Free His Witch To Keep (Keepers of the Veil) by Zoe Forward

crying from relief. Thank God he hadn’t listened to her. She’d been fine—in control—until she saw him. Now she couldn’t get to him fast enough. She staggered toward him.
    His arms closed around her as he dragged her into his chest. He was so strong. Unyielding and fierce. He was safety.
    “Time to leave,” he said gruffly. “I put the druid in the car.”
    She looped her hands around his neck and pressed her face into his chest, accepting the security of being held by him. She inhaled his strong masculine scent, allowing it to seep deep into her body.
    “Thank you,” she whispered against his hot skin, never doubting he’d been the one to make sure she didn’t get killed, even if Eli did shield her. She felt the strength in his arms and the shift of his muscles as he lifted her and opened the car door. He eased her into the passenger seat. She needed to get control and figure out what to do and where to go. But Alexi was always a force to be reckoned with. Right now, letting him take over made the most sense.
    “You can drop invisibility,” he said as he drove to the exit gate.
    She reached around her seat to push Eli’s shoulder. Her hand came away with blood. She wondered how many external hits he had. “Eli, you awake?” Nothing. She pressed her finger into his wrist, detecting a pulse. “He’s alive. But he looks bad.”
    “The druid will survive.” He glanced at Eli in the rearview.
    “How do you know that?”
    “I know. Don’t talk. Smile.”
    The attendant leaned out of his stand to scan beyond them into the parking deck. “You guys see or hear anything weird? I thought I heard a gunshot or something.”
    In a smooth American accent, Alexi said, “Nah. We were on the third level. Probably a car backfiring or something above us.”
    “You forgot to get your ticket validated,” the attendant chastised, but he wouldn’t meet Alexi’s gaze.
    Alexi handed the guy a ten. “Have you seen the new photography exhibit? My wife thought it was amazing. ’Course it put Jack back there to sleep. He’s not an artsy guy.”
    The attendant nodded and made change. As he handed Alexi two ones, he gasped. His face ghosted with the telltale reaction to Alexi’s aura. The gatepost shot upright.
    Alexi drove away from the garage fast, although traffic slowed him.
    She palpated her right arm. It stung. Her hand came away soaked in blood. She caught Alexi’s glower.
    “How bad?” he asked.
    “Not sure. Just a superficial hit. I—”
    “We need to get you to your healer. And him.” He jerked his head toward Eli.
    “How do you know he survives? Crap, he looks bad.” She pressed two fingers into Eli’s neck to feel a pulse again. Still there.
    “How much more do you need to convince you that your druids can’t protect you?” He cursed in his native language and gripped the steering wheel tight.
    Irritation snapped her out of her Alexi hero worship tailspin. He still didn’t think she could take care of herself and didn’t respect her decisions. “Why are you following me? You made it obvious last year you want nothing to do with me. And you work for the OLM crazies that want to murder me after they dissect me like an insect…again.”
    “I am the only person allowed to kill you. Apparently, I’m also the only one qualified to save you from yourself.” His head swiveled to meet her gaze. “After what just happened in the parking deck, I’m mad enough at you right now to consider killing you myself.”
    She regarded him with a kind of fury sweeping through her that gave way to laughter.
    He frowned and shook his head. “What?”
    Throwing him off elated her. She touched his hand where he gripped the manual shift column, smiling when he tensed. She traced his strong fingers. “Why did you run from me last year?”
    “We are not doing this, not right now.”
    She caught her breath at what she saw in the depths of his eyes. Raw desire, need, and something else. Concern, but maybe more?