Soulfire (12 page)

“I can wait.” Funny, because one part of his anatomy completely disagreed. “We have a whole lifetime.”

Chest to chest, I could feel our hearts pound in rhythm. “Will I feel soulfire every time we, uh, you know?”

A wicked smile. “If by ‘you know,’ you mean have wild, passionate sex, then I think the answer is yes. Sometimes, soulfire will ignite with just a kiss. And it may feel different. Though you’re my first and only woman to experience soulfire with, I’ve been told the heartbond renews itself every time mated lovers join.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.” A nip on my lips. “Wow.” With a sigh, he smoothed down the T-shirt to cover me, banding his arms around my waist. “What should we do today?”

Something occurred to me. I frowned.

“What is it?” His brow furrowed together. “You’re not having regrets or anything, are you?”

I laughed. “No. Of course not. I was actually thinking I need to get my car. But it’s at my parents’ house, and I doubt I’ll be welcome to pick it up.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll buy you a new one.”

“Lucius! Just like that. You’ll buy me a new one.”

“Yep. What else?”

“Obviously, I need clothes.” I looked down at his T-shirt hanging loosely over me.

“Don’t worry. I’ll buy you more clothes. A whole wardrobe. Shoes, too.” He patted my behind. “Though I kind of like you in this.”

“Oh, really? I wonder how the rest of the world will feel when I walk down the street half naked.”

He scowled. “You’re right. You need more clothes. Actually, I do have something for you.” He released me and picked up a glossy black bag from a side-table. “Lorian brought it over for me this morning.”

“What is it?” I asked, pulling out the paper-wrapped fabric.

It was a black, V-necked sweater made of the most luxurious cashmere my fingers had ever touched. The inside tag bore the Nightwing crest. It was made for a human woman, not Morgon.

“I have a feeling my new wardrobe will be mostly black.” I raised a brow, smirking at him. “A certain clan’s color.”

His voice dropped deep, brushing me in a sensual caress, his hand combing through my long hair. “You’re already wearing my color.”

I nearly lost my bearings, especially when his gaze fixed on me, luring me closer. I somehow managed to speak. “Since when does the Nightwing clan own a human retail store?”

“We’ve already bought the property in the Warwick District. It’ll open by the end of the month. There are jeans and a pair of shoes in there, too. And…undergarments.”

I blushed at the last added item. Especially when I pulled out a matching set of sheer black-lace panties and camisole.
And
they were the correct size.

“Lucius, how do you know my exact size in everything I wear?”

His mouth quirked into the sexiest smile I’d ever seen. “Get dressed, love. We’ll go out for breakfast. Because if we stay here much longer, I’ll be having you instead.”

“Devil.”

“You have no idea.”

“Oh, I think I do.” I arched a brow, slipped my arms around his waist and pressed my body into his.

“Temptress.”

“You have no idea.”

“Oh, I think I do.”

He fisted his hand in my hair, arching my neck up, his mouth slanting roughly over mine. The way he nipped and sucked, I thought maybe he did plan to have me for breakfast. One hand slipped up to cup my breast. Through the shirt, he teased me with his thumb until I was hard. I moaned into his mouth. A small taste of soulfire slid down my throat, whispering through my veins with a ripple of ecstasy. Not the same as last night, but no less potent. Like a whiff of an intoxicating scent, it drifted to all the right places.

“God, woman, I think I’m addicted to you already.”

He gripped my hips and detached me from the curve of his body, leaning his forehead against mine. Both of us panted, wanting more.

“So,” I said between breaths, “I’ll go get dressed.”

He chuckled. “Yes. You will. Quickly.”

Pulling out of his arms, I grabbed the bag and headed for the bedroom, shouting over my shoulder. “Even if you plan to buy me a new wardrobe, I need to get some personal things at my apartment.” I turned. “Can we swing by after breakfast?”

Captivating eyes still burned for me. “Your wish is my command.”

After breakfast at a Morgon café in the Warwick District where we attracted all kinds of gawking stares, Lucius flew me back to my apartment. We were nearly there when I giggled at something.

“What?”

“Poor waitress. She spilled almost everything she set on the table.”

“Clumsy girl, wasn’t she?” he teased.

“No, Lucius, she wasn’t clumsy. Maybe we should be more careful about how much affection we show in public.”

