Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (35 page)

I’d never thought to feel this much a part of something having to do with the supernatural world. Even when I’d helped with the Variola situation and the demons in Juneau, I’d felt like an outsider. Now, I felt like I really was one of them. Whether it was my growing as a person or my new immortality changing my thinking I didn’t know, but it felt right.

Everyone worked together to clean up afterward. I was just drying off the last dish when Lucas returned from helping store the extra tables and chairs. He watched me put the plate away before speaking.

“Come, Melena. We need to talk—privately.” There was a serious look in his eyes.

I got a sympathetic look from Emily, who was wiping the counters. Putting the towel I was holding down, I followed him as he led me outside. We didn’t stop there. He took my arm and pulled me along with him into the woods. Long minutes passed in silence as we walked, stepping over the occasional fallen branch and going around some of the thicker vegetation. We were beyond my sensor range of the house when he finally stopped.

The next thing I knew my back was against the tree and his mouth was on mine. He kissed me so deeply I forgot to breathe. I gripped his hair and pulled him even closer. This must have been some of the tension I was sensing as we ate—he had been waiting for this moment.

Lucas rubbed his body against mine and caressed me with his hands. I barely noticed my shirt coming off before his lips were back on mine. His rough fingers pinched my nipples through my bra. Then he ripped it off and my breasts were bared to him.

He licked and nipped at me as I worked his shirt and pants off—it was only fair. He might be a bit leaner than before, but his body was still strong and muscular. I ran my hands along his chest and back, enjoying the fact I could finally do such a thing again.

My pants and underwear fell to the ground next. When he’d removed my shoes, I had no idea. Normally I’d be horrified to be naked out in the open, but he had a way of making me forget my surroundings. All I could think of was him being inside me again and how good that would feel.

It came as a shock when he stepped away, letting the cool spring air hit my skin. “Now comes the time for your punishment. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“What?” I gave him a confused look.

“You say you’re strong and can take care of yourself. Now I’m going to make you prove it—my way.” He took me by the waist and lifted me up high. “Take hold of that branch there.”

“Let me go, Lucas. This is ridiculous.” I glared down at him.

“Do you want to get this over with or not? Because until I’ve punished you, I won’t fuck you.” He was being serious.

The man hadn’t had sex for over a year and he was threatening me with withholding it? I thought only women did that. But for now, I’d play along with his game and see where it led. The heat in his eyes said this wasn’t going to be that horrible of a punishment.

I grabbed the branch. “Now what?”

“Do not let go…or I stop,” he commanded.

It took me a moment to understand what he meant. When he put a hand under each of my knees and splayed me wide to his view I got it. But then his brows creased.

“What did you do to yourself, Melena?” he asked.

I looked down. Oh, right. I’d forgotten about that.

“I got a tattoo,” I replied simply.

His gaze followed the line of the snake. “I can see that, but is that chain what I think it is?”

Here I was hanging by a branch completely naked and now was when he wanted to have this conversation?

“It is, but I had a reason for it.” I tried to close my legs, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, but he held them in place.

Lucas continued to stare at my tattoo, forcing me to wait as he studied it. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking and started to get worried when he didn’t bother to ask about my reasons.

Then he leaned in his head and ran his tongue along the snake’s tail, lifting my leg to reach the other side and lowering it once he came back around. It was the most erotic thing I’d ever experienced.

I hung there suspended and vulnerable yet feeling the most amazing sensations as he continued to use his mouth as a weapon I didn’t want aimed anywhere else. Eventually he reached the juncture of my thighs and I moaned when he suckled me. It took everything I had to keep my grip on the branch above me.

The immortal strength I was so proud of before had become a liability. He was barely taking any of my weight with this position, forcing me to bear the brunt of it. Technically, I could hold myself like this for a long time. The only reason I’d let go is mental weakness—not physical. He was testing me and he couldn’t have found a more difficult way to do it.

