Chapter 20
Lumi
Lips brush against mine the second my eyes open. As if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Like we’re an old married couple kissing good morning to one another.
“Morning, Lumi, don’t overthink,” Ambrose says gently.
“Morning,” I mutter back, my lips still tingling from where he kissed me.
“I love listening to you sleep. And getting the tiniest glimpses into your dreams. They say that mates can walk in each other’s dreams together. Maybe we’ll be connected enough to do that soon. What did you dream about last night?”
My eyes widen as I stare at him. He’s not the least bit phased by what happened last night. Not upset that I stopped things. That I probably gave him the worst case of blue balls. And not only that, he’s acting like we are closer than ever.
“Um…” I rattle my head, still spinning with haziness about what I dreamed about.
Dark shadows, icy cold breath, the piercing pain of fangs sinking into my flesh, while never feeling safer than in his arms. I dreamed about him. Not you.
But I don’t tell Ambrose that.
I blink. “I’m not really sure. Just that it was pleasant.”
“Good, I dreamed about you.”
I force a smile, but when he smiles at me, it’s genuine. He should be so easy to fall in love with. He’s good to me. Kind. Sweet. Caring.
He took ownership and fixed his fuckup. And all he wants is what’s best for me.
He’s not even jealous that I still have feelings for a man who has moved on to the true love of his life.
And he knows that to break the curse, he’ll have to get me to fall in love with him again, all while I get him to hate me. He’s the real martyr.
I start to move and feel the covers shift. Ambrose’s eyes travel over the silky lace of the light blue nightgown I’m wearing with longing heat in his eyes. As I move to get out of bed, he takes my hand in his and kisses my palm.
Tingles once again trail over my skin, and my body instantly reacts despite my own feelings. Like I can’t control my body’s response to his touch, it reacts anyway.
I frown.
“What’s wrong?”
I study him a second. Then another. “It’s your magic, right? That’s what I’m feeling?”
He takes a second, like he doesn’t want to respond. Then nods. “Do you not want me to use magic to make you feel good?”
“No, it’s fine. I just needed to understand.” Before I can take another step, I hear a loud knock on the door.
“Lumi, you still alive in there?” Kael asks.
I rush to the door and throw it open. “I’m good,” I say with a smile.
He looks me over, takes one whiff of me, and then a knowing smile lifts on his own lips.
“Thank gods, now come on, Riven made breakfast,” Kael says, slinging his arm over my shoulder. He looks back playfully at Ambrose to see his reaction to him touching me, and from his laughter, I can tell that it must have bothered Ambrose.
I, on the other hand, am not in the mood for explaining what happened last night. Let Kael think what he thinks. I let him lead me downstairs, my mind whirling and my stomach growling for food.
“Here, have my plate, Lumi. I can hear that stomach growling from across the house. I don’t know what you and Ambrose got up to last night, but it’s left you starving,” Brax says, shoving a plate of food in my hands.
I don’t protest. I take the food. I need the food.
Ambrose grabs coffee for him and me before sitting next to me. If anyone were to look at us, they’d say we were the perfect couple.
“Gods, you could have showered first,” Talonis teases.
“Or Ambrose could have used his magic to cover the scent at least,” Kael says.
“There is no covering that scent,” Brax says.
My cheeks pinken. I remember Ambrose wiping away the scent with his magic last night, but apparently, it wasn’t enough for their heightened noses.
Emeric gives me a sweet smile from across the table like he’s happy for me. Riven doesn’t tease me, but mostly because he’s lost in a book. Sylara is the only one who gives me a concerned look, but I don’t speak to her either.
“What are you reading about, Riven?” I ask, trying to change the subject off of me.
“My mother’s journals. She talks a lot about the different gods and curses they’ve created before.”
“The gods have created curses before? How were they broken?”
“Still trying to figure that part out. But yes, it appears they have. It appears that Hestia, the goddess of the witches, really doesn’t get along with Nizal, the god of vampires, or Luan, the god of the wolf shifters.
Something happened that made them angry with each other.
And I suspect that the curses have a lot more to do with their relationships to each other than it does with any mating bonds being broken or not being grateful for the powers we were granted by them. ”
If it’s about them and not us, that means we have very little power to break the curses.