“Why? Are you ashamed of me?”

“Seriously? Of course not. I just think people might need more time to get used to the idea. I mean, how many mixed human-Morgon couples do you know?”

“None.”

“Well, you know one.”

He glanced at me as we descended toward Emerald Isle Villas toward the parking lot. “Yes, I know one. And that’s all I care about. You’re all I care about.”

I wound my arms tighter around his neck, utter joy fluttering in my chest. Not only were our hearts in sync, so were our thoughts. I pressed a suckling kiss right under his ear as we landed.

“Mmm.”

“You like that, don’t you?”

He put me on my feet. “You know I do.”

“I don’t think I’ll be sore tonight.”

“No need to rush anything.” He planted a soft kiss at my temple. “We’ve got the rest of our lives.”

I laughed, swelling with joy. Two girls pointed from their third-floor balcony. We walked across the lot to the main entrance. Since I’d been whisked away last night, I needed to get a key from the office manager to my apartment. Hand in hand, we strolled toward the entrance, sneaking glances at each other, love shining between us.

I heard the sound of car doors slamming behind us right before a familiar voice called my name. “Jessen!”

Demetrius and Aron approached. Lucius took a threatening step forward. I grabbed his arm to hold him. He angled his body, partly blocking me from view.

An angry purple bruise wrapped Aron’s throat. Lucius tightened his hands into fists, his wings opening partway in a defensive posture. I knew whatever Aron told my family, it wasn’t the truth.

“Don’t,” I whispered to Lucius, praying they didn’t do something to send Lucius into a blind rage. If they made one aggressive move toward me, it was all over.

“Stop right there, Demetrius,” I shouted.

My brother glanced at Lucius, noting the danger. He might be a chauvinistic jerk, but he wasn’t a fool. He raised his hands, signaling for Aron to stay still.

“What do you want?” I asked. Voices murmured from people gathering on balconies in the villas at our back.

Anger brimmed in his eyes and the tight lines of his face. Concern? Regret? “It’s time for you to come home.”

Lucius’s muscles bunched under my hand. I held him harder, my hand circling his bicep.

“No.” I shook my head.

“Look, Father will forgive everything if you”—he glanced at Lucius then back at me, shifting his weight to the other foot in agitation—“if you leave him and come home.”

“He’ll forgive me?” I laughed with disdain. “Well, I don’t forgive him. He would sell me into marriage like a piece of property, nothing more than a business deal to grow his almighty empire. And to a rapist at that.”

Demetrius visibly flinched, shoulders tightening and eyes narrowing in Aron’s direction. I’d been the object of his scrutiny many times. I relished seeing it thrown at Aron.

“Go ahead. Ask Aron about last night.”

It was my brother’s turn to freeze, muscles rigid, eyes leveled on Aron who was shaking his head. The gathering crowd grew quiet behind us.

“No, Demetrius. I’d never—it was a misunderstanding.”

I moved alongside Lucius, clinging to his arm, willing him to stay put. I needed to get off this subject before all hell broke loose. I knew Lucius was imagining how he found me in the garden last night, rocketing his temper to a boiling point.

“I won’t be returning to our parents’ house. Ever. It’s not my home anymore.” A truth I was shocked to realize didn’t hurt my heart as I’d thought it would.

“Father will disown you.” Biting words from my brother, but his eyes held a plea. His body was a rigid line, unbendable—a bearing I’d seen a hundred times. He was his father’s son and would never accept the man beside me as family.

Tears pooled in my eyes for the loss of him. Though he was a stubborn ass, he was my brother. And I loved him. “It doesn’t matter.”

One of father’s expressions of disapproval crossed his face.

I steeled myself against the pain of hurting him with the truth. “And God help you, Demetrius, if you keep following in Father’s footsteps and turn out like him…”

He physically blanched, paling at my words. I’d expected a sneer of disgust, not the clear gaze of someone lost or trapped.

Aron stepped forward. Corded muscle bunched beneath my fingers where I held onto Lucius. He tried to shrug me aside, but I knew if I let go he would launch himself at Aron and finish the job he’d started last night. Demetrius froze, as if he knew the slightest movement would trigger the man at my side to unleash the rage simmering beneath the surface. Hatred burned in Aron’s eyes, mirroring the same expression from Lucius.

