Page 79 of Toxic Salvation
Even she knows better than to argue when Kovan uses that tone of voice. Scowling fiercely, she throws me a dirty glare and starts stomping away.
But when she passes within arm’s reach of Kovan, his hand flies out and stops her in her tracks. “And know this,” he rumbles. “If you ever lay a hand on my woman again, you will have much more to worry about than a little jail time. Got it?”
Her ash-gray eyes double in size. Her scowl grows uglier. Then she tosses her sandy brown hair, rips away from him, and storms out.
28
KOVAN
“That escalated fast,” Vesper mumbles as the two of us stare after Yana’s retreating figure.
“Which is why I told you not to engage with that psycho!” Pavel snaps as he joins us. “Didn’t I say that, like, a dozen times?”
Vesper shrugs. “Yana was bullying Luka. I couldn’t just stand there and let her get away with it.”
“You’re pregnant.” My temper flares as I turn to glare at her. “Do you have any idea how easily she could have discovered that if she’d tackled you? You took an unnecessary risk today.”
“It wasn’t unnecessary. I was protecting Luka.”
I want to shake her and kiss her at the same time. She’s infuriating and brave and completely fucking reckless. “Luka can handle Yana.”
“He shouldn’t have to!” Fire burns in her blue eyes. “He’s a child, Kovan! He’ll have plenty of battles to fight in his life, but his own mother shouldn’t be one of them.”
Her cheeks are flushed, her hair escaping from its ponytail. She looks ready to march back into battle for that kid without a second thought. Nothing I say will ever change that.
“I should go check on him,” she says before I can figure out what to tell her. “He told Yana he hated her and ran upstairs crying.”
“I’ll go.” I start toward the house.
She follows. Of course she does.
“You don’t have to come,” I add.
“I’m not going to push my way in,” she says quickly. “But if he wants me there, I want to be available.”
When we reach Luka’s room, his door is open. He’s curled up on his window seat, staring down at the garden where we just left Yana.
“Hey, buddy.” I step inside while Vesper hangs back in the hallway.
He looks up at me. “Where’s Vesper?”
Two seconds. That’s how long it took for him to dismiss me and ask for her instead. If I didn’t care about her so much, that would piss me the hell off.
“I’m right here, sweetheart,” she answers, appearing in the doorway. “I’m sorry about what happened downstairs.”
He launches himself into her arms. “Why are you sorry? You weren’t the one being a bitch.”
“Luka!” Vesper gasps, cupping his face while I bite back a laugh.
“What?” He looks up at her without an ounce of remorse. “That’s what she is.”
Vesper looks at me over Luka’s head, eyebrow raised.
I shrug. “Kid has a point.”
She tries not to smile. “Still, we don’t use words like that, Luka.”
“What about ‘poopy-headed bully’?”
