Page 48 of Wicked Bonds
“Good morning, sunshine,” I say, letting my gaze travel over her deliberately, taking in every inch of flushed skin and tangled sheet. “Sleep well?”
That’s when Lucien steps fully into the room and all hell breaks loose.
His eyes take in the scene, with me in the chair looking freshly fed, Rose in bed looking freshly fucked, the room smelling like magic and sex, and I watch the rage flood his face.
“What thefuckdo you think you’re doing?”
I lean back in the chair, lacing my fingers behind my head, and give him my best shit-eating grin. “Just checking on our girl. Someone should, don’t you think? Make sure she’s properly attended to.”
Rose sits up, clutching the sheet to her chest, and I can see the moment full awareness crashes into her. The dream, the pleasure, the fact that both Lucien and I are now in her room while she’s still throbbing from an orgasm.
“Get out,” she says, but her voice shakes, and I can feel through our new connection that she doesn’t entirely mean it. “Both of you. Get the fuck out.”
I stand slowly, making sure Lucien sees how steady I am, how powered up, how completely satisfied. “Whatever you want, Rose.”
I move toward the door, forcing Lucien to step aside or touch me. He chooses to step aside, but the look he gives me promises violence later.
I’m looking forward to it.
Twenty-Three
Rose
I pull the sheet up over my chest but the damage is already done, and my sheer tank top isn’t hiding much. I’m going to have to start sleeping in flannel granny nighties I guess, just in case certain vampires, ghosts, and incubi can’t respect boundaries. Lucien hasn’t moved from my doorway despite my very clear directive to get the fuck out, and I’m still slightly disoriented from being woken up. The room still reeks of sex and magic.
“I said get out,” I repeat.
Lucien steps fully into my room, because clearly he has a hearing problem, and closes the door behind him with a quiet click. His whole body is rigid, that perfect vampire composure back in action.
“Did you invite him?” His voice is even, controlled, but underneath I hear something darker, something that makes my stomach flip.
“Are you seriously asking me that right now?” I pull the sheet higher, which is ridiculous. “Get out of my room, Lucien.”
“Answer the question.” He takes another step forward. “Did you give that demon permission to feed from you?”
The accusation hits like a slap across the face and my cheeks burn with humiliation and rage. “How is that any of your fucking business?”
“Everything about you is my business,” he snaps, and I know there’s a dangerous little crack starting to form in his tightly wound facade. “I’m responsible for you. When an incubus violates?—”
“Violates?” I laugh, but it sounds wrong, hollow. “You literally used vampire compulsion on me in the library. Or did you forget aboutthatlittle invasion?”
His face tightens further, if that’s even possible. “That was different.”
“Right. Because when you do it, it’s for my own good. At least Soren doesn’t pretend he’s helping when he takes what he wants.”
The truth of it makes me a little unsettled. Because I knew. In that dream, I absolutely recognized what was happening. Felt him there, the real him, not just the fantasy my subconscious created. And I didn’t want to stop it. I let him feed, let him take, let him make me feel things I haven’t felt in, oh, ever.
Nope. No. I’m not going there.
“He’s using you. Incubi don’t just feed on energy, Rose. They create dependencies. Addictions. He’ll keep coming back, and eventually, you won’t be able to keep him out.”
“Like you’re any better?” I shoot back. “Following me around, watching me sleep? Oh wait, that’s Drake’s thing. Where is he anyway?” I look around the room like the ghost might materialize from the shadows. “Funny how he’s never around when shit actually goes down and I’d like him here.”
Lucien goes completely still, and that tells me I’ve hit a nerve I didn’t even know existed.
“Drake.” The look on his face is like he just bit into a lemon.
“He’s been more real with me than you ever have. At least he told me the truth about what the Accord really means. About what the Coven plans to do to me.”
