Jasmin's POV
My body refused to obey me.
Not from terror, but because massive tree trunks had collapsed above me, creating a suffocating tomb of wood and shadows. The weight pressed down, stealing oxygen from the cramped space beneath.
Yet what truly robbed me of breath wasn't the crushing load overhead. It was the pair of midnight blue eyes boring into mine, unrelenting and fierce, like iron shackles I couldn't escape.
Swift.
He hovered mere inches above me, crimson trickling down his angular jawline from a gash near his hairline. His powerful arms braced on either side of my skull, every muscle locked tight as he supported what should have flattened us both into the earth.
Not a single branch had grazed me.
He had absorbed the full impact.
While I lay protected beneath him.
Bearing it all across his shoulders like some mythical creature. Like a monster. Like something beyond human limits.
My throat worked nervously. My mouth fell open in shock. "Why did you protect me?"
