Hunted Blood: A Love Triangle Vampire Romance (Beautiful Innocence Book 2)

Chapter 12 – Luke

“Psst, Lori!” I call up at the window as the pebble arcs upward and clunks against the window of the room she’s been staying in.

It’s still late evening, about 8 pm, and not quite fully night yet. I’ve waited around the outskirts of the forest, waiting for Marionne and Samira to retire to bed so I could get Lorianna’s attention, anxiously watching the skyline for the arrival of dusk in case Alex is nearby. Coming out here without knowing her mindset is a huge risk, but if she turns me away, I’ll know why.

My fists clench at the possibility while I wait for her to react to the pebble hitting the window. With her aunts in bed, it’s likely that Lorianna is up in her room. Whether she’ll actually want to talk to me is an entirely different question.

As the seconds pass, it becomes clearer that she’s either ignoring me or didn’t hear the rock. I’m willing to try a few more times this way, hopeful that there’s still a chance for me to break through to her despite whatever lies Alex has fed her these past few days. If I wait any longer, it could be too late, and then I’ll have no choice but to purge her of his influence.

I sift through the grass to find another pebble, arcing my hand back to throw. The curtains flutter very slightly before I release the stone. Lorianna’s angelic face peeks through the window for half a second, then she sees me and darts away.

I hold the bouquet of sunflowers I brought above my head, waving them to get her attention. “Lori! I know you’re there. Please, can we talk?”

I can’t give up so easily. The Academy gave me permission to pursue her, even after the failure of my previous mission, and that means I can continue to openly be with her while I wait for Arcien and Enzo to show themselves. Everything works together perfectly, assuming I can get her to listen.

“I know I did some crazy shit, but if you give me a chance to explain, I promise everything will make sense once you hear the full story.”

The window snaps open, and Lorianna’s head pops out. Her gold-brown hair flies out over her shoulders, and she wears a glare that doesn’t look natural on her face, but it doesn’t matter. She’s fucking gorgeous, her eyes pinned on me like the fury of a stormy sea.

“Just go away, Luke. You’re not supposed to be here, and I don’t want to talk to you,” she shout-whispers down at me.

“Five minutes is all I need, then—”

“At least be quieter, won’t you? You’re too loud. You’ll wake my aunts, then we’ll both be in trouble.”

I swallow, lowering my voice. “I’m so fucking sorry, Lori. I never meant for any of this to happen—”

“Luke,” she interrupts, sounding exasperated, “I don’t care how sorry you are; I don’t appreciate being treated like a child. You made choices for me as if you believed I couldn’t think for myself. You played me for a fool, and I’m not going to let that happen again. Now you’ve followed me to my aunts’ house, hours away from my home. Don’t you see how problematic that is? Leave me alone, please.”

She’s firm right up until that last word, where her voice breaks enough to let her true emotions shine through. It’s not that she doesn’t want to see me. Some part of her is broken and raw inside, just like me.

With everything going on…

“I—I heard about your dad, and I was worried about you. I’m so sorry for your loss, babe. I know your dad meant the world to you.”

Emotion ripples across Lorianna’s face, her cheeks reddening like she’s not sure if she should start yelling at me or break down crying. Her eyes gloss over, and she sniffles. “So, what, you thought you’d come back here, try to comfort me or something, and I’d just let you back into my life?”

I rub the back of my neck. “Something like that.”

“You’re an idiot, Luke. I’ve heard all your excuses. You had so many opportunities to tell me the truth, and I would have heard you out. Instead, you chose to lie. Everything… everything I’ve known has been a lie, and I’m finished with liars.”

She wrenches her head back inside and slides the window closed. “Please, Lori, don’t shut me out. I love you.”

The window stops moving a few inches from being shut. I take my fucking chance before she changes her mind.

“Lori, I feel horrible about lying to you and hurting you, but I was only doing what I thought was right. Every day, I wanted to tell you who I am and what I do, but I didn’t want to bring you right into the middle of more danger.”

“You admit it, then? That you’re a… that you hunt…”

“I’m a vampire hunter.” I meet her eyes, trying to show her the truth through my firm and confident expression. “I should have told you the truth, but I’m a coward, and I was afraid of losing you. And I know… I know it was not telling you the truth that made me lose you in the end.”

