Sanctuary . Amy Blankenship

what I am… I’m sorry. If he will let go of me, I will leave quietly and never return.”

      Kane noticed the shadow of wings slowly crawl across his arm and for a moment didn’t know if he should let her go or hold on tighter. He glanced at Tabatha to make sure she hadn't noticed the warning.

      ‘Kane, she’s not going to hurt me,’ Tabatha said very loudly in his mind then softened her inner voice to a whisper, ‘please, for me… let her go.’

      Loosening his grip, Kane said in a very soft voice, “I believe you won't hurt anyone nor do you want to… I frightened you, right? You are welcome here any time you need sanctuary… you will be safe inside the barrier. But if you want to camp out on our roof, then at least let me get you some warm covers and a pillow.”

      Holding his breath, Kane slowly let go of the Fallen and took a step back, disappearing down the stairs. Tracing to his and Tabatha’s room, he quickly selected several blankets and two pillows from the closet. He made it back up the stairs before Tabatha had taken more than two steps closer to the Fallen.

      Laying the blankets and pillows down next to the girl’s feet, he motioned for Tabatha to come with him.

      Tabatha nodded keeping her expression calm, although she could have sworn she’d seen Kane’s hands shaking. She sent a fleeting glance toward the other woman as she passed her.

      Aurora picked up the bedding and leaned against the wall beside the door before slowly pushing it closed behind them. She felt more drained now than she’d been to start out with but she had her sanctuary… at least for a couple more hours.

      Tabatha turned on Kane ready to give him a what for, but stopped when she felt his finger touch her lips.

      “Shhh,” Kane whispered near her ear, “come.”

      Tabatha nodded and remained quiet as she followed Kane back down into the security office. He shut them in and they both watched the monitor seeing the woman still standing there were they’d left her. Tabatha inhaled softly when the girl lifted a hand to wipe at a tear that had made its way down her cheek.

      “Poor girl… I hate to see anyone alone and frightened like that. I wonder why she’s alone… she’s beautiful.” She glanced up at Kane seeing the muscles in his jaw bounce and knew he was gritting his teeth. “Why did you suddenly have a change of heart and decide to let her stay?” Tabatha whispered as if the girl could still hear them.

      Kane nodded at the monitor. “She’s right not to tell anyone what she is,” he stated as the girl leaned back against the roof door and slid down it into a sitting position. He shook his head noting the way she was still staring at the covers in her arms with teary eyes.

      “She can’t be any rarer than you are,” Tabatha frowned seeing the worry in her lover’s eyes. She looked back at the monitor and felt her heart break a little as the girl hugged the blankets closer as though someone would suddenly appear and take them away.

      “I think she may have crawled out of the rift with the demons,” Kane said avoiding Tabatha’s question about rareness.

      He needed a moment to think of a damn good reason not to grab the phone and call Dean. She’d obviously lived among the demons for who knew how long and there was no telling how big of a toll it had taken on her. She wasn’t trusting of anyone and now that he knew the reason… he couldn’t just turn her away. He looked over at Tabatha suddenly feeling his mate’s sadness.

      “Kane… do you truly love me?” Tabatha asked quietly.

      Kane slowly nodded as he searched her eyes, “With everything that I am.”

      Tabatha smiled softly at the sweetness of his words. “Then trust me enough to let me in. You’re not alone anymore,” she raised her hand and cupped his cheek. “You’re worried and I want to worry with you. Maybe I can even help chase your demons away.”

      Kane took a deep breath. “What if I told you that girl on the roof is probably the only female of her kind on earth?” he asked, his mind still going a mile a minute. “She needs to be with her own kind… her own breed. But if I tell them about her, it will destroy what they have right now. I don’t want to be responsible for that.”

      Tabatha's lips parted and she frowned thoughtfully. Bless his heart he was trying, but he wasn’t giving her much to go on. She watched his knuckles turn white where he was tightly gripping the back of the chair between him and the monitor. By this action alone, she could tell that this was weighing heavily on him.

      “My first instinct was to pick up the phone and tell the men of her kind that she’s here… I want to tell them. But it’s the wrong thing to do. She’s hiding from something out there and with their help, she would be better protected,” he slung the chair away from him and it crashed into the wall startling both of them. “Damn it!”

      Kane turned his amethyst eyes on Tabatha, “You would want to tell them too… and we would both be wrong to do it.”

      “What would happen if we tell them?” Tabatha asked calmly still not entirely sure what he was and wasn’t telling her.

      Kane inhaled deeply before trusting her enough to tell her his most secret thoughts. “The two men in question would stop loving each other and turn that love on her… but only one of them can have her. In the end, one of them would lose everything. Or worst case scenario… she could reject them both and the damage would already be done.

      He reached out and cupped her cheek the same way she’d done him. “To tell Kriss and Dean about her would inevitably destroy them.”

      Tabatha blinked realizing the full implications of what Kane was trying to tell her… that the girl was a Fallen. She looked back at the monitor and remembered the first time she ever met Dean. He’d been enraged because Kriss’ scent had been on her and believed she’d done something with the other Fallen. Possessive and scary were two words that came to mind.

      She bit her bottom lip as she contemplated what Kane had said. If Kriss and the girl got together… there was no question that Dean would become very dangerous. And if Dean and the girl got together… how much heartbreak would Kriss be put through? Kriss had told her why a Fallen could only be with a Fallen. He’d be completely alone without Dean… it would destroy him.

      Kane closed his eyes listening to Tabatha's voice as he eavesdropped on her private thoughts. He was looking at it from Dean’s point of view and she was more worried about Kriss. He’d expected no less.

      “You have the biggest heart,” Tabatha said startling Kane. She smiled and slid into his arms, pressing her ear against his chest so she could hear his heartbeat. “You’re right… I wouldn’t have thought it through and would have instantly called them thinking it was the best news in the world. How could I be so blind and you see so much?”

      She glanced back toward the monitor and added, “I feel bad for her though. She probably thinks she’s completely alone in the world.”

      Kane reached over and turned the monitor off, “We’re not completely heartless you know. She now has a place to run to if she needs sanctuary and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing her quite a bit.”

      “I need something to take my mind off of her,” Tabatha gave him a seductive pout before disappearing from the room so fast that she left a breeze.

      “Damsels in distress… got to love them,” Kane traced through the club stopping in his bedroom doorway to admire the view.

      She was stretched out on the bed with her tiny silk nightie still on and smiling at him with half-lidded eyes. Kane approached the bed, shedding the leather pants as he went.

      Tabatha didn’t know how he could make taking his pants off look sexy but he managed it and she couldn’t argue with the results. In a matter of seconds, her nightie was gone and they were once again participating in Kane’s favorite pastime… sexual torture… at least that was the way Tabatha saw it.

      *****

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