Page 83 of The Harbinger
Katya’s startled gasp came from behind him, his large frame blocking my indecency from her view.
“U nas yest’ problemy”
“What problem?”
Katya spoke fast as though she’d regretted interrupting our violent encounter, then left when Sacha dismissed her with his hand.
“I’m sorry,” I said during a moment of silence. “I didn’t mean to.”
Sacha tossed the knife to the side and grabbed my wrist, his hand solid but gentle around my delicate bones as he examined the damage, then pressed my wound to his.
“What…” I pulled back with no luck. “What are you doing?”
He moved my hand in a circular motion, rubbing my aching, stinging cut into his wound as he inhaled through his nose. When he finished, he dipped his finger into his gash and pressed it between my breasts.
His soft finger drew an infinity symbol with tails curling off to the sides. Shivers peaked my skin and tightened my nipples as our warm blood cooled in his twisted design. He continued with dots on each side of the infinity and a shape that resembled an L on the left.
My legs trembled as adrenaline poisoned my blood, begging me to run, while my heart thrummed from his gentle touch.What was happening?
When he’d finished his design, he paused, his gaze finding mine in a clash of wars in a room where the silence deafened me. My pulse thumped against his gentle grip, and I fought my tongue to speak. My skin flushed as the heaviness of his body morphed into weightlessness.
We just were.
“Sa—”
He struck out with his bloodied hand, the moment broken, and seized hold of my jaw, his fingers digging into my cheeks. His raw persona reemerged as he slammed his lips down onto mine.
I groaned and trembled, a spark igniting between us as his tongue flicked against my lips. I parted my mouth and welcomed him in, his tongue exploring every crevice with coaxing swirls. He tasted of my musk and something else uniquely him. My free hand ran across his muscular thigh, my nails biting into his flesh as my mind begged for sanity.
Sacha seized my hand as I tried digging further into his muscles and pinned it beside me, breaking off the kiss. Our heavy breaths filled the silence, his forehead to mine as he breathed me in.
“Now you’re mine forever.”
He pulled himself up to his feet, and the warmth from his powerful body drew away, leaving a cold void around me and the stark reality of what I’d just allowed to happen. My arms wrapped around my chest as he pulled on and buttoned his shirt, despite the blood soaking through it, picked up the knife, and left me on the closet floor, my mind disturbed and confused.
Chapter 19
Sacha
“Howlonghasshebeen like this?”
“Not long,” said the nurse who’d been in charge of her care since the beginning, her gaze locked onto the blood staining my chest and trousers. “I sent for you as soon as she turned.”
I walked further into the cold room toward a twin-sized bed with flashing monitors, stats, and an IV bag full of liquid beside it. A giddy quivering settled in my belly at the sight of the frail woman inhabiting the hospital bed, her eyes closed and her hands crossed over her sunken belly. Her skin had grown thin and delicate since I last saw her. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Mia and the look of terror on her face.
She was mine now.
“What did Sergei say?”
“It won’t be much longer.”
Katya stood weeping in the room, her eyes red with irritation, her creamy cheeks blotchy.
Thread and needle keep them closed. Blood dripping down the wound exposed. Tighten the grip so the seams won’t show…
I dismissed her emotional state and turned back to Ina lying in her bed, but Katya’s weeping bled through my glee as I rehearsed the poem that, as a crying young boy, Ina used to berate me with. “Stop.”
She hiccupped and covered her mouth when Catherine walked through the door. “Is it time?”