like this.

Emotional support has never been my strong suit. If you need someone to hide a body or beat an asshole up, I’m your guy. Hell, I’d even go grocery shopping for the right person, and I fucking hate grocery shopping. Just don’t ask me to be a shoulder to cry on.

So it’s no surprise that seeing Haven like this has me half-tempted to dump her in Lucas and Xander’s room and call it a night. Yet I can’t bring myself to do it. Her emotional state may be way out of my comfort zone, but there’s a side of me that doesn’t want her to cling to anyone else like this.

She askedmeto keep her safe.

She beggedmeto kill Isaiah.

And that’s how things will stay for as long as I can manage. She’s fuckingmine.Like I told her when I first brought her here, I take care of my belongings—even when they’re trying my patience.

I roll Haven onto her back and move onto my side so I’m facing her. She doesn’t seem to like it because she tries to wrap her leg around me again, but I stop her.

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