Page 31 of Semi-Fallen

Which clearly meant she wasn’t a virgin. Logically, that made sense to Lucien. She was a grown woman. A gorgeous one, too. She’d probably had plenty of opportunities to have sex with men and/or women.

Knowing that logically, though, didn’t mean he had to like it. Or think about anyone else touching his mate. Or admit he was silently fantasizing about hunting down anyone who might’ve even thought about touching his mate and stringing them up by their own entrails. Because that would be weird.

Riddick lifted his chin in Lucien’s direction. “What about you, flyboy? You’re an angel. Doesn’t that make you pure enough to get in?”

He snorted. “No. I’m nowhere near pure enough.”

Lane pulled her hand off his bicep and shot him a look that reached right into his pants and gave his balls a good, firm twist.

She was jealous.

That felt…pretty amazing if he was being honest with himself. Made him want to hunt down anyone else she’d ever been with a little less. But only a little. “Besides, soldiers aren’t usually permitted anywhere near the records.”

Harper shook her head. “Well, if you’re looking for virgins, we’ve got plenty of those around here, but the ‘pure of heart’ thing troubles me a little. How pure do they want, because we’ve got some bloodthirsty virgins in this school, if I’m being 100% candid.”

Quinn nodded. “I broke up a fight between two of the shifter kids in the cafeteria last week, and I shit you not, the one was gonna try to eviscerate the other one with a plastic spork.”

Benny frowned. “Would that work?”

“Yes,” Seven and Riddick said in stereo.

There was a long pause while everyone digested that bit of info before Harper said, “Anyhoo, ‘pure of heart’ might be a stumbling block. Mom, what do you think?”

Tina patted her cloud of blonde curls before giving Harper a pointed look. “I only know one person in this entire compound who fits that description, and you know who I’m talking about.”

“Who?” Riddick asked.

The women ignored him. “I’m not sending her,” Harper said through gritted teeth. “No way.”

“Sending who?” Riddick asked again.

At this point, Harper and Tina seemed to be arguing telepathically. Lucien had no idea if they could actually do that, but it certainly looked like it. And he didn’t need to hear anything they were saying to intuit who they were talking about. “I don’t anticipate any danger there, but I swear on my life, I would do everything in my power to keep her safe.”

Harper’s lips thinned as she turned a sharp glare on him. “I want to believe you, but I’m psychic, remember? I know your focus is going to be on keeping Lane safe. I can’t take a risk like that with Haven. The last time she was in the field she almost died. Hell, she did die for a few minutes. That’s never happening again.”

Riddick jerked back as if he’d been slapped. “You want to take our daughter to Heaven’s library with the Nephilim everyone wants to kill and the angel who’s gone rogue? Oh, fuck no…Wait…you’re saying Haven’s a virgin? Thank Christ,” he muttered.

Benny rolled his eyes. “Way to focus on the important facts, man.”

Quinn leaned forward in his seat. “As the father of a daughter, mate, let me tell you…that is one damn important fact.”

Lucien pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, I wouldn’t ask for your help—or Haven’s—if I could possibly avoid it. I don’t even want to take Lane there, but I don’t have a choice. The record’s keeper will need to see her and feel her energy to determine who can give us the information we need. But I can’t open the door. For that, we need a virgin with a pure heart. If you’re saying that person is Haven, then shouldn’t we at least give her the choice of whether she wants to help?”

Harper scowled at him. “Of course she’d want to help! She adores Lane. That’s not the point.”

Next to him, Lane shifted uncomfortably in her seat before signing, I’m sorry. Maybe we can search for someone else instead?

Tina shot her a sympathetic smile. “There’s no one on this planet who is purer of heart than Haven.”

“We’ll think of something else,” Seven said. “Maybe we can, I don’t know, kick the door down instead of opening it?”

If only it were that easy. “It’s not that literal of a door,” Lucien said. “It’s more like…a test. A judgement, if you will.”

Seven frowned. “Well…that’s disappointing.”

Indeed.

I’ll keep her safe, Lane signed. I swear it. I won’t let anything happen to her.

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