Aliana flinched at the noise, blinking as she turned her head to look around the room. "What was that?"
Without answering, Gavriel simply pulled her tightly into his embrace, burying her face against the solid expanse of his chest. "Must be the wind," he muttered, his voice a low, gravelly rasp.
Aliana didn't understand how a sharp cracking sound could possibly be caused by the wind outside, but she chose not to dwell on it.
Her memories had gone entirely blank after the moment Jacob had tried to force himself on her.
A sharp, lacing pain throbbed in her mind the harder she tried to remember what happened next, tearing through her head until she couldn't bear it. Biting her lower lip, she closed her eyes and remained leaning against Gavriel's chest, desperately trying to draw comfort from his steady presence.
However, if Aliana had lifted her face to look at him, she would have seen how Gavriel's eyes were now glowing a brilliant, blood-red.
