Chapter 40 #2
They were just as strong as ever. Stronger, even. Every part of me yearned to be near him. To touch him. To feel him. To feel the beat of his heart underneath my hands. To feel the silkiness of his dark, long hair.
We stared at each other from across the room, so many unspoken emotions swirling between us it almost seemed to overwhelm me. Then, he was moving, marching toward me like a man on a mission.
I stayed where I was, unable to make my body move.
Dimitri stepped out of the way, and then Lukyan was right there, right in front of me.
His hands grasped both sides of my face and he pulled me close, resting his forehead against mine.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, as if he was breathing me in. As if he could finally relax.
“You’re here,” he murmured, and those two words held a mountain of meaning.
I smiled. “I’m here.”
His eyes opened, and they were filled with so much love I couldn’t believe I ever questioned it. “You have no idea how much I missed you.” He kissed me, his lips featherlight against mine, and I melted into him, kissing him back.
My world instantly righted itself. All the chaotic emotions I’d been feeling the past few months seemed to diminish bit by bit, and my soul brightened. If it was possible to see it, it would be blazing brighter than the sun.
The kiss deepened. I moaned, moving closer. Like it always did with us, it went from zero to a hundred like the flip of a switch.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, PG-13 please. There’s youngins around.” Tatiana laughed.
Lukyan grinned against my lips, chuckling softly before pulling back. He turned to face the table, clasped my hand in his, and said, “Everyone, this is Lyla. My wife.” His smile was bright and beaming. Bigger than I’d ever seen it. Almost blinding.
Illayana nudged me in the ribs with her elbow and gave me a knowing smirk. “Told you. You were his light.” Then, she walked over to the table and sat down next to Arturo. He leaned forward and gave her a soft, loving kiss on her cheek, whispering something in her ear that made her smile.
Autumn stood, clapping her hands once. “Well, don’t just stand there. Come join us.”
Dimitri took his seat next to her as Lukyan led me around the table, officially introducing me to everyone. One by one, I shook their hands, each one offering me a kind smile and telling me how happy they were to have me.
It was more than I could have ever hoped for. More acceptance than I’d ever received in my life, and a sense of home hit me.
“Okay, so I think we’re all wondering the same thing,” Tatiana began as Lukyan pulled out a chair for me to sit down.
Oh, god. What? What are they wondering? When my obsession with Lukyan started?
How many times I snuck into their house?
What weird, crazy things I’ve done to make Lukyan mine— “What’s with the book in your hands?
” she finished, her fork pointing right at my scrapbook.
Oh.
I smiled, holding it up with pride. “This is my scrapbook.”
“Scrapbook?” Illayana asked, putting some chicken on her plate. “Of what?”
“Lukyan, obviously,” Nikolai said, giving her a do you seriously need to even ask that question kind of look.
Illayana glared.
“Yes. Lukyan.” I opened it up, flipping through the pages.
“These aren’t all my images. Just my favorites.
Like this one”—I pointed to a picture of Lukyan walking down the street, a pair of Ray Bans over his eyes, an ice cream cone in his hands, his tongue swirling around it—“And this one”—I flicked to the next page and tapped the picture on the bottom left corner.
It was one of Lukyan sleeping. “It’s kind of dark because it’s night time, but he looks so cute here.
Oh, and this one.” The next photo I pointed out was one of him in the warehouse.
He was shirtless, hair up in a bun with a few loose strands cascading around his face, sweat dripping down his abs.
Cloth was draped around his hands, and his arms were out wide, a triumphant, smug smile on his face.
“This one I have as the screensaver for my phone because I love it so much.” I held up my phone to show them, smiling.
My smile dropped slightly when I realized everyone was just staring at me. I smashed my lips together, looking awkwardly around the table. Shit. Maybe showing them the magnitude of my obsession might not have been a good idea—
“Did you pose for this one, Lukyan?” Drea asked, laughing.
“What? No.” He looked at the last photograph a bit closer. “But it is a good one, isn’t it? Can you send me that, actually? I look pretty good in it.”
Illayana sat forward eagerly. “Do you have any embarrassing ones?”
“Yeah. Like any of him falling on his face?” Nikolai smirked.
“Or getting beat in the ring?” Aleksandr joined in.
“Excuse me, if I remember correctly, you’re the one who got your ass beat the last time we were in the ring,” Lukyan said smugly, winking.
“You cheated!” Aleksandr snapped. “You know you’re not allowed to kick in the nuts!”
“Father said no rules.” Lukyan shrugged. “Nuts are fair game. Wasn’t my fault you didn’t think of it.”
Aleksandr stood abruptly. “You wanna go again? Let’s go. Right now.”
“Sit down, Aleksandr,” Dimitri commanded. “It’s dinnertime.”
Aleksandr sat, grumbling under his breath.
“I’ve never seen you so worked up before, Aleksandr.” Tatiana’s smile was full of amusement. “I gotta say, it’s hilarious.”
“I’m not worked up,” he rushed out. “But I was undefeated before that day. It’s not fair he ruined my undefeated record by cheating.”
Illayana snorted. “Lukyan cheats. We all know that.”
“Hey!” Lukyan blasted. “I resent that. I don’t always cheat.”
“Mmm, you kinda do,” I added in, laughing. “Cedric told me how you kept cheating in Uno.”
“You can cheat in Uno?” Autumn asked, frowning.
Lukyan nodded, placing his elbows on the table and leaning forward eagerly. “Yeah. It’s actually really easy. I’ll show you one time.”
“What’s that?” Arturo asked, his eyes narrowed in thought.
“What?” I looked over the scrapbook. “Oh, this? These are dental records.”
“You have his dental records?” Drea chuckled.
I nodded. “Yep. And his last physical from the doctor. Also this”—I flipped to the next page, showing them the lock of hair I had taped to the inside—“It isn’t the first one I got.
That one is here, on my wrist.” I showed it to them with pride.
“But I wanted another one just in case I lost this one.”
“Very logical,” Nikolai said.
“Thank you!”
“Oh, man, look at his face.” Illayana laughed, pointing to Lukyan.
Lukyan’s smirk was only getting wider and wider the longer he looked at my scrapbook.
“He likes it,” Autumn said, shaking her head with amusement.
“Of course he does,” Papa D chimed in.
I was glad he liked it. I put a lot of work into it to make it absolutely perfect.
Light chatter filled the air, and I couldn’t help but smile as conversation bloomed all around me, everyone talking and laughing as they ate.
It was such a fun atmosphere—something I never had in my own home growing up.
Everyone laughed. Made jokes. Gave each other shit, but in a loving way that you knew was all in good fun.
They argued and bickered. Tossed food at one another and jabbed each other in the shoulder when someone said something ridiculous.
One sibling would say something, and another would disagree just for the hell of it, just to rile the other up. I laughed so much my stomach hurt.
They included me in their discussions, asking me all sorts of questions in an effort to get to know more about me, and not once did I feel any sense of judgment or out of place.
I felt at peace
I felt…for the first time in my life…like I was home.