Page 38 of To Crave Madly
“Are you alright, Lori?” Levi asked, his eyes moving between me and the monitors. “Your heart rate seems to have spiked a little.”
“I’m fine,” I squeaked.
Lucifer and Jasper chuckled, and I suddenly wished for the ground to swallow me whole.
Levi started fussing over me, checking my vitals and looking for any signs of damage from my little unfortunate consumption of whatever that pretty gold sparkle was. I knew one thing; I was never doing that again. No matter how delicious it looked. After making sure I was fine, and not having a heart attack despite what these men were doing to me, he made his excuses and left me alone with the pair of them. I suddenly felt like I was the prey being watched by the predators.
Jasper walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Not to be outdone, Lucifer claimed the other side of this now overly small bed.
“Do you remember what happened?” Jasper had his serious I’m-in-charge face on now. Ah, time for the debrief.
“Cassian and I approached the house on the Witches’ Corner, and we went in to assess the situation.”
Jasper frowned. “You didn’t wait for back up?”
“No,” I replied with a shake of my head. “Cassian wanted to take a look, so we went in.”
Both men scowled and clenched their jaws, reining in their tempers. I found it incredibly amusing how similar they were, but I knew Jasper would probably be the first one to crack. He’d end up shouting and roaring and his temper would explode from him destructively. Lucifer, on the other hand, would sit there quietly stewing before disappearing to quietly deal with his cruel instincts. I suddenly hoped Cassian had a good hiding place.
“Go on,” Jasper ground out.
I proceeded to tell him everything that had happened. From entering the room to disobeying Cassian’s orders, catching the magical orb of death, and swallowing the pretty gold sparkly thing. “And then there was a voice.”
Lucifer raised an elegant eyebrow. “Another one?”
I scoffed. “Tell me about it. I feel like it’s starting to get overcrowded in here now.”
“Who was he?” Jasper asked quickly.
“I don’t know. But there was something about him that was unusual.”
Lucifer’s expression soured as his frown deepened, clearly mulling over the little piece of information I’d just shared. “How so?”
“It was like nothing I’d ever felt before. When you speak to me in my mind, I can feel a sense of you. You feel powerful, overwhelming, tempting and a little bit wicked.”
The Devil grinned. “Only a little?”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him. He was incorrigible. “But this voice, the only thing I felt was an overpowering sense of magnificence. I had the urge to fall to my knees, to bow down and worship.”
The grin that had moments ago brightened Lucifer’s face fell into a grimace that radiated disgust. I could practically feel the vibes of hatred that rolled from his suddenly stiff demeanour. He looked at me and I couldn’t stop the shiver of fear that rolled up my spine.
“Lucifer?” I asked nervously.
“You know who it is,” Jasper stated as he turned towards Lucifer, an accusatory spark in his blue eyes.
“Not who, but what.” He spat the words as if they were toxic on his tongue. “Celestial.”
Jasper released a string of expletives under his breath. This sounded bad. Like really fucking bad.
I took Lucifer’s hand in mine, trying to keep his temper from claiming him. “What does that mean?”
“It means that one of my former kin is sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.” He stood up and started pacing along the side of the bed.
I could feel his agitation through our bond. I could tell that whatever had happened in his past was a painful memory. There was a deep-seated loathing buried within him over the shadows of his past, but I needed him focussed on the here and now, not lost to the ghosts that haunted him.
“Lucifer, stop.” He turned to face me, the blacks of his eyes disappearing into the flames of rage that burned around the edges. “I know that whatever happened in your past must have been devastating, and I hope one day you will tell me about it. But right now, I need you. I need your help.” I held my hand out to him. “I can’t do this without you.”
He looked at my hand and then back up to my face, his eyes brimming with an emotion I couldn’t quite read. It seemed to be a mixture of various things vying for dominance. Rage, hope, worry, fear and something darker I couldn’t quite decipher. But he took my hand, and he came back to me. He leant down and placed a soft kiss against my forehead and I suddenly felt a warm glow travel the length of me.
