This time, she releases me.
I rub my chest. Fucking bitch.
When she turns to walk out the door, she pauses in the doorway. Without looking over her shoulder, she says, “Are you coming or not?”
Wait, she’s letting me out? “Where are we going?”
“To Lucian…and then we’ll see.”
She starts to stride farther away, leaving the door wide open, so I hurry to catch up and follow her down the narrow, dark hall to the elevator.
Lucian is in his office. His gaze crosses past me to Vittoria the moment we step inside. “Get things ready.”
“Are you sure about this?” She fixes her gaze on me. “The princess might be better left here.”
“This wasyouridea.” He snarls but doesn’t rise from behind his desk. “And now you’re having second thoughts? Go. Get things ready.”
She does a mocking curtsy before stalking out.
Now alone with him, silence surrounds us. So many things fly through my mind at once. Like how part of me stillwants to jump him and ride his cock as he sits there behind his desk. And how another part wants to punch him in the face or tear into his wrist and drink the delicious and electrifying blood he gave me before.
But he jolts me out of all those thoughts when he says, “Take off your top.”
I blanch. “My top? Why? I’m not having sex?—”
“You think I want to fuck you, Monty? Like this?” He laughs softly. “Apart from the fact you’ve been through an ordeal these past few days, I’m not interested in fucking someone who’s covered in old blood.”
“Really?” The sarcasm is heavy.
“Yes.” He smirks. “Fresh blood, on the other hand…”
“How presumptuous of you.” I stand there, not sure what to do. When I was in the locked room, away from him, it was easy to plot his demise. But now, standing in front of him, it’s harder to muster the same courage. I know he’s powerful—I’ve always known—but the closeness takes it to another level. I can somehow feel his power vibrating within my bones.
He only stares at me. Waiting.
I pull off my top and drop it at my feet.
My bra’s also soaked with the old blood, so it comes off next. I meet him behind the desk. He turns in his chair to face me fully.
“I know what you’re thinking, Monty,” he says.
I make myself say it, say his nickname that I gave him what feels like a millennium ago. “No, you don’t, Lucy.”
He trails a finger over my flesh, making me shiver, but he pauses at my wound. “Look.”
Against my will, I look down.
All that remains is a puckered, angry scar. “What…?”
“Part of being a vampire. Healing is preternaturally fast.”
“It wasn’t fast.” As I found out when Vittoria grabbed me, it’s still tender.
He doesn’t lift his fingers from my skin, and his touch burns deep into me. “I heard your heart stop beating after the bullet hit you. You were bleeding out… So I saved you.”
“Cursedme.”
He shakes his head. He wants to say something more. It sparks in the air between us.
