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Another uncomfortable, unusual sensation to me. I felt like it would be an invasion of her privacy to delve deeper, not something I’d ever fucking cared about before.
I felt my scowl deepen, hating that she’d worked her way under my skin as swiftly and strongly as she had. I’d never given a shit about what anyone thought or how the outcome would play out. I didn’t care how they saw me as long as they knew I was the one to fear.
Right before she rounded the corner and would have disappeared into the back room, she glanced over her shoulder at me. Our eyes locked, hers flaring slightly, because no doubt she hadn’t expected me to be watching her so closely. I could practically hear the surprised—maybe frightened—inhalation she took. She was afraid, and rightly—smartly—so.
I could’ve said I wouldn’t hurt her, but she would have known that was a lie. And so would I.
She disappeared behind the door, and I drew my attention back to the drunk. I could envision myself killing him ten different ways. At the very thought of ending his life, immense satisfaction ran through me. I fantasized about gouging out his eyes for simply looking at the little waitress. He was the type of man who deserved death ten times over for the heinous crimes he’d committed in life.
I should know, because I deserved it as well.
Lina came out a few minutes later, the jacket she wore light blue in color, faded, and older, with one hand tucked into a pocket. She had her backpack slung over her shoulders, her head tipped down, the long fall of her hair shrouding her profile from me.
She quickly made her way through the diner before opening the door and stepping outside, not once looking at me again. Movement to my left had me slowly looking at the drunk. He pulled his stumbling ass out of the booth, his focus on the door Lina had just left out of. Every muscle in my body tightened in preparation to go after him, knowing exactly what he was doing, knowing the opportunity he saw in this moment.
I left the diner, keeping to the shadows once outside, and immediately spotted Lina up ahead. She moved quickly and was scanning her surroundings.Definitely not a stranger to being on guard.
But she wasn’t alone. I couldn’t see him yet, but I felt my skin tightening, a familiar feeling that covered me when I needed to be on alert. And then I saw him, the fucker keeping close to the buildings, staying within the shadows. He stalked her, and even from my vantage point, I could see a tenseness across Lina’s shoulders.
She knew she wasn’t alone. She couldfeelit. Whether she could see the bastard following her, I didn’t know, but I did notice the way she kept her hand in the pocket of her coat. I knew she had a weapon tucked within.
Smart girl.
I crept closer, my muscles even tighter, my body poised to attack. I felt that familiar bloodlust move through me.
Bloodlust—he and I were old friends.
And then the asshole attacked, lunging for Lina and quickly wrapping his arms around her waist as he pulled her into a darkened corner. I picked up my pace to eat the distance and stopped when I rounded the corner of the building. I saw him only a few feet ahead, his hand around her throat, her eyes wide as she clawed with one hand at where he gripped her.
I was about to bash his skull into the side of the brick building when she pulled out a small canister, pointed it at his face, and doused the fucker in the eyes with pepper spray.
He cursed low, a string of profanities as he let her go and stumbled back, his hands frantically wiping away at his face. I was about to attack, when she reared her leg back and kicked him in the balls, making him crumble to the ground.
Fierce, dark desire shot through me at the fight in her, at how she stood up for herself. I felt the stirring of that pleasure in mycock, my breathing increasing, my heart racing. God, she was gorgeous as she stared down at the fucker with this fierceness and need for survival covering her face.
And then she darted off in the other direction, running fast and hard, her steps echoing off the tall buildings until it was just the prick and me in the alleyway.
I curled my hands into tight fists, then relaxed them. I did this over and over again as I moved closer to him. He struggled to stand up, one hand covering his balls, the other palm still wiping away at his eyes. My boot kicked away a stray piece of glass, and he stilled, looking in the direction the sound came from, his body freezing.
“Who’s there?” He tried to sound stronger than he was. He reached into his jacket to produce a knife, moving it back and forth in front of him as if that would stop me from what I was about to do.
I kept enough distance to where his blade couldn’t touch me, but it wouldn’t matter if he did get me. It wouldn’t do much damage. My tolerance for pain was so high I wouldn’t even feel the blade sinking into my flesh, wouldn’t think twice about wrapping my hands around the edge until it dug into my skin, sliced me up, and covered the ground in blood. In fact… I anticipated whatever pain he thought he could inflict.
I looked at his hand that was wrapped tightly around the handle, remembering how he’d curled his fingers around Lina's slender neck. I had no doubt she’d have a mark come morning. And that had my rage intensifying. I’d already decided to kill him, but now I’d make his death excruciating.
In a move so fast he wouldn’t have been able to stop me even if he could’ve seen, I had his knife in my hand and my fingers wrapped around his thick throat. He was strong, even in his intoxicated state. But I was stronger.
The stench of him was overpowering, but I leaned my full weight into his body, bringing us closer, cutting off his airflow until he started clawing at my hand, desperate to suck oxygen into his lungs.
I said nothing. There were no words that needed to be spoken. I was going to take his life as easily as if I blew out a candle, and there was nothing he could do about it. He’d signed his death warrant the moment he looked at Lina. He’d accepted this fact the moment he laid a hand on her.
And I didn’t try to sift through why I felt so strongly about this, about her. It was just this feeling that needed to consume me, or nothing was right and good in my life. It was this powerful urge to take out any threat that presented itself to her.
I would be her defender. I would be her assassin.
He started struggling less, his body relaxing farther as he got weaker, as asphyxiation claimed its icy, dark hold on him. I lifted the knife and looked at the blade, the serrated edge gleaming and sharp. This wasn’t just a simple weapon. This was a hunting knife, one meant to field dress an animal in the wild.
And I was going to use it on him in the most brutal fashion imaginable.
