Chapter Three
Annika
I leaned in closer. “Whose blood?”
“The witch’s,” Kael said. “The one who sealed him. Your ancestor.”
I flinched, my hand gripping at Lucas’ sleeve, but my eyes never left the blade. It was… beckoning me.
“That doesn’t prove shit!” Lucas snapped.
Kael met his glare. “It does.” He then pointed to the hilt, to where the symbols were curved into a strange, delicate pattern… one that looked all too familiar.
I swallowed heavily, my hand lifting slowly to my collarbone.
“Annika?” I heard Lucas’ voice, sharp.
Without thinking, I tugged the edge of my shirt down, revealing a faint, curling birthmark just below my collarbone. It was identical to the mark carved into the hilt.
“It’s not possible,” Lucas said.
Kael leaned back, letting the weight of it all sink in. “Do you see it now?”
I wasn’t sure who he was referring to. Not that it mattered.
Lucas stepped in front of me, keeping his body between mine and Kael’s, as if Kael was the enemy here.
“It doesn’t matter,” Lucas growled. “I won’t let them take her.”
Kael’s expression hardened. “You won’t have a choice if they get to her first.”
“I’m not running,” I said simply.
I felt Lucas grab my wrist. He was gentle, but firm. “Annika—”
“No,” I said with a steadier voice this time. My hand covered his. “I won’t hide while they hunt me. I won’t let them hurt anyone else.”
His eyes were drinking in mine.
“This isn’t bravery,” he said. “This is recklessness.”
“Maybe,” I admitted. “But I won’t live in fear.”
I knew that Lucas wanted to argue, that he wanted to shake some sense into me. But he knew better than to even try.
Kael watched, arms crossed. “Odds aren’t good. You might die.”
I didn’t flinch. “Not today or any time soon.”
Kael didn’t say anything to that. Instead, he left the dagger on the table and glanced at the door, before his eyes met Lucas’ once again.
“I know I am an intruder,” he said. “But perhaps you might realize that I’m not the enemy here.”
Upon those words, he left the cottage, closing the door behind him.
I stared at the dagger resting on the table, its dark blade catching the dying light. My fingers itched to touch it, to prove it wasn’t real. But I didn’t. I couldn’t.
Lucas stood at the window, arms crossed, shoulders tense. He hadn’t moved since Kael left, but I felt the storm brewing in him. He was too still. Too quiet.
I didn’t know what scared me more—the dagger or the look in Lucas’s eyes.
“Say something,” I said finally. My voice sounded small in the silence.
His gaze stayed fixed on the trees outside. “You should have let me kill him.”
I exhaled, the sound half a laugh. “You always want to kill someone.”
“This time I’d be right.”
I didn’t answer. Maybe he was right. Kael wasn’t safe. I knew that the moment he stepped out of the shadows and into our lives. But I also knew he hadn’t lied.
The mark on the dagger matched mine. Perfectly.
I reached up, tracing the shape under my collarbone. It tingled now, like it had been waiting to be noticed. A part of me wanted to deny it. I wanted to tear away the connection, to pretend it wasn’t real. But I couldn’t.
“Annika.”
I turned, and Lucas was closer than I expected, his dark eyes locked on me. “You can’t let this change you.”
“It already has.”
His jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue. He just stepped closer, and suddenly his hands were on my face, holding me like I might disappear.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he told me. “You’re staying here. With me.”
I wanted to promise him that. But the words stuck in my throat.
I pressed my hands against his chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heart. “What if this isn’t just about me?”
“It is about you.”
“No,” I said, louder this time. “If what Kael said is true, this isn’t just about me. It’s about all of us. All of them.” I gestured toward the window, to the forest and the town beyond it. “We can’t just hide and hope it goes away.”
His grip tightened, but he didn’t speak.
“We need him,” I said softly.
Lucas flinched. “Kael?”
“He knows things we don’t. And you know it.”
His eyes burned into mine, sharp and unrelenting. But after a long, heavy moment, he stepped back.
“He stays,” Lucas said. “For now.”
Relief and dread tangled in my chest. I didn’t trust Kael either, but I trusted the truth. And it was staring at us from the table, sharp and undeniable.
Lucas turned away again, but his voice came at me low and dark. “If he so much as breathes wrong, I’ll kill him.”
I didn’t doubt that. I hung my arms around his neck, locking eyes with him. I loved it when he was possessive and protective. All I could think about now was having him inside of me.
In what seemed to be one motion, he pulled me closer, our lips almost touching. He could read my mind so easily. He was smiling, in that way I loved so much. But he didn’t say anything.
He swept me off the floor and I leaned into him, giggling. I always felt like a feather in his arms, light as air. He crossed the room in two easy strides, laying me down on the sofa.
“Lucas…” I whispered his name. “I want you…”
He hovered over me, his eyes dark and deep, unfathomable. I grabbed him by the shirt, in an effort to pull him even closer, but he captured both my wrists with just one hand. He was grinning now.
My blood was pumping hard, my ears drumming with sheer desire. He knew what he was doing to me, and he liked it. In fact, we both liked it.
