Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (67 page)

I pulled on his tee, crawled in bed and slept.

This brought me to now. It was dark in the room but there was light coming around the not entirely closed door to the sitting room.

I felt rested but again starved. Tossing back the covers, I listened to his murmurings as I hit the bathroom. It was bigger than the living room in my old condo.

Wow. Really, this suite was
it.
I wanted to live there.

I did my thing, wandered out through the bedroom and to the door.

Before I got the door open, I knew Lucien’s eyes were on it. I knew this because when the door was open they were on me. He was sitting in the chair at the desk. His cell held to his ear, he lifted up his chin to me then gestured with his hand to his lap.

I wandered his way, pushing up the sleeves of his tee.

When I got within reaching distance, Lucien reached. Then my ass was in his lap and his arm was wrapped around me.

“No, I’ll do it,” he said into the phone as I settled in, cheek to his shoulder, my forehead pressed to his neck. His arm got tighter. “I understand,” he went on. “But it will be me who hunts him.”

I sighed.

Lucien’s arm got tighter.

Then his voice was quiet when he continued, “Julian, I know this attack was perpetrated on the family. And yes, normally you would be correct that every member of the family is within their rights to exact vengeance. And you know I appreciate your and Bel’s show of loyalty. You both can be there when I deal with him. But it will be me and only me who hunts Etienne.”

Well, the good part of that was that Julian and Isobel had their father and my backs and clearly thought of me as family.

The bad part was that Lucien was intending to hunt down his father. I wasn’t entirely surprised by this. He loved me and I loved that he loved me. I was certain it was partly about that. But his father had touched me, scared me and was just plain old mean to me. I knew Lucien enough that I knew he wouldn’t let that be.

I didn’t like Etienne. He scared the beejeezus out of me. Still, hunting him down, torturing and burning him was pretty extreme.

“Right,” Lucien continued. “Leah is up, she needs to eat then I need to feed. I’m turning my cell off now. I want no further interruptions tonight. I’ll phone you tomorrow.”

He needed to feed and he wanted no further interruptions.

I liked this idea.

“Goodnight, Julian. My love to Bel,” he muttered, I heard a beep then I saw his phone clatter on the desk.

I lifted my head to look at him.

“Is it time to talk?” I asked.

“No,” he answered, reached out to the hotel phone on the desk, grabbed the receiver and put it to his ear. Then he stated, “We’re ready to order dinner.”

Then, without another word, he put it down.

“That was kind of abrupt,” I told him.

“I don’t have the time or inclination to befriend a man I’ll see occasionally the length of our stay here and never see again. You’re rested. Your color is back. You’re sitting in my lap with no underwear on. We were separated for nine days and reunited for one, the vast majority of which you’ve been sleeping. I want you fed and you’ll eat sitting next to me not wearing any underwear. Then I want to feed and do it while I’m inside you. You need your strength. That, at the moment, is all I have time for.”

I was blinking at him, half turned on (okay, fully turned on) when out of nowhere a man wearing a spiffy hotel uniform walked into the room.

Lucien wrapped me tight in both arms and looked up at him.

“Dinner, sir?” he prompted.

“Thank you,” Lucien replied then launched into it. “A French baton. Pâté fois gras with truffles. Two fillet mignons rare with béarnaise sauce. Sautéed potatoes. Fine greens. Rolls. A bottle of red, a Bordeaux. This followed with two chocolate crème brûlées and a bottle of Moët.”

It seemed while I was sleeping that Lucien had familiarized himself with the menu and it was clear he was in the mood for French food. This was good since all that sounded
great.

“Yes sir,” the hotel butler murmured.

“Bring the crème brûlées and Moët half an hour after you serve the main and then don’t disturb us for the rest of the night.”

He nodded, muttering, “As you wish,” then moved out of the room.

Okay, that was still abrupt but one could not say this presidential suite business wasn’t totally cool.

On that thought we were up, me held in Lucien’s arms and he was striding across the room. I barely got my arms around his shoulders when we were down again. Me on my back in the couch, Lucien partially on me, partially with his side in the seat. His head was up, his eyes on me and he lifted a hand, trailed a finger down the side of my face then curled all of them around my neck.

“You remembered the béarnaise sauce,” I whispered.

“Of course,” he whispered back. “We’ve something to celebrate if belatedly.”

I felt my nose begin to sting.

Then I whispered, “They’ll probably make it better than me.”

“Undoubtedly.”

I grinned then it faded and I ordered, “Tell me you love me.”

His hand slid up my neck, my jaw to cup my cheek as his head dipped closer.

“I love you, sweetling.”

Dinner sounded great.

But those words sounded better than anything.

I sighed, my arm moving around him and I turned to my side. Lucien shifted with me so we were face-to-face and in each other’s arms.

“Why didn’t you say it before?” I asked.

“Because I couldn’t,” he answered immediately. “Because I hadn’t admitted it to myself. Not when you gave that to me. Not before. Not for twenty years. If I admitted it to myself twenty years ago, I wouldn’t allow myself to have you because I knew if I did, I wouldn’t let you go. When I had you, I wouldn’t admit it again because I wouldn’t let you go. I was already flying in the face of the rules of The Dominion with what I would allow us to have. They were going to accept that, I knew. They owe me. But they’d never allow me to take you as mate. We could do it but they would hunt us, eventually find us and we’d be given The Sentence. I had to protect you from that.” His eyes went strange and I knew why when he finished, “But it seems I failed at protecting you from everything.”

“It worked out in the end,” I whispered reassuringly on an arm squeeze.

“Yes,” Lucien replied, not looking or sounding very reassured.

