Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (The Three #1)(82)

My head tipped up so I could see his face in the shadows.

“You aren’t mad at me anymore?”

I saw his chin dip down to look at me.

“I was,” he told me and I braced. “I shouldn’t tell you this, pet, but it’s difficult to stay angry with you when I can smell you.” He gave me a squeeze and continued on a murmur, “And f**king impossible when I can feel you and hear your breathing and your heart beating in your sleep.”

This made my heart start beating faster.

He went on, “Then you were moving, then screaming, then crying.”

I felt my lips part. “I screamed?”

His shadowy head nodded.

“I cried?” I asked.

Another nod.

“In my sleep?” I went on.

Still another nod right before he moved us, sliding down the bed and rolling so we were facing each other. He pulled the covers over us and then his arms moved around me again.

“Do you remember any of it?” he asked, sounding more than mildly curious, and I shook my head against the pillow. “None of it?” he pressed and I shook my head again.

“I don’t think I want to,” I told him. “It made me scream,” I paused then added, “and cry.”

His arms gave me a squeeze. “Do you remember who was in your dream?”

I shook my head yet again. “I don’t know. All I know is, whoever it was, I lost them and it made me sad.” I felt a shudder slide through my body and I pressed closer to him. “Unbelievably sad.”

He gathered me tightly to his chest. “It was just a dream, sweetheart.”

This time I nodded my head.

But it didn’t feel like a dream. I didn’t remember it but whatever it was, it felt real or at least the pain it left behind did.

“Has that ever happened before?” Lucien asked.

I nodded again. “When I was younger I used to have dreams I didn’t remember. My Mom would have to wake me up but it hasn’t happened in a really long time.”

“Did you ever remember those dreams?”

I shook my head and whispered, “I hope I never remember this one either. With those, I would wake up scared or upset,” my voice dipped to nearly inaudible, “this one was worse.”

He gave me another reassuring squeeze. “It’s over.”

It was then I realized what I was doing. And it was a second after that that I wondered if Myrna would snuggle close to her vampire after pissing him off royally.

“Lucien?”

“Yes, my pet?”

“Earlier,” I started, he tensed and even though I didn’t want another wineglass incident, especially when the thing he was holding now and very able to throw and shatter against a wall was me, I forged ahead, “I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

He didn’t reply so I got up on an elbow and looked down on his shadowed face.

“I’m sorry I made you mad.”

He rolled to his back and pulled me on top of him, a hand in my hair pressing my face into his neck.

He still didn’t reply. He simply started to play with my hair.

I decided it was time to get things straight.

Unfortunately, my mother wasn’t answering her phone which meant she was probably out at a movie. Mom liked movies, any kind of movies, mostly weepies and rom coms, but she wasn’t adverse to an action film, the bloodier the better.

Aunt Nadia, who was always my favorite auntie and the one I could talk to about anything, wasn’t answering either which meant she was probably out with Mom.

I didn’t want to call any of my other aunties or cousins because I didn’t want them to know I was such a moron or more of a moron than they already thought I was.

I called Lana who answered. But she said Rafe was going to be there any minute. She was in a tizzy of excitement. I could hear it and now I understood it, but she promised she’d call me back first thing in the morning.

So I was still as in the dark as ever about everything that was happening.

Therefore, it was up to me to get things straight.

“I thought I was giving you what you wanted,” I told Lucien and his hand in my hair stilled for a few moments before his fingers started twirling a lock again.

Then he said something that threw me way off guard, “I want you.”

Me? He wanted me?

No one wanted me.

I was, as I just noted, a moron, amongst other not so good things.

This made my stomach feel warm at the same time it made my heart lurch and fear crawl up my spine.

This was just great. Instead of two contradictory emotions now I was having three.

“You have me,” I lied before pointing out the obvious, “I’m right here.”

I felt his head move, his lips touched my temple before he settled onto the pillows again.

“I had you, sweetling,” he murmured, using a different endearment, this one old-fashioned and way, way, way too effective. So effective it wiped out the heart lurch and the crawling fear and significantly intensified the warmth in my belly. “Every day and every night, I’ve had you. Until today and tonight. Now, you’re gone.” His hand clenched in my hair gently and he asked softly, “Why have you gone, Leah?”

Something stuck in my throat. I knew what it was but I swallowed it away and pretended it wasn’t there in the first place.