Chapter 18 #2
“Know it? Lucien, I live for it. Used to go to matches with my dad. Could tell you who’s top scorer this season, or who’s holding the worst defence line. But…” she gave me a sly glance, “…I don’t think you’re ready for that kind of education.”
A laugh rumbled out of me, from the depth of my chest which startled me as I’m not one to find amusement in much, but it was real and felt good. “You think you can teach me?”
“Think?” Her smile widened. “I know.”
The amusement in her tone tugged something deep in my chest. She wasn’t teasing to provoke, she was teasing because for once, she was at ease. She was glowing, alive, and I would do anything to keep her like this.
I leaned closer, brushing a lock of hair from her face. “Careful, sweetheart. You teach me too much, and I’ll start winning.”
She snorted. “Not a chance.”
And just like that, I was lost. I caught her mouth with mine, the kiss hard and claiming at first, then deepening into something slower, hungrier.
Her lips parted, and I swallowed her soft sound, my hand sliding to the back of her neck, anchoring her to me.
She melted against me, her warmth sinking into every crack I didn’t know I still had.
When I finally pulled back, my forehead pressed to hers, her breath mingled with mine. “You keep surprising me,” I whispered.
Her fingers curled into my shirt, holding me close. “Get used to it.”
And for the first time in too long, I let myself believe I could.
I was just about to answer when my phone beeped. Grunting, I pulled it from my pocket, Draugr’s name flashing across the screen. My jaw tightened. Draugr didn’t call unless it was urgent.
“Yeah?” I answered, still stroking my fingers through Sorcha’s hair, smiling faintly when I saw her attention had drifted back to the game on the screen.
The sound that came through the line wasn’t calm, wasn’t measured. It was fire, rough and raw. “We have a fucking problem.”
Every muscle in my body locked. My hand stilled in her hair before I forced it away. Slowly, deliberately, I stood. “I’m listening.”
I walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the garden, each step heavy with dread.
Draugr’s growl was low, seething. “When I went back to the warehouse tonight to finish Keller… the security system was down. Both changelings on watch are gone. And so is Keller.”
The words detonated in my chest. For a second, I couldn’t breathe. Then fury erupted, sharp and uncontrollable, ripping through me like wildfire. I spun, every instinct screaming to destroy something or everything.
But Sorcha was in the room, so I forced my steps out the doors, onto the patio.
The night air hit me, cold and useless against the heat boiling in my veins.
The rage needed release, and it came fast. I roared, the sound shaking the dark, and grabbed the nearest table, hurling it across the garden.
It splintered into the trees, missing one of the vampire guards by a hair.
He ducked, wisely silent, while I ripped a chair from the stone and sent it flying next.
“Lucien.” Draugr’s voice cut through the crackle of my fury. Steady and grim. “There was fucking demon evidence. Residue from those motherfuckers. This wasn’t a simple escape. Keller was already touched, already theirs. They followed him and helped him out.”
I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached. Touched. That was why he’d slipped free, and I’d let the bastard breathe one more night.
My hands shook with the need to destroy something more. I should have killed him the moment I had him. Should have burned the body to ash before he could slither back to the filth that owned him.
“This is on me,” I snarled into the phone. “I’ll fix it.”
Draugr grunted. “We’ll fix it. But don’t lose your fucking shit now. Keep your mate steady. Leave the hunt to me until we get a lead.”
“Fuck,” I roared, “keep me in the loop, and Draugr…hurry up.”
The call ended, but the rage didn’t. My chest heaved, every breath a promise of violence.
If he didn’t find him soon, I wouldn’t be able to sit around, I would burn the whole fucking city down looking for him.
He had to die, he had to pay for what he did to Sorcha.
Now that I had a feel for his bones under my hands I would not rest until I knew he was dead.
I had promised Sorcha…I would not fail her.
“Lucien?”
Her voice was soft, but it cut sharper than any blade. I snaped around. Sorcha stood framed in the open doorway, her hand over her heart, her eyes wide with worry. The glow from the sitting room haloed around her, fragile and too bright against the storm rolling through me.
Fuck.
I forced the fire back, shoved it down deep where it burned but wouldn’t touch her. The doctor’s warning rang in my skull…no stress, no strain. The last thing I could do was unleash this in front of her.
I scrubbed a hand over my face, stepping toward her, careful, steady. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.” My voice was low, rougher than I meant, but I softened it as best I could. “Just business.”
Her brow furrowed, lips parting like she wanted to argue.
I saw the tremor in her hand, the way she was holding herself tight, and it only escalated my fury, not at her, never at her, but at Keller.
At the fact that the bastard still breathed.
That the shadow of what he’d done was still haunting her.
I reached her in two strides, pulling her into my arms, holding her close even though I was still shaking with rage. “Don’t look at me like that, baby. Don’t worry.” My lips brushed her hair as I pressed her into my chest. “I’ll handle it. You’re safe here. With me.”
She nodded against me, though the tension in her body told me she wasn’t fully convinced. And that killed me more than Keller’s escape.
Inside, the storm still raged, every part of me screaming to hunt, to tear, to destroy. But outside, for her, I forced the calm. For her, I would hold it back.
Even if it burned me alive.