Lure of Forever (14 page)

****

Coralie
wasn't going to do the girly thing and cry. No fucking way. Disappointment
stuck a hot poker into her heart. Just when she was starting to trust him, he
pulled a stunt like this. The ease with which he took the cast-iron skillet off
her terrified her anew, even as his hold on her lessened and he let her go with
a murmured
, "Je
suis
désolé
,
pardonnez-moi
."

She darted away from him, keeping
one eye on Jerry. Her friend looked dazed but unharmed. Jenkins hovered around
her anxiously and Jerry leaned back into him. The same couldn't be said for
Lucas. He sat down heavily and
Coralie
watched in
horror as his shirt collar turned crimson. Oh, shit, that skillet had been
heavy.

Against her will, her legs moved of
their own accord. Gritting her teeth, she tipped his head forward to inspect
the damage.

"Leave it, I'll heal."

Coralie
swallowed the rising bile as the wound opened further in front of her eyes. He
wasn't healing, he was getting worse. What the hell was going on here? Lucas's
painful groan as she examined the wound further brought Jenkins to his feet. He
handed her a wet towel and she pressed it to the wound to stem the flow.

"He needs more blood."
Jenkins’s flatly delivered statement hung in the room. "And quickly,
before Jerry comes to and wonders what the hell is going on." He smiled at
her, but
Coralie
didn't feel reassured. "I
didn't stop him, because we need answers and we need them fast. I can't protect
her if I don't know all the facts. Jerry is hiding something." He cut her
immediate protests off with an impatient wave of one clawed hand.
Coralie
stepped a bit closer to Lucas, as the eyes of
Jenkins's wolf stared at her.
Oh, shit
.
Why could she not get involved with men that didn't turn into terrifying wild
animals or need to dine on you as though you were a conveniently located fast
food place?

Jenkins growled and Lucas pulled her
onto his lap, resting his head on her shoulder. His blood had seeped through
the towel and his face turned ashen.
Shit,
shit and fuck
.

"Despite what you saw he
wouldn't have hurt her, not really. Lucas is the only vamp the boss trusts, and
that's good enough for me."

Jerry sighed and blinked and Jenkins
cursed. He picked Jerry up and dashed out of the kitchen with a curt,
"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast before he bleeds all over the
floor. I'll keep her occupied for as long as I can."

Lucas lifted his head off her
shoulder with a tired smile in her direction and her heart clenched at the pain
in his eyes.

"Don't listen to him. I'll be
fine. I just need to rest a minute." His voice lacked its usual conviction
and he held himself upright with a white-knuckled grip on the table.

"You don't look fine. You look
as though you're going to pass out,"
Coralie
whispered. Her heart beat faster at the thought of what she had to do. He
hadn't wanted her blood last time and the little he had taken had hurt like
hell. She gritted her teeth and lifted her wrist. "I know you need this,
so… so do whatever it is you have to do to heal."

"
Non
,
it's not necessary."

"Yes it is."

Lucas shook his head and closed his
eyes. She didn't catch the whispered French words, but his desperation came
through loud and clear and her heart ached for him.

"Lucas, this is my fault. I hit
you. I should have trusted you, but…but I thought…and you… shit." She
framed his head in her hands. "Look at me, please, Lucas."

He tensed, those sculpted cheekbones
standing out even more than usual. She couldn't even be sure if he was still
breathing—his body a still statue, the only movement a small muscle ticking in
his jaw. When he finally looked at her the anguish she saw in his eyes soothed
her frayed nerves and she swallowed. His eyes followed that movement and his
fangs ran out. He moved his head and grabbed her wrist with one hand. His
tortured eyes never once leaving hers, he bit into her soft skin.

Coralie
braced herself against the pain, but apart from the initial sharp sting, no
pain came. Instead heat flowed up her arm. Tingles replaced the heat—tingles
that increased in intensity the harder Lucas sucked.
Coralie's
breath hitched and she shifted restlessly on his lap as those tingles sent
darts of electricity dancing along her skin until they settled between her
thighs.

The functioning side of her brain
wandered what on earth was happening to her, whilst the instinctive feminine
part sighed in submission to the sensations filling her. Her eyes fluttered
closed and she leaned further into Lucas's frame, his arm behind her back
stopping her from falling. She lost all sense of time as the sensations built
until she was so close to release she moaned her protest when Lucas slowly
withdrew his fangs. His chest shook in silent amusement as she pulled away and
she opened her eyes so see him licking the tiny wounds on her wrist with
infinite care. Relief replaced arousal. The gaping wound on the back of his
head had closed, and apart from the matted hair and the blood-stained collar
there was no evidence of his previous injury.

"
Merci,
Chere
.
"
The growled words settled straight in her heart and she hastily dropped her
eyes as emotions overwhelmed her. No, no, no, no, she could not be falling in
love with him. This was insane, but what other explanation was there for what
had just happened to her? Instead of running away screaming, like any sensible
person would have done, she had offered her wrist and had almost climaxed
whilst he drank her blood.

Oh God, there was something
seriously wrong with her. His cool hand under her chin forced her to look at
him. The concern she saw in his face caused an army of butterflies to take up
residence in her tummy and she swallowed visibly.

"Are you OK,
Coralie
?"

She nodded, not trusting her voice
at that moment and his eyes narrowed as heat crept into her cheeks.

"Are you sure? I didn't hurt
you?"

