“What does that mean?”
“A little rabbit. Because you keep running away even when you’re sitting right next to me.”
I suck in a breath, turning my eyes toward the still crying skies. “You run if you want to survive.Irun because I need to survive, and once you start, it’s very hard to stop. It becomes a part of your DNA.”
“I’ll never be able to catch you then?”
I turn my gaze back to his intense one. “Not unless I want to be caught.”
Sava watches me pensively, his thumb rubbing back and forth across his bottom lip. “You were hurt. And I’m not talking about tonight. You were hurt before,” he states, not asking, and I pull my gaze away from his that sees too much, instead opting to look into the darkness of the night and nod.
“Yes, I was.”
“Emett’s father.” Again, not a question, and I wonder if he knows. But he can’t, so I nod again.
“Him and others. It’s a reoccurring trend in my life.”
“Do you want me to kill him? All of them?” Sava asks so nonchalantly that it makes me snap my eyes back to his, but all I find in them is absolute truth and calming confidence like this would be the most natural thing to suggest.
“You say that like you mean it.”
“Because I do.”
“And you’d do that? Kill him and whoever else for me?”
His gold eyes flash with the truth and I know it deep in my soul that he would.
“What if I told you I already did?” A chill that has nothing to do with the cold runs down my spine.
“Those men? You killed them?”
Severin holds my eyes for a few heavy seconds as untold secrets swirl between us before looking away. “Yeah. The men.” His throat bops. “Does it scare you, Lychik? That darkness that you brought back to light?” Sava leans in, gently pinching my chin with his forefinger and thumb. The gesture so at odds with the air surrounding us.
“No,” I tell him almost immediately, the answer slipping from my lips so easily like it was always there, like I’ve always known it. And I know, deep inside, that his darkness doesn’t scare me, but it should.
Sava studies me for another beat before his lips brush against mine. That delicious scratch of his short beard, dragging against my skin.
“Mine,” he whispers into the kiss. “All mine…”
I pull away slightly and hold his narrowed gaze with my own. “I was. Just tonight. I was.”
“Aurora…” His eyes darken.
“I know what the score is, Sava.”
“What score, Aurora? What damn score? We had sex once and that’s it? Is that the score you’re talking about?”
“Yes.” I swallow hard. “And I don’t hold you to anything you said earlier tonight. I know we were both high on adrenaline and all that. I know you didn’t mean all those things that you’ve said. It’s okay.”
His jaw clenches so hard, I’m afraid it’ll pop or crack. “Fine,” he bites out after a few seconds. That one word laced with hurt and hardness.
My heart starts to ram against my chest. I’m doing the right thing. I know how it’ll end. I…I…
“Go, Aurora,” Severin snaps, but I can’t move.
I’m doing the right thing!I scream at myself, but my body is frozen in place.
“I said, go! Run!” he shouts, his body shaking, and finally the fear I know so well kicks in, and I run.
