Page 82 of Immortal Burden

“What? When? How? I don’t understand what the hell is happening here. There are too many questions and not enough answers.”

“Well, we’re about to get an answer to one very big one,” a voice sounded from over by my bedroom door.

Given the absence of any reaction from Lucian, he’d clearly sensed his arrival long before he’d somehow strolled right on into my home.

“Please, yes, just come right on in, Ryker,” I bit at him, sarcasm dripping.

“I have to say, Mia, I’m a little offended that the barrier you had in place specifically targeted me.” He shook his head with disbelief. “Blood magic? Really? How did you even gain access to my blood?”

“The Archives at the Guardian Compound.”

“Unbelievable.”

I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. “You know by now that I’ve been doing everything I possibly can, everything within my power, to protect you from all of this madness. I was trying to keep us far away from one another in any way that I could. Hence, an actual barrier barring your way to me.”

“Yeah? Look how well that worked out. Not moments ago, I had my tongue down your throat, my fingers buried in your—”

“Stop!” I cried.

“Yes, indeed. Enough,” Lucian cut in.

Shocking me, Ryker only hesitated briefly before huffing and backing down.

“How did you breach it?” I asked.

“How else? I masked my blood temporarily using a high-level illusion.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Wow. That was an ingenious solution.”

He smirked. “Did you expect anything less?”

I rolled my eyes.

Lucian joined Ryker, folding his arms across his chest and telling me, “You really should erect a ward that encompasses all supernatural species.”

“She doesn’t consider other species a real threat,” Ryker informed him.

Lucian frowned at me. “That’s rather foolish.”

I scoffed. “You clearly don’t know my power.”

“Told you,” Ryker said.

Lucian stepped right up to my bed. “You do realize that, even from the farthest corner of this room, I could lunge at you within a blink of an eye and tear your throat out?”

“I would burn you to ash before your fangs even scraped my skin.”

The corner of his mouth turned up at my fierce rebuttal. “You have no idea how fast I can move.”

Ryker interjected, “While I enjoy some passive-aggressive banter more than most, we have some major issues to discuss. Now, Lucian, save the sage advice for a later time when she’s in a more agreeable mood, for one. And, Mia, drop that fucking sheet and get out of bed so we can have this conversation in the salon over some much-needed drinks. Before you try to argue, get over yourself. We’ve already seen everything there is to see hiding under there. And, while it’s very impressive, we’re all adults here.” He stepped back with a heavy breath. “There. Lecture over.” He snapped his fingers. “Let’s move.”

Despite his harsh delivery, I could read between the lines well when it came to him. He’d made sure to maintain my haughty image in front of Lucian by claiming I was snobby and uptight, rather than revealing the truth of my debilitating shyness. My whole innocent little lamb thing, as he referred to it. That unsettling situation that’d played out in that conjured plane aside, I’d only ever bared myself to him before.

I snuck a smile in at him and he acknowledged it with a wink.

He patted Lucian’s shoulder and skillfully started to lead him from the room.

The moment he turned his back, I hurried out of bed, conjuring my robe a split second later, relief flooding through me.

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