Page 28 of Savage Princess

I don’t know where we’re going. All I know is to follow him as we dart across the parking lot, towards the cover of a smaller outbuilding. Levin drags me behind it, leaning around the corner to fire off several shots. I hear distant shouts of pain as he jerks back, slamming another clip into his gun before leaning out again and firing.

“Go!” he shouts at me a moment later, motioning to the right. “I’ll be behind you this time!”

I don’t question him. Some deep-seated instinct warns me that to do that could mean dying instead of making it out of this alive. So I make a run for it, my bare feet slapping against the rough pavement as I clutch the gun in one hand, ready to fire at anything or anyone that comes out at me. It’s not the best of plans, but it’s all I have.

I hear footsteps behind me and hope to god that they’re Levin’s as I dart behind a wall, breathless, my heart pounding in my chest so hard that it hurts. I grip the gun tightly, reminding myself to breathe, not to shoot until I see who it is—and I’m grateful for that caution when I see Levin come around the corner.

“Keep going!” he grunts urgently. “They’re still coming. I’ll be behind you.”

It feels as if it takes everything in me to propel myself down the alleyway. I’m buzzing with adrenaline, high on it, but my mind is frozen. I don’t know where we’re going, and I don’t know if Levin does either, if it’s anything other thanaway from here.And as long as that means getting away from these men who want us dead, that might be fine.

I jerk as I hear more gunshots behind me, almost tripping. I can feel the pavement tearing at the soles of my bare feet, which only days ago were tender and soft. I can’t remember ever having run around barefoot, and now I’m terrified of what I might step on, but I can’t see much as I dart down the dark alleyway, Levin on my heels. I hear his directions, muttered low enough that I know he’s trying to keep them from being heard by the men following us, while still making sureIknow where to go.

Around the next corner, he grabs my arm, holding me in place against the wall as he leans around the corner. “Wait,” he murmurs, and I freeze in place, feeling my pulse beat against my throat as I wait for the sound of footsteps.

When they come, they’re from the opposite alleyway, to my left.

“Bladya!”Levin curses aloud as he wheels in front of me, trying to shield me as he fires. There are five men coming towards us, and he drops two of them, but as he scrambles to reload, I can see even with my inexpert eyes that they’re going to get to us before he can.

I raise my gun and fire.

I don’t know if I hit them at first. I’m not even really aiming at anything in particular, other than justtowardsthem, trying to startle them enough to slow them down. But then I see one of the men grab his arm, howling in pain, and I shoot again. Again. And again.

No one drops. I’m guiltily grateful for that, because despite who they are and what they’re trying to do, I don’t know if I could handle killing a man. I’m not sure that’s something I’m capable of, no matter what. But it has the desired effect.

They’re caught off guard, slowing as they try to figure out where the shots are coming from, realizing too late that it’s from the much smaller woman behind the man that they think is the only real threat. And by the time they do, Levin has reloaded.

One of them gets another shot off while he drops two of them. It cracks the stucco above my head, and I feel some of it rain into my hair as I squeal and stumble back, but the man only gets a few steps closer before his body jackknifes too, and he drops to the filthy pavement.

“Let’s go!” Levin growls, grabbing my arm. “We need to get indoors and out of sight.”

Indoors and out of sightmeans another sketchy motel several blocks away. Levin practically throws cash at the window, snatching the key out of a sallow-faced man’s hand before half-dragging me to the room and thrusting me inside, slamming the door behind us and locking it. He doesn’t even look at me as he drags a dresser and two chairs in front of the door, his entire body rigid, and the expression on his face when he finally does spin around to face me has me quivering.

His hand shoots out, snatching the gun out of mine and throwing it onto one of the beds. There are two of them in this room, and that makes my heart sink for reasons that I can’t imagine even matter now, not after we almost got killed because Levin was too busy fucking me.This is why he said we couldn’t do this,I think, my heart crashing to my toes with disappointment, but then his hands are on me, and all I can think about are the sensations that shudder over my skin as he slides them over my arms and waist and hips.

“Are you alright?” His voice sounds terrified, desperate. “Did you get hurt? Did anything hit you?”

“I’m fine. I need a shower, but—” My voice trails off as he moves me towards one of the beds, flicking on a light with one hand so quickly that he almost knocks it over.

“You’re sure?”

“I think I’d know if I’d been shot.” My voice is shaky, trembling as he looks me over, his gaze as frantic as his tone was. “Levin, I’m fine. Just a little shaken up, and there’s stuff in my hair—”

“Let’s get you in the shower.” He pulls up my dress as if I’m incapable of taking it off myself, as if he’s suddenly overwhelmed with the need to take care of me. “Here, I’ll help you—”

I open my mouth to tell him that I can do it myself, and then just as quickly shut it again. Ican—but I don’t want to. I want to finish what we started earlier. I want Levin in the shower with me, naked, his hands all over my body.

Somehow, finishing the night the way we began feels like not letting the other side win. And I want that more than anything.

I wanthim.

“Okay,” I whisper as my dress hits the floor, leaving me naked in front of him. Levin’s gaze rakes over me, and I see him swallow hard as he takes in every inch of my body, as if he’s making sure that I’m not hurt in any way. “But you’re getting in the shower with me.”

I hear his deep groan at that, and my breath catches in my throat as he lifts me up, carrying me towards the bathroom as if he can’t wait a moment longer to touch me. His breath ruffles my hair, sending shivers down my spine. I can feel my pulse pounding in my throat for reasons that have nothing to do with what we just escaped as he sets me down, reaching out to turn on the hot water.

He strips his shirt off over his head, and I feel my breath catch in my throat as I look at his muscled, tattooed back.

I can’t help but wonder if I’d ever stop finding him as gorgeous as I do. He’s a million miles removed from the kind of man I would have expected to be with, but maybe that’s part of the attraction. He’s nothing like what I ever expected I would get to have as my first, and everything I could have ever fantasized about.Morethan that.

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