Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (The Three #1)(45)

It was too humiliating by half. Or it would be if he did it to me.

“Please,” I begged on a frantic whisper.

“I won’t feed from you here,” he murmured and with his agreement my relief was so great, my body collapsed into his. My arms went tight around him and I pressed the side of my face to his chest.

He bent again, his words stirring the hair on top of my head. “Do you want me to take you away?”

I nodded, my cheek sliding against his chest and his hand, still in my hair at the other side of my head, tensed reassuringly then slid away.

He took my hand and we were away, leaving the scene behind us, quickly snaking back through the hall.

I found my heart was beating wildly. Without my panic overcoming my being I felt it. In fact it was beating so hard I fancied I heard it.

Then I realized what I’d done and a new panic surged through me.

The panic was so strong I yanked at his hand, planted my feet and stopped.

Lucien stopped with me and looked back at me. “Leah –”

I cut him off yet again, saying, “I don’t want you to think I’m a miss priss.”

He didn’t respond. He just stared at me.

I continued, taking a step closer, tipping my head back to look at him. “It was beautiful. Those things always are. But they’re also raw. That, particularly, was raw. And revealing. And I don’t want anyone to see me that way.”

“Leah –” he started but I kept on talking.

“It’s private and it’s okay if they,” I looked behind me, throwing my arm toward the hallway we’d walked through for emphasis before I turned back to him, “want to give and share and… whatever… but, if you do it in front of others, you give it away and it’s not just yours anymore. And I’m yours, you said so yourself, and I don’t want anyone to have me, not even a little piece of me, not anyone, just you.”

I was so panicked, desperate to give him my explanation, not wanting him to think I was a prude, or worse, to offend him by casting aspersions on his culture, I didn’t even realize what I was saying.

And furthermore, I didn’t mean for it to come out the way it did.

But it did.

And Lucien took it a certain way.

I knew this because one second I was standing with my hand in his.

The next second I was against the wall, his body was pressed to mine, his hand in my hair yanking my head back in an arc that was painful not only at my neck but in my hair, and his mouth was on mine.

This wasn’t like the kisses we’d shared before. This one was demanding, bruising, possessive, branding and undeniably savage.

And, it might make me a freak, but I loved every, f**king second of it.

His mouth tore from mine and before I could even take a breath, he asked, “You’re mine?”

I tried to salvage something, anything, “I didn’t mean –”

He cut me off with a growl. “You’re mine.”

Now what had I gotten myself into?

“Lucien –”

He had an arm around my waist and it coiled so tight, forcing me so deep against his body, it cut off my breath.

“All. Fucking. Mine,” he whispered fiercely.

I felt my legs go weak and I knew it was not only fear at his ferocious proclamation but also an unhinged desire that I did not want to feel.

“Lucien, I can’t breathe,” I wheezed in all truthfulness but I’d lost his attention.

His head shot to the side and his mouth got tight right before his hold dropped away. I nearly collapsed but his hand seized mine again and he started striding swiftly back toward the club. Not long after I saw a couple coming our way down the hall and I knew Lucien heard their approach.

As they got closer, I noted it was a man and a woman. They were both so gorgeous I had no idea which was the vampire or if they both were (or weren’t).

“Lucien,” the man called from several feet away.

“Jordan,” Lucien replied.

It was clear Lucien didn’t feel like conversing.

It was just as clear Jordan did for he stopped, halting the striking redheaded woman at his side.

Her gaze flickered nervously over Lucien right before she gave me the once-over and, to my shock, right in front of me, the haughty bitch let her lip curl.

I returned the favor but without the lip curl.

Instead, when Lucien stopped, I moved into him. That alone was going to make my point but Lucien went one better.

His arm slid around my shoulders, brushing my hair with it so it all fell to the front where he mindlessly grabbed a tendril and started twisting it on his finger. Even in the dim light, I saw her eyes focus on Lucien’s hand and her face went pale.

I just stopped myself from giving her a “so there” grin.

I looked up at Lucien and saw his eyes were on Jordan. I looked at Jordan and saw Jordan’s eyes were on me.

“So this is Leah,” Jordan noted.

What?

How did he know me?

“It is,” Lucien agreed.

Jordan’s eyes gave me a once-over too. When they did, the air in the hall went thick and the animosity rolling off Lucien was the cause of it.

The redhead took a step back, my body involuntarily braced and Jordan’s gaze swung to Lucien.

“Easy, Lucien,” Jordan said in a low, conciliatory voice.