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The silence went on for a long time, and I felt him read every second of it. And then something happened in the body pressed against mine that frightened me more than anything else in that room had.

He went cold.

Not angry. I have seen men when they get angry. They get loud. They move around a great deal and knock into things. Most of which gives you a few seconds’ warning if you know what to watch for. And I got really good at knowing what to watch for… until the one time I didn’t.

This was the exact opposite of that. Every muscle down his front went hard and still, like a wildcat stalking its next meal. His breathing dropped to almost nothing, and I looked up at his face to find it had gone entirely, perfectly blank.

I have only ever seen a face do that once before, a long way back at the beginning of this whole miserable story, on the man I ran fifteen towns from. But he must have seen something in my face then, because his hand came up under my jaw, very gently, and tipped it.

“Whatever you have just decided is happening, I am telling you now that it’s not.” I frowned at that, not entirely sure I knew what he meant but I didn’t get a chance to ask as he went on to elaborate,

“You’re not running and as for my anger, it’s not for you.”

“Then why are you…” Again, he didn’t let me finish the question.

“I am imagining what I am going to do to him,” he said it as simply as a man discussing the weather, and that was the horrifying part of it.

“There will be blood spilled for this… so much blood,” he gritted out in a voice that sounded more like it belonged to the devil and it was the most chilling thing I had ever heard in my entire life.

“In fact, it’s all I can see at the moment, and I would rather not be seeing it while I am touching you. Give me a moment.” My eyes grew wide at that, as astonishment took the place of any fear I’d just had from hearing that voice. And so I stood there, half naked, pinned in a shower stall in a maximum-security prison, and waited while a murderer got hold of himself.

It was insane.

When he came back, he came back all at once. The blankness went out of his face and something else came in behind it, and he lowered his forehead until it was almost touching mine. His hands flat against the wall on either side of me, as he arched his body over me.

“I want a name,” he demanded, and I rolled my lips inward before giving him a small, defiant,

“No.” Again part of me expected him to get angry but he just released a heavy sigh before informing me,

“I will have it eventually.”

“Then you don’t need it from me.”

He scoffed, the hint of a laugh, and it was so unexpected that I flinched hard against the tile.

“There she is again.” He shook his head slowly, still smiling. “God help me.” I had no idea what he meant by that and I certainly wasn’t about to ask.

Then he straightened up and looked down at me for a long moment, before his hand went flat on my stomach again.

“Alright, I will let you keep your secrets for now, little one, but as long as you know, he will pay for this… for marking what is mine.” God help me but when he said this, I couldn’t help the sick and twisted thoughts of delight running through my mind. The ones I knew I would take great pleasure in if I ever got to watch that happen. Because the man who did this to me wouldn’t have stood a chance against someone like the living god in front of me. A monster that handled me with more care than I had ever known in all my life. And the irony wasn’t lost on me seeing as I was currently tied up half naked in front of him after he was the one to put me here.

It was utterly fucked up.

“Now,” he said, and the lightness in it was almost worse than the deadly cold that had been there only moments before. “Before we were so rudely interrupted the other day, where were we?” And just like that thoughts snapped back into the moment.

The infirmary. His palm exactly here. The banging on the door.

Which was why my gaze snapped to the exit making him grin down at me.

“I can assure you, little nurse, there is nobody coming to save you this time,” he said it almost kindly.

“Now. I asked you a question in the infirmary, and I never got my answer… it’s time we rectify that.” His hand slid lower, flat over the wet fabric at the front of my scrubs, resting there, and I swear I felt every callus on his palm through it.

“Are you wet for me, Anna?” My breath hitched and I tensed, letting him feel it.

“No!” It came out fast. Far too fast and on a breath I would have given anything on this earth to have taken back.

“Hm,” he said, and I heard the smile in it.