Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (62 page)

The curious part said to make him open the locks so she could see what was beyond such a heavily fortified door.

She didn’t have to ask.

Lucifer clasped each padlock in turn and she couldn’t believe her eyes as they opened for him. No key needed. Some sort of fingerprint recognition? The locks looked perfectly ordinary to her though. No sign of a pad on them that could read his prints. How was he opening them?

With each lock that clicked and opened, the anticipation built inside her and she found herself leaning towards the door, filled with an urgent need to see what was on the other side.

“You need space, and even I can understand such a desire,” Lucifer whispered in a low silken tone that seemed to swirl around her, leaving her hazy and feeling light inside, as if she might float away, high from the sound of his voice alone. He glanced across at her and the touch of wariness in his golden gaze grounded her for a moment before his voice worked its magic on her again. “I will show you to a place where only you will be allowed.”

She didn’t understand how that was possible. Did he mean that he would stop anyone from venturing into the place he was about to show her?

Lucifer grasped the elegant black metal handle on the door and pulled. A rush of cold air swept past her, stirring her hair, but it carried the scent of a summer meadow. She stared ahead of her, expecting to see an incredible vista, but there was only darkness.

A tunnel.

She couldn’t see the end either.

How was it possible that she had caught the scent of flowers in the air that had rushed into the room? She swore she had been able to feel the heat of the sun in the breeze too, even though it had been cold. It had carried the promise of sunshine and light, of nature and freedom.

Was she dreaming? The sense that she had stepped into some strange fantasy world only grew stronger as Lucifer marched forwards into the gently sloping tunnel, his left hand still grasping her right one.

“Mind your step,” he murmured gruffly and cold danced over her skin again, a chill that she felt sure had been born of the iciness in his tone rather than the cool darkness of the tunnel.

She peered up at him, wanting to catch a glimpse of his face to see if his expression matched his tone and he was angry about something, but she couldn’t see anything in the darkness.

How did he know where he was going? His steps were sure, radiating the confidence that hers lacked, and he never once bumped into the walls on either side of them in the narrow corridor.

The stone was freezing beneath her bare feet, damp and slippery. She skidded as she set her left foot down on a broad cobble and Lucifer’s grip on her hand tightened, keeping her upright.

A soft glow pierced the darkness, illuminating the roughly carved walls. Her surroundings held her focus for all of a second before something both incredible and impossible stole her attention.

Her eyes locked onto Lucifer’s right hand where he held it before him, his palm facing upwards.

Above it, suspended in the air, was a twisting orb of amber light.

She had to be dreaming. She just had to be. Everything before that she had felt was a fantasy suddenly looked normal, everyday run of the mill things. Lucifer’s ability to open locks with only a touch of his hand. Perfectly ordinary. A door hidden behind a tapestry. Normal as anything. A mysterious black tunnel that looked endless but carried the scent of sunshine and flowers. Utterly sane.

The fact that Lucifer seemed able to conjure a ball of light?

Freaked her the fuck out.

Nina managed to force her eyes up to his face. The golden glow played across his stern features, highlighting the coldness of his eyes and the hard set of his jaw. She had seen enough men looking irritated to know that he was upset about something, and she felt certain that her episode back in the room was the reason behind it.

She tried to take her hand back but his grip on it tightened and he looked over his left shoulder at her, his hard features softening for a moment, a sliver of a second that she might have missed had she not been looking for it.

But she saw it and it was as if she had looked into a mirror.

She knew why he looked so grim. She knew because she wore that same look, felt the same as he did, whenever she did something that threatened to destroy the guards she had in place around her heart.

Her episode wasn’t the reason he was cold and distant again, his emotions switched off and his barriers in place.

She was the reason.

He had taken hold of her hand and he was regretting it.

Yet he couldn’t bring himself to release her either.

“It is not much further,” he said in a low voice thick with tension and she relented, allowing him to keep hold of her hand as she wondered what had happened to him.

What had he lived through to make him so fiercely protective of himself?

Was it anything like the hell she had survived?

What she had gone through had shaped her even when she had tried not to let it affect her. It had made her cold towards others, forever keeping her distance from them and sometimes lashing out with cruel words to ensure they wouldn’t get too close to her. She hated it whenever she hurt someone in order to protect herself, but she couldn’t stop herself from doing it. The need to shield herself and stop herself from being hurt again was too strong.

Her gaze roamed Lucifer’s face and her heart whispered that he was the same.

That was the reason she felt drawn to him so strongly. It was because they were the same.

She wanted to ask him about it, but the look on his face warned her not to push him right now, when he was already feeling vulnerable and was liable to lash out in order to force her to keep her distance from him. She knew the signals from her own behaviour. She had to give him time. Time that she needed too.

She needed the space he had mentioned, the break from the dreariness of the apartment and the fear that her ex-husband would find her.

Or send another man to come and take her from Lucifer.

Her fingers flexed against his hand, clutching it a little tighter, her need to feel his strength too powerful to deny. He responded by glancing down at their joined hands and, for a moment, she thought he would pull his away, but he tightened his hold instead, squeezing her hand in a way that felt both gentle and protective, as if he was being extremely careful with her.

She tore her gaze away from his face when he glanced back at her again, fixing her eyes on the glowing orb suspended above his right palm.

It was the only explanation her mind could conjure.

Somehow, Lucifer was capable of magic. Not parlour tricks like the men on the television employed, but real magic.

She had spent her teen and early adult years lost in fantasy novels about incredible lands, powerful mages, and extraordinary creatures. She had dreamed about living in such a world to see what it would be like for herself. She had never actually believed it was all possible though.

The part of her mind that clung to logic said that it wasn’t possible. She was merely seeing what she wanted to see, because she was caught up in a fantasy herself, brought about by whatever drug the man had given her to knock her out and the mysterious man holding her hand.

