I shake my head, quickening my pace. Whatever this fucker thinks is about to happen—he’s wrong.
They both suddenly pick up pace, and I momentarily lose sight of the man’s back as he rounds a corner. I break into a run and rounding the same corner, look left and right. Peering through the night, I see the man closing in on Kat down a grimy dark alleyway.
Fuck.
Her high-pitched scream wrenches out into the night, and bile surges up the back of my throat.I’m going to be too late.
I break into a full-on sprint now, just feet away from the mouth of the alley. Rounding the corner at breakneck speed, I see a man pressed over Kat’s body, pinning her up against the filthy brick wall. I hear her whimper echo down the narrow way, and my heart gives a painful throb. In mere steps, I’m upon them.
My hands seize the scruff of the man’s neck and I yank him back, hard. I cock my fist and slam it into his jaw. His body flies into the opposite wall, doubling over in pain.
Rage surges through me. I advance and strike him again across the mouth. A gush of hot crimson spurts across his face. The man’s head snaps to the side, and he spits a tooth out onto the ground, groaning. Recoiling again, this time I split open his lip and cheek.
I hear a shaky gasp from behind me, and I turn, just in time to see Kat faltering against the wall.
She’s about to pass out,I think.
I abandon my prey to rush to her just as she falls into my arms. I constrict around her like two steel bands, and at the lastsecond, I move my hand to the back of her head to stop her skull from hitting the wet concrete.
“I’ve got you, Doc,” I murmur, watching her hands shake.
Looking down, I spot her trench coat ripped open, and the top button of her black slacks are undone. The zipper of her pants is partially down, and I catch a glimpse of smooth, black satin underneath.Fuck.
Quick footsteps sound on the pavement behind us. Whipping my head around, I see the motherfucker hunched over, and hauling ass down the long alleyway. I continue to hold Kat as his figure rounds the corner, and then he’s gone.
You can run…I think, savagely.
The heavy rain pelts down now, and in my periphery, I spot a small pool of dark blood on the ground from where I struck him. A shining white tooth floats in the middle of it.
Turning back to Kat, I brush her hair from her face and peer down at her. She stares up at me for a long moment, a look of incredulity in her eyes. Rain soaks her beautiful face, wetting her raven hair as she blinks up at me through her glasses.
Then, she breathes out one simple word. “You.”
Me, I think.
“Are you okay, Katherine?” I ask.
Her eyes close momentarily, then her dark lashes flutter open. She nods her head,yes.
Relief floods through me. And I realize that this is the first time I feel her name in my mouth, spoken aloud. Katherine.Katherine. I revel in it. I eat it up in all of its dark deliciousness.
Katherine.
Then, another even more delicious word crosses unbidden into my head:Mine.
And as for that fucking patient of hers… Josh?
Well, he was a dead man walking.
11
CRACKS
KAT
Ithink the trees are whispering my name.Katherine. Katherine. Come lay with us.
Their sound is beautiful and soft. I can taste the sweetness of the wind in their branches. But then, the trees extend their roots, growing long and unnatural. Their tangled knots unfurl toward me, pinching and ripping at my skin. They reach out and push on my head… my head throbs…
