Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (The Three #1)(117)

I turned in his arms so I was facing him.

It was time to get some questions answered.

I started with one that might not freak me out (much).

“Am I famous?” I asked.

“Pardon?” he asked back, seeming surprised by my question.

I explained, “Everyone I meet when I’m with you seems to know me. Even at The Selection people were looking at me like they knew me or at least were curious about me so they knew of me.”

“Most members of a concubine family are known by vampires, Leah.”

I studied him. He was so holding back.

“Not like me,” I whispered my challenge.

He blew out a sigh then curled me closer.

“No, my pet, not like you.”

I knew it!

“Why not like me?”

“Because of me.”

I held my breath. I didn’t know why, I just did.

I heard his chuckle. “You can breathe, sweetheart.”

I breathed. Then I wrinkled my nose.

“I’m so glad I amuse you.”

His mouth touched mine before he murmured, “Always.”

I shivered in his arms. Those arms grew tighter. Even though this felt good, curiosity was killing me.

“Well, are you going to explain?”

He rolled to his back taking me with him so I was pressed mostly to his side but partially lying on top of him. He tucked my forehead in his neck and started to play with my hair before he began.

“During The Revolution, I was a general. A very…” he hesitated then went on, “successful general.” I shivered at his words but this time reading the meaning behind them it was in a different way. He stopped playing with my hair and wrapped his arm around me before continuing, “After The Revolution I was a hunter.” His voice dipped low. “And very successful at that as well.”

I’d quit breathing again.

I did not like this.

At all.

He hunted mortal and immortal mates!

Oh. My. God.

His arm gave me a squeeze and he whispered, “Not that kind of hunter, Leah. Never that. I’d burn before doing that.”

I started breathing again. In fact my breath came out in an audible gush of relief.

Then I asked, “What kind of hunter were you?”

“I hunted the remainder of our enemy, my kind and those who allied with them. Once warriors they’d become renegades. They had to be found and stopped before they planned another revolution. I was the one who stopped them.”

I got up on an elbow and looked at his face in the weak light. I could tell something was not right.

“How many of you were there? Hunters, that is.”

“Just me.”

What? This didn’t make sense.

“Really?”

“They only needed me. I was good at what I did.”

Was he serious?

“How many renegades were there?” I asked.

“Thousands.”

My mouth dropped open. He couldn’t be for real.

If he was, this gave a whole new meaning to the words “Mighty Vampire Lucien”!

“Were there… were there…” I stammered, “any other kind of hunters as good as you?”

“You mean the hunters of mates?”

I nodded.

“No.”

“None?”

“There were at least twenty hunters, only hundreds of mates to be hunted.”

Wow.

“Why was it only you who hunted the renegades?”

“I wasn’t the only one at the beginning. The Dominion recruited and dispatched other hunters. Most of the others didn’t survive. As I mentioned, I not only survived, I excelled. They pulled the others back and sent only me.”

This was crazy. Lucien was Super-Vamp, singlehandedly crushing a possible rebellion!

This was remarkable, unbelievable and very, very cool. But that something that I sensed was wrong niggled at me, making me uncomfortable.

I watched him for a moment, thinking of his magnificence, Stephanie’s, Cosmo’s, Lucien’s obvious pride in his people and I said softly, “You hunted your own.”

His hand came up, fingers curling around my neck and he explained as if I’d made a gentle accusation which I hadn’t, “They were also hunting, Leah, and they were hunting mortals. Feeding and killing. Without thought or remorse. Making a point, living their lives in the old ways. They were not only murdering innocents, they were putting everything we vampires fought for at risk.”

I stared at him.

Then I guessed, “You didn’t like doing it.”

He shook his head. “Regardless if I didn’t believe in their way of life, enslaving your brethren and delivering them to their executions is not a fun job.”

He could say that again.

I understood what that something wrong was and it made me incredibly sad.

For Lucien.

Something I never expected to be but there it was.

I felt my body get soft and I pressed into him.

Lifting my hand to touch his face, I whispered, “Lucien.”

When my palm rested against his cheek, I saw his eyes close slowly and the deep feeling so obvious in his handsome face made me catch my breath.

He was immensely good-looking but looking at him in that moment, he’d never been more striking.