Their Thief: Redemption

Chapter 10 (Part 2)

Jace

The words echoed in my head in the order that they hit the hardest in her fear-drenched voice. My heart clenched along with my jaw as I looked down at the cowering form before me.

Dad. Her dad...

No, we would have known if... but- Thought we hadn't found any concerning details from her records to indicate abuse, reactions like hers didn't form from nothing. The fear; the physical reaction; the plea; all of it was an orchestrated routine down to the way she shielded her body. She knew from experience which parts needed the most protection.

Experience, that for once, I was sure wasn't related to us.

A slight tremble returned to my hands as I held them out in a non-threatening way while approaching her cautiously. The shift from anger to worry was swift, the concern for her coming naturally.

"Aris?"

No response. I took another step closer, fearing she couldn't hear me over the music.

"Damaris?" I called again, raising my voice.

Her arms tightened in response, her nails digging into the fabric of her sleeve. The scent of fear coming from her grew, filling my nostrils and suffocating me. Each breath I took was laced with it.

A terrified dark, brown, eye peeked out at me from between her arms. My heart that I had been determined to keep hardened against her cracked at the sight. Pain pinched my throat at the terror the glassy eye reflected. Her gaze was unfocused. She was looking at me but seeing something else.

I had a feeling I knew what. Knew who.

I crouched down before her. The movement startled her, causing her to try to pull back further, but there was nowhere left for her to go.

My heart clenched when I saw the realization hit her. Her hands stopped trying to push herself back and returned to protect her head as she ducked. The sight brought forward an uncomfortable wave of emotions. Ones that I was positive no drug would be strong enough to dull.

Ones that only a mate could bring out.

"Hey, let's get out of here," I said, trying to keep my voice light. Too bad I had to shout to be heard, making any efforts of softening my tone useless. Opening my mouth had only made matters worse.

She flinched back at my words, her head bouncing off the tiled wall. I winced at her pain, a slight, mirroring itch on the back of my head told me that it must have hurt if even I could sense it.

Shit.

I rose my hand to the back of my head where I felt the faint sensation. It helped me come to terms with what I had been battling with from the moment she had stepped foot inside our home. The drugs weren't going to work. They stood no chance. Not when she would always be the greatest one. It was useless trying to chase another high with her near.

Gritting my teeth, I pushed past the anger that always seemed to accompany any thought of her no matter how brief, and kept my focus aimed at her. Only, the longer my eyes remained in her, taking in the sight of her hiding from me behind trembling eyes, the more it grew. This anger was different, I realized as the flames licked at a part of my heart that I had thought dead. The part that beat for her.

I wasn't angry at her, I realized as my muscles tensed with the need to leap into action. For the first time in far too long, my anger had a target that wasn't a betraying mate.

The need for blood overcame me so quickly that I couldn't help but stumble back, afraid that I would have attacked the sweetest blood of all that was inches away from my lengthening fangs. That fear quickly vanished as I realized what kind of hunger I felt. It was for the blood of those that were responsible for making my mate react this way to me.