Turning to the gaping crowd, I growled, “Move.”
This time, they scattered. I didn’t look back as I stormed off. I had been so excited for Lukas to come home, and now I wanted to be as far away from him as possible.
“Jesse.” Lukas’s voice rang out loud and commanding. Around me, people froze as if he’d spoken to them, but I picked up my pace.
“Go away, Lukas,” I called without looking back. Gasps came from nearby, and I didn’t need to look to know people were scandalized over the way I’d spoken to their crown prince. I couldn’t care less what they thought of me.
“Jesse, stop.” There was no mistaking the warning in his tone this time. What was he going to do? Lock me up for not heeling like the pet these people thought I was to him?
I exited the gardens and turned toward the lake. I needed to work off my turbulent emotions, and I knew just the place to do it. I wasn’t dressed for a hike up the hill, but going to my quarters to change wasn’t an option.
I started down the grassy slope. One second, my feet were on the ground, and in the next, they were in the air as I was lifted and slung over a wide shoulder. Momentarily stunned, I didn’t react at first as my captor wrapped his arm tightly around my legs and turned to walk back up the hill.
“Let me go,” I yelled when my senses came back to me. I squirmed and pummeled his back with my fists to no avail.
“No,” Lukas said in an unyielding voice that gave me pause. Maybe he was going to lock me up.
I hung stiffly over his shoulder as he entered the mountain. I expected him to put me down when we reached the lift, but he carried me all the way to the top floor. It wasn’t until we were outside his door that I realized we weren’t alone.
“We are not to be disturbed by anyone,” Lukas ordered as he opened the door.
“And if it’s the king?” Conlan asked with a note of amusement in his voice.
Lukas entered his quarters. “Especially my father,” he said, shutting the door with a solid click.
“Are you done being a Neanderthal?” I demanded as he crossed the room.
“That depends. Are you ready to talk rationally?”
“Oh, that’s rich coming from someone who thinks I would cheat on him, and then tosses me over his shoulder and carries me off against my will.”
Lukas set me on my feet and placed his hands on my shoulders to steady me when I swayed. “I would never believe that of you, Jesse, and I’m sorry if my reaction made you think I doubted you. I was angry but not at you.”
I pressed my lips together as I replayed the incident. “It was all a setup. They timed it so you’d come upon us and think the worst.” I lifted my eyes to his. “How did you find me?”
His jaw flexed. “When I couldn’t find you or Kaia, I assumed you’d gone outside. I ran into Dariyah, who told me she’d seen you enter the gardens.”
Anger surged in me again. “They played us perfectly. There had to be something in the drink the servant gave me that made me sleepy.”
Lukas’s eyes darkened, and his fingers tightened on my shoulders. “Someone drugged you?”
“I can’t prove it, but I was fine when I went outside. I drank the juice, and not long after, I had to lie down. You know what happened next.”
He released a harsh breath. “The male’s name is Fafnir. I got that from him before I followed you. Kerr detained him, and Faolin will get to the bottom of this. Fafnir will wish he had never touched you.”
My anger abated, leaving me drained. “Will it always be like this? People scheming and trying to come between us?”
He wrapped me in his strong embrace. “No. If Dariyah was involved in this, I will have her sent away from court. For her, that would be worse than banishment. I’ll make it known to all of Unseelie that the same punishment awaits anyone who dares to try something like this.”
“If they do, I want five minutes alone with them first.” I snaked my arms around Lukas’s waist, trying to erase the memory of Fafnir’s touch.
“After watching you knock out Fafnir and Dariyah, I’m not sure anyone would survive five minutes with you,” he teased.
I leaned away to look up at him. “You would.”
Heat flared in his eyes, and an answering fire ignited low in my belly. He smiled, and it was as if the last twenty minutes had never happened.
“I missed you,” he said gruffly.
I frowned. “Were you gone? I hadn’t noticed.”
He brought his hands up to frame my face, and he captured my mouth in a scorching kiss that left me dizzy and boneless.
“Okay… I might have missed that,” I panted.
Lukas chuckled and silenced me with his mouth as his hands slid down my body to cup my backside. He lifted me, and I eagerly wrapped my legs around him without breaking our kiss. I barely noticed he was walking until my back was pressed against the wall.
His mouth left mine, and I rested my head against the wall, intoxicated by the sensations flooding me. Every time he touched me, it was better than the last, but this felt different. There was an urgency to our kisses that said we were headed toward something and I would never be the same after.
“Look at me,” he ordered roughly.
I lifted my heavy-lidded eyes to his, which were dark with desire.
“If you are not ready for this, tell me now. We will wait as long as you need to. Otherwise, I am going to take you to my bed, and we are not leaving it until I know every inch of you.”
My body quivered at the promise of what was to come. This was what I wanted, but I was also a little scared. I trusted him completely, and I knew he would be a skilled lover. What if I was so bad at it that he didn’t want me afterward?
“Jesse,” he said in a gentler voice. “It’s okay if you need more time.”
I licked my kiss-swollen lips. “No. I mean I don’t need more time. I want you now.”
Lukas searched my face, and whatever he saw there made his lips curve into a carnal smile. His eyes took on a predatory gleam that sent my heart into an erratic rhythm. A tiny primeval part of my brain urged me to flee, but I pressed closer to him instead.
He let go of my bottom, and my legs, strong from weeks of training, held tightly around his waist. He slid his hands with tantalizing slowness up my body, his touch setting my blood on fire as his hands skimmed my ribs and along the outside curve of my breasts through my clothes. I wanted more, but his hands continued their path to my shoulders and along my arms, which were clasped around his neck. Before I knew what he intended, he had my hands imprisoned in one of his above my head.
His free hand cupped my chin and tilted it up to him. I managed a small sound before he claimed my mouth with a hungry possessiveness I’d never sensed from him before. He pressed me into the wall, and the feel of his arousal made me squirm as a hot bolt of lust went through me.
“Lukas,” I whimpered against his lips, unable to verbalize what I needed.
He released my hands, and I clung to him as he carried me to his bedroom. My legs loosened around his waist when he reached the bed, and he lowered me to the floor.
I pushed up the bottom of his shirt and ran my hands over the taut lines of his stomach. Satisfaction rippled through me when he inhaled sharply and ripped the shirt off over his head. Emboldened, I kissed one of his pecs while my hands played over the hard planes of his back, and I was rewarded when a tremor went through him.