Page 3

Chapter 3

Prowl

We’d seen pictures.

Watched movies.

Studied the snippets of porn we had access to like our lives depended on it.

None of it had prepared me for the reality of her, for the ache in my hands to touch her, to see if her curves felt firm or soft beneath them, to pull her close and inhale her scent until it stained my soul and never left.

Faded jeans painted her thighs, a rumpled shirt matching the worn look around her eyes.

Eyes dark brown and filled with genuine concern, aimed in my direction.

For me. A hybrid.

She was too damn sweet to be near the likes of me.

I’d never felt this close to peace in my life, not even the first morning after our rescue when reality hit, and I knew my brothers and I were free.

If a controlled environment that still had a separate set of laws depending if you were human or hybrid could be called freedom.

Still. It was more than we’d ever hoped for.

Her forehead wrinkled, her pale skin pulling into delicate lines and valleys as she looked around the room.

My chest hurt with the need to comfort her, to return the glimpse of peace she’d given me, just from entering my space.

The ache caught fire, turning into auditory vibrations.

I pressed my palm against it, trying to steady it with pressure.

It was a strange sensation, a pulsing wave that started in my diaphragm and rolled outwards, filling my chest until it escaped as sound, reaching for her.

I couldn’t seem to stop it.

And yet, when I thought about it, I didn’t want to, despite its strangeness.

Instinct wouldn’t let me.

It was telling me that if I couldn’t touch her, I needed to do this.

She turned back to me, eyebrows raised, studying me like I had her.

I knew I looked different.

As a hybrid, our origin species separated us from each other as much in looks as it did in instincts.

Compared to humans? Our differences were staggering.

“Are you purring?”

My palm pushed harder for a moment before wrapping around one of the bars between us.

“Yes?”

Her worry lines deepened.

“You don’t know?”

“I’ve never done it before.”

Her pink lips, another difference between us, popped open.

“Because of me?”

I nodded, feeling more sure of it.

“Felines purr when they’re content.” The cubs use to do it, whenever King and I visited them.

I hadn’t considered the possibility that I could too.

“And to comfort.”

“You’re trying to comfort me?”

“You look worried.”

Her lips rolled inwards as she looked around the room again.

Small couch, large bed, sink and bench in one corner, toilet and shower in the other.

It would have mirrored mine, except she had things I didn’t.

A table and two chairs.

Kettle. Breakable dishes in her cupboard.

Things I couldn’t be trusted not to harm myself with, when the pull into madness, the crushing loneliness, consumed me and I’d do anything to escape it.

“Overwhelmed is a better word. This place, you… today feels a little unbelievable.”

“I’ll never hurt you.”

Her eyes met mine.

“I know.”

Did she though?

Because I meant it. I already knew I’d protect her with my life.

She crossed the few steps to the couch and flopped onto it, her head tilting back to study the fluorescent lights before rolling in my direction.

“What do we do now, big guy?”

Hate for the wall between us seared through me, but I pushed it back.

Shoved it down with all the other unchangeable shit from my life of experiments and captivity.

“Talk.”

Her nose, small, pointed, and so different to mine, scrunched in an adorable way.

“About what?”

I shrugged, the movement causing a ripple of pain, reminding me of the damage I’d done to my body.

Shame and a tinge of embarrassment filled me.

I’d never cared what anyone thought of them.

Of me.

But Daff?

I cleared my throat, my purr fading to a soft thrum.

It hurt like hell from months of abuse.

And the talking. I hadn’t talked this much in a week, let alone a day in months.

Guilt swamped me at the thought of King watching me deteriorate.

Of losing another brother.

With my Angel here, centring me, filling me with peace and a contentment I hadn’t known possible, maybe he wouldn’t have to anymore.

Hope, and something else I couldn’t quite name surged through me.

“Anything.” I wasn’t above begging her for whatever scraps of herself she was willing to give me.

“I don’t…I’m not good at talking.”

“Please.”

Need roared through me at the flash of her teeth sinking into her bottom lip.

All I could see was mine doing the same.

Of dragging my tongue along the side of her neck before sinking my teeth into her shoulder, marking her as mine.

“Anything. Right. Okay.” She squinted, looking so damn cute.

“I’m what you call trailer trash.”

The growl escaped me before I could stop it, making her freeze.

“It’s okay, Prowl. It’s the truth. I’m the third generation to live there, and at the rate I was going, wouldn’t have escaped passing it on to another.”

She looked away with a sigh.

“It’s why I’m here. The money means I’ll be able to leave that place in my rear-view mirror. I can go to college. Buy a house. Move Dad out and be completely debt free. Finally break the cycle.”

“How long?”

“My contract?

I nodded.

“Two years.

”

That’s all I’d have with her?

My lungs squeezed, making it hard to breathe, to force my next words out.

“I’m sorry you’re trapped here.”

With me.

When I already knew, in the depths of my split being, I’d die when she left.

She was the other half of my soul.

My calm in the storm.

The piece I was missing.

My lion needed her. I needed her.

Whatever progress I made would be undone when she left.

I wouldn’t survive without her.

I didn’t want to.

Daff sprang off the couch, stopping just outside my reach, her beautiful eyes gazing up at me.

“Don’t be. If I can help you make this,” she waved at the wall separating us, “the tiniest bit better for you, it will absolutely be worth it to me.”

“You bring my soul peace.”

Her body wavered, looking like she wanted to step closer to me before shaking her head and stepping back.

“Lara said this might not last. What if this, me, wears off?”

“I’ll still be forever glad I had it.”

“Damn, that’s sweet.”

I’d been made and trained to be the ultimate weapon.

Being called sweet should’ve sounded like an insult.

Coming from her, it meant everything.

She rolled her shoulders, a petite hand gripping the back of her neck.

“Do you mind if I shower? I feel gross from travelling and could really use the hot water.”

My body tensed, causing my bruises to ache.

“What’s the matter?”

She needed to take care of herself.

I wanted her to. I wanted her to have everything she needed to be happy.

But the thought of her being out of my sight, of the soap and water masking her scent?

I pushed against my bars, desperate to get closer to her.

To not lose this peace, this sanity.

“I need to see you. If I can’t smell you or see you, I’ll…”

“Think I’m gone?”

“That you were just my imagination.”

“What if I keep talking?”

Would it be enough?

Or would my bastard of a brain convince me I was only imagining her?

It didn’t matter. For her, I’d try.

I’d do anything, including letting her go, to live a better, happier life after her contract ended.

“Please.”

She nodded. “I can do that.”