His eyes traced slow invisble lines across her skin, calculating. She seemed so young. And he felt so damn old. He'd seen so much, but then who was he to assume she had not as well? Perhaps she had and was just better at handling it than he was.
He'd never imagined how deeply death would effect him. It wasn't as though he'd never battled, never considered how it may haunt him to take a life. Their deaths hit him harder than he ever thought possible, though. He never thought on how easily someone could take them away from him. Maybe he just never considered how much they really meant to him. He was a horrible mate, a terrible father.
His eyes glinted like steel as the tang of self-hate snaked back into his blood, still openly roving her figure. He could almost feel the monster in him respond to his emotions and try to stir. The sweeping curves of her body agreed she was young, so strong and graceful. Ripe. A prime treat. Young...
But not too young.
What? He didn't just think that.
Shame chilled his veins, tossing icey water on his heart. One minute he was thinking of his dead family, passively calculating their age difference, then the next moment he was practically salivating with primal lust. Barbarian. There was no way in hell he should be thinking of -shut up, already.
He jerked his gaze off her figure and to her face. But instead of reproach for his improprieties, her glittering eyes boldly returned his attentions, scouring his body with interest. Something within him answered that call despite his reservations. His mouth felt suddenly dry, and his eyes heated with intensity. And her next words hadn't helped at all.
"Thing is, you have this way of making danger sound awfully appealing."
He ripped his eyes from her, ears flicking back in irritation and shoulders tense with strain. This was not going in a good direction; he needed to stop this, now. She couldn't know she taunted a beast that would sooner harm her than love her. There was no affection in him, only feral hunger and greed. He couldn't allow it to defile him in this way.
He'd meant with his warning that it wasn't safe for a girl to be on her own out here, but with every passing moment, the greatest growing threat to her was him.
Finally, he could feel the soft brush of bitter pain return to him. So many times it had eagerly fueled his wild rage, and he welcomed it as an old friend, joining forces with its supportive strength. The flame tempered his defenses, forged his heart in iron. A barrier behind his glaring eyes locked into place as he returned to her face.
"Time for you to go now," he said coldly, "Where do you live?"
The little part of him, a sliver of his old self, insisted on escorting her. The rest of him, though, either wanted to chase her off or... something else entirely. Something he knew he should not explore. His feet shifted restlessly, itching to get her moving and out of his hair.