Page 57 of The Hunted
A small smile had teased Santino’s lips, hoping she’d resort to violence.
He’d seen her put down Martin with ease and knew she could hold her own based on what he saw of her sparring. He wanted to sit back and let her handle herself. It would have given him deep satisfaction watching her make him beg, but something stirred inside of him when he watched the predatory gleam in Mark’s eyes get more pronounced. The gnawing in his stomach roared to life, and he heard the word ‘kill’ whispered on the breeze.
It had his feet moving, ready to strangle Mark with his bare hands if necessary, which made zero sense because he’d just gotten off a fresh kill. He should have been sated, but seeing Mark’s knee touch Silva’s made him want to remove that body part with a rusty knife.
She’s mine.
“I’m sorry.” Santino shook his head, pushing his violent need down. He had to refocus on what Silva was saying. “I think I’m misunderstanding you.” He followed Silva’s line of sight to two children giggling on the swing set. They were young, couldn’t have been more than seven.
“Hi. I’m Shea. You want to be friends?” He nodded, looking over the unruly hair that seemed to stick out in all directions.
“This place sucks and sometimes they can be mean and hurt us. But if we stick together, I’ll protect you, okay?” He nodded again. It felt good to have a friend here. The last place he was in, no one wanted to be his friend because he hurt another kid there who’d been bullying him. But it didn’t matter, he was here now and they would protect each other always.
Santino rubbed at the space between his eyes, trying to ease the growing tension. He wasn’t sure where that flash of memory had come from, but it couldn’t have been him. Neither kid felt like him.
“Our friend, Mark, said he was here with his niece.” Silva’s voice was low. “But you just said he’s not here anymore, but the kids he pointed out as his niece was one of those two little ones on the swing.”
Her knee started bouncing, and he placed his hand on her thigh to keep her still, to let her know he was there for her. “Is this okay?” he asked. She nodded, putting her hand over his.
Santino let his gaze sweep the park, wondering if that guy had been a regular creep or if he’d just come face-to-face with the Reaper. If he’d been here for the children, he wouldn’t have sat so close to Silva and drawn attention to himself. But if he was the Reaper….
He would have sought out a connection to me. That fuck.
Santino’s pulse jack hammered. He didn’t like the threat he just exposed Silva to. His gaze swept over her and the way her brows were pinched downward. She stopped bouncing her leg, but she was chewing on the bottom of her lip. He didn’t like the idea of anyone touching her, of anyone using her to get to him.
The intelligent thing to do would be to push her away, even if losing her would prove Amra right. He’d be back to square one trying to blend in, but if the Reaper thought she was important, she could still be a target.
Besides, she was his.
His to touch, his to taunt, and his to kill if it ever went that far.
“I didn’t see him come in or when he sat down beside me.” Silva’s voice cracked. Her accent was coming through as she continued to talk. “I was distracted.” She ducked her head, a flush coating her cheeks, which made him think the distraction had been him.
“But I was quick to ask him who he was here with because one, there are other benches that were empty, why would you sit so close to someone you don’t know? Who does that?” She huffed out a breath, looking adorably annoyed that someone tried to be friendly with her.
“And besides the fact that it’s weird for a grown adult man to be in the park by himself,” she scoffed, “his smile kind of creeped me out. It’s hard to explain but myyou should probably run far away and fastmeter was going off like crazy.”
She dug into the white paper bag. “Aww, you got me a chocolate croissant. Yes! You’re the best!” She did a little dance in her seat. “I realize I probably should have asked you for water and maybe something with protein because I’ve been running, but this is way better. Thank you.”
She leaned over and kissed his cheek, surprising them both. It was such an innocent display of gratitude and affection it made him want to find a way to have coffee and chocolate croissants delivered to her daily.
God, she was so animated when she let her guard down. He realized she was more reserved when she was cautious, but when she was comfortable she was quite silly. It made his insides feel gooey for lack of a better term. He really needed to figure out how to define his feelings for her, because this added more to her appeal.
He liked that there were layers to her.
If he didn’t think too much about it, she reminded him of his guardian in parts. There was a side to his guardian that no one saw. The woman who enjoyed baking him cookies and making him soup the few times he’d gotten sick. She enjoyed dancing in the kitchen when she thought he wasn’t around.
He liked to think those glimpses were who she would have been if her past had been different. If those dark parts of her hadn’t been so strong.
“You have good instincts, princess.” He squeezed her knee, wondering how long before her instincts picked up on him and who he really was.
How long can I keep her before she finds out the truth or my need to kill her overwhelms me and I can’t fight my baser needs?
“You don’t have to explain why you felt the need to protect yourself.” In his experience, most women had uncanny abilities to pick up on the bad apples, but society and those around them had hammered into them they were being crazy. If there was no proof, how did they know?
Unfortunately for them, they start to believe other people and ignore the gift nature intended them to have.
“I don’t know,” she took a sip of her coffee. “Sometimes I feel bad for judging people, men especially, so harshly. I know it’s not all men, but,” she looked out toward the two little girls on the swing, playing as carefree as children should, “sometimes it is all men.”
