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As he tucks the throw around me like a cocoon, I turn my head to face him. He’s bare-chested and wearing a pair of jogging bottoms, and my eyes rove over his chest taking in the black reed tattoos, before flicking back up to meet his gaze. A flop of dark hair is falling into his eyes as he looks at me in much the same way he did right before he wrapped his hands around my throat and squeezed the breath from my lungs. I shiver involuntarily, residual fear causing a low moan to break free from my mouth.
“I won’t touch you. I promise,” he repeats.
If I had the energy I would laugh because who can trust a promise coming from a man who takes whatever he chooses regardless of the consequences. All I can do is continue to stare at him, my gaze roving over his face. His mask is gone but a new one sits in its place, and I don’t know if this one is real or not. I can’t trust myself to know the truth. Right now he’s a man caught up in a tight bundle of agony. His dark brows meet in a frown, his nostrils flare under a strong nose. His plump lips part as his chest heaves with every breath. His cheeks, chin and throat are covered in a dark stubble. His neck has a cut right across it, a thin scab showing evidence of a fight I’ve no memory of.
“What happened?” I find myself asking.
“Konrad.” He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing under his skin. “He held a knife to my throat when I tried to stop Jakub from killing you again.”
“I see,” I mutter, uncertain how I feel about that. Mixed emotions serve up a cocktail of thoughts that I don’t have the stomach for.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers out, brushing the tip of his nose against mine gently. It’s a moment of purity, truth,remorse, that should comfort me. It doesn’t. For a moment he hovers above me, staring down as he waits for me to acknowledge his apology. When I don’t, he gives me a sharp nod, then draws back, settling down beside me. Both of us stare up at the ceiling. After a beat he speaks. “You’re right to be afraid. I’ve given you every reason to fear me, Christy. But know this, you’re mine whether you want to be or not. You were the moment I pulled you from the fire.”
“And your brothers?” I question, the words thick, heavy on my tongue.
“Are still trying to figure out whether they want to fuck you or kill you.”
“So nothing’s changed then,” I croak.
“You’re wrong.Everything’schanged.”
I heave out a sigh, the truth of his words sliding into my bloodstream and sparking something to life within me. I’m not sure what the feeling is, but it’s no longer just apathy and numbness that sits heavy in my chest. It’s so much more than that.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” he asks.
“I understand,” I whisper, giving Leon my back as I turn on my side and hold onto that tiny spark of life in my chest like it’s a lifeline. It’s only when my eyes drift shut that I truly understand the feeling for what it is...
Vengeance.
