Page 132 of The Book Reader
“We need to be careful, my Rose. Macy will never rest knowing you are back. If Tate ever learns about this prophecy or finds out that you have Lexus, he will be coming after you, too, and he’ll bring the Blood Bringer with him. She’s the only one who might be able to beat you now.” Gaelan places his fingers under my chin, making me look into his glowing blue eyes. “Youcan’t go back topside, my Rose, it’s not safe.” His tone breaks, no argument.
“Gaelan, I need to go back and get my things, and I have to talk to Mekhi and Lucy,” I say. I can’t just go back and disappear again. Mekhi would never forgive me, and Lucy has been running the club all alone. She needs help.
Gaelan shakes his head at me. “I’m sorry, my Rose, but it’s not safe.” His voice is unyielding.
I pull away from him and put some distance between us, moving to the other side of the room. He has to know I can’t just leave. I have a whole life that is separate from all this. “It will be fine,” I tell him, trying to make my voice soothing. “The house is protected, and I’m not the weak witch I was before. Besides, I have Lexus now. Doesn’t that make me a lord? I have to go, Gaelan,” I implore. “Please don’t tell me no, baby. I’ll go with or without you.”
Gaelan’s eyes narrow slightly before he turns his head to Mark. “Leave us,” he barks at him. Mark bows, but he gives me a look of apology before he leaves the room. As the door clicks closed, Gaelan rushes over to me, wrapping his hand around my neck and smashing his lips to mine. The movement steals my breath away. He picks me up and places me back on the desk. His kiss is brutal and punishing. When he breaks it off, we are both breathless.
“Fuck! When you speak to me like that, I want to take you to our room and spank you until you beg me to stop,” he pants against my lips. “You never listen to me,” he says, moving his hand from my neck to cup my cheek. “I’ll go with you. I can help you pack whatever you need. But we are coming back here. We have to be quick,” he says, kissing me again. I’m thankful, but I would have gone alone if he hadn’t agreed to come with me. I understand the danger, but I know Lexus wouldn’t let anything happen to me.
I feel her moving under my skin. “I always keep us safe,”she giggles, and I feel her sniff the air.“Gaelan smells good.”I smile because she’s not wrong.
I can feel her pressing against my skin, and one of my hands starts to turn white. A slight pulling tugs at my skin, making my breath come in pants.
“Breath my Rose, this is your body. You have the power to hold her back,” Gaelan says.
Having Lexus and keeping myself separate from her is something I’m going to have to learn to do. I feel her all the time, like a heat building in my heart that is so close to setting a blaze. She is a breath away from coming forward every second, and that scares me. She killed so many last time.
I look down at Gaelan’s hand holding my white one, gold claws longer than my fingernails poking from between his fingers. I wiggle my fingers as they turn back caramel. I close my eyes and take some calming breaths. “Lexus can play later,” I whisper. She giggles in my head, then goes back to just staring at Gaelan, who grins.
“Lexus wants some of her other mate?” he asks, wiggling his eyebrows.
I laugh. “I’m a little worried about what she wants to do with you,” I smirk, but Gaelan just grins and then leans forward to whisper in my ear.
“I can’t wait to see just what she has in mind.” A shiver runs down my body, and I can feel Lexus’s need mirroring my own. I push Gaelan back lightly, jumping off his desk.
“Let’s go before my daemon makes it so we never leave your office,” I say, walking to the door; Gaelan takes my hand, and we both shimmer to my home.
Chapter 47
ARIANNA
Ican’t help but feel that my house is smaller, somehow. I guess spending more time at the castle makes it seem that way, or maybe it’s just that my world has got so much bigger.
The wards are still firmly in place around the house. They caress over my skin as we walk up the garden path to the front door. The lights are all off, but it’s only just after nine PM. No one should be asleep.
They could all be out.
I turn my key, pushing the door open. I can hear the faint sound of a TV coming from upstairs. Gaelan squeezes my hand. “I am going to check around the house, make sure the hounds and guards are still in place. I will be up to help you soon.” He kisses me, then backs out the front door. I know he is trying to give me some space with my friends, and for that I am grateful.
Heading up the stairs to Mekhi’s room, I knock on the door and slowly push it open. “Hitch?” he calls before he leaps off the bed and rushes to hug me close. “Girl, you scared the shit out of me. Last thing I remember is dancing my ass off to B, then Iwoke up to a hot guy staring at me,” he says as he pulls back to look at me. “He said you were missing?” he exclaims.
I smile at the rush of words that come out of his mouth. He will always be my best friend, my partner in crime, the one I know would hide a dead body with me and then take me to get a manicure afterwards because we got dirt under our nails. There is no one like Mekhi, which is why what I’ve come here to tell him is going to break both our hearts.
“I wasn’t missing, I was just…” My words trail off because I don’t know how to tell him that I am not just a supernatural, but that I am something… else.
He presses my chin up so I am looking up into his chocolate eyes. “What happened?” he says, leading me over to his bed. Distractedly, I notice that he’s covered it in a leopard print blanket and purple pillows, with ruffles around the edges.
“I’m not sure you are going to like it,” I say sadly.
He rubs the back of my hand. “Whatever it is you've got going on, I’m still gonna love you. Baby girl, you came back here covered in markings. I know something’s up.” He pulls me close and hugs me. “Tell me what the fuck is going on, so I can freak out about it, and then it’ll be okay.” He laughs, making me laugh with him. I take a deep breath and tell him everything: my past lives, Macy after me as well, any daemon that can smell me, Lexus, and what happened to me a couple of nights ago. It was only a day in the Underworld, but for Mekhi, it’s been longer.
I’m not sure if I will ever get used to the time difference.
Mekhi listens the whole time, so still. At one point, I was worried that he had stopped breathing, but he nodded when I asked if he was okay.
He stares at me. “So, you’re in a prophecy, from an old ass book? Written in blood?” he asks me slowly.
