Her feet fumbled a step, sending her pitching forward with a short scream.
I reached her in time, fisting the back of her shirt to slow her fall, then wrapped my arm around her waist and lifted her.
She struggled against me, a shriek in her chest until I grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up.
Her golden eyes glowed in the dim light of that single bulb.
My catch.
My sweet moonlight.
“Karma?”Her voice broke with relief.
My hand slid down to grip her throat, but I was gentle.
But I needed to show her she was mine.
“Why did you chase me?” Her nose wrinkled in confusion. “You could’ve just called for me.”
I cocked my head, blinking, not sure how to answer.
She’d run… Of course I’d chased.
Her brows furrowed, her hand coming up to my cheek as if she was seeing something new in my eyes.
I took in the sweat dripping down her temples and wetting the roots of her hair. Her entire face was flushed a brighter pink than I’d ever seen it, but the panic I’d first caught in her eyes was fading.
“Where are the others?” she asked. “I thought… something had gone wrong?”
Wrong?
Right… the pack.
I frowned, checking in on the bond, her words pulling me back just slightly.
It was quiet, though. Sin was there, and I could feel his worry, but the others… nothing.
We were safe. I had her.
And this time Sin couldn’t stop me from making her mine.
I already knew how she liked to be touched—I’d watched every tiny reaction when Sin had fucked her in that cage. Catalogued what made her cry out loudest.
My teeth grazed her ear, and she shivered and squirmed, her small hands coming up to grab at my shirt.
“Karma,” she whined. “I thought… I thought you were…”
I growled, grip tightening on her throat. Not hard, just enough to tell her they were dead, and she was mine.
I pressed my other hand into her sweatpants, I found her panties soaked through with slick, and rubbed her through them.
She gasped, her hot breath brushing my ear. “We’re safe… then?”
I shifted my hand on her throat, adjusting my thumb and tilting her head so she couldn’t look away from me.
She was always safe with me.
I dipped a finger inside of her, and her eyes rolled back. I touched her until she was writhing, her cheeks a pretty pink.