Essence of Fear - Bethany-Kris Page 0,25
situation in a hurry. “Thank you for reminding me daily like a child that I needed to be here, Konstantin.”
He sighed.
She pushed past him.
It was easier this way.
• • •
“You know, to some people in that house,” Viktoria said as she scratched a spot behind Kolya’s dog’s ear, “you are the most terrifying thing here, I think.”
Sumerki’s stubby tail wagged fast. He was as black as night, and in the dark backyard, he could probably blend in enough that someone might miss him if they weren’t looking for him. But then when he opened those eyes of his—big, yellow, and bright—a person couldn’t miss him at all. He was massive. Probably well over a hundred pounds of solid, pit bull muscle. She had seen this dog go after a poor, wild rabbit once.
It had stood no chance.
He could be vicious.
Nasty as fuck.
But with her, Sumerki had always been a giant baby. She knew people gave the dog a wide berth of space whenever he was out with Kolya. He could, and usually did, act as her brother’s protection a lot of the time.
It was amusing.
She was so distracted with Sumerki that she didn’t notice the form coming up to her side until he sat right down beside her on the steps. The shriek that came out of Viktoria when she realized it was Pav was inhumane, she was sure of it.
Her heart thundered.
He just grinned.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” she asked him, glaring.
Pav cocked his head to the side. “You’re … interesting when you’re scared. Do you realize that?”
Viktoria shivered. “And what, you like that?”
“Yes and no.”
He glanced at Sumerki and held out his hand. The dog didn’t hesitate to come forward, bump his forehead against Pav’s palm, and then he licked the man’s fingertips like the two of them were friends or something.
They probably were.
Kolya often brought the dog with him when he worked, and since he spent a lot of time at the Compound, it would make sense that Sumerki would go there, too.
It was no wonder the dog didn’t alert her to the fact someone else was already outside and watching her play with him. He considered Pav a friend.
“You were invited to this too?” she asked quietly.
Pav shrugged. “Seems so.”
“That’s what the card was for, then?”
“It was.”
“What did you get them for a gift?”
Pav smiled. “Different things; whatever the girl at the store said was good for a baby boy.”
Huh.
“I could have helped you to pick out—”
“You were uncomfortable enough. I figured it was better to let you go.”
All over again, she was left confused by this man. He seemed to enjoy her fear of him in some ways, and yet, he was also hyperaware of it and made deliberate choices that would make sure her fear wasn’t made worse by anything he did.
He was a mess, too.
Just in a different way than her.
“These people …” He grunted under his breath and shot a look over his shoulder. “I don’t know what to do with them. I don’t feel like I belong here, yeah? They know me, and that’s what I feel when they look at me.”
“Reaper, you mean. Zhatka.”
His throat jumped at the name coming from her lips, but he didn’t tell her not to use it. “They know what I do—what I can do. I feel like I can hear what they’re thinking. Stay in your place, Pavel. Stay downstairs with the rest of the things that shouldn’t be seen.”
Why did that hurt her for him?
“You’re human, too,” she said softly.
“And so are the people who they’ve put in the cells for me to keep,” he returned. “Should they be allowed off their leashes, too?”
“Do you feel like that when you see their victims, day in and day out?”
Pav let out a dark laugh at that. “They’re not victims down in the cells. They’ve all earned their places, trust in that. I know they’re human, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve earned their punishments. Or, that’s what I have always been told.”
Then, Pav glanced over at her. Those dark eyes of his seemed even more shadowed in the dim lighting of the backyard. He leaned closer to her, until there were just a couple of inches between the two of them. She felt like a deer in headlights. Partly entranced by his scent and closeness, in the beauty of his features, and the way his lips curved sexily and dangerously. And yet, terrified at the same time because