Page 39 of Wicked Enemy

For a few seconds, Levi only watched me in silence. But he didn’t call me on the lie. Instead, he asked, “How many of those injuries were Christian White responsible for?”

The way he asked that, with that lethal edge to his voice, sent a shiver down my spine. I could almost feel the threat of violence thrumming in the air. Once I told Levi, he was going to hunt White down and inflict every one of those wounds threefold on him. I couldn’t let that happen.

Levi was good, but White was still a worldwalker. Someone who could just appear and disappear at any time and any place. If Levi went up against him blinded by revenge, he was going to get slaughtered.

So I did what I had been doing from the moment we met. I lied to him. “None.”

Confusion marred his brows as he frowned at me. “What?”

“White didn’t touch me. He even specifically told his goons not to hurt me since he was planning to trade me. Damaged goods and all that. But they beat me anyway when their precious master was away so that he wouldn’t know.”

Levi studied me with narrowed eyes, as if he was trying to see through my lies. But if there was one thing I was good at, it was this. I had spent months lying while establishing my cover. And weeks lying straight to Levi’s face without being caught. I might not be as magically powerful as him or as skilled with a blade as him, but I was a much better liar.

Satisfaction flickered through me as he at last gave me a nod, accepting my answer. “I see.”

“Thank you for killing those three assholes, though.”

The words were out of my mouth before I even knew what I was saying.

Shock pulsed across Levi’s face.

And guilt washed over mine as I realized that I had just thanked a dark mage for killing people. By the Current, what was wrong with me? Wasn’t I supposed to be a constable?

But before the guilt and awkwardness could truly set in, Levi said, “They deserved it. After what they did to you.”

I glanced down at my body while sliding my hands away from my thighs and up to my arms. Rubbing the skin around my wrists, I studied my forearms. There was not a single bruise or cut left. Only a few smooth scars. Every single injury I’d had was gone. Healed. My body both felt and functioned like new again.

Except… I could still feel their hands on me.

Could still feel their fingers around my wrists as they held my shackled hands above my head while using my body as a punching bag. Could still feel their hands around my throat and jaw as they forced water down my lungs. Still feel their fingers curling over my pants and shoving them down my legs so that they could sever my hamstrings.

A shudder coursed through my body.

I didn’t want to go back to sleep with those memories in my head. Because if I did, they would settle. I didn’t want to remember their brutal hands on my skin. I wanted it replaced with something else. Something better. Something thatIwanted. Something that made me feel and forget and remember all at the same time.

Before I could change my mind, I rolled over and slung one leg over Levi’s thighs so that I was straddling his lap. Then I locked my fingers behind his neck and pulled his lips down to mine.

He stiffened like a board and jerked his head back.

Panic and regret seared through me as I realized that this might be the last thing he wanted after everything that had happened between us. Just because he had come for me and saved me didn’t mean that everything between us was back to the way it used to be.

I began to scramble off his lap, but before I could so much as lift my weight, Levi’s hands landed on my hips, stopping me.

Uncertainty swirled in his eyes as he searched my face. “Are you sure? After what they…”

Understanding clicked into place.Oh.

“They didn’t rape me,” I answered to his unspoken question. “If that’s what you were worried about.”

His eyes shuttered as a long breath of relief escaped his throat.

“They didn’t do anything like that when they pulled my pants down. They just severed my hamstrings.”

“Just?” It looked like he didn’t know whether to snort or shake his head at me as he echoed, “Justsevered your hamstrings?”

I shrugged. “I’ve been through worse.”

“Have you?”