Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (53 page)

Lucien relaxed, partially because he believed she understood his concern, mostly because she was amusing.

“Vampires don’t have last names.”

Her anger dissipated, her eyes grew wide and she replied, “So, you’re like Cher? Madonna? You’re just Lucien?”

“Cher and Madonna were born with surnames, they simply don’t use them. But I am ‘just Lucien’.”

Her eyes slid to his shoulder and she mumbled, “How weird.”

Gently, Lucien reminded her, “It’s far from weird.”

Her gaze shot back to his, it went soft and her body became pliant underneath him.

“I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” she whispered, each word clearly heartfelt.

Christ, she was sweet.

Twenty years of watching her and hearing of her, he’d had a good idea of what he’d get when he finally had her.

At that moment, he realized he’d had
no
idea.

And this added blessing settled warmly in his gut.

His weight eased into her soft body and she automatically accommodated it.

He touched his lips to hers and rested their foreheads together. “I know you didn’t, sweetling.”

Her hand slid up to rest on his chest before she asked softly, “Are you going to stop being Scary Lucien now?”

“I’m never Scary Lucien,” he replied and she gave him a look so disbelieving it was comical.

Therefore he shoved his face in her neck and burst out laughing.

He rolled them yet again, positioning her against his side partially on top and she raised her head to look at him as his laughter died down to a chuckle. He lifted his hand to touch her eyebrow with a finger and he smoothed it across the arched line. With his movement, as he’d intended, her face gentled and his finger drifted down her cheek where he touched her lips with his middle three fingertips.

“You never have to be scared of me, sweetheart,” he told her quietly but firmly as his hand dropped away.

She surprised him by asking, “What about when your anger fills the room like a physical thing?”

He wound his arms around her and gathered her closer. “If that happens, Leah, then it happens. There are times when I’ll get angry but no matter how angry I get, you never have anything to fear.”

Regardless of his words and the feeling behind them she persevered. “What about when your body goes all funny?”

He blinked slowly before repeating, “My body goes all funny?”

“Yeah, it gets stiff, the muscles all tense, stand out. I can’t explain it, but –”

Lucien was appalled. “I’ve done that to you?”

She studied him, her look wary then she nodded before saying, “Just now and when, um… that time Katrina came over.”

“Christ,” he muttered, stunned and disgusted with himself. He hadn’t even felt it.

“I’d said some awful things…” she defended him and his arms gave her a gentle shake to stop her exoneration.

“That won’t happen again,” he declared.

Leah watched him, her eyes wide, lips parted and this time he didn’t revel in a look that made her adorable.

“What is it?” she whispered.

His reply was swift and terse. “Preparing for battle.”

“Wow,” she breathed.

“Against an immortal, Leah,” he went on, tone still curt. “My strength is twenty times yours. When I’m in a fight or flight situation, my adrenalin releases just as yours does, but it makes me twice as strong as I was before, twice as fast. If I were to –”

“You didn’t,” she cut him off.

“And I
wouldn’t,
” he stated. “I’ll repeat, my pet, when you’re with me, you never have anything to fear.”

At that, she replied, “That part I know.”

After she spoke, he watched as her face stilled then horror filled it and she grew pale.

Her heart started racing. In his anger, he’d ceased attuning his to hers and his remained steady.

But she’d given something away and it wasn’t that she trusted he’d never harm her.

“Leah?”

She looked toward the door and she quickly changed the subject, “Maybe we should call my family to come and have breakfast.”

“Leah –”

“I’ll make breakfast today. Crêpes Suzette.”

The idea of Leah attempting Crêpes Suzette, which she’d fail to do (not to mention it was dessert), was infinitely amusing, especially considering flambéing was key to the dish’s success. He mentally located the fire extinguisher, just in case.

At the thought of witnessing this endeavor and her reaction at her inevitable failure, Lucien was tempted to let her off the hook.

However, he didn’t.

“Look at me, sweetheart.”

Her gaze flitted to his eyebrow.

His arms tightened and his tone was a warning. “Leah.”

She sighed and her eyes caught his.

“What did you mean?” Lucien asked.

“What did I mean what?” Leah asked back.

His eyes narrowed. She wrinkled her nose.

“Tell me, Leah,” he ordered.

“Oh all
right,
” she snapped and frowned at him before admitting something astonishing and tremendously gratifying but doing so with extreme ill-humor. “You make me feel safe.”

Again, Lucien was stunned. This time in a much better way.

“I make you feel safe,” he repeated.

“Yes. You,” she poked him in the chest, “make me,” she pointed to herself then her hand fluttered in the air, “feel safe.” She dropped her hand and stared at him. “You’re big and fast and you can throw a blinkety blank car, for heaven’s sake. You make me feel tiny and sheltered and… well, safe!”

That warmth in his gut started spreading.

“Leah –” he began, his hand inching up her back, sifting into her hair.

But she wasn’t quite through.

Glowering at him, she admitted irritably, “My father left me, which was enough to twist me in a way that I’d never feel safe. We were
girls
on our
own.
Mom’s strong but, you know, sometimes…” She trailed off, losing track of her theme then she found it and kept going, “Then every guy I’ve ever been with has hit the top bell on the jerk-o-meter. You can be a jerk but, get this!” she fairly shouted. “One of my boyfriends sat in the car while
I
changed the tire. Another one didn’t do a freaking thing when some guy was pawing me at a bar. After I got away I asked him why he sat there and watched and did
not
…
one
…
thing
and he said he didn’t want to get ‘into it’ with some ‘moron’ and it was obvious I could ‘sort myself out’.” She lifted her hands and used two fingers to put quotation emphasis on her words before dropping them again and finishing, “Can you believe?”

