Page 42 of Sinner's Sacrifice

She’d never been so happy to see his ridiculously sharp teeth.

The next moment, Yvgeny moved. Somehow, he ended up crouched over her as he shoved the depraved murderer across the room.

Something bounced on the carpet. A knife. The serial killer reached for the weapon, but Yvgeny got there first, flinging the weapon at the wall, embedding it up to its hilt.

The psychopath punched Yvgeny in the stomach, then tried to follow that up with a kick, but Yvgeny grabbed the killer by the neck and lifted the other man right off his feet.

What the hell kind of workout did Yvgeny do to have that kind of strength?

He pivoted, then plowed the murderer’s face first into the carpet, his hand on the man’s neck, and a knee in the small of his back.

Yvgeny leaned down and growled something in the other man’s ear. Then he turned his head and incandescent gaze toward Sam.

The force of it made her jerk back, the most primitive part of her brain registering the danger written on every part of his body. This was a man who could kill, who had killed, but unlike the worm who’d attacked her, Yvgeny radiated emotion.

Anger wasn’t the only emotion on his face. There was fear there, too. Concern and disgust crowded the edges of his lips and nose as well.

“Are you hurt?” Yvgeny asked, the words coming out in a snarl so shredded by his teeth they were almost unrecognizable.

“No,” she said. How she spoke at all in the face of all that rage and violence, she wasn’t sure.

“If you want this piece of shit alive,” Yvgeny said, still staring at her. “Get him out of here and away from me.”

Baz strode into view with Nika beside him. She had a set of handcuffs out. Baz took over for Yvgeny, pulling the killer’s hands behind him so Nika could put the cuffs on him. Baz yanked him to his feet and half marched, half carried him out of the room.

“Wait, wait,” the killer sputtered. “Who are you? You’re violating my rights!”

“You want us to leave you here? With him?” Baz asked, his tone not much calmer than his cousin’s. “We’re trying to keep you breathing and on this side of the dirt.” The horrible man made some kind of response, but Sam lost track of the garbled nonsense. She couldn’t take her eyes off Yvgeny.

He had moved aside, kneeling on one knee, his gaze locked on her face. His fists were clenched, and his jaw looked like it was going to shatter at any moment.

“Sir?” Mason’s voice came from outside the room. He didn’t elaborate, just spoke the one word with about ten thousand questions in it.

After one more second of spine-chilling eye contact, he closed his eyes. “One moment.”

When he opened them again, she could see that he’d regained some control over his emotions. Not all of it, perhaps not even enough, but some.

“Key,” he said, and held out his hand.

Mason tossed him something, and a moment later, Yvgeny was unlocking the cuffs on her wrists.

“Are you injured?” he asked as she rolled over and up into a sitting position.

“My head,” she said, putting one hand over the sore spot on her skull. “He knocked me into the wall pretty hard.” She conducted an internal review. “I don’t think I have a concussion, but things got a little fuzzy there for a few moments.”

Yvgeny got to his feet and held out his hand to her. She put one shaking palm against his warm skin. He pulled and a sudden stab of pain in her chest made her cry out and grab at the area.

“You’re hurt.” He said it like an accusation, like she’d done it on purpose to piss him off.

“I didn’t even know about it until now,” she said through gritted teeth.

“He cut you?”

“I don’t think so. No, I think it’s my ribs. Maybe he kicked me after he tossed me against the wall.” She let go of his hand so she could use both of hers to push herself up off the floor.

Before she’d moved, he was crouched next to her and sliding his arms under her. He stood with no hint of effort and strode toward the doorway.

“Get a car,” Yvgeny said to Mason. “And call the clinic. I want a doctor to see her, and an x-ray done.”