Page 8 of Lycan and Lark
The group of men moved in closer. One of them chuckled cruelly. “She’s pretty. I can’t wait to make her scream.”
A true and unrecognizable fear gripped Aria. She reached for her wolf again, but the fog that filled her brain kept them separated. Her arms shook as she pushed herself up once more but the crunchy man sent his booted foot flying her way again. Aria flinched and threw up her hands, but the impact never came.
She opened her eyes slowly. The man was still there, but empty air held the space where his leg had just been. His leg was gone.Gone. His hip led down to a gruesome, ragged stump that squirted blood into the air. The rest of the group was frozen, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Aria’s mind was reeling. Where was the leg? A sickening splat resounded then, as the remnants of the leg dropped from above and landed in the center of the group. A shower of blood burst outward upon impact, spraying everyone in the circle, including Aria. The leg lay in a soggy heap of pulpy flesh and twisted bone. Everything happened so fast. No one had time to move or scream.
A deep growl rumbled behind the wounded man. He began to drop, his body unable to support itself now that one leg was missing. The body ceased its fall, hanging suspended in midair. Strangled, desperate cries gurgled out of the mutilated man. They were followed by a horrific squelching sound as large hands grasped the man’s face, twisting gruesomely until they ripped the head clean from his body.
The headless, one-legged corpse dropped to the ground and Aria got her first look at his killer.Lark.Her heart rammed wildly against her ribcage. Lark towered over the rest of the horrified men. Ghostly white hair was dampened with a smattering of fresh blood. It dripped down his face, trailing the path of his scar. He was staring down at the lifeless mass beneath him. When his eyes snapped up to Aria, she gasped.
His color-changing eyes stopped alternating. Both irises had settled on a deep crimson. The color within them swirled around and seemed to shift ever so slightly between various shades of red.
His gaze fixed on her then shifted to the wound on her face. A deadly growl ripped out of him and he tore into the group. The men screamed and body parts flew up around her. Arms, legs, torsos, faces, all sailing through the air before smashing into boney puddles. Lark moved like a red wind of carnage. Within a few moments the area fell silent. The only sound was the distant thrumming of Luna + Lupine’s music.
Lark’s chest was heaving as he surveyed the bloodshed around him. Aria sat very still. Lark was wearing a dark suit with a white shirt underneath that was now soiled in blood. Between the white hair, red eyes, and dark, bloody clothes he looked like an Angel of Death. She gawked at him as his blood-red eyes rested on her. He moved forward, dropping down before her.
“Are you all right?” His irises blinked back to their color-changing rhythm as the words spilled from his lips. She focused on the gunmetal-grey and pale green shades his eyes currently held. “Aria?”
The way he said her name made heat pool deep within her. She felt fur brush along her distorted and blurred consciousness as her wolf was called to their mate.
Her body began to shiver. She didn’t know if it was the dampness of her clothes, the loss of blood from her wounds, or the remnants of pure adrenaline. Lark frowned and quickly removed his suit jacket. His large hands moved gently as he wrapped her up inside the dark fabric. The jacket was warm against her skin and the scent of burnt sugar enveloped her.
Lark lifted her up into his arms and she groaned as the movement forced stabbing pains through her skull. Her lycan healing was already kicking in. All she had to do was hold on for a little while longer as her body repaired itself. But it was so warm against Lark’s firm chest and after one last dizzying and sugar-sweet inhale, she nuzzled into him and gave into the darkness and sleep her body was so desperately seeking.
ChapterFive
Aria woke up to the sounds of nighttime and a crackling fire. She opened her eyes and the high wooden beams above her signaled she was not in her apartment. She sat up and a soft blanket fell from her body, revealing a large black t-shirt. Okay she definitely hadn’t been wearing that earlier. She dragged a hand through her hair and tried to piece everything together.
Footsteps snapped her attention to the doorway as Lark walked inside carrying a pile of firewood. He was still in his suit pants and white shirt but the sleeves had been rolled up and revealed a myriad of tattooed skin. Aria bit her lip as she looked at the swirling ink covering his muscular forearms. She imagined those dark inked hands trailing over her skin, exploring every part of her. She’d never seen him without a shirt, but she thought she could see ink peeking out above the top button of his shirt as well. If his forearms were that well-built, surely the rest of him was too.
Lark stopped, his unique eyes meeting hers. He cleared his throat, a slight smirk on his handsome face. “You’re awake.” God, the deep, smooth tone of his voice made her warm in all kinds of places. He set the wood down and crossed the space between them.
“Where am I?” Aria looked around the unfamiliar space.
“I wasn’t sure when you would wake up. I brought you to the cabin to make sure you were all right.” His intense gaze trailed over her in a way that made her feel nearly naked. Who was she kidding, he had already seen her naked when he changed her out of the dress. The thought of being passed out, vulnerable, and naked with the man she had been dreaming about for months made her cringe and she pulled the blanket tighter around her. What if he had taken advantage of her? Then again, the thought of that wasn’t nearly as horrifying as it should have been.
Lark’s face fell. “I didn’t see you naked and I didn’t take advantage of you. It’s just a glamour.” He snapped his fingers and her dirty blue dress reappeared along with the bloodstains across her skin. “I just thought you might feel more comfortable if it wasn’t the first thing you saw when you woke up.”
Aria stared at the bloody dress that was pushed up high enough to reveal her black panties. She quickly shifted it down. “You were right, thanks. Wait—” An uncomfortable thought tugged at her mind. “How did you know that’s what I was thinking?”
Lark’s skin went pallid.Can you hear my thoughts?Aria asked silently as she stared up at him. When he said nothing, she added,You better fucking tell me if you’re stealing shit from inside my brain.
“I’m not stealing anything. Yes I can hear them.” His voice was firm and there was an apologetic yet irritated edge to his tone.
A new level of horror and embarrassment dawned on her. “Allof my thoughts?” she asked.
“Yes.” Lark’s voice was slightly husky as he said it. His sugary-sweet scent permeated the air all around.
Oh my god. He knows everything I’m thinking?That meant he knew she had just been ogling his tattooed hands and wishing they were all over her body. And that she had been daydreaming about what he looked like beneath his clothes. Oh shit and now he was hearing her do it all over again. He was going to think she was some sort of Stockholm syndrome psycho for wanting to fuck the blood-splattered kidnapper standing in front of her. But he was at least six foot four which meant he probably had a huge dick and she wondered what his mouth would feel like on her—
Fuck, did I really just say all that in my mind?
His scent continued to surround her and she breathed in deeply.
Why am I acting so damn horny?Maybe because she had been locked up in the complex for so long with nothing but her toys to keep her company. Oh god.It just keeps getting worse.How could she turn off her thoughts? Especially when he was so hot and so close to her…
She let out a mortified groan and pulled the blanket over her face. “Kill me.”
Lark let out a soft chuckle and backed away from her, settling in a chair across the room. “Better?”