“Yeah, it is.” Her shaky voice is barely audible through the gap.

“These last couple of days have been worse than anything I’ve ever known. I wasn’t sure if you were okay after shit went down at your old man’s or if I’d ever see you again. For all I knew, those fucking vampires killed you, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I had to believe you were alive, that you were okay, because I… I do love you, Lori. I mean it. The fear that you were gone and that it was my fault would have broken me if I didn’t keep trying to find you.”

“You thought they were going to hurt me?” Lorianna scoffs. “Alex would never harm a hair on my head.”

Bile rises in my throat at the thought of her and Alex being together for any period of time now that I know Alex is a vampire. I’d feared the worst when I heard he was still alive, but I thought he and Enzo might come up with a cover story to keep Lorianna oblivious and not paint themselves as monsters to make it easier to turn her against me and other hunters.

I never imagined that she would fully accept that Alex is a vampire, just like that. Even though he’ll likely be the one sent to kill her…

Why isn’t she terrified of him?

I push my racing thoughts aside, determined to get to the bottom of this through Lorianna’s own words, not my assumptions. My duty is as a hunter, but Lorianna is the love of my life. If she thinks vampires aren’t evil, wicked beings, she’s being misled, and I can help her see the truth now that she’s in on the secret.

Fuck am I glad not to have to be the one to break the news to her about that.

I turn my head to the side, scanning the encroaching darkness. “Where is Alex now?”

“Not here. I… when I left home, I left everyone. I haven’t spoken to him in a few days.”

My muscles untense, relieved that he’s not hiding somewhere near, ready to pounce on me, and even more relieved that despite Lorianna seeming to trust Alex, she didn’t throw herself at him the instant I was gone, like I was afraid she would. The glow of hope inside me grows brighter, like a beacon. If she didn’t, she either doesn’t have feelings for him or her feelings for me are still strong enough to keep her from moving on.

“Maybe Alex won’t hurt you,” I say, even though I don’t truly believe that, “but those other vampires wouldn’t think twice. When Aurelius murdered your father, it meant he’s shutting down MIG entirely and clearing out anyone who knows about the vampires in the company. You’re in danger. They’ll hunt you down and—”

“I know,” she sighs. “I can’t catch a break.”

“I know I fucked up, Lori, but I’ve only ever tried to keep you safe. I’ll tell you everything now if that’s what you want. Nothing held back. I miss you like crazy, so please… just give me a chance to explain myself properly. I love you. I really fucking do, and I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. If you hear me out and decide it doesn’t change anything, I promise I’ll pack up my feelings and leave you be if that’s what you want.”

A wolf howls in the depths of the woods, making the hair on my arms stand on end. I’d take a wolf for Lori, easy. It’s silent for so long that crickets resume their chirping chirp from the brushes nearby.

“And,” I ramble on once she’s been quiet for a while, “if you decide my explanation doesn’t change anything, you don’t have to be afraid about being left alone. I promise I’ll watch over you until the threat is gone. You don’t have to agree to anything out of fear for your life. I just want you to know that.”

There’s movement behind the pane of glass, and Lorianna pulls the window open.

“Okay, fine. You can tell me your side, but I’m not promising that I’ll forgive you. You really hurt me, Luke, and I…” She clears her throat. “You really have to be quiet. I don’t want to wake my aunts. Can you climb up?”

“Yeah, just give me a sec.”

There are ridges in the side of the house around an air vent higher up, and then below that, there’s a small shed attached to the side of the house to provide a canopy for a woodshed. I look over my surroundings and determine the best way up, trying to be quiet as I move around the shed. The beams supporting the metal roof are sturdy, but with metal bolts sticking out about half an inch at intervals to the roof. It’s not a lot of space to get a good foothold, but if I move quickly and use my momentum to climb instead of staying in one place for long, I should make it without any issues.

I tuck the sunflowers into the back of my waistband and throw myself up, practically running up the side and leaping from one point to the next. When I land on the roof, grinning, I notice how Lorianna has leaned out of the window a bit more to watch me with interest. I give her a thumbs up and creep closer to the wall of the house. The structure wasn’t designed for assholes like me to climb.

