---- Her breaths came faster now, uneven and frantic.


    He cursed under his breath, realizing he didnt have much time.


    Breathe, he ordered, his voice softer but still firm.


    In through your nose, out through your mouth.


    Do it.


    Now.


    She tried, her lips parting in a trembling attempt toply, but a choked sob escaped instead Damn it, focus! he snapped, frustration flickering in his green eyes.


    His hand reached toward her, stopping short as his fingers curled into a fist.


    He couldn''t touch her.


    He didnt have the right.


    What if his touch made it worse? It was a panic attack.


    What if it happened because of a foreign touch...


    his touch? What if in her past...she was.....


    Zariyan was saved that night from those men but not woman are that lucky.


    His jaw tightened at the very image as he watched her wing at her neck, nails digging into her skin as if she were trying to escape her own body.


    Okay, he muttered, his voice lower, almost hesitant.


    Let''s try something else.


    ---- He leaned closer, his voice steady but tinged with something gentler thanmand.


    Look at me.


    Just my eyes.


    You can do that, cant you? Her hazel eyes, brimming with tears, flicked to his Vulnerable.


    Fragile.


    The cheer that had lit her face earlier was gone, reced by a dread so raw it made something in him twist.


    Good, he said softly.


    Now close your eyes.


    Think of a memorya good one.


    Something that makes you happy.


    Her eyes fluttered shut, hershes damp against her flushed cheeks.


    Her brows furrowed, and he waited.


    What do you see? he asked gently.


    Her voice was barely a whisper.


    There''s...


    nothing.


    Damien''s brows knit together.


    There must be something.


    When was thest time you smiled from your heart? When did someone tell you they loved you? Her lips curved into a ghost of a smile, but it wasnt happy.


    It was bitter, self-deprecating.


    T...


    I smile all ---- the time.


    Its free.


    But love? No one has ever...


    told me that they love me.


    His chest tightened There must be someone? Mother, father, siblings...


    family? My aunt raised me.


    She named me, fed me, clothed me.


    But when I didnt shift, she said I wa defective.


    She threw me out.


    She never said she loved me.


    Her voice cracked, and sheughed, hollow and pained in between her words.


    She said I was too ugly to be loved.


    Damien stared at her, the words cutting deeper than he expected.


    She wasn''t extraordinary beautiful.


    Not like Zariyan, whose beauty was almost otherworldly.


    Men had worshipped the ground Zariyan walked on.


    But this womanshe was in.


    Her dull hazel eyes, button nose, and chapped lips held no ethereal charm.


    She was just...


    her.


    Yet no one had the right to strip her of her worth.


    No ---- one had the right to call her ugly or discard her like she was nothing.


    His hands curled into fists.


    How could people be so cruel, so thoughtless? Ugly things and people aren''t loved, she murmured.


    They''re used and discarded.


    Just like me.


    Her words broke something inside him.


    Tm...


    I''m sorry, she stammered, her voice trembling.


    For what I said earlier.


    I''m stupid.


    I waste peoples time.


    Just...


    leave me.


    I''ll be fine.


    He watched as she struggled to her feet, clutching the tree bark for support.


    She pressed her face against it, clinging to it like it was a person.


    Searching for warmth which wasnt there.


    Minutes passed in silence.


    Damien leaned back against the tree opposite her, his gaze fixed on her trembling form.


    He should leave.


    She''d told him to.


    He had no reason to stay.


    But something stopped him.