Page 38 of Voracious

My hellion doesn’t look up from pretending to study the menu and there’s only intrigue in her voice.

“Why did you follow me?”

I don’t have an answer. If I tell her the truth, she’ll be uneasy, and I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.

“I was hungry, got a problem with it, lisichka?”

Ana finally looks up, focusing on my neck and I sit taller for some reason as she tilts her head a fraction like she’s studying me.It’s not uncomfortable despite there being a chance she’s calculating slitting my throat. Her observation is cut short asthe waitress comes back to take our orders and my hellion is starving because she orders half of the items on the menu. When we’re left alone again she lets her thoughts free.

“How long did the tattoo on your neck take to heal?”

I can’t remember and I hate it, so I give a bullshit answer, forcing her to talk more. “It depends on the person, and how many sessions you do. Are you planning on adding something to it?”

She shakes her head, and she allows me to bask in the sound of her voice, telling me her plans.

“I want my full body covered, not my back. Those scars can’t be covered. But tattoos get itchy when they’re healing and if my neck is itchy then that will be annoying.”

There’s no emotion in her voice regarding the scars. It’s destroying me knowing they’re on her skin and I can’t take them away. Ana’s slowly opening up and I’m in awe of the privilege as she pulls her sleeve up and examines her forearm.

“These ones weren’t too bad. I can’t even see them anymore.”

Ending on a sigh, she slowly lets her arm rest on the table. My hands automatically move to brush the skin.There’s no scarring on her hand and I can’t see any under the tattoos but as soon as my fingers graze her wrist I can feel them. It doesn’t flow in a pattern, there are patches of her skin that are free from marks, but the ridges show how deep they went, the ink has been pressed into her skin to hide any shadows and my voice drops to a whisper, “What happened?”

She’s unbothered by the fact she was hurt and finds humor in it.

“I was dumb and fell over into the puddle, because I didn’t realize my sleeve was soaked in turpentine when I lit the match, poof, it lit my sleeve on fire.”

I’ll hate any answer she gives yet I can’t stop myself from asking, “How old were you?”

She’s young, the scars are healed, and she’s always been covered when she fights so I don’t know when she could have got them. But she breaks me without meaning to as she gives the worst answer possible.

“The first time I tried to burn it all? I think I was five that day.”

Fuck me, I’m going to break down and embarrass myself. Five years old. She was only on this planet for five fucking years and a fiery death was a better option than whatever the fuck she’d experienced. My emotions are forced on hold as the table is filled up with food and I can’t hold it back as soon as we’re alone.

My voice is choked, turning rough without meaning.

“Come here.”

She doesn’t move and picks up her knife and fork, a little smile that barely lifts her lips on her face as she looks at the steak knife.

I pat the seat beside me to get her to move, she asks, “Why?”

“Because I need to hold you in the next three seconds, or I’ll have a fucking breakdown.”

There’s too much honesty in my answer which I chase away by grabbing her plate, I move it so it’s closer to me and she follows it with an eye roll. I make sure I don’t cover her face as I pull her into my side so she can eat and kiss the top of her head with a promise that no one will get close to hurting her ever a-fucking-gain.I’ll give her whatever she wants to make up for all the pain and suffering she’s been through.

Her whisper has a smile pulling at my lips. “Don’t pity me, I got rid of two guards that day.”

There’s nothing but pride filling me. At five she was lethal, and I sit back, allowing her enough space to eat comfortably without me wrapped around her.

SIXTEEN

Ana

Iforgot that a full stomach makes me tired, and I can’t even keep my eyes open or support my head. Breaking the etiquette rules Yulia enforced in me, I rest my elbow on the table and catch my cheek against my palm. My skin feels hot and I’m going to burst. But I got my steak. I’ll tell Nina to come here when I find her. If she doesn’t eat meat they have other options. I push that thought out of my head because there’s only one person who would make a person without options refuse to eat meat and she can’t be with Rowan. She has to be with someone else, or she won’t be alive.

Fingers touch my forehead at the same time as Dima’s voice in my ear, closer than I thought it would be.

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