“I think I do,” Lucy said, leaning back in her seat. “You need to play it safe, keep up appearances, and not let anyone know the real you is awake again.”
“Exactly.”
Lucy tilted her head. “I can arrange for some protection near the office if you want. Just in case.” Davina smiled softly. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine. I’ve survived worse than office politics.” Lucy chuckled. “You clearly haven’t met our HR department.” That earned a proper laugh, and for the first time since her awakening, Davina’s shoulders loosened completely.
After a moment, she sighed. “You know, it’s still so strange. I keep expecting the curse to pull me back under again, but it hasn’t. It’s quiet. For once, the voice is gone.”
Davina looked up. “Is Corey also special like us?” she leaned in, whispering almost conspiratorially
Lucy snorted. “Oh, he’s special, alright.”
Davina blinked. “So, heis?”
Lucy grinned. “No. He’s just human. But never call him ‘regular’, he’s about as far from ordinary as they come. Highly trained, fast as hell, and scarily efficient when it comes to… making people disappear.”
Davina’s mouth fell open slightly. “Disappear?”
Lucy said, raising her hands. “let’s just say he’s got skills. You wouldn’t want to be on his wrong side.”
Davina blinked again, then smiled. “That’s… oddly comforting.”
Lucy shrugged, finishing her tea. “You’ll learn to stop trying to label everyone here. It’ll drive you insane.”
Finally, Lucy stood. “Come on, you need proper sleep. Big day tomorrow.”
Davina nodded, stretching slightly before standing too. “Thank you,” she said softly. “For everything.”
Lucy smiled, her tone teasing again. “Don’t get soppy on me now. Go to bed before I change my mind.”
Davina chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.” As soon as they were about to leave, Mandy entered holding a sleeping, Erin.
She nodded at Lucy and Davina and whispered, “she's fast asleep, so we will catch up in the morning”. Lucy nodded, grateful that she could just go to her room and relax, or so she thought.
Lucy turned off the last lamp and made her way upstairs. The house was quiet now, everyone had settled and every door was closed.
When she stepped into her bedroom, Byron was already waiting, half-sitting against the headboard, shirt unbuttoned, that familiar dark look in his eyes.
He didn’t speak. He didn’t have to.
Lucy closed the door softly behind her, locking it with a click that echoed faintly through the silence.
“Rough night?” he murmured, his voice low and edged with something primal.
“You could say that” she replied, walking toward him.
Byron’s gaze followed every step she took, his breathing deepening just slightly. “You’ve been holding it in,” he said, his tone quiet but certain. “All that energy… you need to release it.”
Lucy tilted her head. “Yes”
A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
She smiled slowly, letting down her hair.
“Stay right there” he said, “Do not move”
He walked up to her slowly, and put his hand around her throat, pushing her back against the door.
“Pull down your shorts” he ordered her, his hand still in the same place.
