Derrick snatched it from his hands and held it up to observe the liquid. Opening the lid, he immediately winced at the smell. He turned and looked at Aedan. “You drink this on purpose?”
“It’s my muscle-building juice. It’s not that bad.” Aedan shrugged, not knowing what the big deal was.
Derrick looked down at Lucie and winked at her. “My mate isn’t to drink this stuff, ever. And if I find out she has, it will be your neck, Jasper. But since a bet was made, I’ll drink it for her.”
“No no no, you don’t have to do that.” Lucie turned to stop him, but he’d already downed it.
“Yuck. What are you doing to yourself? This stuff is putrid.” Derrick coughed and held the bottle out. He tossed it to Jasper. “It’s your fault that something that vile is now poisoning my insides.”
Jasper grinned widely and tilted his head. “The crazy things you do for love.”
“I can’t believe you drank that.” Lucie bit her bottom lip and looked up at him like he was about to die.
“Like Jasper said … the things you do for love.” He smiled at her warmly and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “There will be no ganging up on you, at least not as far as Jasper is concerned.” He flashed a quick glance at Jasper. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Lucie giggled. “It’s okay. They can try to gang up on me. But they will lose. They all know it.” She grinned widely. “I don’t always play fair.”
Derrick smiled at his little mate in adoration. He’d had a lot of trials already in his life. But leaving her today would easily be the toughest one yet. The time away from her was going to be pure torture. It already hurt just thinking about it. He would make the most of the time he had left with her today.
CHAPTER 31
“And this is my room …” Lucie’s voice trailed off as she looked inside. A set of bunk beds and a sleeper couch had been moved into her room. On top of that, she saw Jasper’s luggage in there. She turned from her doorway to see Aedan trying to slink away. “WHAT IS THIS?!”
“Oh yeah … about that. Well, you see, we’re going to be bunking with you. It’s a safety measure for all of us. I knew Jasper was planning on staying with us anyway, so Justice and I thought it would be fun for us all to stay together.” Aedan chuckled, giving her a cheesy grin.
“By invading my privacy? Look at it. And now it’s going to smell … nope. No no no.” Lucie shook her head angrily.
“Lucie, I’m not about to leave you alone for a second. And this way, it isn’t weird having a guy sleeping in your room,” Jasper said quietly.
“No, I’m going to have three.” Lucie folded her arms over her chest and glared at Derrick.
He raised his hands innocently. “I honestly didn’t know a thing about this. However, I can’t say I disagree. I think this is a good idea.” He watched her gaze darken. “In a safety-in-numbers kind of way.”
Lucie gave him a poisonous smile. “I see. So it’s okay for me to change my clothes in front of Jasper then?”
“If he looks at what is mine, I’ll burn his eyes out,” Derrick growled.
“Hey!” Jasper said, shielding his eyes from Derrick.
“Oh, Lucie, don’t be dramatic. You have a bathroom attached to your room. You can change in there,” Aedan said, shaking his head. She was trying to play mind games with her mate. But that wouldn’t work on Aedan. He was her brother, and he knew her too well.
“Do you guys think I’m going to sneak out in the middle of the night or something?” Lucie arched her brow and frowned.
“Lucie, I just want to be close to you. I’ll feel better. And honestly, it makes the whole scenario better if Justice and Aedan are in the room too,” Jasper said carefully, hoping not to anger her further. “You almost made my heart stop once already. Please? It’ll be like old times? A campout, only inside.”
Lucie lowered her shoulders in defeat. “Fine. But it’s my room, which means we watch only Lucie-approved movies.” Her poisonous, sweet smile reached Aedan.
“Oh no,” Aedan groaned. “Maybe we can have a competition for a special slasher day?”
“Oh Aedan, we won’t be here that long. We’ll be leaving for the welcoming ceremony in a couple of weeks. And after that, we’ll be leaving again … wait, you don’t plan on bunking up with me everywhere we go, do you?” Lucie watched as Aedan grinned and rubbed the back of his neck.
“No way. I’ll bunk up with Alexa and Raine. That’s where we’ll be heading next, right? The West Dragon Kingdom?”
Aedan sighed. “Yes, that’s the plan. I think it’ll be fun to hang out with our cousins there. Plus, Mikah can help Justice complete his training as a guardian. He knows how hard it is to control those powers.”
Lucie turned and looked back at her room. Her lips were curled down and she sighed sadly. Warm hands landed on her shoulders and slowly pulled her into a rock-solid chest. Soothing tingles spread over her body as his arms moved from her shoulders to around her waist. He held her gently.
“It’s all temporary, Lucie. All of this. Just a small hiccup to get past.” Derrick’s voice was low and soothing. “I’m sorry about all of this. If I could just stay by your side now …” From the corner of his eye, he could see Aedan giving him a thumbs-up. He then smirked and slowly backed away with Jasper. At least he wasn’t completely oblivious to giving the two of them some time alone.
