Chapter 19 Lennox
LENNOX
The male in front of me ran a hand through his dark hair. His face was tight, but there was a determination in his eyes. An air of hopefulness.
I shivered against the chill in the air as we stood on the balcony facing one another.
As he talked, I couldn’t help but focus on the fangs peeking through.
He was a vampire. I gripped my hand on the railing, my heart picking up speed. I had to get out of here.
“Because I love you, Lennox.”
My spine straightened. Whoever this vampire was, he loved me.
I flinched as he reached for me, but my hesitation was quickly soothed as he brushed a thumb across my temple. “I love you so fucking much it pains me every day to have taken this choice from you. Let me do this for you. Let me give you back this choice.”
Goosebumps scattered over my body. “You love me?”
He smiled, the sight causing my entire chest to warm. “Yeah, I love you. And I think you already know that.”
I let him touch me, this vampire that loved me. His hand cupped my chin, his other hand brushing light strokes underneath my ribs.
He was a vampire, but in this moment, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever felt safer. My body bowed to his like it knew he was a safe landing spot—like it knew that I could give in to him.
“I love you too, Luka.”
He pressed his lips against mine.
He loves me. Luka loves me.
Luka. A sob caught in my throat as I pulled my lips from his. “Luka,” I all but sobbed. “You’re Luka.” I traced the contours of his face with the pad of my finger. “You’re my Luka, my husband, my mate.”
The remnants of the memory fractured around me, throwing me from Luka’s embrace as I fell backward.
I opened my eyes with a gasp, air filled my lungs for what felt like the first time in weeks. The world came into focus around me, I was no longer in Adreona’s office, no longer trapped in my own mind.
The bed beneath me was soft. My fingers tangled in the soft fabric, softer than anything I’d felt in weeks.
I turned my head, still struggling to see through the bright light streaming from the two windows to my right. How long had it been since I’d seen true daylight?
I didn’t recognize the room, where was I?
I shifted, moving to sit up, jumping as someone gasped.
“You’re awake.” I turned, my gaze meeting my sister’s as she stood in the doorway to what I assumed was the bathing chamber. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and heavy bags rested under her eyes, but her green eyes glowed as she looked at me.
“You’re awake,” she repeated as she rushed across the room.
“Kara.” My eyes welled with tears, yet I smiled as my sister attacked me.
She sighed deeply as I wrapped my arms around her. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” I said into her hair.
She let go of me abruptly. “You’re glad I’m okay? You’re the one who’s been captive for over a month because you gave yourself up for me.”
“We can have this fight later.”
“Oh, and we will have it.” Kara sat back on her knees, her brows furrowing.
“Your memories…”
The breath stalled in my lungs as it all came rushing back. Keziq, her claws tearing into my mind.
But it didn’t work. They were all still there.
“They’re fine.”
Every last memory of me and Luka remained untainted.
The mark on my palm burned. “Kara, where’s Luka?”
“Lennox.”
I turned at the sound of his voice.
I had dreamed of him while I’d been a captive, I’d relived our memories together, fought to remember our story.
But my dreams, my memories, didn’t compare to the real.
To the sight of him standing in front of me.
His hair was disheveled, his slight curls unruly, like Kara, there were dark circles under his eyes.
But his eyes—those blue eyes I love so much shone.
His hands flexed at his sides.
Neither of us moved as we continued to stare at one another—like we were afraid if we did, this would all disappear—turn into nothing but a figment of our imaginations.
“I came back to you,” I said, breaking the silence.
In three strides, he was across the room. I tilted my chin to meet his gaze as he took my face in his palm, closing my eyes as his thumb brushed across my cheek, his forehead resting against mine.
“You came back to me.” His breath was warm on my skin.
I let my hands roam up his chest, resting on his shoulders as his free hand found the small of my back, pulling me flush against him.
My entire body trembled as his lips brushed over mine in the lightest of kisses. The mark on my palm burned hotter than it ever had.
“My mate, until the stars turn to dust.”
He closed the remaining gap between us, placing his lips fully on mine.
The pain of the last month slipped away when his lips met mine.
All of it, every minute of torture was worth it for this moment.
To be back in Luka’s embrace. To have his lips on mine.
To have his hands on my body again. To feel him beneath my fingertips.
To feel his heart beating in sync with mine.
“My mate.” He removed his lips from mine. “Holy fuck. We’re mates.”
“I take it you were as surprised as I was?”
“To be honest, I haven’t let myself think about it too much. I didn’t want to focus on you being my mate until you were safe in my arms again.” He kissed me again, softly. “And here you are, back in my arms again, where you belong.” I closed my eyes as his words worked their way into my soul.
“My wife.” He kissed my jaw. “My mate. Mine.” I shivered at the possessiveness of his tone.
“Yours,” I spoke against his skin.
He rested his forehead against mine, pressing his eyes closed as his hands drew tighter around me. “Are you—are you okay?”
My throat tightened. The still-healing skin on my back itched. I didn’t want to think about any of that now. All I wanted to think about was him, about being back in his arms.
“I will be.”
A tremor shook his body; he pulled me closer, wrapping his arms tightly around me. “Lennox, I—”
“Later.” I swallowed. “We will talk about it all later.” My hand roamed higher, my hand snaking to the back of his neck. “Right now, all I want is you. I want to feel you.”
I pulled his lips to mine. This kiss wasn’t slow and tender like before—no, this kiss was pure fire. Desire. Weeks of pent-up emotions ripping from our bodies.
“Luka.”
“Lennox.” His mouth left mine, licking and sucking his way down my neck as I arched into him.
I wrapped my hands in the hair at the base of his neck, urging him closer as he guided me backward toward the bed.
I fell back onto the mattress, but Luka’s hands didn’t leave my body as he hovered over me. His lips now nipping and sucking at my collarbone.
