“And please tell me thatcriminalwas lying and the tattooed woman isn’t your mate, Alexander Wilder?”
Melodie lifted my elbow and started dabbing at it. I winced at the sting, but kept my focus away from my arm.
Lucian stepped in front of me, blocking his mom from my view.
“Respect your Luna,” he barked.
A couple on their way to their car slowed, studying our group. Lucian seemed ready to spring at her. To an outside observer, it looked like a man in a robe sneering at an older woman.
“Stop, people are watching,” I whispered. We likely made quite the vision. Me in my server outfit, my sleeve torn, Lucian in a robe.
Elain’s comment had no effect on me. Her judgment meant nothing. And now that I wasn’t on edge, trying to debate what to do next, all I could feel was relief.
Finally, Cierra had been caught. As Alex approached his mom, asking her to stop being a bitch, I focused on Melodie. She’d dabbed the area, and the bleeding started up again, but she placed gauze over it and began wrapping it.
“Thankfully, it's only a bit deeper than a graze. All the blood was from the bullet scratching across your arm.”
“Thanks, Melodie,” I said. She smiled and nodded. She let go of my arm and started picking up her things. Elain was quiet under her son’s disapproving gaze.
“You should make sure your mom gets home.” Lucian turned to me at my words, eyebrows furrowed. “Melodie, did you drive here?”
“I came with Stuart.”
Perfect.
“Will you drive me home in the van?”
“Yes, Luna,” she replied. “I’m almost done.”
“I’ll be waiting for you then.” Still ignoring Lucian, I rounded the van to go to the passenger side and hopped in. Just as I guessed, the keys were still in the ignition. I turned it, and the van roared to life.
The driver’s side door opened a few moments later, and Lucian jumped in.
“Alex and Verity will handle her.”
I didn’t envy their drive.
Instead of arguing, because I knew it was pointless, I buckled my seat belt.
The drive home was uneventful. Thankfully, Lucian stayed quiet, but it didn’t escape me that he made sure to take every sharp turn as quickly as he could. I reveled in the thuds coming from the back.
Lucian kept glancing at me from the corner of his eyes, eyebrows raised. He knew exactly what he was doing.
With his careless driving, it didn’t take us long to get back to the house. The van’s engine went silent, and I hopped out.
When I opened the back of the van, Cierra lay with her arm flopped over her stomach, blood covered her split lip.
Bruno and another man, tall, slim, and with a serious uni-brow came running up. I stopped in the middle of climbing into the back of the van.
“We’ll take her, Luna,” Bruno offered, leaping in.
I stiffened, eyeing him as he quickly lifted Cierra.
“It’s okay, Josephine,” Lucian murmured against my ear, his hand snaking around my waist.
After one more glance at Bruno, I yanked away from Lucian and trudged to the house, the crunch of the pebbles sounding extra loud.
A few moments later, heavier steps followed me. He definitely knew I was pissed off because he didn’t tell me Cierra was still around. The man wasn’t a complete idiot.