The vents are a little high for me to climb the same way, so with a slight running jump, I leap into the air and grab the second lowest one. My whole body activates, my enhanced strength allowing me to pull my feet up into the lower slot with ease. I jam my shoes in, and before I can lose my grip, I quickly scale to the top.

I look up, and Lorianna’s face comes closer and closer with each step. My heart is slamming in my chest, imagining what I’m going to tell her and how she’s going to respond. I have to put the charm on to convince her, but I don’t want to manipulate her, either. I want her so badly it hurts, but how much worse will I feel if it’s not what she really wants?

I’m moving so fast to try and get to her before she changes her mind. When I near the top, she reaches out a hand to help me over the ledge, but when I reach out for her, I’m not paying attention to my feet anymore. I misstep and my foot hits the wall instead of the foothold, and I fucking slip.

A sharp gasp comes from Lorianna, and her eyes widen. “Luke!”

I have this moment where I literally don’t register what’s happening because I’m so focused on her instead of me, but then my back heaves and snaps me out of it. Lorianna’s hand claps around mine in a surprisingly strong hold while my other leg swings around wildly.

I look down. I’m not afraid of heights, but falling from anywhere tends to be extremely uncomfortable. This height probably wouldn’t be enough to kill me. I think.

Lorianna yanks me up, and my foot finally lands in the slot in the wall. With a sigh of relief, I kick up to get in and over the other side before I completely lose my balance. She tugs with her whole body, and as soon as I’m on the ledge and coming through the windowsill, Lorianna’s weight isn’t balanced against mine anymore, and I stumble into her. We fall through the window together and roll over each other once until we land in stillness.

At some point, my hands had naturally come out to catch me so that my face now hovers inches from hers. Her eyes are wide and so fucking beautiful. They’re like oceans crashing against each other, stormy blue-green that sucks my soul away every time I look into them, but I can also see the exhaustion clinging to her as shadows beneath her eyes. Her lips are so pink and soft, and a flicker of a memory of me kissing them like they’re the only thing that matters in the world crashes into me, and all I want to do now is kiss her and kiss her and kiss her until she knows just how much I fucking love her. I want to make all the pain go away.

But I stare at her, and I clam up. The air I breathe in smells like her, tastes like her, is her. My whole weight pushes down into Lorianna’s petite form beneath me, pinning her to the bed. She’s so soft and perfect, and I can already feel myself getting hard from just being this close to her after so long.

After all the pain and confusion between us, it would be a bad fucking move to kiss her when she’s mad at me, and I said all I wanted to do was talk.

But she doesn’t try to get free or say a thing.

The slightest hint of desire pools in her eyes. She wants this kiss as much as I want it. To just completely give up on words and let our bodies talk.

I can’t. No matter how much I fucking want her, it would be messed up of me to try and sleep with her before I know how she’s really feeling.

Lorianna’s lips quiver. “Luke…”

Her voice snaps me out of my daze, and I try to scramble off her. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

Her hand flies up to my shirt, grabbing hold and keeping me from pulling away before both hands snake around my neck and pulls me closer. Her eyes glaze over in a rush of tears, and a sob chokes out of her just before she slams her face into my shoulder.

“I’m sorry if I scared you. It’s just me,” I murmur, even though I don’t know why she’s crying.

I fall onto my side, pulling the flowers out to lay them on the bed behind me and letting Lorianna cuddle closer. I gently wrap my arms around her waist and hold her against me, and I breathe her in, the sweet, lavender and honey scent of her, her warmth, the shape of her that fits perfectly against me, everything. I was terrified that I would never get to hold her like this again because she was dead or lost to me, but fate brought her back into my arms, and I’m so fucking grateful I could cry with her.

She shakes as she cries, and my heart breaks a little more each second. I’ve hurt her so much it should be a crime to say that I love her, but I do. I just fucking do. The best promise I can make to both of us now is to do everything in my power to never hurt her again. And this time, mean it with the entire intensity of my soul. No excuses.

