I stared.
The priest cried out, covering his head and calling for God.
“I said... do the ceremony properly, Father, I won’t ask again,” the voice continued.
“Does anyone here object to this union? If so, speak now or forever hold your peace.” The priest’s voice trembled.
“I’m so glad you asked.” The man stepped out into the light, so much closer than he’d seemed.
He was dressed like a priest, but his clothes were burned and torn. He was tall and broad, so fucking broad, he looked like he could hold hell up with the strength of those shoulders. Bandages covered his hands but didn’t seem to have impeded his aim.
He leaned against a pillar and met my gaze. His midnight eyes were ringed with full lashes. His lower face was bearded, and for a second I could feel the scrape of that beard against my chin, but then the memory was gone. He had a gun at his side, fitted with a silencer.
“I object and I will not hold my peace.”
Ivan pointed his gun at the newcomer. I could feel his hand shaking beside my face. The demon of a man laughed like it was a joke. Ivan seemed to think better of it and brought his gun to my head, pressing it into my temple.
“Stay back, or she dies.”
The man sighed and used the tip of his weapon to scratch his temple. It was such a nonchalant move. He was a man used to dealing in death. None of this fazed him.
“How predictable,” he drawled. Then he focused on me. “I would tell you how much it pisses me off when people threaten to break my things... but you’re not going to live long enough to make it worth the energy. You’re already food for the worms.”
“Because?” Ivan demanded. “We’ve never even met!”
“So? I’ve killed a lot of people I’ve never even met... You’re actually quite special, because today I’ll kill you for entirely personal reasons.”
Ivan gripped me closer. “What personal reasons?”
The man pointed the gun at the priest, who was trying to creep away.
He whistled. “Oi, Father, I can’t let you go now that I know you’re willing to wed an unwilling, drugged-up woman to whoever comes along and pays you off. I’m sorry. I’ll see you down there later, okay?”
“Down where?” the priest mumbled.
“Hell. Wait for me.” Then a muffled pop sounded.
The priest fell to the floor before the sound had even finished.
Ivan roared with fear and outrage. “Man, what’s your fucking problem?”
“You are. You and men like you. The ones who think women and children in our world are just chess pieces to maneuver whereyou need them. You’re my fucking problem. Add to that the fact that you’ve touched that which is mine, and I’m afraid your fate is decided.”
“What’s yours?” Ivan demanded. “Her?” He shook me and then pushed me a few steps away.
I stumbled into the altar.
The newcomer chuckled. “Yes, her. My little stray. My woman, soon-to-be wife, and future mother of my kids. It's not your desire to marry her that sealed your fate. It’s that you even glanced her way. That you thought yourself worthy of touching her—oh, and that you tried to take one of my firsts.” He stared at me. “I’ll be her first husband, and her last.”
Ivan went to protest, to back up, his gun waving wildly, and a shot sounded. Only seconds later another shot zipped from somewhere, and Ivan fell. The smell of something burning and the coppery scent of blood filled the air. Around me, the bodies lay, both dead as fucking doornails, matching bullets between the eyes. Executed with perfect ease.
I was frozen with terror as the newcomer walked toward me. He wrapped an arm around me just before I fell over, and he hauled me to his chest.
“I’m sorry I’m late,micetta,” he murmured, his gaze moving across my face.
It had blood on it; I could feel it. A delicate spray.
“Are you going to kill me?” I heard myself ask through numb lips.