Page 24 of Assassin's Mark
Chapter Twelve
It was amazing what frustrated lust could accomplish. The longer I lay awake, tied to the bed, the harder I fanned the flames of my anger, until the need to retaliate felt like it would burst from beneath my skin.
And still I lay there.
Levi came in hours later and walked straight to the bathroom. I heard the water come on, and immediately images of him naked, water skimmingthat beautiful body, filled my mind. Was he just as aroused as I was? He’d been hard when he left me here. If that bastard was taking care of himself in the shower while I was stuck, helpless, cuffed and angry, I would—
Well, I would nothing, apparently. What could I do but lie here and fume? Damn the man.
He didn’t speak when he came to bed. Moonlight kissed the naked skin of his torso, skirtingthe edges of his tattoos and the black outline of his boxers. Ignoring my glare, he leaned over, and I felt the tug on the cuffs as he tested them, the skim of his fingers along the insides as he checked my wrists. His chest was right there above me, the sight and scent drowning my senses, and I had to fight the impulses warring inside—to kiss that delectable expanse of skin or bite hard, sharingmy anger and frustration with the man who’d sparked them both.
I counted it a victory that I did neither.
Long minutes later I was rewarded by the sound of Levi’s breathing going heavy and deep. Time passed at a snail’s pace. My arms began to ache as the night wore on, and sleep slipped farther and farther away. Rolling from one side to the other did little to settle me, nor did my wanderingthoughts or the unfamiliar heat in the bed beside me. Eyes closed, eyes open—it didn’t matter, so I took advantage of the lack of surveillance and used the time to memorize Levi’s features in the faint light descending from the windows.
Most people’s faces softened when they slept. Some looked silly, all slack-jawed and smushed into the pillow. Not Levi. If anything his face took on a sharperedge, as if he was working hard to hurry through the night. The full lips, so soft against mine, were thin and tight, a deep vee creasing the skin between his eyebrows. My fingers itched to trace those lines, to soothe the determination into relaxation. My body curved toward him without my consent, seeking out his warmth, his strength, the solid presence I needed to anchor me in the endless night.
If only he could anchor me when I was awake as well.
Levi shifted, the faintest rumble coming from his throat. A dream?
“No!”
The sharp bark startled the lassitude from my body. Definitely a dream, and about nothing pleasant if his growing agitation was any indication. But then, he was an assassin. He’d done plenty to cause nightmares, hadn’t he?
The tossing and turning grew worse, and morethan once Levi called out in his sleep—nothing I could understand, but the tone… I shivered, the movement clanking my cuffs against the headboard.
Levi’s head jerked around. His eyes were open, staring, their expression chillingly blank. I shrank back toward the edge of the bed.
“Levi, wake up. It’s okay; it’s just me. Wake up.”
A feral growl left his lips.
“Levi?” His name wavered as I tippedback, praying I wouldn’t fall. “You need to wake up now, okay?”
His eyes narrowed. I blinked, and that quick his hands were around my throat. Long fingers squeezed down, cutting off my air, sending me into a spiral of panic. No matter which way I turned, how I bucked, how hard I tried, I couldn’t get air, couldn’t speak, could do nothing but stare into those blank eyes and pray Levi woke up beforehe killed me. My cuffed hands burned from the scrape of the metal on delicate skin, the screaming pain in my lungs echoing in the joints as I instinctively fought to free myself, to escape—but I didn’t have my hands. The only free part of my body was my legs, lying like dead weights on the damn mattress.
Instinct flared awake. I lifted, trying to get my knee between us, trying to shove Levi off.His body stiffened, his head turning toward the attack.
My shin hit him square in the face.
With a bellow he fell back. I sucked in air, frantic to fill my vacuum-sealed lungs, to cry and scream and fight, all the things I’d been denied with his hands strangling me. When Levi reared over me, blood dripping from his swollen nose, instinct threw me backward, away from the threat. Away from thefury raging in his eyes.
Air met my back as I fell off the bed. Most of me, anyway. The cuffs trapped my wrists still, sending sudden agony shooting up my arms and finally drawing out the scream I’d held inside too long.
“Fuck! Abby—”
Levi disappeared from view. Moments later asnicksignaled the release of my handcuffs. Relief howled through my muscles, stealing all my attention as I huddledagainst the wall, face mashed into the side of the mattress to muffle my crying.
I don’t know how long I hid there, making myself as small as possible. Long enough that the fear and pain trickled out with the tears. Long enough that Levi’s absence finally registered. And yet I couldn’t keep from tensing when the whisper of his footsteps approached.
He didn’t touch me, not at first. Instead hisbreath coasted over my face as he leaned close, his forehead almost against mine, turning the hot trails of my tears to cool paths of relief. Fingertips, rough and yet oh so gentle, followed. His touch, a weapon mere moments ago, now brought the shattered pieces of me back together. I ignored the warning that thought triggered at the back of my mind and shifted closer to the strength surroundingme.
Hard hands pushed behind my back, beneath my legs. A cry escaped when he lifted me, but I had no more than a moment to absorb the heat of his body before he settled me on the bed.
“Wha—”
But Levi was gone before I could get the question out. Probably best. I doubted I could do anything but croak, my throat thick and swollen and still gridlocked with fear.
