Chapter Ten
She woke up with a start. Where was she?
She moved to the side, her shoulder smarting.
Gingerly, she touched it. He’d marked her.
Unknowingly, he’d claimed her. He hadn’t drawn blood, he hadn’t even bruised her, but it was there.
She felt it in every fiber of her being.
She opened her eyes. Slowly, her surroundings began to make sense.
She glanced at the space next to her. It was empty.
The night came rushing back. The exhilaration.
The passion. The desperate craving for him and only him.
After a brief nap, they’d made love again and again.
Every time, the tiger was closer to the edge, desperate to take what it knew belonged to them.
She covered her face with her hands. She wasn’t sure how she’d been able to hold back.
She had to get out of there. Katya stood up and wrapped the sheet around her.
Where were her clothes? She headed out of the bedroom and toward the sounds of someone cooking.
She stopped at the door. Adam stood with his back to her dressed in nothing more than his boxer shorts, cooking and humming.
Her heart constricted. She could get used to this. To him.
No.
He turned then and smiled at her. The kind of smile which reached his eyes and promised the world. It made her knees weak, forcing her to lean against the wall.
“Don’t be shy. I’m making breakfast. I figured you’d be as hungry as I am.
Feel free to take a shower if you’d like or put on one of my shirts, if you feel .
.. erm ... exposed. I left a few out, over the chest of drawers in the bedroom.
” He chuckled, nodding toward the bedsheet she wore.
“I don’t think your makeshift dress is too comfortable. ”
Katya nodded wordlessly. Tears prickled the back of her eyes.
She couldn’t stay. The best thing she could do was leave.
Immediately. Yet, for some reason, she returned to his bedroom and found a faded t-shirt.
It was black with the words “Mastodon” written in white on it.
She slipped it on and walked back to the kitchen, where he was setting the table.
“I made eggs and bacon. I wasn’t sure what you would like. I can make pancakes too if you prefer something sweet, and there’s fruit.” He placed a plate full of strawberries and blueberries in front of her. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please,” she replied.
Her mind reeled. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had tried to please her like this. He was trying so hard, and she had to leave.
“I can’t stay,” she blurted.
He poured the brown elixir and sat across from her, quickly disguising the shock in his gaze.
“I expected you’d say as much.” He sighed and took a sip of his drink. “Let’s eat and then we’ll talk about that.” He motioned for her to take a bite. “There’s no point in having all this go to waste.”
Her stomach rumbled agreement. Warmth flooded her cheeks, so she nodded and took a bite. She shut her eyes and moaned in appreciation, enjoying the salty flavor of the eggs.
“Thank you for this,” she said. “You didn’t have to do it.”
“Not at all,” he replied, chewing on a piece of bacon. “But I like seeing you smile. It makes your whole face brighten up and it’s a delight to watch.”
She pressed her lips together and ducked her head again.
She couldn’t recall the last time a man had made her shy.
Adam was the first, perhaps, and the knowledge made her heart accelerate with excitement.
He didn’t say anything else, so they focused on their food, eating in comfortable silence until both their plates were completely empty.
“All right, now we can talk,” he said, pushing her dish aside and grasping her hand. She tried to take it back, but he didn’t relent. “You’re not running again,” he said.
“You don’t have the power to decide that.”
“I don’t? I’m a cop, Katya, I can help you, little one. I can help you escape whatever problem you’re having.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t understand.”
“I don’t if you don’t explain the situation to me. Talk to me. I want to help, little one.”
She sighed. If only life were that simple, she wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.
“They’ll come after you. Me being here is already a threat to your life.”
“I have a weapon,” he said with a shrug.
“You’re only one person.”
“Talk to me, Katya,” he demanded gently.
She glanced down at their entwined hands. His fingers held on to hers as if they belonged together. Her throat constricted. She couldn’t put him in danger. It wasn’t fair. She couldn’t do that to the man who was her mate.
“I—”
“Talk,” he ordered.
She couldn’t say if it was the tone of his voice or her own desire, but the words began to tumble out.
“I came here three years ago, looking for my sister,” she blurted out.
“She’d come the year before with an au pair job and then disappeared.
I investigated and she’d been enslaved. She had never told me that to get the job she’d had to ask for a loan.
Now, those same people were making her work for pennies, and they’d taken her passport, so she couldn’t escape. ”
“Didn’t you contact the police?”
She shook her head.
“Where I’m from, they’re useless, and here, I didn’t know...” She shrugged. “I didn’t know if anyone could help. My sister was an illegal immigrant. So, I did what I thought I had to do.”
“You took the same job.”
“I did, but I paid for my own visa. I had some savings, and I was able to invest it in that, but when I arrived here, they took my passport and told me the only way to help my sister was to pay off her debt. So, I started working for them.”
“Have you seen your sister? Spoken to her?”
“They let me speak to her once a year,” Katya said.
“Once a year?” He scowled, a brief shadow of anger crossing his features. “Are there more women like you?”
She nodded.
“But you don’t understand,” she said, finally untangling her hands from his. “They are watching us. I don’t roam freely. I’m chipped.”
“You’re what?” He stood up, the chair tumbling to the ground with a loud crash.
She got on her feet, the need to run, urgent. “They know where I am. They will come for you.”
“Let them,” he said. “We can beat them. You’re not alone, Katya.”
She raised her hands, warding him with her open palms. “You’re delusional.”
He grasped her wrist and pulled her into his arms. Gently, he tilted her head back and cupped her cheek. “We can, Katya. Trust me. I will help you and we will find your sister. You won’t be trapped in this nightmare anymore.”
His dark gaze pierced into her, making her mind reel.
Katya wanted to believe him, she truly did, but she also knew she couldn’t.
She’d been here too long, worked too hard to let everything go to waste for a man she didn’t know, mate or not.
She had to get out of here and go back before they came looking for her and killed them both.
“Katya.” The tenderness in his tone had the tears she was trying so hard to keep at bay spill out of the corner of her eyes. He swept at them with the pad of his fingertips. “I will help you. I will not let you return to them and become a prisoner. You are safe now, little one.”
She pursed her lips and shook her head, adamant. She wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t. Policeman or not, he didn’t know them. He didn’t know what they were capable of. She had to get out, and there was only one way to do it.
“I’m sorry about your shirt,” she said.
He gave her a puzzled look, which turned into realization as she pushed him away and sprinted toward the door.
“Katya.”
Flinging it open, she ran out, not as a woman but as a tiger.
“Katya,” he yelled.
She didn’t turn back. It broke her heart, but it was for his own good.