He couldn’t. In fact the very idea infuriated him.

He didn’t get a chance to share this, she kept talking.

“
You
wouldn’t make me change the tire and
you
wouldn’t let some guy paw me and
you
haven’t told me I have a fat ass and perhaps I should lay off the fried chicken. You’re big and heavy and strong and cart me around like I weigh as much as a kitten and you’re tall and I have to look up at you
even
when I’m wearing
heels,
” she uttered this last like it was a total impossibility for her to look up at anyone and to look up at him was akin to a miracle. However, she wasn’t quite finished. “And
you
could probably change a tire just by glaring at it.”

Lucien bit back laughter as he rolled her to her back and decided they weren’t having Crêpes Suzette. And
definitely
her family wasn’t coming over.

His mouth went to her throat and he muttered, “I’m sorry to say I can’t change a tire by glaring at it.”

Her voice was no longer loud but breathy when she replied, “You know what I mean.”

His mouth moved up and over her jaw to meet hers.

Looking into her eyes, he murmured his understatement, “I’m glad you feel safe with me, sweetling.”

She tried to make light of it by announcing, “Anyone would feel safe with you. I’ll repeat, you can throw
a car
.”

“Maybe,” he allowed, “but I’m thrilled that
you
do.”

Before she could speak again, he rewarded her admission with a kiss.

Without hesitating, her arms stole around him and she kissed him back, her mouth sweet, her tongue sweeter.

His hand moved to her breast and cupped it, his thumb stroking its peak, feeling it harden instantly.

His cock responded in kind.

She gasped into his mouth.

He lifted his head to watch her face as his thumb stroked back and as he did he liked what he saw.

Her cheeks warmed and she bit her lip.

Then she said, “I’m hungry.”

“I’ll feed you,” he assured her, executing another nipple swipe before he finished, “later.”

Her eyelids fluttered lower, desire evident in her face, he felt a further tightening in his groin but even so, she whispered, “My family –”

He added a finger to his thumb and rolled. He was rewarded at once. Her breath caught, her heart started hammering and he smelled the rush of heat between her restless legs.

Magnificent.

“Later,” he repeated, his head descending and his mouth was on hers when he heard it.

Her body froze beneath his as his head jerked up. His two fingers stopped rolling but all of them curled possessively around the swell of her breast.

He listened and he couldn’t believe what he heard.

“What is it?” Leah asked, a tremor of fear in her voice.

His eyes caught hers.

The doorbell rang.

Her body went solid and her fear permeated the air.

Lucien’s temper spiked.

“What is it?” she asked again, the fear stronger.

“It’s
my
fucking family,” he growled. He watched as her eyes grew wide, her lips parted and yet again he found no pleasure in her endearing expression.

This was mainly because, instead of being able to do something about it, something they’d both like very much, he had to go answer the fucking door.

The Family

Lucien walked the small pier to the end where he stopped and examined the lake.

His children followed.

He didn’t speak for long moments and Julian and Isobel astutely left him to his silent contemplation of the serene water.

Then, quietly and menacingly, Lucien spoke to the water. “Explain.”

“He came to see me, Father,” Isobel replied swiftly.

“And?” Lucien prompted.

“I thought –” Isobel started but stopped when Lucien’s head turned and his eyes sliced to his daughter.

“No,” he said softly, “you didn’t.”

Her eyes slid to her brother. Julian’s gaze locked with hers a moment before he looked to his boots.

Julian had his father’s build, his father’s hair but he had his mother’s startling blue eyes. They were clear sky blue. In all his years, Lucien had never seen eyes that color except in the face of his ex-partner and his son.

Isobel had her mother’s curves and delicate bone structure but she had her father’s dark hair and eyes. She was petite for a vampire, an inch shorter than Leah, her mother’s height.

Lucien was close with his children. He visited them when time allowed. They visited him the same. And he spoke to them regularly.

At that moment, however, he’d gladly throttle the both of them. Starting with Isobel.

This was because she brought Lucien’s father, Etienne.

It was safe to say Lucien was
not
close to his father.

This was because Etienne was not a vampire you could get close to. He was cold, unfeeling and superior.

This was also because Etienne was not a vampire you’d
want
to get close to because he was cold, unfeeling and superior but also because he was avaricious, sly, duplicitous and cruel.

And lastly this was because of Maggie.

Etienne had little to do with mortals except partaking of them as food and, at The Feasts he liked to attend, partaking of them in other ways. Some of them, in the cold, unfeeling, superior and savage ways he did it, not entirely welcomed by the mortals who attended The Feasts and usually those mortals were up for everything. He’d been called on this by The Dominion on more than one occasion and therefore had learned to hide these proclivities but Lucien, as did many, knew he had not ceased this behavior.

Etienne held no regard for mortals, never had. Therefore he had hated Lucien’s union with Maggie. And lastly he had not kept this feeling a secret from Lucien
or
from Maggie.

This was not something Lucien had forgiven nor would he ever forgive.