Chapter 25

Ramon POV

The raw pain in Lake’s voice when he begged me to help him forget broke something fundamental inside me. But it was my own desperate need to apologize—for not finding him sooner, for allowing him to suffer through years of degradation and fear—that made the space between us disappear entirely.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered against his lips as I kissed him, meaning it with every fiber of my being. “I’m so fucking sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”

Lake’s response was immediate and desperate, his hands fisting in my shirt as he pulled me closer. I lifted him easily, my alpha strength making his slight weight negligible, and deposited him on the bed with careful reverence. When I settled over him like a weighted blanket, his entire body seemed to relax for the first time since the morning’s assault.

“Help me forget,” he whispered again, seeking my lips with an urgency that spoke of his need to replace Frank’s violation with something gentle, somet