Page 22 of Hunter's Trial

“Shh, it’s going to be okay. I’m here now.” Nikolai mutters into my hair.

I don’t think I fully realized just how badly I needed to hear those exact words until I heard them.

“Nothing is going to happen to you while I’m here, Kate, I promise.” Nikolai reassures me while smoothing down my hair on the back of my head and cradling me into his broad chest. He smells so good. Oaky and comforting.

I think my hands are shaking - or is my whole body shaking? I can’t seem to make it stop. I try to push away from him - this is wholly indecent, but I just can’t seem to manage it. I can’t think properly. Everything is panic and I just can’t shake it. “I think I’m going into shock…” I hold my hands out in front of me and I can’t stop the trembling.

Nikolai scoops me up like I weigh nothing and carries me over to the couch and sits me down. He leaves my side for only a moment and I swear that as soon as he’s no longer in my sight, my anxiety spikes.

He comes back with a steaming cup of tea that he helps me cup in my hands.

The warmth helps, but not as much as I would like. I can’t tear my eyes from him as he squats down in front of me. Nikolai’s covered in blood. Billy’s blood. His knuckles are swollen and his hands are going to be useless tomorrow if he doesn’t take care of them soon. Such a strange thing to be focused on. He should wash up. Yet, he’s sitting in front of me like he’s so accustomed to wearing blood that he doesn’t even notice the metallic stench filling the space between us.

Am I going to be sick?

Nikolai likely is used to that sort of thing, given the life that he led before I met him.

The look on his face is purely concerned for me, and nothing else. I can see it in the openness of his expression. If I weren’t so freaked out then I would think it was terribly touching. The tea falls out of my hands and soaks into the cheap carpet. If the hot liquid splashed Nikolai, he makes no note of it at all. I throw my arms around his neck and hug him tightly. He’s just so solid and real that it makes the rattling pieces of my chest finally sit still. The trembling slowly subsides and Nikolai just lets me hug him. His arms wrap loosely around me and it doesn’t even occur to me to be embarrassed about what I’m wearing or the fact that it’s far from ‘sexy’ attire.

“How can I help you?” Nikolai asks without letting me go. I can’t explain it but I have the very distinct feeling that he would let me stay here in his arms for as long as I need to. Would he hold me all night if I asked him to?

I want him to stay, but I don’t know how to ask him.

The feeling of safety that he has brought with him isn’t something that I can easily put into words. My fingers twine into his short hair and hold there, clinging to him. I will let him go. I just need another moment with the strength that he provides.

“Can you…” I just can’t bring myself to do it. I can’t ask him. He’s practically a stranger. I have no idea how he got here or what he was doing but right now I just don’t care. Who knows how tonight would have ended if he hadn’t been here to save me. I literally shudder at the thought. But that doesn’t mean that I can ask him to stay. He doesn’t owe me anything. We served our purposes to one another. He made that perfectly clear when he disappeared earlier without so much as a backward glance for me.

“I could stay, if you wanted?” Nikolai offers when I don’t say anything.

It’s like he’s reading my mind.

“Could you?” I say a touch too quickly. “It’s just… if he comes back…”

I should let go of him.

It’s hard to make my arms release him. It was so easy to fit myself into his chest like I just belong there.

“Sure, I’ll just stay here on the sofa in case?” Nikolai offers as his large hands rub up and down my arms.

I should let him. That’s a perfectly reasonable offer. But… it’s not what I want.

My focus drifts to the floor. Normally, I have no problem making the first move. I’m all for being forward when the situation calls for it. I must be more shaken up than I originally assumed. “Liz and I sleep down the hall… what if you’re too far away to hear anything happening?”

Nikolai’s hands pause, only for a moment. He must see right through my shitty excuse. Slowly, my eyes lift from the floor and take him in properly. Besides, he’s going to need to get all cleaned up.

“Get cleaned up… then my bed is more than big enough for the two of us?” I’m sure that I have something upstairs that he can wear. Hell, the shirt that I’m wearing now is more than big enough for somebody his size.

“Are you sure?” Nikolai asks, confirming that I mean what he thinks I do.

It’s probably a mistake but I highly doubt that I’m going to doubt my choice come morning.

The moment I nod my consent, Nikolai scoops me up again and starts to carry me through the house like he owns the place. Certainly took no time in making himself nice and comfortable. It’s funny in a way. I don’t even have time to question how he knows the right bedroom to go into as he nudges the door open quietly with his toe and closes it with a gentle backward kick until it clicks into place. Only then does he set me back on my feet. I could get used to being carried around like that.

“Do- um, do you want to shower first?” I point toward the ensuite bathroom absently.

Geeze. Who is this shy girl? Get a grip!

Nikolai smirks and nods. Then he pulls off his shirt over his head with one hand in a gesture that’s effortlessly sexy. The sight of his bare chest takes my breath away for more than one reason. One, the abundance of tattoos and scars covering his whole torso. The other is the fresh bruises and contusions that he said nothing about from being in prison. I lift a hand and my fingertips brush against the muscled skin there. He covers my hand with his own and smirks like it’s just another day for him.

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