by Snow, Jenika
The first fucker came at him, the other two laughing as if they were watching television. He channeled every dark part of himself, the one who had ruled the underground, who’d killed mercilessly in another life. He was calm, collected, watching as he charged forward, his hammer raised.
Everything moved in slow motion as he lifted his arm, the gun in his hand. Malachi fired, the bullet going right through the center of his eyes, the sound ricocheting off the trees that surrounded them.
The feel of hot blood spraying on his face didn’t even make Malachi blink. This moment reminded him of the times on the streets, of the violence he’d done … of the men he’d killed.
Everything around him moved slowly, like honey slipping from a jar. He looked at the other two men, both of them shouting stuff, but the voices muted as the sound of his steady heartbeat filled Malachi’s ears. His body was rigid, his hands steady. They charged forward and he took a step closer. He was in his element, right at home, violence his best friend, his second in command.
He reached out behind him and pushed the girls out of the way as he lifted his gun and aimed it at the closest man. A shot to his forehead and he dropped to the ground.
The last man was screaming now, his mouth moving, yet all Malachi heard was the steady beat of his pulse as he focused, concentrated. The asshole swung out with the bat, but Malachi moved out of the way, making sure to keep the fucker’s focus on him and not on the girls.
The guy swung the bat again, but Malachi was prepared. He ducked and when the guy was partially turned, Malachi reached into his boot, grabbed his blade, and swiped up swiftly. He buried the knife in the fucker’s side, twisted it, and pulled it up. The howling of his pain finally pierced through his haze of concentration.
He could have easily shot him and ended it, but the violent, sadistic part of Malachi wanted to do this by hand, wanted to inflict pain on the bastard. He’d wanted to hurt these girls, most likely do unspeakable acts to them.
Fuck him.
Fuck all of them.
Malachi had already decided she was his, and he’d protect both of them with his life.
He twisted the blade once more before pulling it free and in a quick move burying it in his jugular. More blood sprayed out on his chest and face and he reveled in the feeling, in the act itself.
The fucker dropped to the ground and he stood there a moment just staring at the bodies, feeling gazes locked on him, the horror of what they felt thick in the air.
He finally lifted his head and stared at the older girl. She looked terrified, her body shaking, her eyes wide, tears streaming down her face.
“What’s your name?” he asked, his voice thick, the feeling of the warm blood cooling on him keeping him very aware of how he must look.
She didn’t answer right away, keeping the younger girl behind her, and looking scared as fuck. He tucked the gun in the back of his waistband and held his hands up, covered in blood.
“I won’t hurt you.”
The oldest looked at the men laying on the asphalt.
“They would have killed me and done worse to you,” he said without apology.
She swallowed, the slender column of her throat working as she nodded. “I know,” she whispered. She turned those big blue eyes on him. “I’m Sasha. Thank you for saving our lives.”
Sasha. He rolled that name around in his head, over and over again, a mantra that tamed, calmed the wild beast within him.
“This is my sister, Lucy.”
The little girl peeked her head from around her sister’s shoulder.
He looked between the two of them. “How old are you?” he asked the youngest. She glanced up at her sister.
“It’s okay,” Sasha said.
“Ten,” Lucy said. She looked up at her sister again. “This is my big sister. She’s eighteen. She’s an adult.”
He couldn’t help but smile at the innocence coming from her.
He looked back at Sasha, need slamming into him. Eighteen. So young.
Of age.
Legal in a world where there are no more rules, no more laws.
Malachi couldn’t help the pleasure that moved through him knowing she was eighteen, though. And as he stared at her, looked into those big blue eyes, felt the protectiveness in him rise, he knew one thing for certain.
He wouldn’t let her go.
Sasha would be his.
Chapter Twenty-Three
When you deal with the devil … you’re going to get burned
“I like him. He’s nice,” Lucy whispered.
Sasha stared at the man who was currently standing by the kitchen sink of the house they’d been holed up in. They hadn’t spoken much, but Sasha couldn’t help but admit that she kind of liked him too. Maybe it was his strength, or the fact he’d helped them and they were total strangers. Or maybe it was the strength that poured from him.
They’d shared their rations with him, but she knew they’d have to go searching for more supplies soon. Now that there were three of them, the food she’d gotten wouldn’t be enough, especially with Malachi being so big. He’d most definitely need more supplies than they did.
This man intrigued her, but he also … terrified her. Yet, he’d saved them, protected her and her sister. There was no doubt what those other men wanted, and Malachi could have just kept going. But he’d stopped. He’d saved them.
Keeping hold of Lucy’s hand, needing her sister close, wanting to protect her from everything, Sasha stared at the large man. He was huge, heavily muscled as well. The shirt he wore was stretched taut over those muscles, dirty and worn, as if he’d been in it for days. Then again, in this day and age there wasn’t much of an opportunity to put something clean on daily.
