Chapter 13

Jules POV

I didn't spare a second for thought as I heard the door bang violently behind me. Before I had time to react, Lucian ran toward me, his eyes red, his claws sharp in the dark. Lucian had a power and intensity I had never before felt, and everything about him felt dangerous.

He didn’t stop. He marched forward, locking the door with steady hands, making sure no one could come in—and that I couldn’t get out. His footsteps were slow and strong, his breath uneven, but not from being tired. It came from something darker. Something I couldn’t name, but it filled the space, thick and heavy.

Before I moved, his hand grabbed my throat, squeezing tight. He lifted me like I weighed nothing. My fingers clawed at his arm, trying to loosen his hold.

“Stop—let me go!” I sobbed, fingers trembling with rage and fear. I pounded his chest with both fists, but his chest felt like a tree. 

Lucian's eyes shifted, and then his face twisted with a wild expression beyond description.

His teeth clenched, and his head tilted like he was fighting something inside. His grip grew tighter. I felt my air slipping.

But what shocked me more was how my body responded.

I heard a loud tear. I didn’t realize what happened until cool air touched my skin. My shirt—already too small had ripped from his strong grip. Feeling the fabric tear and my skin become bare made me freeze.

Lucian stopped moving. His hand loosened just enough for me to breathe again. But his eyes stayed on me. He looked at my bare skin—my collarbone, my neck and something in his stare changed.

His eyes widened as he continued to stare, his pupils darkening. There was a look of confusion on his face as if he did not know what had just happened.

I did not recognize its significance but I felt a subtle change. The air around him felt heavier, like a storm was brewing. I began to shake, sweat mingling with the tears I had not noticed. My breathing was ragged and my heart felt like it was beating so loud it became all I could hear. 

I wanted to scream, to shove him away but when I gazed into his eyes, I had this feeling that I couldn't move. I was ghost white and frozen in fear.

"You die today," he said. The statement was sharp and cool with an edge on it, but something was off. The edge had softened, his voice cracked. Oh shit, it felt wrong to say this but something else was in his voice other than anger.

I raised my chin and tried not to look ridiculous as my body continued to shake. I didn't trust myself, it took effort to say 

"You honestly think you're going to kill me?" I asked, my voice was breaking but it sounded strong. "But you won't. You can't." 

Lucian clenched his jaw, he moved both hands to my face, lifting it up gently to get a better look at me. Oh man, he was so close. 

What the frick? I felt this weird electricity run through me. His touch felt rough but at the same time, there was something soft about it too. It made my heart race, and I couldn't understand why. 

He looked at me as if he was trying to understand me. His hands shook a little as they grazed my skin. I couldn't stop staring. There was something in his eyes that kept me there. It was filled with something big that I couldn't put into words. I could see some conflicting emotions in his eyes, like he was fighting himself.

Then, just like that, he kissed me.  

It wasn't gentle. It was urgent, messy. His mouth slammed against mine with so much force, it was shocking. I still sensed he was angry but there was more to the kiss than that. There was something warm, something that made my skin tingle. His mouth was messy, but it sent heat through my body.  

I had no idea how long we were kissing. When he pulled back, I gasped. My chest was lifting and crashing rapidly. I was dizzy. His hands never left my face. He held me like I was the only thing keeping him together, and if he let go he would rip apart.

He looked at me with these wild eyes, afraid and the marrow of a storm.

"I should kill you," he said quietly, his voice was rough, almost like a growl. His words were sharp but his hands were not. They were soft, almost like he didn't want to let go.

He was cupping my face, his thumbs grazing my lips like he was attempting to memorize the feeling. 

His breath was shaky and warm. He was so close. His gaze was wild like a storm. I could feel him—he was trying so hard to hold back. The air between us was far too heavy to breathe.

"Then why don't you?" I whispered, heart forgotten in my chest. My voice trembled surely from something else. Something I did not want to admit.

He leaned in, close, foreheads touching, claws retracting slowly, and we both inhaled slowly and carefully like we had been running a marathon.

"Because…" he paused, voice thick, "because I don't want to. I want to… keep you."

I gasped, my lips barely parted, and without thinking, my fingers brushed against his chest. He was so warm. So alive. When his eyes met mine again, suddenly I could not move.