“The good thing is that it does appear that the witches were able to make contact with the gods before and that that meeting helped them end or break the curses.”
“They contacted the gods? How?”
Riven shakes his head. “My mother was vague on the details.”
I’m about to ask more questions when a burning pain starts in the back of my hand. The hand that doesn’t have a marking.
Unlike before, I don’t cry out in pain. I’m prepared. And know exactly what is happening. Everyone continues talking. Continuing the conversation without me.
Ambrose casually slings his arm around my shoulders, seemingly as oblivious as the others about what is happening with my body. But I watch with wide eyes as a crescent moon marks my left hand. The same shape as the one on Ambrose’s chest.
Ambrose hisses, pulling his arm back.
“Did you pinch me or something?” he asks with a confused look on his face as he cradles his hand like I just burned him.
“If you don’t want me to touch you, just tell me.
I’ll always respect your boundaries. I just thought that after everything, it would be helpful to progress forward in our relationship. It would help to act like a couple.”
“I didn’t hurt you.” I hold out my hand. “Does your hand look something like this?”
Shock rings over his face as he gently takes my hand in his and kisses it tenderly, like he’s trying to ease my pain. “It’s my crescent moon. Does that mean you accept me as your mate? Truly?”
“Let me see your hand.”
He holds out his hand. And I prepare myself to see a snowflake. One that mirrors the one on my other hand. But I see something far different.
Ambrose looks at it in confusion. “What is it?” he turns his hand in many different directions, trying to figure out what it means.
“Nyx,” I whisper, already knowing it’s true without any real proof.
Riven comes over and studies Ambrose’s hand for a second. He nods. “The rune means vampire.”
I stand up abruptly. “I need to see him.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kael says.
Everyone mumbles their agreement.
“Where is he?” I ask Talonis, knowing that he’s been keeping an eye on him the most.
“He’s with the other vampires. He feels that is the safest place for him to be right now. He’s becoming more vampire and less wolf shifter every day. You should let him be, Lumi, especially…” he doesn’t finish his sentence.
I look from my hand to Ambrose’s. “This is a clue. I don’t know what it means. But we need to know if he has a new marking too.”
“Then I’ll go. I’ll find him and report back,” Talonis says, getting up.
But it’s not good enough.
“Are you okay? I’m going to get you some salve to help with the pain,” Ambrose says.
I nod.
The others go back to eating. Everyone except Sylara. She stares at me intensely.
“Help me?” I mouth to her.
She nods subtly.
I get up and walk to the back door. A few minutes later, Sylara is there.
“Don’t make me regret this. I put my life on the line, not you. You keep me in the middle the entire time. And if I tell you to run, you run. Agree?”
I nod.
“Get ready to shift,” she says, opening the door.
We run out the door and shift, tearing Ambrose’s beautiful night gown to shreds as I shift. But I keep my word, letting Sylara lead in front while I follow from behind, even though I know the way to where Nyx is most likely staying with the vampires. The cave I spied on him in before.
Sylara slows as we approach. I don’t know if she wants me to stay in wolf form or not, but she shifts to her human form right after me and doesn’t scowl or scold me for doing so.
I need to talk to Nyx, and I can’t do that very well in my wolf form, even with the limited alpha-to-alpha connection I can sometimes speak.
We walk to the entrance of the cave. I have no idea what we are about to face, but before we take a step inside, Nyx appears. If he notices Sylara, he doesn’t acknowledge her in any way. His eyes are laser locked on me.
His eyes heat over my very naked body, not hiding that he’s checking me out at all.
In record time, he notices the new mark on my hand.
The one that is an exact replica of Ambrose’s, and then he takes a deep inhale.
I can tell the exact moment that my scent mixed with Ambrose’s hits him.
And I realize why everyone wanted me to stay back and not come.
I’ve never seen this look on him before.
His eyes darken into tight slits. Nostrils flare, and lips curl dangerously until I can see the tip of his fang.
I can feel my pulse beating in my throat. For a split second, I want him to sink that fang into my neck. I want to feel him against my throat, sucking my blood. The intimacy of that act. Of trusting him not to kill me.
He moves—so fucking fast.
One second, he’s in the doorway of the cave, the next, I’m pinned to the cave wall, and his fang scrapes against that spot on my neck. I heave a deep breath, practically panting with anticipation.