Curse Me Wicked #3
“I’m Lucian MacLeod. Your partner is dead,” he said, matter-of-fact and seemingly without remorse. His uncanny gaze bore angrily into mine. “You were no’ to come here.”
I stared, disbelieving, yet … I knew. Those sounds hadn’t come from a surviving victim.
I still questioned it. “Dead?” I asked, and suddenly I was afraid – of Lucian.
I wanted to run, get away. Panic gripped my insides.
“What do you mean?” I slid slowly to the edge of the bed and swung my legs over.
I briefly wondered where my gear bag was and I gave the room a quick scan but didn’t see it.
“You’re no’ the same, Ms Slater,” he said. He didn’t move. “Not the same person you were when you arrived. And you’re no’ leavin’ here.”
I leapt from the bed and hit the floor running, sheet pulled tightly around me. I didn’t know where I thought I was going, barefoot and naked, but I was going.
I was caught and slammed against the wall before I ever got close to the door.
Lucian’s large frame towered over me, crowded my body with his and sufficiently trapped me; he placed a hand on either side of my head then lowered his head to look me in the eye.
I breathed hard, my heart slammed, and I stared furiously back.
“You’re no’ listening, Ms Slater,” he began slowly. “You’re no’ leaving.”
“The hell I am,” I ground out, and pushed against him. It was like trying to move a rock. It only made him draw closer.
“What do you remember about that eve on the moors?” he asked, his eyes lowering to my mouth. “Tell me.”
My mind spun and suddenly, the memory returned.
I immediately lifted a hand to my shoulder.
“We came here looking for you, but you were no where. There was a lot of thick mist, and Pax – he chased someone out of here. He was attacked. By a big dog maybe. I couldn’t tell what it was.
” I lifted my chin and met Lucian’s gaze straight-on. “It turned on me and I shot it.”
Lucian’s hand moved from the side of my head to my bare shoulder. Calluses raked over my skin, and I couldn’t help it – I shivered. “You were bitten.” He grazed the flesh again. “By a wolf.”
My gaze left Lucian’s and I glanced down, at my shoulder. His fingers brushed over two puncture marks; the skin puckered but healed. I looked back at him. I couldn’t have heard him right. “What?”
“You’ve been here nearly three weeks,” he said.
My knees gave out and Lucian caught me. I sagged against his body, felt the warmth – intense warmth – of his arms around me as he lifted me. He carried me to the bed and settled me down. He leaned over me, and his hair brushed my collar bone.
“You were never supposed to be here,” he said, his raspy voice sounding regretful. “Only Agent Terragon.” He shook his head. “I requested just him. No’ you.”
I didn’t understand; nothing made sense.
A freaking wolf? The flames from the hearth flickered and caused shadows to play against Lucian’s face, making his already-forceful stare even weightier.
I was mesmerized by it. His face, I mean.
He was … beautiful. It bothered me that I even noticed.
I quickly looked away, cleared my throat, and pulled the sheet taut across my breasts.
“Why?” I asked, needing to know more. Needing to know what was so important that Pax had to die. “Why did you call WUP? And why didn’t you tell us what we were walking into?”
Lucian turned his face from me and shoved a hand through his hair. “How well versed are you on ancient curses, Ms Slater?” he said, facing the wall.
I sighed and looked at his back, watched the material pull across his shoulders. “I’m a new agent. I’ve only studied curses for a couple of years, and have been training with Pax for just a few months.”
He turned then, his face all sharp planes and shadows. All except his eyes. They literally glowed. I gasped.
“I didna mean for you to get involved,” Lucian said, his voice grave.
“We only wanted help.” Grasping his shirt tail, he lifted it, exposing a long, lean abdomen ripped with muscle – and a fresh, healing wound in the shape of a ragged star, just at his ribcage.
His head raised, his gaze met mine. “You shot me, Ms Slater.”
I blinked, stunned. My mind reeled, thoughts pounding the inside of my skull until it ached. “That thing was not you,” I said, almost a whisper.
“Aye,” Lucian said. “It most certainly was.” He stared down at me. “And within the week, ’twill be you, as well.”
My body went numb with shock; it was too much to take in and I wasn’t positive I believed any of it. Inside, I began to shake. I’d not been ready to take on an assignment. I was too new – a newbie. Pax had been right all along. I was treading in unfamiliar territory now and doing it totally alone.
