24. Luc
24
LUC
I loiter outside, staring up at the darkened window where the waves of some seriously hot sex are descending like rainfall around me.
“Well, well, my sweet. What are you up to?”
Her scent is more potent than I’ve tasted before, even while she was riding Draven’s dick. I chuckle at that thought. He will be pissed to find his little plaything has already found a new cock to bounce up and down on. And a TA’s dick at that. I knew Vex was trouble the second I saw him on the rooftop the other day. But the fact that he is fucking my half-brother’s girl is rather amusing. I flick my tongue out, coating it with Matilda’s desire. My cock reacts to it, but so does my soul. The very essence of my being snaps erratically, wanting to get a real taste of her. A low groan escapes me, and I shudder as I let the desire wash over me. There is something about this witch that almost unnerves me. It’s like she is playing at being this sweet, innocent creature, but behind the facade, she is something else entirely. The problem is, though, I don’t think it’s an act. I think whatever is going on with her is entirely not of her doing. Someone is messing with her, and it’s suppressing her ability to express her power as she should. I think back to the nightmare I inadvertently got dragged into. That warlock has something to do with it. I need to take her back to that place to learn more. She won’t talk to me. She doesn’t trust me. Which she shouldn’t. Besides, I have given her no reason to trust me.
I slip back into the shadow of an ancient oak tree as Matilda appears at the door to the building. She is stiff from a damn good fucking, but she smiles and makes her way across the courtyard, disappearing into our residence building. I follow her at a distance, and she seems oblivious to my presence. I watch as she goes to her room and slips inside, locking the door behind her, but she knows that won’t stop me.
I silently enter my room next door to hers and wait patiently, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling.
After about ten minutes, I feel her energy lessen, and I smile, closing my eyes and entering her dreams as easily as taking my next breath.
The landscape around me shimmers and shifts, finally settling into a misty forest. Dark trees loom overhead, their branches reaching out like gnarled fingers. I can feel Matilda’s presence nearby, her energy pulsing like a beacon.
As I move through the trees, I catch glimpses of her. She’s running, darting between the trunks, always just out of reach.
“You can’t hide from me, sweet witch,” I call out, my voice echoing unnaturally in the dreamscape. “Not here.”
I hear her sharp intake of breath and grin. She’s close.
Rounding a massive oak, I finally catch sight of her. She’s pressed against the trunk, chest heaving as she tries to catch her breath. Her blue eyes go wide when she sees me.
“Luc,” she gasps, her eyes darting left and right erratically. “Is it you?”
“It is me.”
She blinks rapidly. “No, that was chasing me.”
I tilt my head. “I’m the only one here.”
“No,” she says, shaking her head. “There is someone else. It’s him.”
“Him who? The warlock from before?”
She screams, and in a flash, we are in a strange bedroom, overlooking a normal-looking neighbourhood. I narrow my eyes as Matilda, dressed in a short skirt, backs up, bumping into the double bed where a young girl is sleeping.
“Matilda?” I ask, concerned, as shit just got real, and I’m not liking where this is headed, one bit. I take a step forward, but the door flings open, and the asshole warlock from her earlier nightmare strides in.
“Come on, Tilly-girl. On your knees.” He reaches for his belt, and I growl.
He doesn’t hear me. Somehow, I’m not part of this dreamscape. I’m just here, witnessing shit, unable to affect it.
He strides towards Matilda, and the young girl sits up in the bed giggling. It is vicious and creepy as fuck. I glare at her. Who the fuck is she? She disappears, thank fuck, and I focus on Matilda again.
“No!” Matilda cries as the warlock grabs her hair and forces her to her knees. He shoves his cock into her mouth and fucks her face roughly.
“What the fucking depraved shit is this?” I grit out, lunging for the warlock, but my hands pass straight through him.
Matilda’s eyes are wide with terror and desperation, but she doesn’t struggle. Tears stream down her cheeks as she chokes on his cock. The warlock groans in pleasure, his grip on her hair tightening, yanking her head closer to him. Loud music suddenly thuds through the walls as I try again to reach the warlock. He grunts and dumps his cum into her mouth. Withdrawing, he closes his hand over her mouth and presses her nose closed so she can’t breathe. “Swallow it, Tilly-girl. I want my taste in your mouth all night long.”
Sickened by this sight, I clench my jaw and breathe in deeply as Matilda swallows this fucker’s cum. It drives a rage in me that hasn’t been hit in forever. The walls disappear from around us, and I see other people going about their business as Matilda is violated in this disgusting way. Eyes narrowed, I stare back at Matilda. She can’t see me. She has no idea I’m here. The warlock releases her and, with a laugh, leaves her on her knees, tears spilling out of her eyes as a rain of broken bits falls down around her, getting stuck in her hair and slicing her skin.
“Matilda,” I say. “Can you hear me?”
Matilda’s tear-filled eyes snap to mine, widening in shock as she finally seems to register my presence. “Luc?” she chokes out, her voice raw.
“I’m still here,” I say, taking a cautious step towards her. The dreamscape shifts again, the oppressive bedroom fading away to be replaced by a misty void. Matilda remains on her knees, trembling.
“How... how much did you see?” she asks, her cheeks flushing with shame.
I clench my jaw, rage still simmering beneath the surface. “All of it.”
She lets out a broken sob, wrapping her arms around herself. “You weren’t supposed to see that. No one was ever supposed to see that.”
I kneel down in front of her, careful not to touch her. “Matilda. These nightmares are real, aren’t they? Memories.” It’s not a question. I already know the answer. Her fear and shame are tangible.
She nods. “Please, Luc. Just go. Forget what you saw.”
“Never,” I growl. “I will make him pay for what he has done. All of them.”
“No! Just go. Forget everything.”
“Not a fucking chance, sweet witch. No one fucking treats you like that and gets away with it.”
She glares at me, her tears vanishing as she gets to her feet. “This is none of your business,” she hisses. “You are violating my dreams. Get out.”
“No.”
“Get the fuck out!” she screams at me and slams her hands to my chest.
I go hurtling through the void to land on my ass in the middle of her bedroom. She sits up suddenly in the bed and stares down at me.
Matilda’s eyes blaze with fury as she glares down at me from her bed. “What the hell are you doing, Luc?”
“Trying to help you,” I spit out, getting to my feet.
“Help me? Help me? By invading my dreams?”
I have no answer for her.
She lets out a pained laugh. “You can’t help me. No one can. You had no right to see what you did. It’s for me to deal with.”
“Oh, I don’t fucking think so, Matilda. I may have come across this knowledge in an unconventional way, but I know, and I will make sure they pay for what they’ve done to you.”
“Why? Why do you care?”
“Why do I care? Because… because…” We glare at each other when, for the first time in my life, I’m speechless.
Her bottom lip trembles as she clings to her control for dear life.
“You don’t have to be strong, Matilda.”
“Yes, I do, because if I’m not, I will break, and I cannot let this shit break me. I won’t let it. I’m better than that!”
Everything slows down.
The world could crash down around my ears, and I wouldn’t even notice because I fall head over heels in love with this woman who won’t even give me the time of day.
We lock gazes; hers furious with me, mine shocked at my feelings for her.
“Fuck,” I mutter and leave her room in a burst of hellfire. If I had stayed, I would have forced myself on her and ravaged her completely, possessed her body and soul, and that makes me no better than that fucker in her nightmares.
She deserves better than that. She deserves better than me, and to be quite frank, she deserves better than Draven, who is as bad as me, only more insidious about it. “Fuck,” I mutter and sit on the bed, shell-shocked at the events of the last few minutes. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”