His hands fisted at his sides. Never in his life had he wanted a woman like he wanted her. The problem was that he wasn’t built for love. His life had twisted him in a way that made it impossible for him to hold on to anything beautiful or precious.

In a way, he was like the Atrika, built for battle, for conflict, for revenge and killing. He was a monster, not fit to hold an angel like Sarafina in his hands. She was too precious to this world. He would only crush her.

Why couldn’t she see that?

Once he’d dreamed of finding a woman like her, of settling down and having children, giving those children the kind of life he’d never had—full of love and stability. Now that he’d met Sarafina he realized how impossible something like that would be for a man like him.

Theo had always worried his father’s brutal heart beat within his chest. It did to some extent, although it was the warlocks who suffered his wrath, not a wife. One thing Theo knew was that he would never raise a hand to anyone he loved. That was one part of his father he’d been lucky enough not to inherit.

Yet Theo had never managed to successfully maintain a relationship in his life. His mother had fled, and Colleen and Ingrid had been killed. Theo knew he wasn’t responsible for any of that—not really—but it still made for a hell of a bad track record.

Sarafina was too precious to gamble with. Theo couldn’t bear the thought of investing all of his heart in her and then losing her.

Gods, it would kill him.

And of course he would lose her. He simply wasn’t equipped to do anything but fumble a relationship with a woman like her.

She deserved someone like Darren or even Eric. Someone who had lived a normal life, who hadn’t had the love and compassion tortured and beaten out of him. His scars went deeper than his flesh and they weren’t easily healed. Sarafina had to realize that.

He was just trying to keep her from being hurt.

He might love her and she might love him—there was little question of that—but sometimes love just wasn’t enough.

Theo indulged himself a moment longer, gazing at her silhouette through the foliage, then melted back into the shadows to keep watch over her until she decided to return to the apartment.

When she finally stepped though the door, he was moments behind her.

She rounded on him in the living room as Grosset trotted into the kitchen to look for food. “Did you follow me?”

Theo shut the door behind him. “Of course I did.”

“Why? Why do you even care, Theo?”

“Sarafina.” He walked to stand directly in front of her. “Of course I care.”

“I thought I was just sex to you.”