“Here,” Lucian said, tossing a bag onto the bed. “Get dressed. We’ve things to talk about and time’s runnin’ out.”
We sat at a well-used oak table in the kitchen, across from each other, and I was on my third – yes, third – hamburger steak. No bread, nothing else but the meat. I was ravenous and could have eaten the whole cow, if given it. I felt guilty for eating, yet I couldn’t make myself stop.
A single bulb hung over the table, leaving the tiny kitchen barely illuminated.
Lucian regarded me closely while I ate, watching every move I made.
More than once he followed my fork to my mouth and let it linger.
It caused my insides to grow uncomfortably hot.
Outside, the rain continued, the wind picked up and slashed at the cottage’s window panes.
Every so often a lightening bolt would flash and light up a darkened corner.
I don’t know why but I kept thinking I’d see something horrifying.
I didn’t. Finally, I’d had enough and I pushed my plate away.
“Thanks,” I said. I looked at Lucian. “Why can’t I remember the past three weeks?”
“You’ve been transitioning,” he replied, lacing his fingers together on the table. “Your DNA is altering at a high rate. Your core temperature rises and it exhausts your body. You mostly slept.”
I nodded, liking the way his r’s rolled, then looked at him. Hard. “Did you kill my partner?”
“No.”
My gaze never left his. I didn’t believe him. “You tried to kill me.”
He leaned forward, his voice dropping low. “You dunna know what was behind you when I leapt at you.”
My blood ran cold; a new memory hit me. “I remember you falling on top of me, and someone else shoved you off.” I thought hard. “I remember angry, amber eyes.”
“’Twas Tristan. My kinsman,” he answered.
My eyes stretched. “There are more of you?” I shook my head, scrubbed my eyes, then met his gaze. “Who are you?”
Lucian sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s just say I was born this way,” he said.
“A verra long time ago. ’Tis my MacLeod bloodline, no’ a curse.
We have honour. A code. Rules we abide by.
” He shoved a hand through his hair. “But there are others. Dangerous rogues. Lawless, with no regard to human life. At first, there were very few.” He looked at me.
“But they’ve bred. They’ve bitten. And they’re out o’ control.
” His eyes smouldered. “They kill for nothin’ more than reckless pleasure.
” He shook his head. “I’m sorry I couldna save your partner.
But there were more than one and it was either him, or you. ” His gaze pinned me. “I chose you.”
I felt glad, and that made me feel guilty. “What happened to Pax’s body?” I asked. “What about WUP? Didn’t they come looking for us?”
“Aye,” he answered. He rose and walked to the window and peered out. “Another agent came, after I called. He looked about, asked a few questions, and left.” He glanced at me over his shoulder. “The others – they took your partner.”
“Took?” I asked incredulously, rose and set my dishes in the sink. I crossed the room and leaned against the wall – a safe distance away from Lucian. “What do you mean?”
Lucian stepped towards me. “They did no’ kill him. He’ll become one of them.”
I stared, and then, strange as it sounds, I laughed. “You’re kidding me, right? We have both become monsters?”
“You’re not a monster,” he said, his voice almost a growl, his brows furrowing into an angry frown. “We come from an ancient noble bloodline of Pict warriors. We’ve vowed to protect humans at all costs – even with our own lives. ’Twas the price our ancestors paid for our lineage.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, closed my eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again. I stared hard at Lucian. “You keep saying we. Who’s we?”
“My clansman. There are six of us. You, despite being a mistake, make the seventh.”
Once again, shock froze me. “So that’s it? Like it or not I’m a MacLeod wolf by association?”
He moved so fast my eyes barely kept up.
One second Lucian was standing several feet away, in the next less than three inches separated us.
He lifted his hand to my shoulder and pressed the pads of his fingers against my wound.
“’Tis by much more than association, girl.
You’ve got my blood rushing through your veins now and there’s no’ a WUP agent alive who can cast it out of you. ”
I could feel my heart race at his touch; my skin heated several degrees and I tried to move past him. He wouldn’t let me. I felt his eyes on me, studying me with such intensity I had no other choice but to look at him.
“What do you want from me?” I asked. I found myself breathless in his close proximity. I felt hysterical tears push behind my eyelids. “What am I supposed to do?”
Lucian’s silvery-blue gaze regarded me for a long time before answering. “For now, you rest. You’re goin’ to need it.” He moved away. “Then, we train.”