“You knew she was ours. There is no claiming when she’s already claimed. It’s only the fact that she’s unharmed that Father hasn’t pulled the earth from beneath your kingdom. You think he’s weak because he is imprisoned? Go near Rina again and he will make sure you become an example of his fury.” The pause he gives sends a cold snap whipping through the room. He lets it linger just long enough for the creature to shift before resuming. “As for you. Father may not be here, but I am. Take Rina to the other room.”
Neither Lukan nor Roan argue when Lukan scoops me up into his arms and marches with me into the next room.
I get just a glimpse of Kellen rippling like a disturbed lake in the night before we’re rounding the corner.
CHAPTER TEN
I’m placed on the sofa, still cradled in Lukan’s arms and settled in his lap. He’s doing the majority of holding me up but seems unbothered by the task as Roan sets to work dragging my cardigan off.
“Hold still, sweetheart,” Lukan murmurs. “We have to find where she got you.”
“Got me?” I ask, watching Roan run his hands along my arms, turning them and moving them.
“Her venom.” Roan is at my shoulders. I’m being pulled forward. My camisole is dragged over my head, baring me. “It paralyses her prey.”
I’m about to tell them she didn’t inject me with venom when Roan yells, “Found it.”
I tip my head down to watch him run his fingers along the curve of my rib. Inches from beneath the swell of my left breast where the skin is flush around a pinprick no bigger than a mosquito bite. The swelling is brushed by his thumb, and I feel nothing.
“Am I paralyzed forever?” I gasp, reaching down to run my palms down my thighs.
The sensation is an odd one where I know they’re my legs, that they’re connected to my body, but I feel nothing. Like I’m touching someone else. I even try to wiggle my toes, shake my ankles, but my body isn’t obeying the commands.
“No,” Lukan strokes my cheek and drags his finger down beneath my jaw. “It’ll wear off in a few minutes.” His thumb skims my bottom lip. “Are you hurt, sweetheart?”
I manage a shrug while falling into the dark expanse of his eyes. “I don’t think so.”
“Good.”
He leans in and captures my mouth in a deep, almost angry kiss. The fingers at my chin drop to my throat and circle. They squeeze.
“Next time, when I tell you to come, you fucking come, do you understand?” he growls against my lips.
Despite the flutter the words give me in a different context, the current one has my brows furrowing.
“I’m not a dog.”
The grip around my airway tightens.
“Did I say that, Rina?” His eyes flash, lifting up to mine. “My job is to protect you, and I can’t if you don’t listen when you’re in danger.”
I understand his meaning and his frustration even while I’m still trying to understand what’s happening.
“I thought she was my mom,” I whisper, and watch his features soften.
“I know, but I would never ask you to do something that wasn’t important.”
I capture his wrist and take a deep breath. “You have a lot of explaining to do before I trust you. She may have lied about being my mom, but you haven’t been honest either.”
The parting of his mouth is met with the screech of a kettle coming to a boil. The same high whistle as the book when it was tossed into the fire. The part of me not frozen jumps, but I can do no more than that.
Lukan and Roan never bat an eye. They barely glance up at the sound. Both are preoccupied with running their hands down my arms. Their lips over my shoulder. Roan is on his knees on the floor next to the sofa, dark head bent over my side. Lips counting each rib around my injuries. Nuzzling the side of my breast while his brother runs big hands across my abdomen. Traces the waistband of my bottoms.
“This situation is complicated,” Lukan says like nothing happened. “There are things we’re prohibited from saying.”
My head settles on his shoulder and I resist the urge to shut my eyes as Roan kisses the top of my breast inches over my tight nipple.
“Like what?” I realize my mistake even before he lifts an eyebrow. I roll my eyes and try again. “Then what are you allowed to tell me?”
