I thought I knew where this was going as he came back towards me, leaning into me until I was wedged between him and the wall, the solid lump settling between my legs. His hand went to my waist, just lightly holding me as his arm came to rest above my head.
“I think what I disliked most about Liam bringing you in with us was the fear. I was there in those dreams, hanging out the back and trying to stay divorced from it all, because I didn’t want to fall further and further in like they were, but you? You don’t let that happen. Back then, you opened to us so sweetly, it sucked me in, despite all my best efforts. I could see it, the path I was gonna take, grabbing some nice girl and dragging her down into my shit, just like my dad. But now?” He shook his head slightly, smiling slowly. “You’re a queen. No one’s gonna pull you down into anything you don’t want. Do I want to serve at your feet along with the rest of the dickheads? I dunno. That’s a pretty alien concept to me. But I want to know. I want to know, Kira, if you’re it for me, if there’s—”
I jumped up, placing a chaste little kiss on his lips before pulling away again. I heard everything he said, and it made sense, but right now, I needed that. The prickle of his beard, the feel of his mouth, that tiny little taste of him. He seemed to agree as his hand tightened around my waist, as he bent down and repeated the gesture, though much more thoroughly. I liked his hungry mouth and his hard hands, that little whistle of breath that came as he pressed his lips to mine before pulling back.
“You’re not gonna make this easy, are you?
“You don’t want me to,” I replied.
“No.” He reached out and brushed his fingers against my lips. “But I want you. I just need to work out what that means. Whether there’s more than just this.”
His mouth fit against mine like it was meant to be there, my fingers curling around the broad muscles of his shoulders. He let out a little moan of appreciation as my nails scored his flesh until he was forced to pull away, resting his forehead against mine and smiling as we caught our breath.
Something inside Luc liked this, liked the heat and my reactions, the way our mouths sought each other’s like magnets. For all the hunger, there was something almost savagely innocent about this, which I liked too. I slid my hand in his and pushed off the wall, and he followed my lead, giving me an impish smile as he dragged me down the hallway.
“So I found this place when I was looking for somewhere to take you, though with what you’ve said, it might not still be here. Or it might be, because that’s what I was looking for at the time. Anyway…”
He swung the door open on a wonderland.
The first thing I saw was the lights blinking everywhere. It was dark inside, but not oppressively so, the gloom enlivened by string upon string of fairy lights. I frowned when I went in. The floor looked like it was grass, which couldn’t possibly be the case, yet when I trod on it, my heel sunk into it like any other turf. My eyes widened, then darted up to meet Luc’s. He shot me a crooked grin and then pulled me deeper into the ‘room.’
He had been here before, swooping down to pick up a basket full of food and drink as we walked, leading me deeper. We came across a small thicket of slender trees that shifted in a breeze I couldn’t find the source of, walking down a narrow path between them.
“The last time you took me into a forest, I was convinced you were going to kill me,” I said. He glanced back at me, then shook his head. “You’re not gonna snap a bird’s neck or anything, are you?”
“All that’s done with, Kira. You’ve got all our secrets, and if you think we’re holding out on you, you’ll be able to find out quick enough by diving into our dreams.”
“That’s made you lighter,” I said as we walked between the trees.
He let go of my hand, walking backwards as he spoke to me.
“I guess for the first time since we became a band, I feel hope. A world without my family or Rutherglen, without all the toxic bullshit we used to have to buy into to survive the court system. That’s a pretty grand thing.”
“Without Sky Daddy?”
I felt like a bitch when that smile faltered for a second, but he turned around and took his place at my side.
“I wouldn’t worry about that. Avatars never really come to anything. We get extra powers and can undergo the trials if we want. I sure as shit won’t be.” He stopped still for a moment. “If I could give that shit away, just become some kind of elemental fae like anyone else, I fucking would.”
As if in response, the night ‘sky’ flickered, jerking our eyes up.
“Never wanted to be an avatar of his. Never wanted anything to do with my father’s power. Fuck, if none of us had been born fae, if we were just a family?” He dismissed that idea with a snort. “What’s happened, with the boys being bonded to you as consorts rather than what Liam had planned, it should keep you safe. They are connected to you and I’m not. He can’t touch you.”
Luc sounded satisfied and relieved, but that wasn’t all. Did the others see that tiny little micro-flinch that came with those words?
“And if you were?”
I squeezed his hand, peering up into his eyes, but he shook his head and looked away.
“You don’t want to follow that train of thought. There’s nothing good there.” Lightning crackled furiously across the surface of his eyes. “You open yourself to me like that, he’s coming for you. I feel it already, on the edges of my consciousness, what he wants, what he needs. I’ve been ignoring him my whole life, so it’s not hard to disregard that, but going further? Binding me to you like you have the others? What’s mine is his. That can never happen.”
A vague, far off rumble punctuated the conversation, creating an air of stillness and quiet.
“Let’s just have something to eat.” He turned and led on, through the trees that thinned out to reveal a large slab of rock, covered with flickering candles. He set the basket down and pulled out items one after the other, anything rather than look at me. The muscles in his back jumped when I placed a hand on it, then tensed against me.
I was lucky he didn’t turn around right then. He’d have hated seeing pity on my face, though that wasn’t exactly how I felt. I knew what it was like to operate on the fringe, largely ignored. Those rough moments where I’d found them drinking and playing with groupies must have been important to him, for those brief periods of camaraderie.
Fuck, was Luc lonely?
It didn’t make sense, what I did, pulling the back of his shirt up to reveal pale muscular skin and placing my hand against it. Somehow that touch, unmoderated by clothes or distance, seemed the only thing I could offer. I rubbed small circles there, because why? I dunno, that was what you did, didn’t you? Lucas straightened slowly, grabbing my hand when I went to pull away, unbuttoning his shirt halfway and putting it against his chest.
“Why do you care about this?” he asked, hard words in a gentle tone. “You must’ve wanted to light the lot of us on fire only days ago.”
“Still do some of the time,” I said, just staring at where my hand lay upon him. “But that’s not my natural state. Whether I would have reached for you lot when I met you for the first time, or if it was all because of the dreams,” my eyes rolled up, “I would’ve been drawn to all of you, feeling like I had to choose, obviously, but I’d have had difficulties doing it. I’ve got what I wanted now. Liam’s boot is off my neck, he’s not calling the shots and neither is Rutherglen.” Saying the words made me as aware of the change in situation as it did him. “I’m free now, and I’m freest with you.”