Keeping his bride

Nicholas

S ELINA IS A quick learner. I only have to show her certain moves once or twice, and she masters them on

the second or third try. Pretty soon she’ll be kicking ass and taking names, and I couldn’t be prouder.

We started out easy, but now we’re gradually getting into harder moves, like her breaking out of my holds from the front and behind. We’re both sweating and exerting all of our energy on this as if our lives depend on it, and perhaps in a way they do. I don’t want her to ever be in a vulnerable position again in her life.

I can’t protect her twenty-four seven, even though I’d like to. There could come a time when someone could try to take her away from me again, and I want her to be able to fight them off and at least have a chance to escape.

Just the thought of someone trying to steal her from me has me pushing her harder and harder. I want her ready for anything and everything.

“And if I come up behind you and grab you like this?” I ask, grasping her and holding her in a tight grip.

“Elbow,” she says before bringing it down gently into my side. “Slide my arms up. Drop to the ground.”

I watch as she falls to the ground out of my grip. “And then?”

“And then I run.”

“Good. Very good.” I pace the mats in the gym where we’ve been training for what feels like hours. “If you can get a kick or punch to the vulnerable parts of their body, then you do that.” I stop and motion to my face. “Eyes.”

And then I point lower. “Balls.”

“Eyes and balls,” she says with an eager nod.

I chuckle, and then Lina smiles sheepishly. While this all seems like fun and games for now, I want her to be serious when someone actually does attack her. And so, when she starts walking away to reach for a bottle of water, I suddenly move up behind her silently…and then I grab her.

At first, she doesn’t do anything, and I’m worried. But then, she suddenly juts her elbow right into my ribs, causing a rush of air to escape my lungs. She drops faster than I can blink, and she’s out of my grip in a second.

“Shit,” I say with a strained grin while grabbing my side.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” she asks, stepping closer with a concerned look on her face.

Her hands reach out to gingerly inspect my ribs, and I suck in a breath at the unexpected touch. Fuck, I should let her hit me in the ribs more often, I can’t help but think to myself.

Her fingers suddenly freeze as if she just realized what she’s doing, and she takes a quick step back. “Sorry,” she whispers as a blush creeps up her neck to her cheeks.

I’m not sure if she’s telling me she’s sorry for hitting me or for touching me, but I hope it’s not for the latter, because I want her to do it more. “I’ll be fine,” I reassure her. “You did good today, Lina. We can keep practicing a

few times a week if you want to.”

“I want to,” she says in a rush, and I can’t help but smile.

People might underestimate Selina considering all the terrible shit she’s gone through, but I know she’s a fighter. No one can break my girl – not even one of the most powerful men on the planet. She’s fucking indestructible.

After a nice hot shower, I slip on a white t-shirt and a pair of dark blue sweats and am about ready to crawl into bed when I hear screaming. My first instinct is to check my phone for alarms that I might have missed while I was showering. If the compound was breached, an alert would be on my phone.

But when I find no such evidence on there, I quickly run out of my room and stop in the hall, waiting, listening. My heart is threatening to pound out of my chest as I wait impatiently for any signs of distress.

“No! Help me!” Selina screams from her room.

My bare feet pound against the wooden floors as I race to her. Even though it’s next to impossible, maybe someone slipped in undetected by our security system. Her screams are heart-wrenching, like she’s being murdered, and I expect the worst as I slam open the door to her room.

The lamp on the nightstand by her bed is on, and I quickly search the room for an intruder. No one is here… except for Selina…who is in her bed, sleeping.

She cries out again, and I suddenly realize she’s having a dream. No. A fucking nightmare.

Her face is scrunched in pain, and I can see sweat beads running down her temples as she fights against imaginary demons. I don’t know if she would want me in her bedroom, let alone her bed, but I can’t just let her suffer in the nightmare. I climb onto the mattress beside her and gently shake her shoulder, trying to rouse her out of sleep. Selina recoils from my touch and a muffled sob escapes her lips. “Shit,” I mutter under my breath. I’m only making it worse.

“Lina,” I say softly. Then louder, “Lina, wake up.” She doesn’t open her eyes, and my frustration grows as her breathing picks up faster like she’s going to hyperventilate at any given moment. “Lina!” I yell, shaking her.

Her eyes snap open, and she immediately goes into defense mode, clawing and kicking and screaming.

I grab her, holding her tight and saving herself and myself from any more harm. “It’s all right. It’s me. It’s Nico. It’s all right, I’m here, I’m right here,” I tell her in rapid succession to try to calm her down.

“Nico?” she asks as she slowly wakes up fully and becomes aware of her surroundings.

“Yes. You were having a nightmare,” I explain before releasing her and climbing off her bed. I stand at the edge, waiting while my jaw tightens. I don’t know what she was dreaming about, but I can guess. I hate that she can’t even sleep without being haunted by her past. If I could, I would erase all those bad memories from her mind so she would never have to relive them ever again.

“A…a nightmare,” she repeats. “I-I’m sorry.” Her voice cracks with soft-spoken guilt as her peculiar eyes focus on me. A little gasp comes from her mouth before her fingertips touch her lips, a look of horror on her face. “Did I hurt you?”NôvelDrama.Org content.

“No,” I say with a shake of my head. She’s always so damn afraid of hurting me. The very thought causes a grin to tug on my lips, but I quickly school my expression and ask her, “Do you want to tell me what your nightmare was about?”

She hesitates, and I figure she won’t tell me since she rarely opens up to me, but then she surprises me by saying,

“It was about them. That family. Talking about what happened to them today must have trigged another nightmare.”

“It’s okay to talk about them…or anything, Lina. I’m here to listen anytime you need me,” I tell her seriously.

My words seem to have a calming effect. “Thank you,” she whispers, and I can hear the emotion in her voice.

Sometimes I wonder how she survived all those years all alone with nobody to confide in or to vent her frustrations to. She only had herself to rely on. Even though she’s so damn strong, I’m afraid if she keeps bottling up everything inside, one day she’s going to just…burst. Lucky for her, I’ll be there if or when she finally does.

I get up, ready to return to my room to try to get some sleep when I feel her hand grasping mine in a quick, firm grip. I stare down at our connection, her hand looking so damn tiny in mine.

“Nico?” she asks, and her voice sounds so small, so innocent.

My gaze meets hers. Blue and green…like the ocean. “Yeah?”

“Will you…will you stay with me tonight?” she asks, biting her lower lip nervously.

“Uh,” I start. Damn, I know I should just go back to bed because she might regret this in the morning; but for some reason, I can’t say no to her. And definitely not when she’s looking at me with those big puppy dog eyes and begging me to sleep next to her and keep her safe. “Sure,” I say, relenting.

She lets go of my hand and crawls under the covers, watching me cautiously as I sit down on the bed over the blankets and lean my back against the headboard.

She turns on her side, facing me, and I watch as her eyelids grow heavy until she can no longer keep them open. When her breathing evens out, I slowly reach down and run my fingers through her long, silky hair. “Go to sleep, cuore

mio. I’ll be here to slay all the monsters th t try to get into your dreams,” I promise her.