Chapter 3 Luka
LUKA
“Luka.” Lennox’s fingers danced across my chest as her lips dusted over my jaw.
“Hmmm.” I rolled her on top of me, resting my hands on her thighs, forcing her silk nightgown to bunch up around her waist.
Sun filtered into the room behind her, illuminating her in a golden glow.
I skimmed my hands up higher, the tips of my fingers leaving indentations on her ass as she ground her hips against me. “Lennox.”
I jerked up, my eyes flying open as my heart hammered in my chest. I winced as I sat up straight, my back protesting at my position slumped against the wall in the hallway outside of Luce’s room.
Reality came crashing back down.
Lennox wasn’t here.
She had given herself up to save the rest of us.
She was now a captive. Had been for almost two weeks now.
I turned my gaze to my right, ignoring the persistent ache in my chest at her absence. It hadn’t lessened since I had woken up back in Alethens without her. If anything, it only grew—grew more incessant with every day we spent apart.
The constant pain in my chest and the new marking on my palm got Kara thinking.
She was certain Lennox and I were mates. She had looked into it—found stories of markings similar to ours and recollections of what happened when mates were separated from one another for too long.
It all made sense, that Lennox and I could be mates.
But I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
If it was true, it would explain my pain. Mates weren’t meant to be apart for extended periods of time. Their hearts would ache for one another.
That’s what it felt like—like my heart was constantly aching for her—trying to claw its way out of my chest to be with Lennox. My supposed mate.
Mate. The word echoed in my head.
No matter how much I wanted to believe it was true, there was a seed of doubt lingering in my mind. If she was my mate, why had our path to be together been so difficult? Why had Lennox resisted us being together for so long?
If she was my mate, why would she give herself up and leave me? Leaving me yearning for her with this persistent ache in my chest—in my bones.
I wouldn’t believe any of it until I held Lennox in my arms again. Until I saw the matching markings wrapped around her own marriage mark.
Did she even have the markings? Did she know we were mates?
The only thing I did know was I missed her, and I loved her.
It was those two truths I clung to in the darkness that had seeped into my days.
I directed my gaze toward Declan and Kara; they were talking quietly as they sat shoulder-to-shoulder against the wall across from me. Nico was pacing back and forth in front of the door to Luciana’s room.
I hoped this spell worked.
It better fucking work.
Even if it led us to the wrong location, a wrong location was better than nothing.
I just needed something, something to go after. A thread to grasp on to, to distract myself from the fact that my wife was a captive. That the High Queen of Lethenia had offered herself up on a silver platter to Adreona.
Lennox’s love for her sister was something I had always admired about her, but it didn’t stop me from being selfish and wishing she’d choose herself for once.
Wishing she’d choose us.
I wished I knew how she was. What were they forcing her to do? If they laid a finger on her, I’d—
My head flew in the direction of the door opening. I rushed to my feet as Luciana entered the hallway. Dried blood was crusted in her nostrils and smeared across her cheek and the back of her hand. Her eyes were hollow, dark circles encasing them.
I tried my best to stay calm, to not get my hopes up. To calm my racing heart.
“So?” Nico pressed.
Luciana took a deep breath.
“I got a location.”
The location Luciana’s spell gave us led us to yet another abandoned warehouse. This one was so far south in the Star Court it practically bordered the Lunar Court. It would have taken days to travel by horse, so Luciana offered to bring us there using her magic instead.
We quickly readied ourselves, strapping as many weapons to our bodies as we could before taking off.
Now, we sat crouched behind an abandoned wagon, eyeing the depleted warehouse, plotting the best way to get inside.
“There are no guards stationed at the door,” Nico noted.
“They could be waiting inside,” Declan countered.
“Last time we decided to walk right in it didn’t go in our favor,” I muttered. “Is there any kind of spell you can do, Luce? To see if there’s someone guarding the doors from inside?”
Luciana shrugged. “I could try reaching out my magic, see if I can sense anything.”
“Do it, please,” Kara insisted.
Luciana nodded before closing her eyes. I could feel her magic as it reached out, it coiled around me before shifting and moving toward the building. Luciana’s dark brows furrowed as she continued. “I can’t sense anything.” The crease between her brows grew deeper. “I can’t feel anything anywhere.”
A pit formed in my stomach, and I swallowed. “Let’s try the door.”
I rose from my crouch, leading the way toward the building. The door was left open a crack, it swung open easily as I kicked it with my boot.
We silently made our way through the hallway, the space eerily silent.
We scanned the entire building but found nothing. It was empty.
“There’s evidence they were here.” Declan kicked at a discarded box on the ground with his foot. “It looks like they packed up quickly. Whoever was here.”
“It was them,” Luciana said quietly. “There was a corpse of a dead Dhampir back there.”
“Do you think someone knew we were coming?” I questioned.
Luciana let out a deep breath. “There’s no way to know; they had a way to put a damper on our magic, I wouldn’t be surprised if they found a way to track us.”
“So what do we do now? If they can track us, they will always know when we’re coming. How will we ever get Lennox back?”
“We have to beat them at their own game.”