Lure of Forever (15 page)

He'd sworn to protect her. He was
never going to put her though that agony again, but
Melisande
hadn't listened. He'd been unable to resist her desperate pleas and all seemed
to be going so well this time. That is until he'd left, called away by his
father's urgent demand. Duty and honor had forced his hand. He had to go and
obey his liege and
Melisande
had refused his pleas to
stay at her mother's.

"This is my home, Lucas. I will
not leave the place my babies are buried."

So he'd left her and she had to face
the horror of losing their son on her own. No one would help a suspected witch.
The villagers kept their distance, and in her despair she had called forth
Jacomo
. He had feasted on
Melisande
,
weakening her further, and started a killing spree that spanned centuries until
Lucas had managed to track him down.
 
And
now the bastard was back again, and threatening everyone
Coralie
cared about.

Lucas couldn't quite stop the
agonized groan his memories evoked.
Coralie's
soft
gasp broke though the mists of agony swirling behind his closed eyelids.

****

Lost in her own thoughts,
Coralie
hadn't noticed Lucas standing in the doorway until
he made a sound like a wounded animal. Raw pain radiated off him, slicing
through her bruised heart. Eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest, he seemed
far away, caught in the grip of some terrifying emotion. She carefully slid her
hand from
Suz's
, and driven by the need to comfort,
she crossed the room and touched his arm. She gasped at the jolt of recognition
and terror that sprang up her arm, the flash of pain so acute it took her
breath away.
 
His eyes flew open at the
contact and he pulled her against himself with a muttered French curse. She
wrapped her arms around him and he buried his fists in her hair with the
desperation of a drowning man. Neither one of them spoke, both needing the
comfort of just being held. The sound of Suzanne's steady breathing was the
only sound in the room.

When Lucas finally released her, his
hands shook, and he balled them into fists before stuffing then into the back
pockets of his jeans. The gesture was so familiar to her now,
Coralie
smiled, despite the heaviness in her heart. His
scent wrapped itself around her senses and her body responded with embarrassing
predictability. The ghost of a smile kicked up his mouth for a second, when he
noticed. He pulled his hand from his pocket and his thumb swiped across her
bottom lip.
Coralie
sighed. Lucas dropped a kiss on
her nose before he stepped away, putting distance between them for the second
time this evening. With one last searching look at the sleeping child, Lucas
turned his back on her and walked back to the kitchen.
Coralie
pulled the door to
Suz's
room shut and followed him.
He sat back down at the table and stared into the distance, every line of his
beautifully-formed body suggesting exhaustion.

God, she was so doomed. Not only did
she want to jump his bones every time she looked at him, but her silly heart
contracted painfully, and she wanted to kiss those worry lines off his face.
Face
it, girl, you are not falling for him. He's already caught you, hook, line and
sinker and you don't want to run away. You're such an idiot.

She sat next to him and her eyes
filled with tears seeing the white-knuckled grip he held on the spirit glass,
left over from earlier. She put her own hand over his and felt some of the
tension leave his body.

"We need to talk,
Chere
."

The deep, growled words increased
her awareness of him to such an extent, that she had to clamp her legs together
to stop the answering tingle between her thighs.

"I guess we do," she
sighed, her voice far too breathy, even to her own ears. Yup, she'd turned into
a raving nymphomaniac. Jerry would be proud of her. Come to think of it, where
was
her friend?

Before she could ask that question,
Jenkins walked out of Jerry's bedroom. His hair was wet, as though he'd just
showered and thankfully he was dressed.
 
It wouldn't have helped her current state one little bit to see the
shifter’s perfectly-toned abs on display.

He smiled at
Coralie
and, swinging his legs over the bench opposite them, sat down before addressing
Lucas.

"She's asleep. Events tonight
have exhausted her.
Looks like she's not the only one."
He glanced at
Coralie
again, and the concern she read
in his eyes soothed her fears for her friend. Unless she was very much
mistaken, Jenkins cared for Jerry—a lot. If it hadn't been so tragic she'd have
laughed out loud. Who'd have thought she'd find herself in the same boat as a
shifter...hopelessly in love with someone who would never love you back?

Lucas cleared his throat noisily and
let go of the glass to squeeze her hand.

"What do you know about
Suzanne's father?" He squeezed her hand again and turned round slightly.
His face was back to its usual unreadable expression, but his eyes showed a
maelstrom of emotion as they connected with hers.

"Not
much, why?"

Lucas sighed and a cold shiver went
down her spine, looking between Lucas and Jenkins.

"Just tell me what you know,
Chere
.
This is important." Lucas’s
quietly spoken words held an edge of steel and that shiver turned into a
hurricane. Lucas's arm came out to steady her and she leaned into him, grateful
for his support.

"I told you. I don't know much.
I never met him. Jerry fell in with some weird people a few years ago. She
dragged me along once to one of their 'gatherings'. I have never hightailed it
out of anywhere so fast in my life."

Another shiver, of remembrance this
time, went through
Coralie
, and she instinctively
leaned into Lucas further. His hand cupped the back of her neck and he gently
massaged the knots away, whilst urging her to carry on talking.

"Go on. Describe weird—weird
how?"

"Well, they were into all sorts
of really odd stuff.
Witchcraft and such.
I'd never
seen such disturbing things in all my life. The strange clothes and body
tattoos were bad enough, but then they performed some sort of ritual. I can
still hear the chanting now. Jerry wanted me to join in, some sort of
initiation ceremony. I stayed for a bit, but then they drew a circle and
brought out a goat and…"

Bile rose in her throat remembering
the desperate cries of the animal as they cut its throat, blood spilling over
the circle on the stone floor of the abandoned warehouse. The pressure on her
neck increased and shook her out of her memories.

