Chapter 13 #2
“You and Xan don’t count. Besides, I am only hugging my mate.”
“No, your dick is saying hello. Put that thing away. We have company.” Xan tilted his head toward the door.
I sensed their presence long before Xan had mentioned it, but I didn’t want Laikyn to freeze up on me. Besides, I liked having her in my arms, smelling like me, and aroused. “I’m aware,” I answered without letting Laikyn go.
A hard knock on the door leading from the outside broke through the silence. “Come in, Coti.” The big Hawaiian led Damien and Lucas in. Both men looked at Laikyn, their eyes took in her injury, then stared at me.
“What happened?” Damien waved toward Laikyn.
Grinding my teeth, I looked at Laikyn. “Do you want to tell them or me?”
“I will. However, it might be easier if I showed them.” She glanced over her shoulder, asking me for permission.
Goddess, I was a lucky bastard. With a nod, I entered her mind. “I will do this with you so there is no fucked up shit going on. If you feel threatened, you back out, and I’ll kill them both.”
“Okay.” And just like that, my mate soothed me.
“We will allow that and understand if you will be piggybacking in with her, Mr. Styles.” Damien gave a regal nod.
“I’ll be with her every step of the way. You understand I will gut you both if you try anything stupid, right?”
“Pup, if we were going to try anything stupid, do you think we’d be standing in this…place, offering assistance?” Lucas spoke for the first time.
They weren’t identical twins, but close enough that it was hard for most to tell them apart. I could tell them apart by their scents. I focused on Damien, realizing he was the leader. Power flowed from Lucas.
“We are equal, pup. Never forget it.” I allowed my own energy to flow, forcing the other man to stagger back. I placed Laikyn behind me. “Don’t come at me with your shit, boy. You and your brother may know more about this thing we are facing, but I can and will wipe the floor with you.”
Lyric pushed her way into the room. “Alright, guys. Put your dicks away. No need to piss all over the place.”
“For the love of all, woman,” Rowan roared. “Will you stop running into rooms full of testosterone?”
It’s like a bubble with a pin pushed into it. One second, the air was breathable, and then, poof, it thinned out of the room.
“Your mate is correct. Laikyn. Please show us what happened so we may be of assistance.” Damien placed his hand on Lucas’s shoulder.
They may be fraternal twins who were more alike than not and had equal strengths, but their temperaments were very different—one light and one dark.
I made note of my observations and brought Laikyn to stand in front of me.
With my arms banding about her waist, I brought my lips close to her ear. “Let’s do this and get it over with.”
“I didn’t see his face, and his voice may not be real.” She tried to reassure us, making me want to kill the bastard even more for what he’d tried to do.
“We understand, and believe us, we will know who and what we are facing through your memories. Trust us.” Lucas’s eyes focused on me. The other man’s pupil expanded, swallowing up his entire eye.
Linking with Laikyn, we opened up, and instead of letting the Cordells into her memories, we flowed into a space in between. I stared around the void, wondering where the hell we were, until Damien’s form appeared.
“This is an in-between where we are all safe from each other’s invasion of privacy.”
“Meaning you don’t have a direct line to our minds?” I wanted to be clear.
Lucas rolled his eyes. “We will now, as you do, have a link to each of us. However, you can sever it the same way we can. Now, let’s get on with the showing and less talking. Your voice is getting on my last damn nerve.”
“How have you not killed him before now?” I asked Damien.
The other man shrugged his shoulders. In the space we’d come, I looked at each man, seeing they’d chosen different clothing than they’d had on in the real world. “This is what we are most comfortable in.” Damien indicated the loose-fitting shirt and pants that could have come from any era.
I glanced at my own jeans and T-shirt, then shrugged. “Show them, Mon Chaton.”
Laikyn let her breath out, then allowed her mind to open.
The images, along with her fear, flowed into all three of us.
I kept my beast at bay, barely. Damien and Lucas stood straight, their eyes doing that freaky thing with their pupils, their chests expanded once, twice, then I didn’t think either man breathed for a full two minutes.
When Laikyn finished showing them, minutes had passed.
Neither Cordell made a move. Not a muscle or twitch of movement came from either of them.
Almost as if they were no longer in their own bodies.
I held Laikyn closer. Neither of us made a sound in case it would break into whatever trance-like state they were in.
Lucas was the first to take a deep breath, followed by Damien. His eyes speared straight into mine. “This was the work of a vampire, but not one as old as we’d first thought.”