Page 94 of Guarded
Jem chuckled as he pulled me into his arms. “You are. You’re a delightfully stubborn angel, who I’m realising will take on all the world’s problems if it means protecting those around him.”
I tried to frown, but Jem’s chest was too snuggly and warm, and it turned into a yawn instead. “Because it’s my responsibility. Juniper are my family as much as the Seraphim. I have to protect them.”
“We can argue about that later, when you’re more awake,” Jeremiah said, stroking along my spine in soothing movements. It had me longing for a flat surface beneath us. Not for sex, but so I could curl up on him and give up the fight with my eyelids. “For now, just know that you’remyresponsibility. You’re mine to protect and care for, Noah. Please let me do that.”
I stiffened. “Because I’m your mate?”
“No.” He leaned back so he could see my face. “Because I care about you, Noah. Because being away from you over these past four weeks made me realise I never want to be parted from you again. Because you’ve spent two weeks putting everyone else first—including me, I suspect. Because you look two minutes away from falling asleep standing up.”
He kissed my cheek softly, his lips lingering. “Is that enough reasons, sweetheart?”
My voice was thick as I replied, “More reasons than I deserve.”
Jem hummed, dropping butterfly kisses along my cheekbone. “If what I heard when I came in earlieris anything to go by, I can guess why you think that. Don’t worry though—I’m far more annoying and persistent than that twat. I’m going to keep showing up for you. One day, you won’t be surprised by it anymore. You’ll be expecting it.”
I was too exhausted and overcome to stop the tear from falling. No one had ever shown up for me before. Not like this. And here was Jeremiah, offering to do it over and over again.
Jem kissed the first tear away, then the next. “Go and sleep, Noah. I’ll be fine, and you need rest. I hate to think how little you’ve had if you’re this exhausted.”
He wasn’t wrong. Supes could function on very little sleep, but that combined with the stress of the situation and the amount of power I’d been using had added up to this—me swaying on my feet with drooping eyelids. Was this how humans felt every day?
I didn’t know how they could stand it. It was almost enough to make me leave. Almost.
“He’ll say awful things,” I said. “About me, I mean. I don’t want you to hear them. I don’t want him to taint anything between us.”
“That’ll never happen, sweetheart. I know exactly who I’m falling for. Nothing anyone else can say will change what my heart knows to be true.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as I clung to him. As I let his words be the antidote to the poison Lyle had been filling me with. It wouldn’t leave my system completely, I knew that. But maybe if I let Jeremiah in completely, he could be my cure. My salvation.
I just had to be brave enough to do it.
Chapter 24
Jeremiah
Could I have held Lyle without killing him repeatedly?
Possibly. But why bother testing it when the alternative was so cathartic?
“I had no idea feet looked like that as they melted,” Dash marvelled. “It’s morbidly satisfying.”
The arrival of the angel from Juniper had been the final push Noah needed to leave the room. It’d had me adding another entry to the list.
Noah is stubborn.
With two of us here though, he felt more comfortable taking some much-needed time to rest. Not that he had to worry. I only let Lyle live long enough to get a sentence out before killing him each time.
I could’ve gone with a more merciful method, but I was beyond that. I probably would’ve done this regardless. Seeing the state Noah had been in when I’d arrived…
I never wanted to see him like that again.
But given Lyle was choosing his precious seconds before he gave in to screams to spew vitriol about my mate?
The fucker was going to suffer, and I wasn’t about tofeel a shred of guilt over it. It was why I let him fully reincarnate every time.
It made the pain far worse. I didn’t want Lyle to miss out on any of it.
Dash’s comment suddenly made me realise that, unlike me, this wasn’t a sight he was familiar with. “Um, is it bothering you?”
