Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Lucas

I see red. It’s all I can fucking see. There’s a cut on Wyn’s neck, and a bruise forming on her left cheek. Gabriel needs to answer for that shit. I allowed him to leave my bedroom so I could check on Wyn. Now that I know she’s okay, Gabriel needs to be dealt with.

As I move away to go find my cousin, Wyn reaches out and grabs my hand, stopping me. “Please don’t leave,” she whispers.

Fear flares in her moss-green eyes, and seeing that fucking guts me.

“I won’t be long,” I say.

She rises up onto her knees and pulls me toward her. Her delicate floral scent wraps around me, and I find myself sucking in a deep breath, pulling that intoxicating fragrance into my lungs.

This girl has me fucked up inside, and I feel so damn lost.

“Stay with me,” she says, threading her fingers through mine, tugging me a fraction closer. “ Please. ”

My muscles are tight, my body rigid as I try— and fail —to resist her siren pull. Goddamn, this chick. With anger still burning in my stomach, I lean into her. Her head tilts up, her lips moist are so damn tempting, it hurts.

“Five minutes,” I say. Any longer than a few minutes and there’s no telling what I’ll do. Because when I’m around Wyn, restraint isn’t a thing.

She smiles, just faintly, but that smile reaches into my chest and squeezes my dead heart back to life. She leans against the pillows, and I settle in next to her, my back against the headboard, hands clasped over my stomach. If I touch her, I know for a fucking fact, I won’t be able to stop myself from taking it further.

My gaze falls to the bandage on her arm, and I nod at it. “What happened to your arm?”

She places a hand over it self-consciously. “Oh, nothing. Just a cut.”

I eye her suspiciously. “Strange place for a cut. Take the bandage off.”

She hesitates, but ultimately, she does as she’s told. Good girl. She’s learning. When she pulls the bandage off, I can see the cut is thin and straight. Looks like it’s from a razor blade. “You did that to yourself,” I say, and I can feel myself scowling.

She doesn’t answer, and my gaze flicks up to meet hers. “Don’t do this again,” I say. “If it’s pain you crave, then I’ll be the one to give it to you.”

There’s a stretch of silence before she says, “Is that a promise?”

I have no place making these kinds of promises, but I find myself agreeing anyway because I can’t stand the thought of her finding the bliss of pain elsewhere. “Yes,” I growl.

“Okay, then, I guess we have a deal,” she says, flipping onto her side, hands tucked under her head. Her dress is short, and the skirt rides up, revealing the curve of one creamy thigh.

Fucking-A.

I avert my gaze and focus on my fucking breathing. Goddamn. If I make it three minutes without touching her, at this point, it’ll be a fucking miracle.

“Thank you for coming when you did,” she says quietly.

“You’re my consort,” I say simply.

She’s silent for a second before saying, “Sooo…if it were Ava in here with Gabriel, you’d do the same thing…”

I glance at her quickly. Do I sense a tinge of jealousy in her voice? And why does that make my heart beat just a little bit faster?

“Yes,” I say, and it’s true. I would’ve intervened no matter who it was. What I don’t say, is that as soon as I’d subdued Gabriel, it would’ve been over. The violent rage boiling up inside me is a reaction to Gabriel touching Wyn specifically. That shit just isn’t going to happen. I don't give a fuck who it is.

“Wow,” she says sarcastically, rolling onto her back. “What a gentleman.”

I roll over onto my side, propping my head up on my palm as I stare down at her. I study the red mark on her cheek that’s slowly beginning to turn purple. “We should ice this cheek,” I say, brushing my finger over it.

She catches my hand, and shakes her head, her eyes climbing up to meet mine. “You’d have to go downstairs to get it, and I don’t want you to leave.”

Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out my phone and send off a quick text. Then I hold up my phone, and drop it onto the mattress between us, like I’m dropping a mic. “It’s done.”

She smiles. “Just like that, huh?”

I shrug. “Yup. I sent a group text. Someone should be bringing it up shortly.”

“Wow,” she laughs. “Must be nice to get whatever you want, whenever you want it.”

I smirk at that because it’s fucking ironic, isn’t it? I have Wyn in my bed, lying like a buffet right in front of me, and yet…she’s the one thing I can’t fucking have. “There are still some things I can’t have,” I say.

She laughs again like she finds that statement absurd. “Like what?”

I shrug one shoulder, and my gaze falls to my finger, which is tracing a random pattern on her arm. “Like you, for example.”

“You’ve already had me,” she says. “Many times, in fact.”

My gaze climbs back up to her beautiful face. “I want more than your body,” I say quietly.

Her throat moves as she swallows, but she smiles to cover it. “What do you want, then? My soul?”

I’m not smiling. “Is that too much to ask?”

