Page 33 of Knight’s Salvation

Gunner cleared his throat and Zenon snapped out of whatever had come over him. He broke eye contact first and took a step back.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said, voice shaking. “I heard someone in here and thought, well, I don’t know what I thought…” She was unsure how to finish, couldn’t find the words to explain her compulsion to enter the gym moments ago.

He didn’t answer, just continued to watch her with those hard yellow eyes.

Gunner watched them closely, gaze bouncing back and forth between them. “Right, well, I’m gonna hit the showers. Catch you later, Mia.”

She watched Gunner walk away, and then it was just her and Zenon. When she turned back, she made herself look at him and noticed thin red lines—scratches—gouged into his broad shoulders and chest. “What happened to you?”

Alarm flashed in his eyes, but then he clenched his jaw and something else replaced it. Something that made her sick to her stomach.

A woman.

Oh God.

He’d gotten the marks from a woman. He’d been with someone. And though she tried to hide it, she knew the conclusion she’d come to and exactly how that made her feel was plastered all over her face. She didn’t want to care, and was again surprised at the pain the idea caused her.

He got in close, didn’t touch her, but got in her space. His mouth went to her ear. “You don’t want the truth,” he said. “Go back to your apartment.” He stepped back, turned, and headed toward a door on the other side of the gym.

Hurting her seemed to give him some kind of sadistic pleasure, and she felt anger flare past the pain. “God, you are such an asshole. I can’t believe I ever felt sorry for you,” she yelled after him.

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her. His lips were twisted into a sneer and his eyes flashed. “I don’t want your fucking pity, female.”

Oh God.

She knew only a little about Zenon’s past, but she knew what she’d said was the worst thing she could have to such a proud and wounded male. “I didn’t mean that. I just meant—”

“I know what you meant.” He shoved through the door and disappeared.

Oh fuck.

Oh shit.

He never wanted Mia to see him like that.See the marks on his body, the remnants of his degradation, his humiliation. It was bad enough his brothers saw the marks. He’d refused to offer up an explanation when they first saw them and now they never asked. They thought he was into some kinky shit. Rocco had implied as much.

But it was his shame that covered his body, and now Mia had seen it, too. Going down hard on the bench seat behind him, he dropped his head in his hands and scrubbed his palms across his face. “Fuck.”

His skin itched with the need to go after her, to tell her…what? That it wasn’t what it looked like? That she was supposed to be his? That they were made for each other?

God how he wanted her, and even though he couldn’t be with her, his body screamed out for her. If he didn’t do something to get her out of his system, he’d go insane.

The door slammed open, and Zenon shot to his feet. Mia stormed in after him, looking pissed and beautiful. So damn beautiful. She pointed at him. Fucking pointed. “You don’t get to walk away this time. Do you hear me?”

Jesus.He opened his mouth, but she cut him off.

“You don’t want me? Whatever. But don’t you dare tell me I couldn’t handle whatever you can dish out. You don’t know shit about me. I have no idea why, but for some screwed-up reason I care about you.” She shrugged. “You don’t return those feelings, and I won’t lie, it hurts. So do me a favor. Next time you see me, turn and go the other way.”

She cared?

As she spun and headed for the door, he got a shot of her scent, but it was mingled with something else, someone else. Something snapped inside him and he could sooner stop a freight train than he could his own feet from moving after her.

Mine. The thoughtscreamed through his mind, and he grabbed her arm, spinning her to face him.

The anger drained from her face. “Zenon?”

“You let James touch you again.”

“What?”