When Lucas set me on the bed, his face was frozen in a terrifying mask of rage, and it didn’t fit how gently he cupped my cheek. “Cover yourself.”
I scrambled to pull the sheet over my body and flinched when Lucas turned and punched William in the jaw. Just as William started to stumble away from the force of Lucas’s fist, Lucas grabbed him by the collar and forced him closer until they were face to face.
Other than working his jaw a couple times, William showed no signs of having been hit. His breathing remained calm and face impassive.
Lucas looked as if he was trying to talk himself out of doing it again, or more.
“You do not have the right to touch or teach what is mine,” Lucas snapped.
“Ah ah, I didn’t teach,” William said, attempting a smug grin. “There are rules after all, Lucas. I merely . . . bent her so she would be more willing to comply to you.”
Lucas’s face became unreadable. The dark tension in the room became suffocating as he silently raged.
“If you were anyone less, you know exactly how this would end,” he seethed in a calm, terrifying tone. “Now leave my home and don’t come back unless you’re invited. And if you ever touch Briar, or any of my girls, again, know that I will end this, and it will be with a heartbeat on your door.”
I wasn’t on the receiving end of those threats, but I was shaking from them. Most of the words meant nothing to me—didn’t make sense—but it was his voice and the look in his eyes. Detached, dark, lethal.
He is darkness; he is the devil.
William maintained his aloof expression as he shoved away from Lucas. “I will expect your thanks soon,” he called out as he walked from the room.
My mind was racing, trying to decipher the cryptic threat. “What do you mean, a heartbeat on his door?” I whispered softly when William left.
Lucas paused on his way back to me, continued, and shook his head. “Not today, Briar.”
From some of the horrific images that came to mind, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know, so I didn’t push for him to explain. I just clung to his forearms when he held my face in his hands.
“What did he do to you?”
I shook my head absentmindedly, my gaze drifted to the alcove when I wasn’t able to speak.
He breathed out roughly through his nose, and if I hadn’t been holding on to him so tightly, I might have missed the way his body began vibrating. “How long was he here?”
“I don’t know,” I choked out.
“Blackbird,” he whispered soothingly, “I need to know if he hurt you. I need to know what he did to you.”
My tears came harder as I tried to tell Lucas everything that had happened. Once I’d finished, I choked out, “Why does it matter? He’s your mentor. I could hear you in his words. Your words in his voice.”
Lucas’s body stilled. His dark eyes bored into mine and his head tilted as if he was going to deny it, but he paused for a second and then sighed. “Yes, he’s my mentor, but that doesn’t allow him to be in this house without me, and it will never give him permission to be alone with you. It doesn’t give him permission to touch you. And it matters because what happened today shouldn’t have. Do you understand? I will do everything to make sure no one ever touches what’s mine again.”
I understood. I just wasn’t sure if I responded in any way because I was suddenly at war with myself, questioning my sanity.
My unexpected thought that his touch felt nice and wanted during his explanation left my mind reeling. I told myself to let go of his arms and push away from him.
My fingers betrayed me by gripping tighter.
I looked from his eyes to my hands then back again. The entire time I was internally screaming, reminding myself I was clinging to the devil and needed to get far away—but another part of me shouted that he was also my safety.
No! No, he will never be safe.
But he came for me. He protected me.
I thought of the way his voice twisted with torment when he yelled my name, of the way he looked when he ran into the room: like an avenging angel.
Fallen angel, I automatically corrected myself. Because he is darkness, and he has done worse to me than William. Stop thinking that any good can come from him.
But some disturbed part of me still wanted to fall into his arms, to let him comfort me. My body was aching with the effort it took to keep myself from him, and a harsh breath rushed from my lungs as I continued to fight.
Fight with what I knew of the devil and the angel I was making myself believe I had caught a glimpse of.
Back and forth, back and forth.
He was still cradling my face in his large hands, and I had yet to let go of him. Every now and then he would brush his thumb across my un-bruised cheekbone, and I hated how much I craved those little brushes. But I did.
It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. I felt safer in that moment with Lucas than I had since I’d been stolen from Atlanta. The idea of feeling safety within his arms should terrify me, but the only terror that day had been in William’s presence.
Dark eyes searched mine as he said my name like a question.
The sound of my name from his lips made me tremble with unspoken words that were bursting from that traitorous part of me. Safe, safe, safe.
No!
He is darkness. He is the devil.
My eyes fell to his mouth, and mine opened when my breaths grew heavy.
And I want him.
What is wrong with me?
I looked up when I felt his arms tense and found him staring at my body. Before I could follow his line of sight, his eyes met mine behind those thick, dark lashes, desire and sin swirling there.
Gently enough not to hurt me, but forcefully enough that I couldn’t stop him, he released my face and removed my hands from his arms.
“Where are you going?” I asked without hesitation when he took two steps away from me.
He rubbed at his jaw then shoved his hands into his pockets. Just like that, Lucas was gone and the devil was back. “Leaving. When your time with William wears off, your hatred of me will return. The only reason you aren’t afraid of me right now is because I’m the lesser of two evils today. You’re safe and will be all right. I won’t take advantage of this time where you think you want me around.”
I pressed my lips firmly together before my lust-hazed mind could spout off something I’d regret.
His eyes dipped to my body. “After lunch you can pick a room.”
I finally glanced down to see that the sheet had pooled around my hips and hurried to cover myself—but he was already gone.
What is happening to me?
Chapter 16
Day 21 with Briar
Lucas
I stormed through the house agitatedly, and by the time I made it to my room on the main floor, I was cursing myself.
I had been about to kiss that mouth of hers that consumed my mind . . . not allowed. Ever.