Chapter 49
Lucie stirred slightly and smiled as she felt the warm, strong arms around her.
She listened as Derrick made a small groan in protest of her movement.
The flood gates were opened, and everything flowed between them.
Not only their emotions, but their thoughts as well.
There would be no keeping secrets from him.
They could both see into each other’s minds.
He rolled the top half of his body onto hers and leaned down, pressing his lips against hers. “This is everything I ever wanted, Lucie. This feeling inside … this connection with you. I’m so happy, I feel like I’m going to explode.”
“I wasn’t sure about the soulmate thing at first. It seemed a bit invasive and scary. But this feeling inside … it’s comforting and reassuring. And I like knowing what you’re thinking.” A faint smile rested on her lips as he buried his nose into her neck.
“It’s strange. Everything seems so normal for you.
My mark doesn’t seem to be changing you.
Maybe it’s because of your pure blood?” He nipped at her neck playfully, growling against her skin.
“Baby, I know exactly what you’re thinking right now, remember?
” He lifted himself up and gave her a crooked grin.
“And while I wouldn’t mind devouring you again, we’re both in need of real food. ”
“Well, we need to get a shower first anyway, sooo …” Lucie didn’t have to explain. She watched his smile spread, since he already knew where her thoughts were.
“I’m good at multitasking.” His baritone voice sent a chill down her back. He scooped her naked body up against his chest, and jumped off of the bed. He carried her into the shower, where he showed her his multitasking capabilities.
Lucie put on some fresh clothes from her bag and Derrick mindlinked Jasper to bring him some clothes. She opened the door and welcomed Jasper inside, followed by Abaas. She remembered she’d told him to stay with Jasper.
“He’s in the bathroom if you want to bring him his clothes.”
“You look much better, Lucie,” Jasper said, reaching into the bathroom to hand the clothes to his cousin.
Lucie looked at Jasper’s face, which looked strained and worried. She looked up at Abaas, whose expression was blank.
“Thank you for everything you did for me.”
“Thank you for sticking up for me.”
A smile reached his eyes and she returned it.
“Well, the djinn said I should treat you like family, but I don’t know if he realizes what that really means.
I’m rough on my family. Speaking of which, how have they been with you?
” She watched his expression return to blank, and she turned back to Jasper.
Derrick walked out, buttoning up his shirt and his eyes also met Jasper’s.
He could feel Lucie’s apprehension and thoughts, and it was nice to immediately understand what was going on.
He even knew Abaas’ whole backstory. He should have marked her immediately.
It would have really saved them so much trouble.
He watched Lucie smile up at him in agreement with that thought.
“What seems to be the issue? I can see there’s a problem.” Derrick plucked Lucie into his side and looked between the two men.
“Things are a bit strained with Abaas here. I tried to make him go back, but he wouldn’t leave because Lucie told him to stay with me.” Jasper looked up to see Lucie’s green eyes storming.
Derrick rubbed her shoulders. “We’ll get it all straightened out. Easy there, killer.” He chuckled and nuzzled his nose into her hair.
“Abaas doesn’t need to be traveling and using up his energy. Not after he almost exhausted himself helping me. And that’s another thing.” She turned her sharp gaze on Abaas. “No more of that. No more risking extinguishing your soul on my behalf. You went against me there.”
“To save you, I can do just that. And I will do it again if I have to,” Abaas answered simply. “As far as your family goes, that’s okay. They don’t have to accept me. They’re allowed to hate me, Lucie. I was horrible to them in the past.”
“Well, that isn’t you now. You aren’t that person anymore. You’re our person,” Lucie said, motioning between her and Derrick. “And I’m angry that they can’t look past their own grudges. You risked your life trying to protect mine.”
“I think they’re just confused and hurt.
They have scars of their own from me. Your grandmother almost lost your grandfather because of me.
That half-fairy wolf man almost died in one of our first battles.
Reiya lost her brother in our battle, only he ended up being resurrected, which I only know from listening to the vampires talk about it.
My point is …” Abaas shrugged and held his hands out.
“I did horrible things. I was horrible. You can’t expect them to suddenly like me after one good deed.
I’m not someone who is worthy of their forgiveness. ”
“You saved my mate back there. How is that not a person worthy of forgiveness? Besides, this family is looking for Alexa’s mate, right? The Kraken?” Derrick shrugged. “They shouldn’t be hypocrites about who they deem worthy of forgiveness and who they don’t.”
Lucie cupped her hand over her mouth as she saw Derrick’s thoughts in her head. She never knew about Ken’s past, only that he was Alexa’s mate. Derrick pulled her around into his chest, and he embraced her gently.
“Sorry, baby.”
She shook her head. “It’s better this way because I can see the whole picture.
Finding out through your thoughts shows me everything, even the reasoning.
I wonder if Alexa knows this about him. In either case, that’s her business.
All the more reason for my family to be accepting.
I know Uncle Levi knows everything about him, so the rest of the family would know these things, too. ”
Just then, a loud gurgling noise erupted from Lucie’s stomach, making her face heat up, her ears turning red.
Derrick chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Like I said earlier, we need to get some real food.”
“I don’t think I want a werewolf in heat. I mean, we haven’t seen you guys in two days. Sounds … fun, actually. Eh, I could handle it. I’d just need to stock a mini fridge.” Jasper chuckled and opened the door.
