Sia swallowed, her horrified gaze drifting to his scar. “Oh, Trygg.”
He smiled coldly. “I could’ve stopped her before she cut me. I allowed it to happen. I let her ruin my looks, then I turned the blade on her and slit her throat. I left that same night and never looked back.”
Now Sia’s horror seemed to tilt on its axis. Good. Better she look at him with wariness, even fear, than let her last moments with him be ones of pity.
Trygg chuckled humorlessly. “I told you what I was, Sia. A killer. Maybe now you understand.”
She shook her head. “You defended yourself. But why did you let the wound stay after you left Vicky? You’re Breed. Your body should have healed itself before leaving a scar like that.”
“I didn’t want it to heal. I wanted a reminder, so I starved myself for blood as long as I could afterward. My body was too depleted to mend.”
“And you keep your hair shorn as a reminder too,” she murmured softly. “Trygg, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to endure.”
He blew out a harsh breath. “Don’t be. You asked for answers, and I gave them to you. Now, go back to your perfect, sheltered little world with your people and leave me to my business here.”
He turned away from her as a dismissal, waiting to hear her footsteps leaving the room. But she didn’t leave. She came up behind him and her hands rested gently on his back.
“What more do you want, Sia?”
“I want you. Don’t you see that?” Her cheek was warm where she pressed it against him. “Don’t let me walk away like this. I want to feel your arms around me again. I need it, Trygg. Even if it’s the last time.”
He stiffened, steeling himself to all of the emotions that warred inside him at the thought of her leaving for good. When he pivoted to face her, he knew his eyes were ablaze with amber. “One last fuck before you go, is that it?” His words were cruel, but they were the only defensive weapon he had as he stared into her stricken gaze. “I don’t perform on command anymore, Sia. And I don’t need your pity.”
She staggered back on her heels. Tears welled in her wide blue eyes, but they didn’t fall. Her breast was heaving, her mouth slack as she mutely shook her head.
Then she slowly turned away from him and walked out the door.
Chapter 13
Sia felt numb as she left Trygg’s quarters.
Her heart broke for the unimaginable pain and abuse he’d described. She ached to comfort him, but he hadn’t wanted that. He wanted nothing from her anymore, and his rejection opened up a hollow inside her unlike anything she’d ever known.
All the more reason for her to go and never look back.
But leaving Trygg was the last thing she felt ready to do.
Bella and Melena were waiting in the room when she returned. They took one look at her stricken face and rushed to her, ushering her back inside with tender words of concern.
“What happened? Are you all right?”
“Come in and sit down, Sia. You look as if you’re about to collapse.”
She felt like she could crumble, and the depth of her sorrow shocked her. “I really should go,” she murmured, shaking her head. “You’ve all been so kind, and I appreciate that more than you can know. But I have things to attend to before I—”
The sound of heavy boot falls pounding in the corridor drew all of the women’s attention.
Melena’s brows knit in apprehension. “What on earth?”
She and Bella hurried out to the hallway. Sia followed anxiously behind them, just in time to see Trygg jogging past dressed in full combat gear.
“Has something happened?” Bella asked.
He slanted the women a look as he passed, his gaze barely skimming Sia’s. “The tracer we put on Santino’s email address just spit out an alert. He’s got a cargo shipment leaving the port of Naples in two hours, heading for Trapani.”
“What happened to reconnaissance?” Melena asked Lazaro as her mate and Savage joined Trygg in the corridor, all of them garbed for combat. “I thought JUSTIS was going to handle the takedown?”
“No time for reconnaissance,” Lazaro said. “Lucan wants this handled now. JUSTIS can thank us afterward.”