Oh God
, why could
he not just let this go? She was going to self-combust if the heat in her
cheeks was any indication. She tried to wriggle away from him, shaking her head
in denial, but his hold on her tightened and he pulled her closer into him. He
was so close his whispered words raised her fringe. "So, if I didn't hurt
you…"

Her stomach somersaulted and she
buried her face into his shoulder, mumbling her reply.

"You didn't hurt me, just the
opposite… I…" She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence and her
breath hitched when he dropped a kiss into her hair. What must he think of her?
His hand rubbed her back and she snuggled further into him—the coolness of his
skin
a welcome relief from the heat suffusing her own body.

"You
what,
Chere
?
Tell me.
"

"Why didn't it hurt? I don't
understand. Last time…"

He pulled her up and away from his
body so abruptly her teeth clanged together. His eyes searched her face and his
expression softened.

"Last time I didn't have the
strength to make it easy for you. It's not meant to hurt, not unless I want it
to." A chill went down her spine at the murderous shadow crossing his face
before he looked at her and smiled the most seductive smile she had ever seen.
"It's meant to be pleasurable,
Chere
."

That smile of his deepened at her
surprised reaction and she simply melted at his next words.

"Just imagine what it would
feel like during sex."

Chapter
Fifteen

Lucas ruthlessly tamped down on the
surge of pure lust shooting through him. His blood pooled south and his balls
grew heavy. His cock pressed against his jeans, surging upwards to seek entry
to her slick haven.
 
She was too damn
responsive, and his body reacted to her as though he was a green-eyed teenager
rather than the jaded and experienced lover he usually thought himself to be.
Everything with her seemed different. From the minute
Coralie
tumbled into his arms, she'd surprised the hell out of him. Cynicism had gone
out the window. He was in danger of acting like a lovesick puppy.

Seeing her now, her body treading
the fine line between arousal and embarrassment, eyes drawn together and gaze
settled on his fangs, a part of him wanted to fuck her silly. But the other,
long-suppressed human part wanted to wrap her up and keep her safe. Take her
away from all of this madness and spoil her rotten. The vivid images assaulting
his brain took him by surprise:
Coralie
, back in his
home village in the Provence, her eyes wild with laughter as they rode
horseback along the beach and made love in front of the fire at his cottage.

Merde
,
what was wrong with him? His breathing picked up and sweat pooled between his
shoulder blades. His stomach churned and his chest tightened as he pulled her
off his lap. Her startled gasp of surprise at his actions settled like lead in
his conscience. He needed to put some distance between them.

She folded her arms around herself,
a frown on her face as she watched him, before she turned heel with a muttered,
"I'll just go and check on
Suz
again."

Her blood zinging through his veins
called her to him, that's all it was. He couldn't afford to let it be more than
that. He had nothing to offer her apart from physical satisfaction. But damn
it, why did the dejected line of her shoulders, as she walked away make his
insides ache? Lucas sensed her confusion and hurt and something else that he
didn't dare to examine closer. She was human and fragile and she needed
protecting. There was a fucking demon on the loose.

The sounds reaching him from Jerry's
bedroom had him balling his fists. She was involved in this. It all tied
together and if his gut was right it all centered on the little girl
Coralie
was now singing to in low, hushed tones.
 
The little girl who'd read his thoughts as
easily as though he'd spoken out loud, and whose wide-eyed stare had reached
deep inside of him as though she knew exactly who he was. The little girl that
had caused
Coralie
to glow with love, lighting up her
features and making him wish he could give her that.

Putain
l'enfer
!
The expletive hung in the silent
room and Lucas had to suppress the urge to grab the skillet and throw it against
the wall. Instead he focused on righting the room. Jerry could never know what
he really was. It would block his chances of getting close to her daughter and
finding out who she was and why
Jacomo
focused his
attentions on her.
 
He stuffed the bloody
towel in the washing machine and stuck his head under the kitchen tap to wash
the blood out of his hair. Nothing he could do about the stain on his collar.
He’d just have to hope Jenkins had managed to fry Jerry's brains enough that
she wouldn't notice.
Coralie
would never forgive him
if he had to compel her friend a second time, and he wasn't sure he could cope
with seeing that look of intense disappointment in her eyes again.

Shaking the water out of his hair,
he paused at the sight that greeted him. He hadn't even noticed that he'd
followed
Coralie
into the bedroom. The woman he—he
what, exactly?

 
Merde
,
snap out of it, Lucas. You do not have feelings for her. You can't have.

He crossed his arms over his chest
and leaned against the doorframe, schooling his face into a mask of
indifference, even as his ancient heart galloped like a newborn foal, stopping,
starting, and searching for its home. His throat closed in and had he been
human he would have found it impossible to breathe. Damn it, he didn't like
feeling—not one little bit—but
Coralie
seemed to have
opened the floodgates and now there was an avalanche of emotion overwhelming
him. And he remembered—
fuck
, how he remembered.

Coralie
sat on the edge of Suzanne's bed quietly humming, silent tears streaming down
her face as she held the little girl's hand. Only in his mind's eye he wasn't
seeing
Coralie
, but
Melisande
.
His wife, sat on the sparse cot in their hut, crying. The bloody rags balled at
her feet, testament to what had happened whilst he'd been away.
Again.
 
Merde
,
not again.
 
A shell of her
former self, she rocked to and fro, to and fro, her once-lustrous auburn locks
hanging around her gaunt face in greasy strands. He'd stood there, guilt and
despair freezing him to the spot, as his wife howled her agony at having lost
yet another child. He shouldn't have left her. This was his fault. All of this
was his fault.