“I missed you, Luke,” she sobs. “I have no idea what’s going on anymore, I don’t know who to believe or t--trust, and now there are vampires, and h-how is that possible? And my dad—”

“Shh, babe, I’m here for you now. Everything will be fine. You’re safe with me no matter what, I promise.” My hand moves up and down her back, and I gently kiss the side of her head. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you again. I’m so sorry I failed you, Lori.”

She sinks into my arms, her head nestled under my chin as tears stream down her face. Our embrace is comfortable, peaceful, even though we’re both in tatters for our own reasons. But being with her is like finally being welcomed home—it’s just right. We belong together, and she soothes my worn, exhausted soul.

“Do you really love me?” she whispers.

“How could I not?” I bury my face in her hair and breathe her in. “You’re perfect in every way. Smart enough to talk some sense into me, and with such a kind, glowing soul. And so fucking beautiful, too.”

“But how can you say you love me after everything you’ve done to hurt me? I don’t understand, Luke.”

“Because I… I was lying to myself, Lori. That’s the best way I can explain it. I refused to admit how much you meant to me at first because I was so focused on doing my job. Being a vampire hunter isn’t just a profession, it’s a way of life. I’m… it’s a lot to explain, but I’m different because of what I do, on a biological level. It’s like being born into the military and never knowing anything else, but that deference to authority and structure is built into my DNA. It’s extremely hard to question what we do and how we’re told to do it, so I… I did some stupid shit trying to avoid consequence from falling for you.”

Lorianna adjusts in her position, turning onto her back to look up at me. Her mouth twists. “It was easier to use me and hurt me than face your own emotions. You decided what was for my own good instead of letting me decide. It’s typical stupid alpha-hole bullshit.”

“Yeah, I’m an idiot. I know. I thought if I just did my job and then broke your heart, I could put all those feelings behind me. Obviously, I couldn’t, and… I was too afraid of my own feelings that I became completely fucking selfish and did everything wrong and justified it by saying that I was keeping you safe when I obviously fucking didn’t. After you were attacked by that piece of shit at the club, I... I realized how badly you could have been hurt. I was terrified that someone else would come along and take you away from me forever, so I stopped fucking around after that and accepted that I couldn’t let you go.”

Part of me thinks I should tell her that the attack wasn’t random but orchestrated by Ivan. What good would that do, though? Ivan is gone now, and he can’t pay for his shit. It seems to me that if I bring it up again, it might only make the wound fresh for Lorianna and bring her more pain. It doesn’t seem worth it. I want her to heal, not get stuck in a loop.

“I wish I could take it back, but I’m here to own up to my mistakes, not erase them.” I reach behind me for the sunflowers, adjusting the crinkle wrap. Some of the faces are squished because of the fall onto the bed, but I smooth out the golden petals and hand the bouquet to her. “I brought these for you. I don’t know if you can ever fully trust me again, and I understand if that’s the case. But I don’t want this to be the end for us.”

Her cheeks are dried, but her eyes are still rimmed with pink from the tears. “I’m… I’m listening, trying to understand why you did what you did. Did you come here hunting Aurelius?”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “You know about Aurelius?”

“Bits and pieces, that’s all. My dad told me some about his deal when I confronted him at the hospital the day before he died. He implied it was not a good arrangement, and from what Alex told me as well, it seems Aurelius is bad news.”

“That is the literal understatement of the century. Aurelius isn’t just bad news; he’s pure evil. Ivan and I have been hunting him since he adopted me. Aurelius is—” I stop myself before I can tell her anything too personal, but then I reconsider that instinct, too. Not telling her would be a mistake. She needs to see the real me. “Aurelius is the reason I’m an orphan. He murdered my parents.”

Lorianna’s face crumples. “R-really?”

“It was a long time ago, though. I don’t remember much about that night. Just… glimpses. Sounds I’d rather forget.” I shake my head, trying to get my parents’ dying screams out of my head. “And Aurelius has done much worse to others than he did to me. I’ve seen it. He has plans to do more, which is a big part of why we’ve been hunting him for so long. When we came to LA to sniff Aurelius out, Ivan told me to do whatever it took to get intel on Aurelius’ whereabouts—I took that seriously. He made sure I was accepted into the University of Southern California’s business department to get close to you. He wanted me to date you and use you to get information about your dad’s company and the vampires. I had it all planned. But when I met you, it just… all fell apart.”

