Chapter 78 Lennox
LENNOX
Darkness surrounded me.
I couldn’t see anything.
Couldn’t feel anything. I was no longer connected to my body. All I could feel was the remnants of the pain that had overtaken me.
The feeling of my heart shredding apart. Ripping clear in two.
I knew what it was now.
It was my heart.
My heart broke itself in two. It tried to cleave its way from my chest and find its way to its other half.
To find Luka.
My heart had broken because Luka’s heart had stopped.
We hadn’t anticipated this.
That stopping his heart would stop mine too.
Where is he?
A sliver of light crept in through the darkness that surrounded me.
I didn’t hesitate; I followed the light.
As I followed as light seeped in until the room was full of light, I was back in my tent at the camp. There was a muted tone to everything surrounding me like some of the light had been leached out.
That’s how I knew this wasn’t real. It was a dream, a hallucination, or something. I wasn’t really here.
Luka lay on our bed, his dark lashes fanned against his pale cheeks. Even his lips had lost their pallor.
Luce’s hands were pressed to Luka’s chest. His unmoving chest.
Hecate’s hands were on Luce’s shoulders, her eyes watching her carefully.
He was supposed to come back.
He was supposed to come back.
“Do something!”
Luce remained frozen. Hecate’s lips moved as she murmured something to Luce I couldn’t hear.
“DO SOMETHING!” I screamed.
But they couldn’t hear me.
Luce’s face fell. She brought her hands up to her face, they trembled as she stared at them. Her lips moved, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. She turned and faced Hecate, her arms gesturing wildly.
Deep lines were etched into Hecate’s brow, her lips fixed in a frown.
This wasn’t the plan. They were supposed to bring him back.
A sob worked its way up my chest.
No, I didn’t accept this fate.
I called to my magic, and even in this weird dimension, it responded. My fingertips tingled as my magic pressed against the surface.
I moved to the bed, straddling Luka, with my legs on either side of him. I pressed my hands to Luka’s chest. I pushed down and let back up, trying to get his heart pumping again.
“You promised me a life, Luka Rossi.” A tear slipped down my cheek as I continued to pump. “All this time you’ve never left me. I’m not letting you start now.”
I pushed out my magic. My hands glowed as I continued my movements. “You’ve never given up on me, not one single time. I won’t give up on you.”
I thrust my hands up and down as my magic worked its way into his body, his pale skin now illuminated with a golden glow.
“I will not let another person I love die.”
My mating mark on my palm burned as tears tracked down my face, making tiny marks on Luka’s shirt.
“Come back to me.”
His entire body glowed.
“Come back to me.”
I moved my hands up and down on his chest.
“Come back to me.”
I could feel him, I could feel the last remaining tether of him, it snaked around him.
I reached for it, grasping it in my mind and tugging it forward.
I sputtered, gasping for breath as my eyes flew open.
“Lennox.” Concern lined Declan’s voice.
“Where am I?” The wind whipped at my hair, the cold stinging my cheeks.
“Thank fuck you’re alive.” I could feel his body sag against mine.
“Declan where are we?”
“I’m flying you back to camp. You passed out and your heart stopped beating—I thought—”
“Luka.” His name left my lips in a gasp. “It was because of Luka, I saw him. His heart wasn’t starting again. Declan, we have to get to him.”
The moment Declan touched down outside my tent, I was off. I sprinted to the tent, my heart in my throat.
I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe.
I need to see him.
He had to be alive.
“Luka!” I searched around the tent frantically. “Luka!” Where was he? Where was anyone?
“Lennox.”
My head whipped in the direction of the male I knew so well. My gaze found Luka’s.
He was here. He was alive. “You’re alive.”
“Thanks to you.”
My entire body trembled. “You saw me.”
“I saw it all.”
I threw myself into his arms.
“Something happened with Luce and Hecate, the magic stopped. I could see it all from above,” he said into my hair. “I knew I was dying. I thought I was dead, and then I saw you—”
“You came back to me,” I said into his hair.
“I told you I would.”
“Kiss me.” I shifted to look at him, a crease formed between his brows as he searched my face. “I said kiss me, Luka.”
He didn’t hesitate this time. He sealed his lips against mine.
After a moment he pulled his lips from mine. “Keziq?”
“I think it worked.”
“Thank the fucking stars.” His lips sealed over mine again.
“Wait.” I pulled away. “You almost fucking died.” I pushed away from his chest as my thoughts cleared, my worry for his life falling to the wayside as I felt him under my touch. “You almost fucking died,” I seethed.
I tore out of the tent as my anger quickly rose. “Where is she?”
“Lennox, wait.” Luka followed after me as I searched for my cousin.
“Luce!”
“Lennox, you need to calm down.”
“I will not calm down until I find out what the fuck happened and why I had to be the one to keep you tethered here. Luce!” I tried again.
“Lennox.” Luka’s arms wrapped around my wrist and he pulled me against him. Wrapping his arms around me to keep me in place. “Let’s talk about this first before you find Luce. I don’t know what happened, but I’m alive. If you go and find Luce right now, I’m worried she won’t make it out unscathed.”
I huffed a breath. He knew me too well. I crossed my arms the best I could with him still holding me.
“Lennox.”
“You almost left me and it’s her fault.”
“We don’t know that. You can’t blame Luce until you know what happened.”
“Fine,” I conceded. He was still here. That’s all that mattered. I wrapped my arms around him in return.
“You’re alive.”
“I’m alive.” His lips seeked out mine. This time I let myself get lost in the kiss. There were still a lot of things we had to figure out in this war, but losing Luka because he was tied to Keziq wasn’t one of them any longer.
It was like Luka could feel the change in my thoughts. Our kisses grew desperate. My hands found his hair, wrapping in the strands as I pulled him closer.
Luka’s hands gripped my ass and hauled me upwards, allowing my legs to wrap around him. His lips didn’t leave mine as he guided us back into our tent.
I pulled his bottom lip between my teeth as my back hit the wall with a thud.
“I know we’ve got important things to do right now, but I didn’t die and I’m no longer connected to Keziq and all I can think about it fucking my mate to celebrate.” His fangs scraped over my fluttering pulse as he spoke, his hips pressing into mine.
“Then fuck me, Luka Rossi.”