He pulled a few cans out of his pack and put them on the counter, staying silent for a long moment as he stared at the supplies he was clearly tallying up.
“We’ll need to look for supplies, and given the state of this town, chances are it’s been picked clean.” He looked over at them.
When Lucy tried to get out of her hold, Sasha held her a little tighter, refusing to let her go.
The man noticed but he kept his expression neutral.
“Hey, kid, why don’t you go and grab your things and pack up? We should head out of here just in case those assholes have buddies who come looking for them.”
“We were already on our way out,” Sasha said instantly.
He nodded. “Good.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You know, we’ve managed to be relatively safe this far.”
He turned and faced them, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Yeah? Look at how that ended up,” he said without any emotion.
“What’s your name?” Lucy asked.
He looked over at her. “Malachi.”
“That’s a weird name.”
He chuckled.
“Lucy,” Sasha hissed.
Malachi laughed again. “It’s fine. It is a weird name. I had a couple of kids try to bully me in high school over it, but they learned real fast I didn’t put up with that shit.” He grinned. “Put one of them in a trashcan once.”
Her sister giggled.
“Go and pack up. I’ll talk with your sister for a second.”
Sasha had no choice but to let Lucy go.
She watched her sister leave, more than aware that the man in front of her was very close. She took a step back, putting a little distance between them. And then he took a step forward.
With her back pressed against the wall, she held her hand out to stop him from coming any closer.
“Please, just give me space.”
“You think I want to hurt you?”
She shook her head, but honestly, she didn’t know what his intentions were.
The silence stretched out for long moments. “How did you and your sister survive this long?” he asked. “Were you around people who were sick? Where are you heading?” He fired off the questions.
Those men had been more obv
ious in what they wanted, but maybe Malachi was just better at pretending and hiding what his payment was for helping them.
“I don’t believe you.”
“You can believe whatever you want. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have by now.”
She tensed up.
“This world is fucking hell, and to a lot of men, pussy is … in short supply.”
“You’re sick.”
“No. I’m not. I’m honest, and in this day and age you need to toughen the fuck up and realize the truth.”
“Then what is it you want?” Her entire body was tight. “I know there’s something,” she whispered.
He kept staring at her. “I want you.” He moved another step closer to her.
She took a deep breath. “W-what?” Had he really just said what she thought he did? Sasha shook her head even though he hadn’t responded. He had to leave. She didn’t want him around her, or around her sister.
Because this wasn’t just about what he said, but also about how she felt toward him.
Arousal.
Desire.
Need.
Want.
He reached out for her.
“Stop it.” She shook her head. “Get out.” She couldn’t raise her voice, otherwise it would alert Lucy that something was wrong.
“You think you can last in this big old world without me?”
She pursed her lips. “We’ve been doing just fine.”
“You’ve got no idea what everyone here is capable of. Men and women would kill you for the clothes off your back. After they’d used you, of course.”
Sasha pushed against him. “You think I don’t know that? I’m doing everything I can to make sure my sister and I survive. We were doing it before you came along. Just leave.”
“No. I’m going to make sure you two are safe.”
“Why? What is it that you want? Me? For what? Your perverse fantasies? You can’t have Lucy.” She rambled, on the verge of having a breakdown.
Since the run-in with those men, her nerves had been on high alert. They had looked at both her and Lucy like they were pieces of meat. It sickened her to think how low people had come in the world. During her and Lucy’s time in the woods, had it really changed all that much?
She and Lucy had survived most of it, running before it got too bad. How could she protect Lucy from monsters like the ones this man had killed?
“I don’t want Lucy,” he said with a hardened voice. “I want to make sure you’re both safe and protected.”
“What do you want?” She needed to hear him say it.
He was silent for a moment. “You’re not a stupid woman, Sasha. You know what I want.”
Her heart was racing. “You’re not having me.”
“No? I think I will have you. I see the way you’ve been looking at me, the way your pupils dilate, your breathing changes. You can hide it but you’re failing. You’ll see how important it is to keep me around. You hate me now, and that’s fine. I’m used to the world being against me. What you don’t seem to understand, though, is you can’t protect her, not on your own. She will get torn apart by this fucking wasteland if you don’t concede.”
Sasha heard her sister singing in the next room.
She’d never felt this much rage before. Not even when she was being attacked. This man … how dare he scare her like this?
He let her go and took a step back.
“I’ll protect you and her.”
“I’m not going to be with you. I can’t. I won’t.”
“Then how about this? I get you and Lucy to safety, and then you’re mine.”
She couldn’t think, couldn’t even breathe. “I’m a virgin,” she blurted out and immediately regretted it. Maybe it would turn him off. This man wasn’t after some innocent young woman … right? Just looking into his eyes, he’d seen hell and was still walking around to tell the tale.
But she knew it was the biggest mistake she could have made telling him that she was a virgin.
