Status Updates From Altered (Carter Kids #6)

“You love her?” Kyle asked finally, tone resigned.
“With everything I have,” I replied without a hint of hesitation.

"Not until you're mine," I added. "All mine.” Sighing heavily, I said, "I was never good at sharing the things I wanted, Hope. And I've never wanted anything as badly as I want you."

(…)
"I looked into your eyes that day and saw the girl inside. The one that reached me at a deeper level than anyone else. The girl hiding behind the mask of pretense. The gir that was screaming out for someone to save her." Hunter shrugged help lessly, giving me a rare glimpse of the vulnerability inside the man. I saw you then, and I see you now."

“I love you, Hope," he replied, soothing me with his certainty. "I think I've loved you since that very first day in Ireland." He shook his head, as i thinking back to that morning in Cork. The minute you walked into Noahs hotel room after all hell had broken loose. You were all pissy and had smote steaming out of your ears." He smirked at the memory.
(…)

“I will keep you safe, sweetheart." he declared, hands cupping my face.
Leaning closer, he stroked my nose with his. "Nothing's gonna touch you.
When he looked at me again, there was a glint of unknown danger in those blue depths. Never again," he promised, eyes glittering with treachery and darkness. "You have my word on that."

“It was like my world had ended right there in that kitchen," he admitted, voice torn and hoarse, before bowing his head. "And I keep thinking that when I go to sleep tonight, I'm gonna wake up in the morning and find you dead."

"Seeing you tonight," he confessed, thumbs stroking my cheeks. "Lying on the ground, drenched in blood, with that bastard on top of you?" He clenched his jaw several times before he spoke again, "I've never been more goddamn scared in my life.... "He pressed a kiss to my cut and whispered, "And the only damn thing I could think was 'you're too late again'."

And that's when it happened; the moment my life altered irrevocably.
The woman I had just committed the most heinous of crimes in front of wasn't pushing me away.
She wasn't running for the hills.
Hope Carter had witnessed first-hand how dark I could go, and she was pulling me closer.
It didn't matter what happened from here on out, I would always belong to her.
Fucking always.