Page 84 of Lucien

Luc growled, long and low. His mate didn’t understand. Jamie’s self-preservation instincts were clearly not in working order.

Luc forced himself to form words. “Won’t.Leave.”

“Oh, look, he can speak.”

Luc’s mate made another soothing noise, as if Luc were some rabid animal. Perhaps he was. “I’m not asking you to leave anymore, monster. I promise, it’s okay.”

Not okay, Luc’s other voice whispered.He tried to die. We need to turn him before it’s too late.

“You asked him to leave?” The smaller vampire spoke again, but he was keeping his distance so Luc didn’t feel the need to growl at him again.

Luc nosed along Jamie’s neck as his mate answered the question.

“Yeah. I’d had a vision at my mom’s. I knew he was going to get hurt, and I was trying to get him to go to safety. I maybe wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Uh. Yeah. See, I think, given his past history, Luc might sort of have strong feelings about potential mates choosing death over a future with him.”

Jamie’s muscles tensed at that, which had Luc stiffening in turn. “What?— That’s not—”

Luc had had enough of these words. Too many words. He found his own again. The important ones. “Turn you.”

He sniffed at his mate’s neck again, nosing at the perfect spot for his fangs.

“Um, Jamie?” The smaller vampire kepttalking. “I think he’s pretty focused on protecting you in the best way he knows how. And in his mind right now, that means turning you.”

One of the other surrounding threats scoffed at that. “What are you, a vampire psychoanalyst?”

“Do you need help? We can try to get you out, but it could get violent.”

Luc smirked into Jamie’s neck. It would get beyond violent. Luc would dismember every single one of them if they tried to take his mate away.

He sniffed at the soft skin, brushing Jamie’s hair aside.

Green. Such a pretty green. A gemstone. His jewel. His desert flower.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, in the deep, dark recesses, Luc knew this was…wrong somehow. He’d wanted to wait, hadn’t he? He’d wanted to be…gentle. To ease his human into the transition.

But that didn’t make any sense. His mate was already his. They were bound in every way but the last.

Luc’s other voice was right. It was time to make Jamie theirs forever.

“I don’t need help,” Jamie said firmly, twisting in Luc’s grip until they were eye to eye. “He can do what he wants. I’ve been ready for the last five years.” The words he spoke were directed at the others, but Luc knew they were meant for him. “See you all on the other side.”

He turned back around, baring his neck.

Luc bit down.

For the second time in one night, Luc rose to consciousness with a start. “Jamie.”

“Is safe.” Roman’s smooth, deep voice rang out from where he was seated in a corner of the room—Jamie’s bedroom, Luc realized as he looked around frantically—legs crossed, looking decidedly relaxed and casual. “Danny is feeding him.”

A niggling at the back of Luc’s mind. “Feeding him…”

“Blood,” Roman supplied mercilessly, brushing a spot of dust off one pant leg. “Danny is feeding him blood.”

It all came back to Luc in a rush. His losing the fight with the feral vampire. His altered state of mind when he awoke, his brutal need to protect Jamie, tofixhim. His monster whispering in his mind, convincing him.

You stupid beast, he chastised, wishing his monster were a solid thing he could tear into in retaliation. But it wasn’t, and the damn thing wasn’t even at the forefront of his mind. It was settled deep within him now—deeper than it had been in many decades—contented, practically purring.

---