Page 34 of To Crave Madly
“There’s no door!” I shouted to them.
“Listen to me, Lori. I need you to close your eyes and imagine one,” said the second man, his voice calm and authoritative. “Can you do that for me?”
There was a loud roar on the other side of the wall, and I felt the room shake. “What’s going on out there?”
“Don’t worry about that. I need you to concentrate. Do it for me. Do it now.” Man, he was bossy but something about that felt familiar. I trusted my gut. I closed my eyes and imagined a door. I could see it clearly before me. A bright crimson door with a simple black handle.
“I can see it,” I called out.
“That’s good. Now I want you to open it. You need to let us in.” It sounded like there was a war going on out there. I froze for a moment. Did I want whatever monster that was out there to come in here? Would these men keep me safe?
“Let us in, Lori! Now!” I could feel their growing panic and it spurred me into action. I reached out and opened the door. I just prayed that nothing else would follow them into the room.
Chapter 9
LORI
Large hands framed my face. They were warm and rough and familiar. I opened my eyes and found myself staring deep into the bluest eyes I’d ever seen.
Relief flooded me and tears of joy welled in my eyes as I drank in the sight of the man before me. I knew this man. I remembered this man.
“Jasper,” I whispered, my voice overcome with emotion.
He brushed his lips against my forehead before enveloping me in his strong arms. “You gave us quite a scare there.”
Us? I looked behind Jasper and found the face of an angel. But not just any angel.Myangel.
“Lucifer?”
A lop-sided grin added boyish charm to his angelic features. “Hello, little dove.”
I stepped out of Jasper’s arms and fell into Lucifer’s. It should have felt wrong, going from one man to another, but it was hard to describe how right it felt. It was like coming home.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I looked between the two men. I was so glad they were here, but now that they were here, what were we supposed to do now?
Lucifer chuckled as he smiled down at me. “Can’t you tell? We’re here to rescue you.”
“Where am I?” I looked to Jasper, knowing I’d be more likely to get a serious answer from him.
“We’re in your mind. Do you remember what happened?”
“No. I don’t remember anything before this place. Until I saw you, I didn’t even know who you were.”
The light flickered above me again and a sinister sense of foreboding trickled over my skin. That light flickering meant something, and judging by the way Jasper and Lucifer were exchanging ominous looks, I didn’t think I was wrong.
“We don’t have much time,” Jasper said to Lucifer disconcertingly just as something clenched uncomfortably tight in my chest. I gasped at the sudden pain and my ability to breathe seemed to vanish. I clutched at Lucifer’s shirt, the soft fabric crinkling disastrously beneath my fingertips.
Hands gripped my waist and stopped me from crumbling to the ground. The world tilted precariously, and blackness danced at the edges of my vision. Lucifer’s beautiful face swam before my eyes as I tried to focus on those features that made my heart sing. I could feel a presence behind my back; was that Jasper?
“We need to dispel the energy, or she’ll die.” That was Jasper. How his voice was calm I’d never know. I was fucking panicking. I wasn’t ready to die. Oh god, I was hyperventilating. My heart rate kicked up a notch and my blood pounded in my veins.
Lucifer’s lips found the soft shell of my ear. “Trust us. We will take care of you.”
What? So much energy. I couldn’t focus. Couldn’t think. Hands were all over me. Trailing my sides, stoking the flame of desire that always burned for them. This wasn’t the time for this. We needed a plan to escape not to – Fuck.
Jasper traced his lips up the side of my neck, his fangs catching the sensitive flesh and making me shiver deliciously. My ability to think vanished and all I became aware of was the feel of their hands against my skin. Wait… when did my clothes disappear? Not that I was complaining or anything, it had just taken me by surprise.
A growl reverberated from Lucifer’s chest as he drank in the sight of me in my underwear. “Fuck me…”
