" I’m not a blind idiot, baby. Someone hurt you. Someone close. And while it pains me to admit it, I don’t think Jeoff is the type of guy to cause that type of pain. Which means it was someone else close to you. Like your mate.”
“You shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”
“Or what? He’ll come back to haunt me? I’d like that so I could teach the prick a lesson about being an asshole to a lady. He hurt you. He doesn’t deserve any respect. I just wish I could have saved you from him sooner.”
Apparently something he said struck a chord because tears threatened to spill from her eyes.
“Baby, don’t cry. Why are you crying?”
“I’m not,” she sniffled.
“You don’t actually miss the prick who abused you, do you?”
The very idea appalled him, and yet why else would she cry?
“Oh god, I don’t miss him. At all. It’s just…” She stopped.
Hayder told his kitty and his impatience to sit in a corner and wait. Give her a chance.
A tremulous breath wobbled from her. “You know, my brother would have taken care of Harry if given a chance. But he would have done it because he had to. I’m family.”
“I’m not, and I’ll tell you right now, had I come across that prick abusing you, I would have killed him.”
Laws or not. Abuse should never be tolerated.
She blinked rapidly, failing in her battle against the tears. Her voice trembled. “And that’s just it. You really would fight for me. You already did, earlier today. You could have let them take me and washed your hands clean. Yet you didn’t. You came to my rescue, and the weird part is, I think you’d do it again.”
“As many times as it takes to keep you safe. I know it’s crazy, and we haven’t known each other long, but there’s something happening between you and me, baby. Something crazy. Wild. Meant to be. Don’t tell me you don’t feel it too?”
“I do.” How soft the admission. How fearful the truth. “And it scares me. You scare me. What if I’m wrong?”
It was that genuine terror that let him say, “You’re not, but I won’t push.”
Not tonight at least. He’d give her a little space to come to terms with what was happening. “Go to bed. Alone.”
Oh, how he wanted to yowl mournfully. “If you need me, I’ll be here or not far. You don’t have to worry anymore. I won’t let you come to harm.”
He’d guard her with his life. "

― Eve Langlais , When a Beta Roars (A Lion's Pride, #2)