My lips pulled back in a feral grin. "Because my boss owns this place."
His eyes widened with fear a split second before they clouded over with resignation. "You're here for me."
I didn't bother to answer him. What was the point?
I saw the moment he decided to take me out first and launched myself at him. He didn't even have time to pull the trigger before I backed him up with a left hook to the jaw. Then I knocked the gun out of his hand.
But he was prepared.
Light glinted off the blade of the knife that appeared in his other hand. He came at me, slashing it wildly through the air. I easily dodged his clumsy attacks before grabbing his wrist and squeezing until he cried out, the knife clattering to the ground to join the gun. Still holding his wrist, I head-butted him, feeling bone and cartilage crunch under the impact. He howled in pain, hands flying to his broken nose.
I grabbed the kid by the front of his shirt and slammed him back against the brick wall of the alley before letting go again. He was dazed, blood streaming from his nose and down his chin.
"Please," he gasped, his fingers like talons as he tried to keep me away. "Don't do this."
I stared at him impassively, feeling nothing as I regarded his battered face. "It's nothing personal," I told him evenly. "I'm just following orders. And you should've stayed in New York."
His eyes widened in terror as I wrapped one hand around his throat. He struggled weakly, but already his movements were growing sluggish as I cut off his air supply. I watched as his face turned red, then purple. His eyes bulged and his mouth gaped like a fish out of water.
Only then did I slide my knife between his ribs, the sharp blade nicking bone before finding the space between his ribs, over and over, until we were both covered in his blood.
Just as his body went limp, I heard a noise at the end of the alley. I turned to see a couple of drunk guys stumbling past, likely on their way to blow their paychecks on Luca's dancers. Cursing under my breath, I let the kid drop bonelessly to the ground and stepped back into the shadows.
Pulling a burner phone out of my pocket, I dialed Milo's number. "I need you to get to the alley that runs alongside Luca's club," I told him when he answered. "As soon as possible."
"I'm already on my way."
I ended the call and destroyed the phone, tossing it into the nearby Dumpster as I passed it. I waited several beats before I left the alley and went back to my car, keeping my head down and staying out of the light so no one would see the shine of blood on my clothes.
Checking to make sure I hadn't been seen, I got back in the SUV and started to drive, the Russian already forgotten. I paid no attention to where I was going until I saw the gates leading onto Luca's property. The blood lust had subsided, as had the demons that demanded the sacrifice. Except for one.
Luna.
Now, an entirely different kind of lust was taking over. And if she was so interested in the scars that covered me, well, hell, maybe I'd just let her fucking see them.
A cold sweat broke out across my skin as I thought of undressing in front of Luna. Of letting her see me for what I was. And part of me wanted her to know me. All of me. Just like I now knew all of her.
My dick swelled at the memory of her wet heat pulsing around it.
I parked my car in the driveway and stepped out, my boots crunching on the gravel. The night air cooled my face, and I took a deep breath, the smell of blood and violence filling my nose.
Light spilled out from the windows of the house, casting shadows on the grass and driveway. I knew Luna was inside,waiting for me. Probably pacing my cell, waiting for me to come back so she could beg and plead with me to let her out. Or perhaps she would scream at me this time. Now that she'd had a taste of freedom, she'd want more. She didn't understand that she was safe in there. Didn't appreciate the peace I offered her.
I unlocked the front door and stepped inside, my heart beating a staccato rhythm in my chest. I'd make her fucking scream. But not in anger.
As I stalked to the back of the house where the bedrooms were located, the smell of sex lingered in the air, and I moaned aloud, knowing she was caught like a bird in a cage. Helpless. Unable to get away.
The bedroom door creaked as I opened it, and Luna's eyes widened in fear when she saw me. I could only imagine what I looked like in the soft light of the lamp.
I unlaced my boots and kicked them off. "You want to see them?" I asked her. "Do you want to see what yourfatherdid to me?" Grabbing the bottom of my shirt, I started lifting it up, turning at the last second so my back was to her. I'd save the best for last.
I heard her sharp intake of breath behind me, and I froze for just a second before I continued pulling off my bloody shirt.
Was it the blood? Or my scars that had her speechless?
I glanced over at the lamp on my nightstand. It seemed unnaturally bright. But I guess it didn’t matter. Not now. Slowly, I turned around.
Luna stood in the middle of the cell. Her hair was disheveled, and her blue eyes were wide on my face. I lifted my chin in challenge, and she dropped them to my chest and arms, thenlower, to my stomach, and over to my left hip where a wide, raised white scar curled toward my groin before disappearing beneath my pants. Her expression was hard to read as her eyes met mine.
