Chapter Forty-Six
“I TOLD YOU! I TRULY DON’T HAVE any more!”
Evelyn dug the tip of the dagger into my chest for the fourth time. Each time she raised the knife and acted as if she’d plunge it deep into my heart, she paused, laughed, and demanded I tell her where Lucien’s blood was.
“I don’t believe you,” she hissed. “Tell me where it is, and I’ll make it quick.”
“I have told you! I’ve told you as many times as you’ve asked!” My vision flickered as my migraine became unbearable. “Why do you even want it? It’s not like it will do you any good in here!”
“You don’t get to ask questions,” she hissed. “Tell me who the fuck you are! Why has he accepted you and none of us? Who are you?”
“I’m no one. Literally no one. So let me go and—”
“Bullshit,” Lydia snarled from above me, her fingernails drawing blood around my wrists. “You’re working for someone. You have to be. Why else is he just fucking you? What makes you so special?”
“He’s not. I’m not—”
“Stop lying!” Evelyn snarled. I gasped as she drove another fist into my side, directly over the previous injuries.
Lydia crouched over me, her face upside down. “Tell you what...we won’t kill you if you help us, how about that? Help us keep him company. We’ll look after him with you.”
“You’re trying to kill him,” I spat. “There’s no way I’ll let you get near him.”
“Did you hear that?” Lydia blinked at Evelyn. “She’s getting possessive. We definitely have to kill her.”
“Agreed.” Evelyn sighed. “Ah, well. I was getting bored anyway.” Double-fisting the knife, she raised it high. “I’m really going to kill you this time. Any last words?”
“Wait!”
“Goodbye—”
“I suggest you stop if you don’t want to die today,” a bored, cold baritone cut through the air. “However, even if you do...I can’t promise you’ll walk out of here alive.”
All three of us sucked in a breath, our eyes snapping to the doorway.
Lucien filled the entrance, lazy and nonchalant, leaning against the doorframe as if he had nothing better to do than interrupt a murder.
His gaze flicked to mine, his expression unreadable. Power hummed from him, low and electric, his long black coat pooling by his ankles. Whisper flanked him, fur bristling and eyes molten.
My heart leapt. My pulse skipped.
He looked...beautiful. Lethal and feral and not a single sign of the pain I knew he constantly suffered.
“Mr. Ashfall,” Evelyn simpered, still sitting on top of me with her dagger raised. “What are you doing here?”
Dropping his chin and watching us beneath hooded eyes, Lucien smiled softly.
Every moment we’d ever spent together—all the seconds I’d been drawn to him, threatened, commanded, and kissed by him—vanished as I stared at the man from the first day we met.
A callous, heartless, ridiculously terrifying predator who snapped necks and ordered his pet panther to slaughter people as easily as drinking tea.
An avalanche of stress crashed over me, adding pressure to my head. Hypersensitivity cracked every broken piece of me.
“You two. Come here.” His jaw clenched as he looked at me, but then his lips twitched into a seductive smile. “Now.” Crooking his finger, he summoned the two girls as if he truly was interested in what they had to offer.
A spike of unexplainable jealousy arrowed through me, adding to the rest of my messed-up feelings.
Lydia released me and scrambled off the bed, brushing down her peach dress and running her hands over her blonde hair. Evelyn chased after her, slinky and sultry in her black skin-tight leggings and long-sleeved top.
They crossed the carpet with sexy sways of their hips, fawning for his attention.
As they drew to a stop before him, Lucien’s gaze rose over their heads and locked onto mine. For a second, his frosty mask slipped and the fire in his eyes—the absolute inferno blazing inside him made me suck in a tattered breath.
I forced myself to sit upright.
Vertigo made the room swim.
Gratitude that he’d come to save me plaited with fear for his safety.
Two against one.
Two killers trained to kill him.
Gripping the mattress, I tried to get to my feet to help him, but my vision vanished completely.
My ears twitched as Lucien’s husky, deep voice purred, “There’s quite a few things that make me angry and having inconsequential little rats fighting each other in my home is one of them.”
“Rats?” Lydia spat. “Who are you calling—?”
“You.” Lucien cut her off. “Obviously.”
Rubbing my temples, I tried to ease back the awful crescendo. I fought my system from shutting down. I didn’t want to pass out. Not now. Not with him—
“Get out of my way,” Lucien snarled, wrenching my head up. Shoving the two girls aside, he prowled toward me. Dressed all in black, his mood matched his clothes, dark and morbid.
I stiffened as he stopped before me.
His focus locked entirely on me, all while Whisper acted like a guard dog, growling at the women.
Lucien dropped to his haunches and cupped my cheek. His hand trembled—rage or pain, I couldn’t tell.
I froze in shock.
The two girls squeaked in indignation.
Lucien showed no sign of caring about them as his thumb traced me gently, leaving a wake of prickling heat.
Could he see Evelyn’s abuse painting my skin?
Was that why he—
His fingers tightened, pressing on the bruise from being punched. “How badly did they hurt you?”
I couldn’t catch a proper breath.
With my system driving me closer to burnout and the way he watched me, scorching me with intensity and possessiveness and rage...I couldn’t do it.
I bit my bottom lip as it all became too much.
Leaning backward, I tried to escape his devastating attention, but his fingers moved to cup behind my head. Capturing me tightly, he pulled me forward until our foreheads touched. “Tell me what they did to you.”
“I—” Another flush of nausea made my lips clamp shut.
Having him here should help me. I was no longer at risk of being killed but...he killed me in a completely different way. He tore through all my defences, ripped apart all my rationality, and set fire to every heartbeat.
I grew dizzy—
“They cut you.” His gaze dropped to my neck where Evelyn had drawn blood.
His fingers dug painfully into my nape as if he couldn’t control his reaction. “They really shouldn’t have done that.”
His voice.
That tone.
So quiet it whispered through my bones, yet so loud it sent the gates of hell swinging open.
His expression emptied of everything human.
With a slow nod, he let me go and stood gracefully.
Turning to face the girls, he pulled the dagger from a previous dead girl out of his pocket and thumbed the sharp blade. “I’ve finally found someone who wants nothing from me and you...” Lucien cocked his head, his blue-black hair catching on his collar. “You tried to take her away from me.”
Evelyn was the first to sense how precarious her existence was.
Dropping to her knees, she clutched her knife still stained with my blood and bowed her head. “I didn’t mean to take away your current distraction but...I’m doing you a favour, don’t you see? Of course she wants something from you. She’s just good at lying. You can do better. So much better.”