Chapter 37 Carter
Carter
Her words cut straight through me. I choose you.
I’d been holding myself together with steel and rage, keeping the soldier in front so the man underneath wouldn’t slip out. But now, with her hand warm on mine, with those eyes steady and unflinching despite the fear, the armor shattered.
I turned fully toward her, framing her face in my hands. God, she was everything I shouldn’t hold this close—and the only thing I couldn’t let go of.
“You don’t know what you’re doing to me,” I rasped. My thumb traced her cheekbone, rough against soft. “I’ve faced down warlords, mercenaries, men who’d burn villages to ash—and none of them scared me half as much as the thought of losing you.”
Her breath hitched, but she didn’t look away.
“I need you to understand,” I went on, my voice shaking despite my grip on her. “Protecting you isn’t just instinct anymore—it’s survival. Mine. I don’t know who I am without this—without you.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but her chin lifted, proud even in the tremor. “Then stop trying to push me away. Let me be what you need.”
The plea broke something in me. I didn’t think. I didn’t plan. I just bent my head and kissed her.
It wasn’t gentle. It couldn’t be. It was raw, desperate, everything I’d buried since the moment I first saw her chained and terrified. Her lips trembled against mine, then softened, then gave—like she’d been waiting, just as lost, just as found.
The blanket slipped from her shoulders as I pulled her closer, my arms caging her in, not to trap her, but to keep the world out. She clutched at my shirt, holding on like she believed I’d never let go.
And she was right.
When I finally tore my mouth from hers, I pressed my forehead to hers, breathing hard. “You’re mine, Harper. Not as leverage. Not as a target. As the only damn thing I want in this world.”
Her whisper was shaky, but steady enough to wreck me. “Then don’t just fight for me, Carter. Fight with me.”
And in that moment, I knew. The battle ahead wasn’t just mine—it was ours.