“You think I won’t touch you because you’ve never been with a man?” He shook his head slowly. “Darlin’, you’re going to have to learn to fight dirty.” He stroked a finger down her cheek and she couldn’t find the strength to move. Because the truth was it felt good, too good. “You’ll be surprised how precious your cherry is in a time like this.”
She shoved his hand away.
“Is everything okay?” Lucy asked. She stood in the doorway.
“I don’t think so. We’re staying here, Lucy. We don’t need to go.”
“But he said we need to leave. I don’t want us to get hurt.” Lucy started to sound frightened, frantic. “I don’t want men like that to come for us again, Sasha.”
God, she hated that Lucy felt so lost. She looked at Malachi again and gritted her teeth. “We’ll be safe, Lucy. We’ll go with him.” She’d do anything to protect her sister, even if that meant giving herself over to him.
Lucy instantly looked relieved.
“Your sister’s right,” Malachi said. “We’ve got to head out. The likelihood of more people passing through and this place being found is too risky. You’ve been lucky up until now. That luck will one day run out.”
“It has already run out,” Sasha said. “I’ll grab my things.”
“Be happy about this, sis. You don’t have to protect us anymore. We’ve got Malachi.” Lucy was way too excited.
She kept Lucy in her sight as she grabbed her bag and the guns she kept close to her. Only when she was happy with her protection did she follow Lucy and Malachi out of the house.
She rounded the car to the driver’s side only for him to already be there.
“You’re not driving,” she said.
“I’m the one driving. I’ve got a lot more experience than you.”
“Look, we lost our parents when this all started. I’ve been able to take care of my sister and myself. I don’t fucking appreciate you invading my space, making your demands.”
“Get in the fucking car, Sasha,” he said in a deep voice.
“No.”
“You want to die?” He grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face where the town was. “There’s the next wave of men coming to pillage the town. You want to keep on arguing over who fucking drives, you’ll be the one responsible for getting yourself and your sister killed. Not me.”
Malachi let go of her and she felt tears well in her eyes. She looked at Lucy and saw her sister’s big eyes and scared expression. Without saying anything, she headed to the passenger side door and climbed in, keeping herself between Malachi and Lucy.
Pulling out her gun, she checked to make sure it was loaded as Malachi pulled the car out of the space and began in the opposite direction. But in the end, it didn’t matter where they went, as long as she and Lucy were together. And then she heard Malachi curse. Sasha opened her eyes and saw an oncoming car. It passed them, and as she turned around to look in the back window, she watched as the car turned around, heading toward them.
“This is going to be show time. Honey, press the gas pedal down, and keep the steering straight,” Malachi said, talking to Sasha. She adjusted her position to do just that.
Sasha didn’t have time to think, let alone have fear consume her as the people in the car sped up to them and started firing shots. She pushed Lucy down while keeping the car straight and the gas pressed down. Keeping her sister guarded, she prayed like hell this wasn’t the day they died.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It’s not easy being wrong
After taking out the car of men, Malachi had resumed driving while Lucy squealed in excitement about what she’d just experienced.
Sasha wasn’t happy. In fact, she was really fucking annoyed. She hated being proven wrong and in the space of a couple of hours, Malachi had proven that.
“You’ve killed a lot of men?” Lucy asked.
“Yes.”
“What about women?”
“No.”
“Have yo
u enjoyed it?”
“Lucy, please, enough. You don’t want to keep asking him the same old questions.”
“Why not? Do you not like it?” Lucy asked.
“I’ll answer any question you want. Just don’t give me shit when you don’t like the answer or don’t want it.”
“I want to know if you liked it or not.”
Sasha rubbed at her eyes, not understanding Lucy. She had tried so hard to protect her little sister, and now it seemed it had all been for nothing.
“Yes, I did. It was kill or be killed and I don’t like the thought of being killed.”
“Sasha killed people,” Lucy said. “She didn’t think I heard her but I did.”
She turned to her little sister but Malachi’s blue gaze captured her. “I’m sure she did everything she had to in order to keep you alive.”
Lucy nodded. “Yeah, she did. There’s a lot of bad people out there.”
“The worst.”
At some point during the drive, Lucy fell asleep, and they were able to fill up with gas. They hadn’t seen anyone else but by the time the sun started to set, Malachi took them off into the cover of the forest. “What are you doing?” she asked.
Lucy had jerked awake and was rubbing at her eyes to clear the sleep from them. “Where are we?”
“We can’t keep going on the road. I want to sleep, and we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.” He pulled up to a stop and before she could stop him, he climbed out.
“Shit,” she said.
“Sasha?” Lucy asked.
“What’s up?”
“You’re not mad at me, are you?”
“You’ve done nothing to make me mad, not even for a second.” She was angry at this guy who had invaded her life and thought he knew what to do to make her and Lucy safe.
“What are you doing?” she asked. He’d gone to the trunk of the car, where she saw a couple of sleeping bags.
“You ever been camping?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you know the drill.”