Lorianna tries to keep her face stoic, but her lips press together, troubled, as she listens to me. Then her gaze drifts down to her hands, which are now in her lap. “I didn’t know anything about the vampires in the company before this. I wasn’t close enough to my dad’s business to give you anything that useful anyway. It was a waste of your time.”

“I figured that out pretty quickly, even if Ivan didn’t believe me. He was so sure you would have the key to taking down Aurelius and I was just holding out on getting it from you. Maybe you did know something that could be surprisingly useful, but I didn’t want to ask you directly. It felt wrong.”

I tentatively slide my hand across the gap between us, closer to her hand. She hesitates, then gently links hers with mine. A shiver runs through me at the point of contact.

“I couldn’t bring myself to disappear from your life completely, so Ivan kept insisting that I get something good from you to make it all worth it. That’s why we ended up at your house that night. He was sure we could find records in your dad’s office that would give us a peek into Aurelius’ plans or whereabouts. I don’t really know what went wrong, but we were found out, and… yeah.”

She chews on her lips, keeping her eyes averted. “How much of it was real, Luke? This. Between you and me.”

“All of it,” I say instantly. “I know it looks bad, but everything I shared with you, all my feelings, all my experiences, it’s all real. I changed some of the details when I had to, but I didn’t want to build a fake life just to keep everything separate. If I’m being completely honest, I…”

“You what?”

“After the way I grew up and everything I know about the world, I thought it would be impossible for me to live a normal life. Even if I graduated university with a degree, I would still be a vampire hunter, risking my life every day to fix the world one kill at a time. There was no way for me to build a life away from that reality, even if I sometimes dreamed about escaping the death grind. But when I met you, you made me start thinking of ways it didn’t need to be a fantasy anymore and how I could make it real, just so I can spend the rest of my life with you. I want to carve out a future where I’m not a vampire hunter 24-7, where I can live with the woman I fucking love more than anything and build the life I never thought I deserved. But I… I was worried the truth would put you in more danger. So I gave you as much of me as I could without going all the way. I wanted you, and I wanted you to be mine, but I wanted you to be happy and safe more than that.”

Lorianna inches away from me, our hands breaking apart as she reaches toward the bedside table. She takes a glass of water and drinks deeply, trembling slightly. An unexpected wave of emotion crashes into me. Fuck, I’m not used to letting feelings take control of me, but when I’m with Lorianna, somehow, she just makes it easier to let go and feel everything. The good, the bad, the ugly. I want to stay strong for her, but I’m hanging on by a thread.

“I think… I think you’re going to have a lot more explaining to do, Luke,” she whispers.

“What do you mean?”

“All the stories you’ve shared, everything you’ve told me about the future… how can I know what’s the truth anymore? I have to question everything I know about you. Your scholarships, the orphanage, traveling with Ivan, all of it. You realize you’ll have to put the record straight if there can ever be anything between us again?”

Warmth explodes inside me at the mere suggestion that she’d give me the chance to do all that one day. “I’ll happily do that and more. I’ll tell you everything, answer any questions, and if there’s something I can’t tell you because of my work, I’ll be upfront about it. Anything for another chance with you, Lori.”

I mean every word of it, too. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her in my life, and I know there’s so much more I’m going to have to tell her and do before I can ever fully have her trust again. But Lorianna and me, we’re endgame, and if my fuckups take us longer to get there, that’s a mistake I have to live with and work through.

She fidgets with her hands. “How can you promise that? You don’t know what Ivan will do or what his orders will be. You could be taken away from me completely, right?”

My hand squeezes tightly around hers, and it feels like the air has been sucked out of my lungs. “Lori…” I choke out. “Ivan is dead.”

“W-what? Ivan... Ivan’s dead?”

The pain is too fucking raw, and like my feelings for her, I’ve been trying to hold back my grief this whole time. It strains against the edges of my being, but I can’t look weak in front of Lori. I’ll tell her painful shit from my past because it’s old, and I can take it, but Ivan is too fresh. I can’t let this out now. I can’t let her see that part of me when I’m already trying to give her so much more than I usually would.