I decided to change the subject to a far happier one. “Why did they change their minds so suddenly about immortals mating mortals?”

“They had their reasons,” he answered vaguely.

It had to be said, I wasn’t in the mood for vague. I’d had a lot of vague not to mention seriously vague (in other words, stuff kept from me). Therefore I was
so
over vague.

“Seems strange,” I probed, “all the trouble they took, all the heartbreak they caused, five hundred years and then,
poof,
” I fluttered a hand in the air, “whatever. Mate with mortals. We don’t care.”

Lucien grinned then clarified, “All right, my love, how about they had very good reasons.”

“War?” I whispered.

“Yes, amongst other things.”

“Etienne told me about their plans and –”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Don’t worry about it? Was he crazy?

“Lucien, what he told me was pretty scary. And they didn’t say it straight out but it seemed you’re a specific target. How am I not supposed to worry about that?”

His arms gave me a squeeze. His voice was low and firm when he repeated, “Leah, my love, don’t worry about it. You know I can take care of myself. What I must do is be certain I take better care of
you.
”

That was nice, very nice. Still, I studied him and I did it closely.

Then I noted, “You’re not going to share, are you?”

“Not now, no. I need to have a meeting with a member of The Council, discuss things and if it’s safe for you to know, I’ll tell you.”

I had a feeling I had no choice but to leave it at that. So I left it at that and changed the subject again.

“You didn’t feed,” I whispered and his arms gave me another squeeze.

“You don’t like me taking from anyone but you. I don’t like to feed from anyone but you. So I didn’t feed until I found you.”

God, that was
so
sweet.

“Thank you,” I said softly and Lucien leaned into me to touch his mouth to mine.

When he pulled away again, I held his eyes.

I didn’t want to go where we had to go but we had to go there. We were starting an eternity together. There were a few things to get straight.

“You kept a lot from me,” I said quietly trying not to make an accusation sound like one.

“I did, pet, and I’m sorry,” he replied.

“Why?” I asked.

Lucien sighed then pulled me closer. “First, I didn’t tell you about the restrictions against physical intimacy and living together because I knew you well already. And knowing you, I knew I had my hands full. I didn’t need you having more ammunition to use to keep yourself from me.”

This, I had to admit, was true.

“Second, I didn’t tell you about Maggie because it served no purpose.”

“It’s a part of you, a part of your history,” I reminded him. “And I was falling in love with you. But even if I wasn’t we were sharing our lives together and would being doing so for a while. You already knew everything about me and you had to know I wanted to know everything about you.

“I did, sweetheart, but I’ll remind you we’ve known each other a very short time and only a small portion of that has been time you’ve let me in. I cannot say, had my father not intervened, if I would have told you. But it’s likely. You’re right, I intended for you to be a part of my life for years to come which would mean you being around my friends and family. There was a high probability someone might let something slip. Secrets have a way of revealing themselves and, I tell you true, when you learned about Maggie, I would have wanted it to come from me.”

“I believe you,” I said softly and that got me Lucien’s smile.

Then he went on gently, “Edwina told me what my father said. And part of it is true. I loved her. I thought I’d spend the rest of eternity with her and I was happy with that. We were together for seventy-five years. I was a young vampire when I met her but I knew my heart and her place in it.”

Okay, suddenly, I didn’t want to know so much about Maggie.

Lucien read my face and gathered me even closer as he leaned into me, pressing me partially on back and he kept going.

“But she died, Leah. Her death incensed me and I avenged it. It took decades, blood was spilled, lives were lost but I avenged Maggie’s. And baring this to you, you also need to know that until very recently, I had not recovered from her loss. That was how much I loved her. She was a good woman and she made me happy.” My face must have given something away because Lucien got closer and his arms got tighter. “She was a good woman, my love, and she made me happy. I missed her. I hate having the knowledge in my brain that she endured what she endured prior to her death at the hands of my people simply because she fell in love with a vampire. And that love will always be true. But I have not lied to you the times I told you I’d never had more beautiful than what I have with you. You are what I’ve been looking for for five hundred years. You and me, we were meant to be. Maggie was my mate but she is gone.
You
are my lifemate.”

I sucked in breath as my heart flipped over and whispered, “You believe in lifemates?”

“I didn’t until the day you told me you loved me and I could no longer deny I felt the same for you. Then I did. Absolutely.”

His tone was firm, his eyes held mine, his gaze was unwavering and intense.

He meant it. Absolutely.

“Even running from you, believing your father, still, the pain I felt losing you, I often thought if we were in a romance novel, we’d be lifemates,” I admitted.

Lucien’s eyes grew warm and his arms relaxed.

“I’m sorry you lost her and the way you lost her, Lucien,” I whispered.

“I am too,” Lucien whispered back.

I kept going. “And I’m sorry I believed Etienne, took off and didn’t talk to you.”

His lips twitched and he repeated, “I am too.”

“Still,” I started to defend myself, “you kept things from me and –”

His hand came up to curve around my jaw and his thumb slid to press against my lips.

“My father attacking you was his decision, he carried it through and he’ll bear the consequences.” His thumb slid from my lip and along my cheek. “But you are correct. It was me who kept things from you, even after the taming was complete, which left it open for my father to plant those seeds. That was my error in judgment. And I left you unprotected. I didn’t think I would be gone that long. I had no idea they were lying in wait to instigate their plan. And even if they did, I must admit I’m shocked that any of them touched you, even my father. Scared you. Warned you. Threatened you. Shared things with you I was keeping from you. Yes. Touched you. No. Not any of them and especially not my father.”