She shook. Her skin was too pale, her breath too rapid.
“Breathe, Katarina. Breathe. You’re safe. I have you now,” I told her quickly, gripping her shoulders to keep her upright.
She stared at the bloody floor, eyes full of horror.
“Look at me,micetta. Look at me,” I commanded when it seemed like she was never going to blink again.
She raised her eyes to mine, blinked once, then again, and promptly fainted.
I caught her before she could fall more than a few inches and cradled her against my chest. It had been an eventful few days for my little stray. Not only Vargas’s death, solitary, and then our session, but now seeing a man killed brutally in front of her. When had she last eaten?
I scooped her into my arms and walked toward the door, maneuvering around the blood as much as I could. Luckily, the black cassock hid blood effectively. My hands were cleaned, andKatarina had escaped the splash zone. I needed to get her out of here, and then I needed to start cleaning up.
It was time to get to work.
Hours later,I stripped off the bloodstained robes I’d only made worse when cleaning up the scene and dropped them on the floor of the shower as I stepped in. I had the water turned up as hot as it would go, but it still didn’t feel hot enough.
Benedict’s blood felt soaked into my skin, permeating every pore. I scrubbed hard with the rough soap bar until my skin was red.
I didn’t kill like this. I killed with gloves and tools, and I never got some motherfucker’s blood on me. Sure, people could take you by surprise sometimes, but it didn’t happen often, and if it did, that’s when the backup plan came into play.
Today, though, I hadn’t killed for work. It hadn’t been professional.
It had been personal.
He’d tried to touch Katarina. Hurt her. Drug her and cut her.
Katarina was mine.Mine.
The dark possession that raced through my veins at the very thought of her being hurt, or pushed around, or upset, made me certain I’d kill a hundred Benedicts to protect her.
It had been a very long time since I’d had someone whom I’d cared about so deeply.
It had been a very long time since I’d had anything to lose, and I didn’t fucking like it. I felt vulnerable and exposed. I felt threatened by Katarina’s simple presence in the world. It was like she was becoming a part of me, but a part that was independent from my body and thus harder to protect.
I showered until the water was freezing and then scrubbed my cassock until black dye leaked down the drain. Stepping out, I squeezed the water out of the fabric as hard as I could, then took it back to my room to hang dry. Luckily, I had a spare. I was also lucky that only Blackwood remained in the medical wing of Hallow Hall since Vargas’s so-called suicide, and no one had interrupted my cleanup. I’d never been lucky before, but since coming here, I was beginning to think I might be the luckiest bastard alive. I’d met Katarina, after all.
The operating room and my robes would never hold up to a black light. Though if the priests were slicing and dicing and stealing organs in these operating rooms, I imagined that a black light would find a lot more than just Benedict’s blood.
Inside my room, my gaze immediately found her. She hadn’t moved much, except to snuggle deeper into the scratchy blanket on my bed. Fortunately for me, Alonso was still shit scared enough of me to lie about someone missing from their room if I told him to.
My own personal angel, sound asleep.
My heart finally unclenched as I locked us in, hung up my wet robes, and crossed to the bed. She was still pale, painfully so, but her breath was deep and even.
Her hair spread over the pillow like satin ribbons. Softer and more luxurious than any manmade texture would ever achieve.
I stroked her cheek, enjoying the smooth, plush feel of her skin.
She looked perfect here, innocent and trusting, sleeping in my bed.
Exactly where she belonged.
I pulled the blankets back and slid in beside her. My chilled skin burned against hers. She shivered for a moment, her warmthmeeting my ice. She attempted to turn away from me, even in her sleep rejecting the sudden cool in her cozy bed, but I brought her close, caging her against my chest.
She couldn’t escape me. Not now, not ever. I buried my face in the back of her hair, pressed my hard body to her softness, and slept.
21