“I’m no one. Literally no one. So let me go and—”
“Bullshit,” Lydia snarled from above me, her fingernails drawing blood around my wrists. “You’re working for someone. You have to be. Why else is he just fucking you? What makes you so special?”
“He’s not. I’m not—”
“Stoplying!” Evelyn snarled. I gasped as she drove another fist into my side, directly over the previous injuries.
Lydia crouched over me, her face upside down. “Tell you what...we won’t kill you if you help us, how about that? Help us keep him company. We’ll look after himwithyou.”
“You’re trying to kill him,” I spat. “There’s no way I’ll let you get near him.”
“Did you hear that?” Lydia blinked at Evelyn. “She’s getting possessive. We definitely have to kill her.”
“Agreed.” Evelyn sighed. “Ah, well. I was getting bored anyway.” Double-fisting the knife, she raised it high. “I’m really going to kill you this time. Any last words?”
“Wait!”
“Goodbye—”
“I suggest you stop if you don’t want to die today,” a bored, cold baritone cut through the air. “However, even if you do...I can’t promise you’ll walk out of here alive.”
All three of us sucked in a breath, our eyes snapping to the doorway.
Lucien filled the entrance, lazy and nonchalant, leaning against the doorframe as if he had nothing better to do than interrupt a murder.
His gaze flicked to mine, his expression unreadable. Power hummed from him, low and electric, his long black coat pooling by his ankles. Whisper flanked him, fur bristling and eyes molten.
My heart leapt. My pulse skipped.
He looked...beautiful. Lethal and feral and not a single sign of the pain I knew he constantly suffered.
“Mr. Ashfall,” Evelyn simpered, still sitting on top of me with her dagger raised. “What are you doing here?”
Dropping his chin and watching us beneath hooded eyes, Lucien smiled softly.
Every moment we’d ever spent together—all the seconds I’d been drawn to him, threatened, commanded, and kissed by him—vanished as I stared at the man from the first day we met.
A callous, heartless, ridiculously terrifying predator who snapped necks and ordered his pet panther to slaughter people as easily as drinking tea.
An avalanche of stress crashed over me, adding pressure to my head. Hypersensitivity cracked every broken piece of me.
“You two. Come here.” His jaw clenched as he looked at me, but then his lips twitched into a seductive smile. “Now.” Crooking his finger, he summoned the two girls as if he truly was interested in what they had to offer.
A spike of unexplainable jealousy arrowed through me, adding to the rest of my messed-up feelings.
Lydia released me and scrambled off the bed, brushing down her peach dress and running her hands over her blonde hair. Evelyn chased after her, slinky and sultry in her black skin-tight leggings and long-sleeved top.
They crossed the carpet with sexy sways of their hips, fawning for his attention.
As they drew to a stop before him, Lucien’s gaze rose over their heads and locked onto mine. For a second, his frosty mask slipped and the fire in his eyes—the absolute inferno blazing inside him made me suck in a tattered breath.
I forced myself to sit upright.
Vertigo made the room swim.
Gratitude that he’d come to save me plaited with fear for his safety.
Two against one.