So I swallow that grief and let anger take hold instead. Its warmth is familiar, flooding through me and drowning out the shadow of sadness.

“They didn’t tell you? Enzo fucking killed him in your house,” I growl. “When everything went down, he… Ivan sacrificed himself so I could get out of there alive. You might think we’re the bad guys because we fucked up your life, but we’ve spent our whole lives hunting evil. Every second of every day, we gave up our own lives to protect people who didn’t know any better. Ivan was an asshole at times, and controlling, but he didn’t deserve to die like that.”

Fuck, I’ve dealt with a lot of death—it’s just what happens in my line of work. But I’ve never had to deal with the body of someone close to me. I’m fucking devastated, even if I can’t bring myself to say those words out loud.

I haven’t let myself feel a whole lot since it happened. I’ve been stuck in go, go, go more, surviving another day. Following Academy orders. Judging Ivan for his fuckups and refusing to acknowledge the good parts of him and our relationship because that would mean sitting down and being vulnerable.

But honestly, he was the only father figure I’d ever really known. Yeah, it fucking sucks. My muscles coil so tight they hurt, because that physical pain is easier to feel than the bloody mess inside my heart and head. I know how to handle this kind of pain. Self-inflicted, endured only by me.

Then Lorianna places her small hand on my huge shoulder. All those muscles unclench, and all that wound-up, angry energy dissipates at once. Her touch is magic. Just one gentle brush of her fingers, and I don’t feel like I have to be angry to deal with this anymore. If I just let myself, I could… I could feel everything I’m holding back.

Instead, I look up at those gorgeous, pained eyes of hers, taking every inch of her in.

“I’m so sorry, Luke. I… I had no idea.” She takes my relaxation as an invitation, and I welcome her when she wraps her arms around me.

The mess of pain and grief that I’ve hardly scratched the surface of wants to unload in her arms, but I still hold it back. I have to, for her sake. Being with her like this, just on the edge of truly being vulnerable for the first time in twenty years, feels impossible. But without her, it would be. She’s the only one who’s been able to look beneath the surface, the strong front I put on, and see the real me underneath. The only reason we’ve had so much trouble in our relationship is because instead of letting her pry up the hood, I keep snapping it closed on her fingers, and she pulls away.

I want to bury myself in her warmth and comfort for a few moments longer. I feel that inexplicable pull in my chest to spill my guts to her, but letting her in that much would be a mistake. I’m fucking terrified of feeling anything too deep. If I told her about the real me, the shit I’ve done to survive, she’d never look at me the same.

I don’t want to imagine the devastation I would feel if I truly let Lorianna in and the next time I fuck up, it could be her who winds up dead.

“I know what you’re feeling right now. When I heard Dad was dead, I… I couldn’t believe it. I was so angry with myself for not spending more time with him. I felt, I feel, so helpless. And then—and then when I found out it was probably Aurelius who killed him…”

I reach up to Lorianna’s face, brushing the tears from under her eyes with my thumbs. “It was him, Lori. I’m sorry…”

“I don’t think you’re the bad guy, Luke… I never have. I see the hurt deep inside you, and if you—”

My mouth crashes onto Lorianna’s in a snap decision. She melts into me, and I kiss her like I’ve always wanted to, like she’s the fucking world. Because that’s exactly what she is.

“I don’t want you to have to be afraid of vampires ever again. I promise I’ll—”

My body lights up at her touch, craving more of her, and she gravitates to me like a moth to a flame, eager for my warmth, even though I’ve burned her so many times already. Panting, we break apart just a little.

“Is this a goodbye kiss?” she whispers.

“I never want to let you go again, Lori.” I hold her delicate face between my hands, caressing her cheeks with my thumbs. “What happens next is entirely up to you. If you want me to go, I will. If you want to kiss me again, fuck, I’ll kiss you until I run out of air. If you want to figure out what’s next for us another day and just be with me for a bit… we can do that too.”

Lorianna’s pupils dilate, and without saying anything, she lifts her chin so her mouth just barely brushes against mine. I drink in her sigh, then press my mouth down on hers in a fluttering kiss. I love her more than life itself, but I don’t know if I can ever tell her just how much I need her.

There’s still so much to lose if I give her my whole heart.