"I'm not scared of you," I breathed—"No matter what you are….or what you may do."

Lucian's gaze darkened but there was a hunger behind his eyes. Lips parting, his hold silently tightened, and moved to my waist and he pulled me closer until there was not an inch separating our two bodies. The heat of his body seeped into mine, and I could feel his heart pounding against my own thundering one. 

"You should be." he said, voice dropping lower and less controlled; it was husky. "You don't know what I'm capable of."

"I don't care," I whispered, and before I could talk myself out of it, I was sliding my mouth against his. At first it was soft, a brush of lips barely, but as soon as our lips touched, it was like all barriers had cracked around us.

His hands moved quickly, holding my body with a need that made the heat race through my blood. One of his hands left my mouth and moved to my neck. The other hand left my waist and moved to the small of my back, pulling me impossibly closer. 

I could feel the pressure of his body against mine, feel the hardness of his muscles ripple under my fingers as he kissed me deeper. 

It was raw. It was wild. It was everything I never expected but everything I couldn't deny.

I gasped when he finally pulled away from my mouth, only to follow it up with fiery kisses along my jaw, and then my neck. The heat of his breath sent shivers down my spine. 

“You don't even know what you've done to me," he growled against my skin, his voice gruff with longing.

I turned my head, exposing more of myself, and more of the desperate need that I had been feeling since we met. 

“Then show me," I said, my voice shaking with need. “Show me what I’m doing to you.”

The rawness in his eyes made me realize he was no longer in control nor was I, and we were both deep into this dangerous game that we'd begun. 

Lucian's lips crashed onto mine again, this time harder, more savagely, and his kiss that made my legs feel like they might give way. 

His hands moving along my body as if he were trying to learn every inch of me. 

I should push him away, now, before he went too far, before we lost our senses in one another. But I didn't want to. 

His hands slid lower, grabbing my shirt. He lifted it just high enough to slip his hand underneath and inhaled sharply when his skin touched my skin. His fingers glided down my hip and my waist, soft yet possessive.

"You want this," he said, barely brushing my lips against his, "Don't you?"

His hand slid down further, gripping my ass in a rough and possessive squeeze that pulled me against him as though he were afraid I would fly away if he didn't. "You want me."

"Yes," I gasped, the word escaping my lips before I knew it. I'd never felt so consumed by someone. I was drowning, drowned in him, his touch, and the heat surrounding us.

His eyes held mine intently and the dangerous light transferred between us. 

“You can’t escape me now,” he hissed as his mouth warmed my flesh below and behind my ear. My heart was pumping fast, excitement and fear melding into one. 

“Then don’t let me,” I whispered, my voice soft.

Then, suddenly, Lucian’s lips were back on my mouth with an urgent and passionate heat. It was no longer soft, it was no longer sweet. It was fierce, it was intense, and I wanted him so badly. 

His hands were purposeful now, his hands sure as he explored me, and I felt his soft lips as they trailed down my neck, to my collar bone. I gasped. My fingers curled into his shoulders, and I pulled him in closer.

I wanted more. I needed more.

His grip firmed around me, anchoring me to him—and for a moment, I was lost. Completely, utterly his.

But then—his hand moved.

Too low.

Too close.

He slipped it under my shirt, his palm hot against my ribs, searching, needing.

And suddenly, I froze.

Panic twisted in my gut—memories I’d buried clawing their way to the surface.

No. No no no

His fingers brushed my chest. Just barely. Just enough.

I gasped.

His hand jerked back, and he blinked, like something snapped in his head.

“What…?” His voice was a rasp, confused.

I tried to pull away, but he grabbed my wrist, eyes locked on me like he was seeing me for the first time.

“You’re not…” he whispered, his brows furrowing, “You’re…”

Then he stumbled back.

His hands went to his head. He grunted in pain, claws reappearing, body shaking. Like something inside him was breaking loose.

He groaned, dropping to his knees.

“Get… out…” he growled.

But I didn’t move.

He looked up at me one last time, eyes full of something wild, something dark.

Then he collapsed.

Right there. On the floor.

Unmoving.

Breathing heavy.

Out cold.

"Oh my God, what just happened?"