Sacrifice: Laid Bare (Laid Bare #4)(5)

He chuckled. If I wanted to kill Lucien, he would already be dead. So, no, I don’t plan to harm either of you. In fact, my intentions are quite the opposite. I find you both fascinating. And if Lucien is truly intent on defying his destiny, then there is no need for me to end him.

I let out a relieved breath, hoping he was telling the truth.

There was a lull in our mind-link conversation, and I peered ahead, watching as Dunne led us to his home. He was a very tall man, much like Lucien. But whereas Lucien was strong and lean, Dunne was a massive bulk of male. Not fat in any way, he was pure muscle.

You’d enjoy me on top of you, Dahlia, I heard him say. Overpowering you, taking you hard.

Never!

Never say never. He laughed. Lucien need not be left out. You could have us both, at the same time. You’d like that, Dahlia. I can assure you.

Dunne proceeded to inject images in my head of bare bodies intertwined, images of me with him and Lucien. There was a flash of me on my back, Lucien between my legs, f*cking me, while Dunne slid his cock in and out of my mouth. And then…another image, one of me sandwiched between the two, Lucien taking me from behind, while Dunne had me from the front. My eyes were closed and my mouth was an o of ecstasy as these two powerful creatures filled me in every way.

I gasped and squirmed in my seat, while Dunne laughed. Good-bye, for now, Dahlia. Enjoy those thoughts.

“You wish,” I snapped. I was annoyed with myself that I was so intrigued.

Dunne was gone from my head and, consequently, didn’t hear my last comment.

Lucien did, though. “Who are you talking to?” he asked suspiciously.

“No one,” I lied.

Suddenly, Lucien slammed on the brakes and the SUV fishtailed left and right. “That’s it,” he said, unperturbed by our now out-of-control car, but furious at Dunne. “If he thinks he’s going to hang out in your head without me being present, he’s sorely mistaken.”

Lucien turned the wheel just seconds before we made contact with a tree.

“Calm down,” I begged, gasping for breath.

When the vehicle finally came to a stop, I exhaled shakily. “It’s okay, Lucien,” I said, trying to calm my crazy man. “He was only in my head for a minute.”

Lucien rubbed his hands down his face, while Dunne stood yards away, arms crossed, waiting for us to resolve this new conflict.

“Do you realize, Dahlia,” Lucien began, “that for Dunne to go in your head like that… It’s an affront to me, as intimate to beings such as us as sex is to your kind.”

If only Lucien knew what kinds of images Dunne had showed me. But it probably wouldn’t matter. It wasn’t the content of the images that would bother Lucien. After all, he’d fully forgiven me for having sex with the waiter in the hotel. So, no, not the content, just the mere fact Dunne had been in my head, that was what was so offensive to Lucien.

While I contemplated all this and tried to come to terms, once again, with our differences, I turned to Lucien. He didn’t notice me, as he was too busy staring down Dunne.

Their standoff lasted until Dunne raised his hands in supplication. Lucien then let out a breath. It seemed he’d won this round.

I had a feeling though, as we began to follow Dunne once more, that this was just the beginning of the battles between these two.





Lucien



“Enough games. It’s time to get down to business.”

Those were my words to Dunne the minute we stepped inside his humble shack. And it was literally a wooden shack in which this man lived.

A sparsely furnished room with a large—and currently roaring—fireplace made up the entire front of the structure. A kitchen and a tiny bath occupied the back, and there appeared to be one large bedroom up in the loft.

Dunne’s place was the absolute antitheses of the huge Tudor mansion I lived in back in Chicago.

“Okay, okay, business it is.” Dunne brushed snow from his hoodie, but kept it on to keep his face covered. “First, though, let’s get you and Dahlia settled in.”

He kicked his boots off at the door, and Dahlia and I followed suit.

Since Dunne was insistent on behaving as if this were a social call, I went along with the farce, allowing him to lead us up a wooden ladder to the bedroom area on the second floor. “This is where you’ll be sleeping,” Dunne informed us.

The ceiling was low and slanted, and there was a huge pile of blankets on the hardwood floor. There was nothing else in terms of decor. Dunne certainly lived spartanly.

“What?” I scoffed. “You expect us all to cuddle up in here like we’re best buddies?”

Dunne grabbed up a bunch of quilts and a down comforter from the floor and tossed them across the room. “Fine. You two can sleep over there. That should be private enough.”

It wasn’t private at all, mere feet from where Dunne would be sleeping, but I let it slide.

Dahlia set down the small bag of clothes she’d packed for us both next to the pile of covers that were now designated as ours. With a forced smile, she stated, “Well, at least it’s warm and cozy in here.”

I suppressed a laugh, as did Dunne. Still, it was sweet of Dahlia to try to find something complimentary about the place. We all shared a smile and a modicum of tension was lifted.

Dunne gestured to the ladder. “Come on back down. I’ll make us all dinner.”