For Nol.
15
LUKA
Five more minutes I told myself.
If they didn’t come out in five minutes, I was going in myself.
We had been waiting, crouched behind the shrubs for Goddess knows how long, waiting for Luce and Lennox to emerge from the building.
Smoke clouded the air, the sky lit up by the full moon, the celestial figure cast in a red tinge from the raging fires at the other side of the building.
It had taken every ounce of my self-control not to take off into that building. To tear through the building until I found Lennox. I knew something was wrong.
I could feel it in my fucking bones. The mark on my palm pulsed, the veins felt like they were burning.
“There’s someone coming.” Nico hissed.
I peeked over the bush, my eyes scanning the side of the building for movement.
There. Dark hair blew behind the figure. Luce. Something was attached to her back. Was that a body? Was it Lennox? Nico jogged into the field to meet her, taking thelimp body from her back, severing the vines holding them there.
The body was thin, the hair dark.
My heart sank.
“Where’s Lennox?” I asked, continuing to scan the field.
Luce’s face fell. “I’m so sorry, Luka.” The mating bond on my palm throbbed in time with my racing heart. “Adreona took her right as we were going to leave. We waited as long as we could, but I couldn’t risk it.”
“You could have stayed.” My voice was rough in my throat. “But instead, you saved an innocent?” I gestured toward the unconscious body now lying at our feet.
“Luka, you don’t understand.”
“I think I understand perfectly. You saved your own ass over Lennox. Seems fucking clear to me.”
Magic writhed in Luce’s eyes as her nostrils flared, and she flexed her hands at her sides. I knew I was crossing a line but I didn’t fucking care. I shouldn’t have taken it out on her, but she gave me an opening, so I was going to fucking take it.
I needed to take it out on someone, and I knew Luce could take it.
“You listen to me you stupid fucking prick.” She pushed at my chest with a single finger, causing me to fall back a step. “We will get Lennox out of there, but it wasn’t going to be today. Yes, I could have stayed in there and waited for her, but Lennox would have killed me if I didn’t get him out. That male, there? You see him, Luka?” I let my eyes dart to the male’s form, he was skinny but had long, lanky limbs. His skin was so light it was almost translucent, like he hadn’t seen the sun in years. His dark hair was long and fell over his face, hiding it from my view.
“What about him?”
“That right there is Nol Adair, Lennox’s brother.”
My entire body stiffened.
“Holy shit,” Nico swore.
“Turns out he isn’t dead, but had been a captive for three fucking years. So yeah, I got him out instead of Lennox because I knew Lennox would want me to, and she told me to. I couldn’t live with myself if I let him stay in there one more moment.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“I know you didn’t. Just don’t be an asshole until you know all the facts.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. Nol, Lennox’s brother, was alive.He was alive.