"Did they sacrifice that goat,
Coralie
?"

"I…I don't know. I ran away
thinking it was all complete nonsense, but it wasn't, was it?"

Lucas's grim nod confirmed her
suspicions.

"Humans have a nasty habit in
dallying with forces they do not understand. Everything has
consequences—everything. Tell me, did Jerry flee too, or did she stay?"

"She… she stayed." Terror
made her voice hoarse and Jenkins swore, pushing away from the table with a
deep growl that made
Coralie
jump. He started pacing,
the air shimmering around him and
Coralie
wouldn't
have been surprised had she blinked and seen he'd shifted into his wolf. He
didn't. Mercifully he stopped pacing, and settled for glaring at Jerry's closed
door instead. Lucas paid no attention to the shifter and his voice held an
urgent demand when he spoke again.

"How
long after this happened did Jerry fall pregnant?"

"I… I don't know. I didn't see
her for a while. She turned up on my door about three months later, looking
like death warmed up. Mummy and I looked after her until she got back on her
feet and she found out she was pregnant and…
Oh my God."
The words stuck in her throat, as she did the mental arithmetic.

"What,
Chere
?
Tell me."

"Suzanne was born less than six
months later. The doctors said she was premature, even though she was big. She
had problems breathing and feeding and she was in intensive care for four weeks
before Jerry could bring her home. I always thought it was odd, but we never
questioned it. Jerry always clammed up when we asked her who the father was.
Mummy and I assumed she must have been raped, by the way she reacted when we
broached the subject, so we didn't probe, because Jerry's mind seemed so
fragile back then."

Coralie’s
words trailed off as horror gripped her, the image of Jerry laid out on the
floor with
Jacomo's
dagger raised above her heart in
her mind's eye. Looking to Lucas for reassurance didn't work, either. The
steady, unblinking gaze of his emerald eyes glittered with fury and his
expression was murderous.

"I would hazard a guess she was
raped, or at the very least coerced."

"Coerced into what exactly?
Lucas, that's my friend you're talking about. You're scaring me witless here.
What are you trying to say? Who is Suzanne's father?"

"The baby was premature. Demon
pregnancies last a year."

Chapter
Sixteen

Lucas glanced at the quiet woman sat
huddled in the front seat of his car. Protectiveness made his throat close up
and he had to clear it noisily to make it work.

"Have you got somewhere
light-tight at your house,
Chere
?"

She visibly startled at his husky
words. He put one hand on her thigh and his insides twisted at the tortured
expression on her face, as her eyes slowly focused on him. A wave of affection,
so powerful his hands shook, floored him. She put her hand over his on her
thigh and held on as though her life depended on it. Lucas knew she was
terrified for her friend and little
Suz
. It had taken
all of his persuasive skills and some force to get her to leave Jerry's flat.
He didn't want her near Jerry, not after what he'd learned. It was too fucking
dangerous, and he wasn't about to lose another woman he cared about to the
fucking demon. A quick phone call to Carmen and Ion had ensured that Jerry's
protection detail was tripled. Vamps at night, shifters during the day: she was
covered, as best they could manage.

Still,
Coralie
had refused to leave until Jenkins had framed her face with his hands to make
her listen. Lucas had been behind her, and caged between the two of them she'd
had no choice but to listen to the shifter's heartfelt vow.

"I will protect Jerry and her
daughter with my life. I swear to you, no harm will come to her. I will keep
her chained to me if I have to."

Jenkins’s sincerity had shone
through and
Coralie
had nodded and sagged against
Lucas. Since then she'd said nothing, held in the grip of whatever she was
imagining, barely holding it together.

If only he could take her memories
away, this would be so much easier on her, but he couldn't. He hadn't felt this
useless since he'd lost
Melisande
. Damn it, he hadn't
thought about his long-dead wife in years, it was too fucking painful. He
clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ground together with an audible crunch and
Coralie
squeezed his hand harder.

He glanced at her and a tremulous
smile flitted across her face.

"Don't do that, Lucas. I'm
barely holding it together here, as it is. You're supposed to be the strong,
rescuing knight to my damsel in distress act. I'm counting on it."

His lips quirked in an answering
smile at her attempt to lighten the mood.

"
Mon
coeur
,
you're one damsel I would gladly rescue, if you let me. On that note, answer
me. Do you have somewhere light-tight?"

"Light-tight?"
Coralie
drew her brows together in confusion. "I don't
understand what you mean?"

"Somewhere daylight can't
reach. I can normally cope with some exposure, but it wouldn't be a good idea
at the moment. It will take me a few days to get back to full strength.
 
And before you ask, we can't go back to my
barge. They are still repairing it. The smoke damage alone is extensive."

"But you can go back to
Carmen's. Just drop me off at home. I'll be fine. You said Ion's pack is
watching my house
too,
and…" Her words trailed off
and her eyes grew huge, as he stood on the brakes and pulled over. "What
the hell? What are you doing, Lucas?"

He cupped her chin in his hand to
ensure he had her full attention.

"I'm not going back to Carmen's
or any of my other hidey-holes. I'm not leaving your side, until I've caught
that bastard and you're safe. And I'm not entrusting anyone else with your
safety, either. "