It was punishment and yet it was also sensual. He took his time nipping and licking and sucking my clit, then moving his lips back to the tattoo to remind me he hadn’t forgotten it. Long minutes ticked by as I got more and more turned on, but couldn’t climax.

He knew whenever I was getting close and backed off. The bastard was being intentionally cruel and enjoying every moment of it. I could sense his amusement and pleasure every time I moaned and helplessly called his name.

“Lucas, please. I need more. You’re driving me crazy.” I wasn’t beneath begging at this point.

“Tell me, sensor.” He paused to run his tongue along my slit. “Are you going to put yourself in needless danger ever again?”

My arms were starting to shake from the effort of holding them up. “It wasn’t needless and you know it.”

“I can see you’re not properly chastised yet.” He looked up at me with wet lips. “That’s fine. We have the rest of the day to get you to my way of thinking.”

He began licking at me again.

“I’m going to let go of this branch, Lucas.” I had to stop to catch my breath. “You’re not being fair.”

He bit at my thigh. “I’m being more than fair. The woman I love put herself in grave danger to rescue me with little chance of being successful. The results are not what matters, but what could have happened does.”

Despite the gravity of the conversation, the ache between my thighs was getting worse.

“I don’t regret it. No amount of sexual torture is going to change that.” I was breathing heavily now, which hadn’t happened much since the first dose of his blood.

“Do you know what it would have done to me if I’d lost you? You’re the only woman I’ve truly allowed myself to care about. For most of my life I’ve in the cold and dark, but you brought the light to me and beckoned me with your warmth. How many years did I resist you? But now that I’ve given in I won’t lose you,” he swore.

“You’re not going to lose me.” I let one hand go and caressed his head. “We’ll just have to face everything together from now on.”

He turned into my palm and kissed it. “You can let the other one go now, sensor.”

We’d found our compromise.

“Will you catch me?” I asked him, knowing the answer.

“I’ll never let you fall.” His eyes blazed.

I let go and found myself in his arms so fast I wasn’t sure how he did it. Not wanting an inch of space between us, I wrapped my legs around his waist. A moment later my back was against the tree and he was pushing himself inside me. It felt good and it felt glorious. My body was tight from too long without him, but I was so wet he slid in without much difficulty.

As soon as we were fully joined, he looked down with passion-glazed eyes and let me see through the hard man he’d become since being imprisoned. There was pain, fear, anger, and a dozen other emotions. But the most important—love. He moved in and out of me slowly at first, ensuring I felt every inch of him. Then the tempo increased until he was pounding hard enough to make even the tree shake.

I screamed in pleasure when my orgasm roared through me. He wasn’t far behind. I felt the warmth as he let himself go and in that moment there was nothing but the two of us. Past, present, and future. Our destiny was together.

He slowly released me and let me slide to the ground. We found a patch of pine needles that didn’t look too bad and lay down on them together. He pulled me close and wrapped an arm around me. I couldn’t have asked for a better moment.

Just when I was about to doze off in his arms, I suddenly found myself on my hands and knees. With no warning he came into me from behind, filling me even deeper than before. I took it and enjoyed every hard thrust until he had me coming again.

Lucas wasn’t close to being done with me yet. He took me several more times, trying several more positions before announcing we should return to Charlie’s house.

I could barely stand while pulling my clothes on and decided to leave the ruined bra. Lucas noticed my stumbling around and let a smile play on his lips. Somehow, I knew what he was thinking. We’d just had sex more times in one afternoon than we’d had in our entire relationship. He’d been determined to make up for the many months we’d been apart.

He kept an arm around me as we made our way back through the woods. The birds were chirping and happy. Spring was in the air. Life couldn’t have been better in that moment—or so I thought.

A flash of light appeared before us, quickly taking away my cheerful mood. Our time of reckoning had come.

Chapter Thirty-nine

Remiel glared at the two of us.

“Do you two have any idea the trouble you’ve caused?” he asked, stalking closer.