He was mysterious too.

He had secrets, ones that warned her to keep her distance from him in order to protect herself and her heart.

Ones that drew her to him at the same time, making her want to peel back the layers and learn more about him.

She wanted to know his deepest, darkest secrets and in return, she would share hers.

The light grew and she peered ahead of them. The glow from the orb bounced off a door at the end of the tunnel.

That orb suddenly disappeared, dropping them into darkness. Her hand jerked against Lucifer’s, squeezing it so tightly that she feared she would hurt him, but she couldn’t bring herself to loosen her grip.

“Bear the darkness but for a moment, Nina.” Lucifer’s voice curled around her in the pitch-black and she felt hazy from head to toe as her name fell from his lips.

If he could perform real magic, he was using it right now in his voice, luring her back under his spell until her fear of the darkness began to fade and she felt safe again, no longer vulnerable without her sight.

His hand slipping free of hers brought that fear right back though and she wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold to the bone as she waited, listening hard for a sign of him.

Metal ground against metal.

A clack echoed along the corridor.

A moment of silence.

Then the creak of rusty hinges scraped in her ears and bright light flooded the tunnel, blinding her. She flinched away from it, shielding her eyes with her right hand at the same time to protect them from the onslaught.

The scent of flowers and nature hit her hard, rushing past her on a warm breeze.

Lucifer made a low growling noise and bumped her as he backed away, leaving her in front of him. Nina squinted against the light and stepped forwards, drawn towards it and the world beyond the half-open door. She gripped the handle and pulled, eager to see what awaited her.

She was aware of Lucifer backing further into the tunnel as the door opened fully, but the vista that greeted her on the other side stole that awareness away from him.

“Go on ahead,” Lucifer gruffly said and she didn’t hesitate.

She stepped over the threshold of the tunnel, from the cold black stone and onto the soft green grass. The light washed over her and she basked in its warmth as it touched her and chased the chill from her skin. It heated her right down to her bones and she walked a few steps across the grass before stopping and tipping her head back, raising her face to the sun, her eyes closed. Bliss flowed through her and she sighed.

It was wonderful.

Nina pulled down a deep breath of crisp, fresh air into her lungs and exhaled it with a wide smile.

She stood there for what felt like minutes, stealing pleasure from the feel of the sun on her skin and the clean air in her lungs, and then slowly opened her eyes, no longer able to hold back her curiosity about the world that surrounded her.

It was beautiful.

A verdant valley right out of a fantasy novel.

Lush green hills rolled downwards from where she stood, leading to a river that twinkled as it snaked through the valley. On the other side of it, mountains rose up, covered in thick forest at their bases but capped with snow on top. The azure sky was impossibly rich, a breathtaking contrast against the rugged white peaks.

The range stretched for miles in both directions before giving way to green hills that poked out from the thick woods.

Below her on the hills, long meadow grass grew, spotted with colourful flowers, creating a beautiful barrier between her and the river.

Nina took everything in again, struggling to make herself believe it. The whole scene looked impossible. Like a dream. It didn’t seem real.

Was it even possible for the sun to feel so hot on her skin and everything around her to be so green when snow covered the higher ground?

She had never seen anything like it.

Nina walked forwards, entranced by the valley, her fear falling away. Peace flowed through her, a calm that ran as deep as her bones and made her never want to leave. It was wonderful. Incredible. She felt liberated.

A laugh bubbled from her lips, her smile stretching wider as her eyes darted over everything again.

That laughter died when she turned back to Lucifer, expecting to find him standing in the valley with her, the same joy she felt inside her painted on his handsome face.

He stood in the tunnel, swathed in darkness, a sorrowful edge to his eyes.

“What are you waiting for?” Nina rushed out, her smile coming back to the fore as she held her hand out to him. “It’s amazing. The sun is so warm. You have to feel it.”

His sensual lips twitched but he didn’t smile. He didn’t speak. He raised his hand, holding her gaze the whole time, and held it out with his palm facing her.

His flesh compressed, as if he had placed his hand against glass and pushed.

Nina’s smile faded again, a frown replacing it. She didn’t understand. She moved back to him, the valley forgotten as she tried to comprehend what was happening. Her eyes searched his but they didn’t give her the answers she desired. Was she trapped in this valley now, separated from him by a glass barrier?

Was that the reason he had said that only she would be allowed here?

That panicked her and she reached out to touch the glass.

A gasp escaped her when her hand pressed against his, nothing keeping them apart, and she snatched it back.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered and clutched her hand to her chest, frowning at him.

He looked down at his feet and then slowly lifted his gaze back to hers, the pain in them catching her breath in her throat and making her ache to reach out and pull him through the invisible barrier somehow.

“I told you,” he said, his voice cold but edged with sorrow.

He looked beyond her, a brief glance that tore at her heart and had her reaching for him.

He stepped back, the darkness closing in around him as if embracing him, and shook his head.

“Only you can enter this place.”

Nina stared at Lucifer, his words ringing in her mind. She looked over her shoulder at the beautiful valley and then back at him, and it struck her that he wanted to enter it. There was longing in his golden eyes, a need that seemed deep, as deep as her desire to have him explore this strange new world with her.

“Have you ever set foot in this place?” She held his gaze when his eyes dropped to her again.

He shook his head. “I cannot.”

That wasn’t the whole truth. She could see it in his eyes. He had been in this valley but now it was forbidden to him for some reason. She needed to know that reason, but she didn’t want to hurt him, and she knew that pushing him to answer would pain him.

He was already suffering enough.

“But you come here?” Nina looked down at his feet, at his polished black leather shoes that blended perfectly with the dark stone of the tunnel, and then at her feet, cushioned by soft green grass. “You come here to look at it?”