Aron glanced at my arm as I held Lucius tight, inching forward. He hooked one hand casually in his back pocket, the other he reached toward me, palm-out—a disarming gesture that belied the anger simmering in his expression. “Jessen, you must know it was never a business deal to me.” He spoke in a low tone, tight with restrained emotion. “I will take care of you.”

I wanted to laugh, but the dark, brutal sound rumbling from Lucius kept me quiet and still.

“Don’t
ever
speak to her again.” Fury vibrated in the air. Heat radiated from his body, burning under my fingertips. Electricity sparked around us, the same way it did that night at Acropolis.

People murmured behind us. Tension wrapped us like a fist squeezing tight. None of us wanted to back away first. My brother must’ve realized the escalating danger, the only one thinking logically at the moment. “Let’s go,” he told Aron. “My sister has made her choice.”

“No,” Aron ground out. He’d dropped his hand, his thumb twitching nervously against his thigh. His gaze slid from me to Lucius, a frightening glare of malice and contempt. “You’re nothing but an animal. An abomination. You’re not fit to wipe her feet.”

Someone gasped behind us. Lucius was a fraction away from slaughtering Aron, and maybe my brother with him, rage roiling off his body in a tangible ripple.

I tugged on Lucius’s arm. “Let’s go,” I whispered low, but my words weren’t reaching him. He was locked on his target. Demetrius stepped toward Aron as if to manhandle him into leaving. The second Demetrius took hold of Aron’s arm, still twitching against his leg, he pulled a silver-plated gun from the back of his jeans and aimed it directly at Lucius. An audible gasp swelled from the crowd behind us.

“A Volt gun! Are you out of your fucking mind!” my brother yelled, yanking Aron’s arm. “I said no force!”

Acid churned in my stomach. Bile rose in my throat. Certain death was aimed at Lucius. And the man with the trigger hated him with every breath he sucked into his lungs.

Aron shoved Demetrius so hard, he stumbled and fell sideways to the pavement. Aron’s gun and stormy gaze steadied on Lucius, though he spoke directly to me. “Come with me, Jessen, or I’ll kill him. I’ll let him live as long as you leave with me right now.” I could only imagine what he planned to do to me once he got me alone. Like hell I would.

Lucius flared his wings to full span, breaking free of my hold. I recognized Aron’s deadly intent, knowing if his aim hit home, I would lose the man I loved. Before Lucius could shove me aside out of harm’s way, I flung myself in front of him the second Aron pulled the trigger. Meant for his heart, the shot landed squarely on my right shoulder. Someone screamed from the watching crowd. A jolt of vibrating pain slammed into me. I collapsed to the ground. Curled on my side, I rode the waves of voltage, feeling like blades of fire stabbing through my veins.

“Aron! You shot my sister!”

I squeezed my eyes shut in pain, the sounds of a scuffle behind me. Then Aron cried out.

I heard Lucius’s wings snap and the roar of blasting fire. He erected a wall of fire between them and us. Angry flames of orange and red snaked ten feet tall. When my brother tried to move around it, the wall shifted unnaturally, flaring bright, obeying its master’s will.

Nausea churned in my stomach. The voltage blast had rattled my insides. Made to kill a Morgon, the blast could kill a human, too, stopping the heart with a direct hit. Somehow, mine was still beating, though my vision clouded.

“She’s my sister. Please. I need to see her!”

He gathered me in his arms and faced my brother through leaping flames. “She is my
wife
!” Growling words. He used the human term for our bond to make it clear to Demetrius where I belonged. “If any of you try to harm her, speak to her, or come within even a block of her again, I will blast you into a pile of ash at my feet and blow your fucking dust to the wind. It won’t matter if she begs for your life, because I won’t spare you again. Am I making myself absolutely clear?”

Demetrius must’ve made some sign of understanding because I felt the now-familiar bend of Lucius’s knees before he took flight. With a jerk of his chin, a section of the firewall arced out, covering dome-like over Aron, pressing down slowly. The last thing I saw before my head slumped to his shoulder was my brother beating the flames with his jacket. The last thing I heard was Aron’s screams.

Then we were in the air. I tried not to move, but the pain continued to throb. “It burns.”

“I know. Hang on.” He pressed his lips against my temple.

I gripped one arm around his shoulder, the other limp from the pain radiating from the blast injury, burning its way through my skin. I whimpered.