Chapter 11
Noelle
I fidget in Lucian’s arms, blushing because I’ve never been carried like a bride before. It’s oddly romantic but also terrifying since I have no idea why he is in such a rush to get inside the bathroom.
“Hey, Lucian, slow down! There isn’t even any water in the bathib yet!”
“Oh, but the bathtub isn’t where we are headed.” Lucian says with an evil smirk.
“Then where are we headed?!” I ask, confused because he just entered the bathroom.
“Relax, Duchess,” Lucian replies. “Just trust me.”
“Trust you?”
Lucian just grins and steps inside the bathtub. I’m totally lost until a portal opens underneath his feet. We fall through it, and I shriek, clutching onto Lucian like a lifeline, my heart drumming wildly in my chest, I can’t believe what’s happening. Is this real?!
“Lucian!” I cry out. “What the-”
Before 1 can finish, we land in a pool of warm, scented water. My head disappears under the surface, but Lucian lifts me up a second later, chuckling when I cough and splutter.
“Are you okay!”
“No!” I choke out, wiping water from my face and then clinging to his muscular shoulder. The water is shallow enough for him to stand at the bottom, but I’m short, and, embarrassingly enough, I need him.
“You’re not okay?”
“How can you even ask that? You took me through a magical freaking portal and had us land in a lake–of course, I’m not okay! I’m horrified and confused about where we are!”
“Well, this is a lake.”
I roll my eyes. “I can see that, Sherlock.”
Lucian chuckles. “Always so feisty. I thought you would enjoy this beautiful place.”
Wait a moment.
I gasp. “This isn’t the magical world, is it?”
My eyes widen after I’ve asked that question and I stare up at Lucian, demanding an answer.
He cocks his head in response, smiling. “No, I can’t open portals to the magical realm. We are still on Earth but in a more tropical region. This is a hidden lagoon, only known to a few. Do you like it?”
Not
His face falls. “You don’t?”
“No, because I can’t swim, and you, the asshole who brought me here and who I don’t want to rely on right now, is the only thing keeping me from drowning!”
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“Ah,” Lucian exclaims in a sheepish tone, blinking as if the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. “That’s unfortunate.”
“Unfortunate?” I echo, outraged by his easy–going personality. “Lucian, I could have drowned when you landed in the
waterl
The smile he gives me is irritatingly self–assured. “Not on my watch, you won’t. Just hold on tight to my neck, and I will bring us to the shore.”
+6
I’m already hugging him like a koala squeezing a tree, but I tighten my grip when he starts walking. Every muscle on his body seems to ripple beneath my fingers, and I can’t help but marvel at the sheer strength he possesses. He also smells nice -like fresh lemons mixed with a hint of mint.
“Am I going too fast? We can take it slow…
“No, it’s okay,” I murmur, burrowing my face in his neck to hide the blush creeping up my cheeks. He feels so warm and comforting that I momentarily forget about the potential danger of drowning.
“All right then….we are almost there.
We reach the shore within minutes, but I’m rather unwilling to be put down on the ground when Lucian is so warm.
“Are you ready to get down, Duchess?” Lucian asks, chuckling at my apparent reluctance.
“No,” I mumble, slightly embarrassed. “You’re warm.”
He raises an eyebrow in amusement. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you were becoming too attached to me.”
I huff, hiding my face deeper into his neck so he won’t see the tinge of red on my cheeks. “Don’t flatter yourself. It’s just cold
out here.”
His laughter fills the air and my heart thumps faster when he sits down on the sand with me in his lap. For me, it’s an incredibly intimate moment, but I bet Lucian has women in his lap all the time. I can’t be the first, unfortunately,
Ignoring my thoughts, I lean back against Lucian. It’s a bold move. We aren’t a couple yet, but I’m cold and freezing, and he is so warm!
“Is it okay if I lean against you, just for a bit?” I ask, uncertainty creeping into my voice.
Lucian’s arms circle my waist almost instantly, pulling me closer to him. “We can sit like this for as long as you want. You don’t need to ask me, Duchess.”
The nickname sends shivers down my spine, and I shyly snuggle further into him. It feels very intimate. I’ve seen many couples sitting like this in the park, but this is the first time I’ve experienced it myself.
Sebastian wasn’t very cuddly. We seldom shared moments on the couch or even hugged each other. Lucian, however, is different from his brother. He is way more affectionate, which is rather shocking, considering Lucian is the most feared Alpha on the planet due to his hybrid genes.
My thoughts are interrupted by Lucian’s voice. “You seem lost in thought. What are you thinking about, Duchess?”
I raise my eyebrow at his question. “Do you really want to know
His grip tightens around me in response, a clear indication that be indeed wants to know. I take a moment to gather my thoughts before expressing them out loud.
“I was thinking about how different you are from your public image,” I confess, suddenly very fascinated by the various droplets of water glistening on his tanned skin.
“Different, how?” Lucian asks, his fingers lightly tracing circles on my arm in an absent–minded gesture that sends tingles up
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my spine.
“I mean, you’re known to be this ruthless leader who doesn’t healiate to kill.” I reply. “Yet here you are, cuddling with me like an oversized puppy.”
Lucian doesn’t chuckle like I expect him to. Instead, he turns deathly quiet. Minutes pass with just the sound of the lagoon until he finally speaks again.
“I’m only gentle when it comes to you. To others, l’in harsh, and I’ve done some terrible things”
This isn’t news to me. As the Alpha of our pack, I know Lucian must have slaughtered other Alphas or even executed pack members who betrayed him.
“So you’ve killed people…”
He breathes a laugh behind me. “I’ve done worse than that, Duchess. Much worse.
I laugh uneasily at his words. “What’s worse than killing someone?
“Eating them.”
An image of Lucian’s fairy form with its black blood vessels spreading over its skin hits my mind, and I close my eyes. willing the memory to disappear.
Yet, despite my fear, I force myself to stay in his lap. Lucian might have a darker side to him, but I would like to believe he isn’t purely evil
“Did you do it on purpose?” I whisper, hating how weak I sound when I ask him that.
Lucian is quiet for a long moment before saying. “He wasn’t a pack member of mine.”
I shudder at that. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you’re my mate, and you deserve to know everything about me, the good and the bad.”
“And what if I can’t handle the truth?”
“Then I would be very sad, but at least you would know.”
I shift in his lap so that I can place my hands on his face and make him look down at me. His eyes aren’t their usual green. but red. It frightens me, which, in return, frustrates me since I don’t want to be afraid of my own mate.
It’s silly.
Lucian wouldn’t hurt me_right?
I swallow thickly and whisper, “Is that why you’re so nice to me and willing to take things slow?”
“Yes.”
“So if I had been her woman…?”
“Then I wouldn’t hold back,” his eyes are dead serious. “I would take what I wanted from you whenever I wanted. And it would happen every night”
A chill runs down my spine, but it isn’t the bad kind. My arousal is growing, and I shift in his lap again, perfectly aware of his raging erection that’s hiding in his boxers,
And, because I can’t help myself, I stroke his cheek as I ask in a seductive voice. “What if I told you to stop holding back? If I
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Chapter 11
said it’s okay to take what you want?”
His eyes widen and suddenly, I’m on my back in the warm sand on the beach with at least 250 pounds of Alpha werewolf above me. I’m still naked, and his intense gaze roams my form before finally settling on my eyes.
“If you agree to this, there’s no going back. Once it’s in, you’re mine and mine alone.”
My heart hammers against my chest. Lucian is incredibly sexy. like it when he takes control and reply to him in a breathless voice, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