“It was more than fun, Jasper.” Derrick grinned and tugged Lucie into his side playfully. “Do we have any more heats to look forward to?” He laughed as she bumped her shoulder into him playfully.
“Should you be up walking around? Shouldn’t you be resting?” Lucie asked, looking at Abaas.
“No, I don’t need to rest like that. As long as I’m not using my energy, I am resting. But if you’d like for me to disappear for a while, I can do that.”
“That’s not what I was suggesting at all. I just want to make sure you’re getting the rest you need.”
Lucie looked up and smiled widely as a group of familiar faces walked toward them: Brian, Justice and Aedan.
“Lucie!” Justice ran up to her and checked her over. The new protectiveness he felt over her had him worrying about her nonstop, and now, seeing her, he felt like he could finally relax. He patted her head and smiled down at her. “Much better, Lucie.”
“Well, I’ll feel much better after I get some food,” Lucie said with a small giggle.
“Oh, is this the refuel for round two?” Brian said with a smirk. He chuckled as he caught Lucie’s glare. “Come on, feisty. We were on our way to raid the kitchen as well. We’ll make a thing of it. As long as you two can contain yourselves. I’m an innocent here.”
“Ha! There is nothing innocent about you, Brian.” Aedan chuckled and set his eyes on Lucie and Derrick. “It looks like everything is all settled. I’m glad. Now I can officially welcome Derrick as my new brother.”
“Oh, another family member to initiate!” Brian said with an evil tone.
“Oh yes, I forgot about that,” Justice said, an equally evil grin spreading across his face.
“I’m afraid to ask.” Derrick chuckled as the group walked into the kitchen.
“I want Lucie’s pancaaaaakes,” Aedan whined.
Justice slapped him in the back of the head. “You really want her to cook after not eating in days? What’s wrong with you?”
“Well, Lucie has been enjoying dessert for a couple of days. I thought we could enjoy some too,” Aedan said with a crooked smile.
“Oh gosh, Aedan. Shut up!” Lucie hissed.
Brian and Justice grabbed a couple of trays from the kitchen and brought them to the table. “Eat up, guys!” Brian grabbed a sandwich off the tray and plopped down across from Lucie and beside Abaas. “So, you’re the one everyone is fussing about?” He arched an eyebrow at him. “You seem fine to me.”
“He is fine,” Lucie grumbled, biting into her heavenly food. She didn’t realize how hungry she actually was until this moment.
“Lucie, you seem fine. Did the marking not change anything for you?” Aedan asked as he bit into an apple.
“So far, I don’t … I don’t feel like there was any change.”
“But there was,” Abaas said simply. And just like that, all eyes were on him.
“Her energy is different now. They’ve morphed together.
” He waved his hand in front of Lucie’s chest. “It’s pulsating inside her right here.
I’m keeping an eye on it, because I don’t trust the way it looks.
It should be spreading out instead of acting like a bomb ready to explode.
You should probably stay close, too.” He looked over at Justice, who was now eyeing Lucie protectively.
“Same goes for your prince. I can’t see yours to the same extent, but I can see Lucie’s building up in you too.
It went from the mark and settled in your chest.”
“Oh hell, she marked you? Let me see!” Brian said, jumping up, followed by Jasper. “Nice, man. How did it feel? I bet that was freaking hot, wasn’t it? No wonder you stayed locked up for days.”
Derrick chuckled and rubbed the side of his neck. “Yeah, it was real nice … real nice.”
Aedan cleared his throat loudly. “My sister, guys, remember?”
“Aedan. We all know they had a live rodeo going on in that room for the last couple of days. We can be adults and talk about it. We know what having a mate entails.” Brian flashed a cheesy grin at the annoyed looks he was getting from Aedan and Lucie.
“Abe, can I call you Abe?” Derrick said, looking at Abaas, who smiled and nodded his head. “What do you think about this whole energy thing? I can’t see or feel it. Is this a normal occurrence?”
“Oh, Abe! I like it a lot. It’s perfect.” Lucie beamed at Derrick, who was treating Abaas more like a friend than a servant. This was what she wanted, and since Derrick now knew Lucie so well, he acted accordingly.
Abaas chuckled. It was his first nickname ever, besides being called demon or mutt.
And he liked it. A weird sense of belonging gripped his heart, but he wouldn’t get ahead of himself.
He was afraid of losing it. He’d never had anyone.
His half-brother Leoric had despised him, and his father had barely tolerated his existence.
Could he really have something more here? It was too much to even hope for.
“I’m not really experienced with this sort of thing, but it looks like a storm building up. Your grandmother Lita should be able to recognize it better. She has a lot of experience with seeing energy.” Abe watched Lucie’s small frown.
“Will it hurt like before?” Lucie’s voice squeaked out almost fearfully.
“I don’t know. It will probably be painful. For both of you.” Abe looked over at Justice. “Since Lucie has marked Derrick, can you connect with him?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I can try.”
“I haven’t done any fairy magic accepting. Just the marking. I guess I’m not sure how to accept him, given the situation. How do I accept him with my fairy magic?”
“I think that’s another one for grandma,” Justice said, turning his head. “And speaking of grammy …”
Lucie turned her head to see her family walking into the room. Her parents, aunt and uncles, and grandparents. The moment they entered, tension filled the room as all eyes locked on Abaas.