Page 67 of Love in Unexpected Places

An involuntary chuckles leaves my throat. “Yes.”

“You have horns.”

“I do.”

“Can I touch them?”

I want nothing more, but my horns are sensitive to my mate. If I let him, I will have him on his back with my cock buried deep inside him. He has been through a trauma tonight. That is the last thing he needs. “Not right now, little one. You need to warm up and get some rest. We can talk more after you’ve slept.”

“I have to go back home. I have to—” Lucas looks around frantically, trying to step around me. I hold him fast, and he sags in my arms. “I gotta go.”

“Why?”

A stuttering breath bursts from his chest. “My…boss…won’t like that I’m out all night.”

“You have a boss who made you work in the cold dressed like that?”

He looks at me with an expression that asksare you thick?It takes a moment for it to click what he’s talking about, and my blood boils at the thought of someone owning Lucas and making him use his body for money I’m sure he can’t use for himself.

I take deep breaths so I don’t lose my shit in front of Lucas. “Tell your boss someone is paying for your services all night.”

Lucas nods, pulls out his phone from the thin jacket and sends off a message. He gets one back immediately, and his bottom lip trembles before he says, “He says I have to bring back a hundred dollars per hour, even the hours we sleep.” He glances up at me, a tear leaking from his right eye. “Thank you, but I’ll just go.”

“You will not. Please, go take a shower. We’ll figure everything else out.”

He tries to argue again, but I give him a pleading look that seems to work. Sighing, Lucas picks up the clothes and heads to the bathroom.

I sit on the bed to wait for him, using that time to getmy temper under control. But the only thing I want to do is rip thisbosslimb from limb for even thinking he has a claim on my mate. For making him do this, even though he’s fucking miserable. I’ll admit that I love when I throw my parties and have sexual activity surrounding me for my viewing pleasure. But everyone who is there consents to it. They aren’t forced like it appears Lucas is.

I’ll have to do something about this boss of his.

Twenty minutes later, Lucas is out of the shower and standing before me, pink from head to toe. His brown, almost black hair is pushed back from his face, showing his youthful features. He can’t be more than twenty-five years old, but from the look in his eyes, he’s had a hard life. No more. Now that I’m around, he will no longer have a rough go. I’ll make sure of that.

While he was in the shower, I retook the human form and summoned a set of pajama pants.

Lucas looks dead on his feet, swaying back and forth.

“Come. Let’s get you to bed,” I say, standing from the bed and leading him to the bed where I have the blanket pulled back. “We can talk in the morning.”

He climbs between the sheets, and I lie down on the other side, leaving a space of about three feet between us.

“Thank you, Vernimer.”

“You’re welcome,” I whisper in the dark, though Lucas has already dropped off to sleep.

chapter four

VERNIMER

I’m roused from my slumber by soft hands dancing across my torso. The

gentle fingers trace my pecs, nipples, belly button, and abs. They’re warm and delicate, drifting over my skin with a tentative touch.

“That tickles,” I rumble sleepily, and the movement stops. “Don’t stop. Being ticklish is a novel experience. It is not so on Xendail.”

“Is that where you’re from?” Lucas asks, voice not above a whisper. “Xendail?” The name of my home rolls easily from his tongue, and I hum in approval.

“Yes. The fourth dimension. The dimension of servants.”

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