I straightened my back, my breasts straining against the thin fabric of my t-shirt. I knew he could see my pebbled nipples through it. I wanted him to see, to touch them. I wanted to feel his tongue playing with them.
I moaned loudly just thinking about his tongue on my body.
“Touch me…” I pleaded when I saw that he was waiting, biding his time.
His gaze traveled down my body. I spready my legs, my hand slowly caressing down my body. I knew that it wouldn’t take him long. He always tried to control himself, but I knew how to break that focus, that control.
I lifted my t-shirt, showing him my breasts, licking fingers and playing with my nipple.
“I need you, Lucas… Now…” I moaned again.
This time, he lowered his head, burying his nose in my neck. I could hear his hot breath. I could feel it spill onto my own body, eager to have his.
His lips latched onto my nipple, drawing it into the heat of his mouth. He suckled at it hard, adjusting himself on top of me. I closed my eyes, relishing the sound of his belt buckle clicking out of place.
He didn’t wait for me to undress him. I didn’t want him to wait any longer. He threw his shirt over his head, working his way out of his pants as well. A moment later, he was on top of me again, my breasts hitting the hard muscles of his chest as he lay on top of me.
I didn’t want him to kiss me. I wanted him to fuck me mindlessly, breathlessly, until we both came undone.
He worshipped my breasts with his tongue, his hands working on the buttons of my pants, sliding them off of me. He didn’t remove my panties. I knew what he wanted to do… just slide them to the side, that thin piece of fabric enflaming his imagination even more.
My entire body was already shaking. I wanted him to take me now.
He placed his hand between my thighs. He could feel how hot and wet I already was. But he didn’t take me yet.
Crazed as I was for him, he wanted to torment me some more by pressing kisses over my hips, then tracing an invisible line inward. I grabbed a fistful of his hair, keeping him in place. I closed my eyes, biting my lower lip. He knew exactly how to bring me to the brink, then pull away and make me go there again.
He drew me into his mouth, the very essence of my pleasure, palpitating on his tongue. I couldn’t fight my need any longer.
“Take me,” I begged.
This time, he listened. He got on top of me, covering my entire body with his.
Without thinking, I wrapped my legs around him, drawing him close. I could feel the tip of his manhood pressing against my wet heat.
“Now?” he asked with that devilish grin.
“Now,” I nodded breathlessly.
He dropped his forehead to mine, drawing his hips into me. He slid inside effortlessly, beautifully in one powerful stroke.
I moaned with pleasure. He groaned in turn.
Heaven. It was pure heaven.
He kept thrusting into me hard, just the way he knew I liked. His fingers gripped me, kept me in place, until my insides exploded all around him, pulsating around him.
“Argh, Annika…” he groaned softly, thrusting a few more times, then tightening as he came inside of me.
A moment later, he settled next to me, wrapping his arms around me. The room smelled like smoke and sweat and him. My head was on his chest, my fingers tracing lazy patterns on his skin.
He was quiet, his breathing steady. Protective, as always. But I knew he wasn’t sleeping. Not really.
Neither was I.
I closed my eyes and listened to the slow thud of his heart. It didn’t match mine. It never did. His beat slower, steadier—like he had all the time in the world, while mine raced, sharp and frantic. It had always been that way.
But tonight, it felt different.
Tonight, the world felt like it was tilting, like something was shifting beneath us. I could feel it in the weight of the air, in the way Lucas’s grip tightened whenever I moved. Like he was afraid to let go.
I was afraid too.
I thought about the dagger—the way it pulsed like something alive. The way Kael’s voice had stayed so calm while he told me my blood could wake a monster. I thought about the mark under my skin and the way Lucas looked at me when he saw it, like he was already bracing for a fight he couldn’t win.
I hated that look.
I hated the fear that coiled low in my stomach, threatening to drown me. But more than that, I hated the thought of losing this. Us.
I shifted, pressing closer to him, needing his warmth. His strength.
Lucas stirred, his arm tightening, his lips brushing my temple. “You’re thinking too loud,” he murmured, his voice low and rough.
I smiled faintly, but it didn’t last. “I can’t stop.”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he tilted my chin, forcing me to look at him. His eyes were dark, steady, endless. “You’re not alone in this, Annika.”
“I know.”
“You don’t.” He brushed his thumb across my cheek, soft but unyielding. “Not yet. But you will.”
I wanted to believe him. I wanted to drown in his words, his touch, and forget everything outside this room. But the world didn’t stop turning just because we wanted it to.
“They’re coming,” I whispered.
“I’ll kill them.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“Yes, I can.”
His voice was hard, sharp, but I could feel the softness in the way he pulled me closer, the way he kissed me like it might be the last time.
And maybe it would be.
I didn’t say it out loud, but he must have felt it, because his lips found mine again, fiercer this time. Desperate.
And for a little while, the fear faded.
But when the fire burned out completely and the darkness crept in, I was still awake. Still listening to his heartbeat. And still wondering if it would be enough.