She flips onto her side, too, so we’re facing each other. “And how would that work, exactly? You get my soul, and I get…what exactly?”

It’s a fair question. She’d naturally want something of equal value in return. But could I ever give away my soul to someone? I never thought I’d even consider something like that, but now…I’m not so sure.

There’s a knock on the door, and I jump off the bed a little too energetically, thankful something has saved me from having to answer Wyn’s question. I cross the room and pull the door open. Austin is on the other side with a plastic freezer bag full of ice.

“Thanks, bro.” I take the bag from him, and he moves to walk away, but I stop him. “Yo, one more thing. Call a meeting with the other Sacred Sons—they’re all here, right?”

“Uh, yeah,” Austin says. “I think so.”

“Cool. One hour from now, in the study.”

He makes a clicking sound with his tongue and points at me. “You got it.”

I shut and lock the door, then turn back to Wyn with the bag in my hand. She’s lying right where I left her, looking like a fucking snack. Still on her side, head resting on her palm, watching me cross the room.

I get back onto the bed and hold the ice up to her face. She takes it from me, wincing when the cold bag makes contact with her cheek. Her eyelids flutter closed, and her teeth scrape her bottom lip.

My cock stirs to life.

Christ. I’m fucking depraved. After what she’s just been through, she needs rest—not me lusting after her like a fucking virgin.

Reaching out, I slowly move her hand away from her face, then lean in and brush my lips across the bruise on her cheek. The bag of ice falls from her hand, and onto the floor beside the bed. Her cold hand cups my face, guiding my lips to hers, urging my mouth open with her tongue.

Fuck, yes. I drink her in, taking every bit she’s willing to give, then more. I swallow her moan and use my body to guide her onto her back. Her hand falls away from my face, and I take her wrists, pinning them above her head.

Goddamn, this chick. She has me so tightly wound around her finger, I can’t fucking breathe.

Breaking the kiss, I glance down at her. She’s panting, her mouth open slightly, her eyes focused on me—and I feel something shift inside me. It’s a distinct feeling, like my chest is being cracked open, and Wyn slithering inside, filling every corner and recess with her essence.

As I’m looking down at her, wondering how the fuck I stepped into her snare, she smiles up at me, those petal-pink lips curving up enticingly. “I could be talked into giving you my soul…” she says, but the words are so quiet, I wonder if I misheard her. I don’t think I did though, and my heart stops.

“Are you offering?” I ask.

She lifts a brow playfully. “Maybe for a price…”

I kiss her chin, trailing my lips down her throat, to the cut Gabriel left. A fresh surge of anger pulses inside me, and I clench my jaw to force it away. That rage will be temporarily quieted, but not silenced. Gabriel will have to answer for what he’s done.

“I have more money than I know what to do with, so whatever your price is, I’ll pay it…” I say.

She shakes her head. “Sorry, but this is one thing you can’t buy with money…”

“I don’t believe that. Everything is for sale, baby.” I smile at her. “How much does a soul cost? A million? Two?”

I pull up slightly, holding my weight up on my palms. “My grandmother left both Christian and me each five hundred million. But we’ve both invested in random shit, so…I don’t know what either of us has now. Enough for a soul, though, I’m sure.”

She scooches up, so she’s sitting, her back against the headboard. “ What? ” She looks at me like I’m an alien that just crash-landed between her thighs. “You’re not serious.”

“I am serious.” I lean back in, my lips hovering above hers. “So, how much for that pretty little soul of yours, hm ?”

She pretends like she’s thinking. “Coincidentally, that’s going to cost you five hundred million.”

I chuckle and press my lips against hers. “Deal,” I say. “I’ll need your bank details, so I can have the money wired over…”

She laughs. “You’d give me all of your money…?”

I brush the straps of her dress down her shoulders, freeing her breasts. “You weren’t listening,” I say against her skin as I trail kisses down her throat. “I said that’s how much my grandmother gave me. I have more than that now. I just don’t know how much more.”

“Well, that’s just the base price,” she says with a moan. “Loyalty, devotion…all that is going to cost you extra.”

My tongue twists around her right nipple, and she moans again, arching her back, thrusting her tits into my face. “I’ll just put your name on the account, how about that?” I offer.

“Mmm,” she breathes. “Sounds good.”

I mean, fuck, I’d pluck every damn star out of the night sky and lay them at her feet, if that’s what it took to keep her in my bed. But deep down, if I’m being honest, I know even that wouldn’t be enough.

When I told her I was her stalker, she made peace with it. And she’s even come to grips with my brutality. Maybe she even thinks she can soften me. But there’s something she doesn’t know about me, and if she ever finds out, there’s no amount of money that would keep her from running…

She’d take one glimpse of the monster living inside me, and bail.

No question.