Page 23 of Immortal Burden

His left hand sparked with his green fire and he twirled it.

The front door flew open. “Thanks for checking in on me. Like I said, though, I need time.” He snapped his fingers and I was propelled backward, right out onto the doorstep. “I’m good, Mia. Finding my happiness again. It just can’t be with you right now.”

In the next moment, the door swung closed.

Shutting me out, shutting us out.

7

~Lucian~

Curious. Fascinating. Livewire.

I watched the intriguing specimen that was Ryker Morgan out on the dancefloor, losing himself to the erotic beat, his eyes closed in rapture as he soaked up the seductive atmosphere of Polaris, giving himself over to its infamous thrall.

He was taking everything in, appreciating it all over again after having been away for so long, his last time here in my office notwithstanding, because he hadn’t actually ventured down to the club itself.

The erotic acrobatic dancers performed on the glittery mezzanine over the stage where a band played a hypnotic, sexy beat.

The main floor was crowded with people dancing, others savoring fuck-and-feeds and getting off on the exhibitionist element of it all.

The cages hanging from the ceiling took that to another level, the beings within naked and writhing against the bars, some containing couples who were enjoying each other within full view.

The bar wasn’t immune to that overt eroticism and sexuality either, some sitting and enjoying a spelled drink, others fornicating, a faery holding the chain belonging to a collar wrapped around the throat of a vampire on his knees beside his stool, clad only in a jeweled thong was right beside me. Further along, a vampire painted the bare breasts of his magic-wielder companion with her own blood he'd just drawn, making her hump his hand desperately.

Shimmering golden curtains just beyond the white, black, and ruby-red wraparound couches around the edges of the mammoth space barely concealed other acts of delectable debauchery and exploration. I could make out a blonde woman whipping another over the back of an oversized white leather chair. Another, I could see three vampires fully vamped out using dildos to play with a faery.

I smiled and finished off my whiskey, then slid it across the black marble bar top to Lehane, my most talented bartender who gave every cocktail he concocted a special flourish. “How many has he had?”

He looked out at Ryker and grinned. “Just a single one of his go-to spelled Pink Lemonade Margaritas, boss.”

Hmm. Certainly not enough to lower his inhibitions in an unnatural manner.

It was all him then. He was more at home in this atmosphere than I’d even imagined.

Upon crossing the proverbial threshold with me that first time he’d allowed himself to let go with me here, the floodgates of exploration had now been opened.

I turned on my stool to revel in his pleasure some more, only to see that he was no longer dancing alone.

A blonde faery had commanded his attention, her small hands tracing his biceps through the metallic silver shirt that clung deliciously tight to his body. A golden string bikini top and a matching whisp of a skirt enabled me to take in the markings all over her body, faery script that told of her precise life story and the fact that she was no ordinary faery. The markings designated her station as a princess and the daughter of Kalen, King of the Light Fae. Rumors had been circulating through the Guardian Compound that Ryker had enjoyed a dalliance with her during his off-realm mission to Kalen’s kingdom. It certainly was a reckless move that befit him, something he seemed dangerously fond of.

Just as reckless was him entertaining her affections in my club.

As if to force the issue, a male vampire feeding off their sexual heat moved into the fray. Approaching Ryker from behind, he began gyrating against him. Ryker turned his head with a lazy smirk and the vampire hissed in eager response, then raked his talons over his throat. Ryker reacted favorably, pushing back against him, as the faery offset the slight pain by smothering her lips over his chest that was exposed with his shirt only done up at the middle.

My fists clenched white-hot.

A snarl tore from me.

Before I could even hope to contain it, I was across the room in a burst of speed, grasping Ryker’s hips aggressively and tearing him from them, all the way over to the opposite end of the club floor.

“What the… Lucian?” he breathed, stumbling a little from the effects of vampire speed.

I held tight to him, both to keep him upright and to maintain the delectable contact between us.

“A faery princess?”

He tensed in my hold. With a clearing of his throat, he managed, “Ella.”

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