Lucas tried to push me behind him, but I just moved off to the side and took up my own battle stance. The damned archangel would have to show up at the one time Lucas and I had both gone out without weapons. I should have considered this before we left, but I’d had my mind on too many other things.

I gave Remiel a defiant look. “Somebody had to test out the security measures in Purgatory. I promise to have my report typed up by the end of the week, along with my bill.”

When in trouble, sometimes you just have to brazen it out and make it look like you were doing the other person a favor.

The archangel narrowed his eyes at me. “We’ve never needed better security until now. Do not think you’re getting out of this without consequences.”

“I told you it would come to this,” Lucas said, moving closer to my side.

“You’re not taking him back there.” I gave him a determined look.

Remiel’s face turned red. “You two are lucky you have someone on your side or I’d be taking you both back.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, though I knew the answer.

He pulled out a silver cuff and held it out toward me. “One of the members of the council negotiated in your favor. We’ve spent much of the day debating how to handle this situation. Wear this cuff and that will be punishment enough for the both of you.”

I looked at the cuff skeptically. It had some faint magic coming from inside it, but I couldn’t make out the spell. “What is it for?”

“The only way you’ll find out is if you put it on. Though I’ll warn you if you don’t, you’re both going back to Purgatory for a long time.”

I swallowed. “Will it hurt me?”

“Of course not. We aren’t barbarians.” His eyes blazed.

They could have fooled me.

“Will Lucas and I get to remain here? Will it interfere with us dealing with our Zoe problem?” I was going to drag as many details out of him as I could.

“It will not hinder you in your fight with her. In fact, I’ll expect you to keep her contained yourselves if you should apprehend her. You will also be required to return the portal device to the fae as soon as possible.”

There was no hiding anything from him. They must have been scurrying up there to find out what Lucas and I had been up to.

I looked at Lucas. “What do you think?”

His face was an expressionless mask, but his emotions were turbulent. “Whatever it is, it’s not good, but I do not see that we have another choice. He won’t hesitate to take us both if we refuse the offer.”

I gingerly took the cuff from the archangel and studied it. The small bit of magic inside it felt like it was waiting to be activated. Until it was, I couldn’t figure out what it did. “This thing works with a spell, which means it won’t work on me. Why make me wear it?”

“The magic is not meant for you directly and so therefore it will work. It was also infused in such a way that it’s deep within the metal where you cannot nullify it once it’s on your arm.”

Something about this set warning bells ringing in my head, but it was this or Purgatory. There was no other option if this one would allow us to stay in Fairbanks together. I put it on my upper arm and felt it lock in place. Nothing else happened.

I looked at Remiel in confusion. “That’s it?”

“Not quite.” He snapped his hand and Kerbasi appeared next to him.

The guardian looked less than happy. His mood turned even darker when a second cuff appeared in Remiel’s hands. Something told me he knew exactly what it was for, though my own suspicions were rising. The archangel forcefully took Kerbasi’s arm and rolled his robe sleeve up. Then he snapped the cuff onto his bicep.

The spell roared to life and I gasped. “You can’t be serious.”

Lucas looked between us. “What is it, sensor?”

I studied the spell as the inner workings of it filtered into my mind. “It’s binding us. Kerbasi can’t leave my sensory range. It’ll literally drag him with me if I try to move farther away from him than that.”

“No.” Lucas took a menacing step toward the archangel. “This is going too far!”

Remiel almost looked pleased. “Look at the bright side. There were those who wanted to bind the guardian to you instead, but we argued Melena would do a better job of rehabilitating him.”

He actually had the nerve to make this sound like a good thing.

“What do you mean rehabilitating him?” I asked.

“There have been recent complaints of the guardian’s abuse of power, which have concerned us, but until now we hadn’t decided the best course of action. If you are capable of turning Lucas into a more…reasonable man, then perhaps you can also bring some humanity to this one.” He nodded at Kerbasi.