There was something in his eyes she had never seen before something far removed from hunger or need. He was looking at her with love. Real, unguarded love. And that smile… it was rare, precious, utterly lethal. Seeing it on the face of a man who lived in perpetual fury stole the breath straight from her lungs.
"I won't let anything harm you," he murmured, his voice low and soothing, a tone he hadn't even known he possessed.
"I know," she replied instantly, her answer accompanied by a radiant smile that made his chest ache.
Before he lost himself completely before instinct took over and he devoured her whole he pressed a gentle kiss to the crown of her head and stepped back.
Taking her small, delicate hand in his much larger one, he led her out of the room. Sofia followed like a dazed child, trying to gather the scattered pieces of her senses.