“I’m fucking starved for you, Sweetheart.” One of his hands drifted beneath the hem of my nightgown, lifting it until it bunched at my waist, his hand resting firmly on my thighs. “For your blood and your cunt.”
I whimpered as his fangs scraped over the fluttering pulse in my neck, and I arched into him. “Which do you think I should feast on first?” His hand slipped between my thighs, cupping me through my undergarment. I rocked against his hand, needing something—any kind of friction.
“Touch me, please.” I all but whimpered. “I need you.” It had been so long since I’d been touched by him that I feared I could come from his words alone.
“If my queen demands it.” He slipped his hand into my undergarment, sliding his fingers through my center. “So fucking wet already.” I cried out as he slipped a single finger inside me.
“More,” I demanded. Lifting my hips to rock against his hand as he added another digit, stretching me in the most delectable way.
“Fuck,” he swore. “You feel so fucking good clenching around my fingers.”
I brought his lips back to mine as his fingers pumped inside me, the heel of his palm moving against my clit.
“Holy shit, I’m going to come,” I panted.
“Not yet.” He removed his fingers.
“Always such a fucking tease!” I protested.
“Patience, Sweetheart.” He moved between my thighs, slipping my undergarments down my legs, discarding them to the side before opening me to him with a hand on each of my legs.
“I said I was starved for you, remember?” He kissed the inside of my thigh.
“It’s been far too long since I’ve tasted you. ”
My body trembled as he flattened his tongue against my center in one long slow stroke after another, finally, when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore his tongue circled my clit, slowly at first, his speed increasing with each stroke.
“Luka, please,” I whimpered.
He closed his mouth over my clit and sucked. My back arched off the bed as a string of incoherent curses fell from my lips.
He sucked again, slipping his fingers back inside me.
I came with a scream, my fingers tangling in Luka’s hair and gripping it tight.
“God, I missed this,” he mumbled against my skin as he continued to work me through my release. “I dreamed of this sweet cunt every night.”
“What else did you dream of?”
A smirk curled up his lips as he looked up at me from between my thighs.
“I missed your perfect body.” I sat up, shifting onto my knees. I grabbed the hem of my nightgown and pulled it over my head, baring myself fully to him.
“This body?”
He nodded, his eyes darkening as his gaze roamed over my exposed skin.
“What else did you miss?”
He reached his hand out, his thumb brushing over the sensitive peak of my nipple, causing a shiver to wrack my body.
“I missed the little shivers my touch evokes.”
I swallowed as his hands continued to play with my breast. “What else?”
He tweaked my nipple, eliciting a whimper from my lips. “I missed the sweet little sounds you make for me.”
Wetness pooled at my center, dripping down my legs.
“I missed that heated look in your eyes.” He pulled me against him, kissing my neck. “Fuck, I missed having you look at me.”
I reached between us, undoing his pants, freeing his cock.
“What about you, Sweetheart?” He slipped a finger through my wetness as I took him in my hand. “What did you miss about me?”
“Everything.” I brought my lips to his. “I missed everything about you.”
He laid me back gently on the bed, settling between my legs.
“That wasn’t a fair way to play that game.”
I met his gaze. “I’ve never played fair when it came to me and you.”
He notched the head of his cock at my entrance. “You’ve got that right, Sweetheart.”
In one thrust, he was seated fully inside me. It had been so long, the sheer size and feel of him knocked the air from my lungs.
He started moving, slowly, ever so slowly, it was torture. I squirmed underneath him, my hands moving to my breasts.
“Please, Luka. Fuck me.” I bucked my hips.
His eyes lit up. “Your wish is my command, my queen.” He leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine as he picked up his pace.
“More,” I pleaded as I clawed at his back. I wanted him to fuck me into oblivion. I wanted to think of nothing but his body and mine.
He groaned. “If I go any faster, I won’t be able to hold out much longer.”
“I don’t care.” I brought his forehead against mine. “I need you.”
I sealed my lips over his. He pulled away after a moment, his lips traveling across my jaw and down my throat.
The only warning was the slight scrape of his fangs before they pierced me. I screamed, my back arching off the bed as he drank from me. My body igniting with the fire of his bite.
Luka continued to thrust into me slowly as he drank, my body clenching around him as my release barreled through me.
He licked the blood from my neck before placing a kiss over the mark. “I love marking you.”
“Fuck,” I swore.
Luka laughed. “Hold on, love. We’re not done yet.”
He pulled me onto his lap, lining up his cock with my entrance as his length slipped back inside me. I braced my hands on his shoulders as his fingers dug into my hips and he began moving again. His hips thrusting upwards as he held me against him.
His hand found my clit, stroking roughly as his thrusts picked up pace.
Pleasure exploded. White spots clouded my vision as I came again, Luka following over the edge with me this time.
He drew me close as we both came back down from our release, trying to catch our breath as we reclined on the bed.
He brushed my sweat-coated hair out of my face and placed a kiss on my temple. “There wasn’t a single fucking thing I didn’t miss about you either,” he spoke against my skin.
“Thank you for coming after me. I know you’re probably mad at me for sacrificing myself—”
“We’re not doing his now,” he cut me off. “I promise you this, Lennox. We will have this fight. But not today. Not right now. Not when I finally got you back.”
“Okay.”
His brows pinched. “Okay?”
“Yes, okay.” I rested my head on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart. “I just want to be in this moment too.”
His hand flexed on my hip as he placed a kiss on my jaw. “For the record, I’ll always come after you.”
I knew without a shadow of a doubt that was true. There were a lot of things I feared, that I worried about.
But Luka loving me wasn’t one of them.
If there was one thing I could count on, it was him being at my side.
I would never take that for granted again.