“He’s the only one who can wake her? So what happens with all of this if …” Alexa looked at her mother Reiya, mortified.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Reiya looked over at Hunter. “Maybe someone else can mark her and be with her, if she can’t have her fated mate. I’m not about to hand her over to anyone who doesn’t know what a special treasure she is. She deserves the best. I can’t just hand her over to him if he plans to keep a mistress.”
Mikah growled. “What about Jasper? Couldn’t he help her instead?”
“Do you think he would mark his prince and cousin’s mate?” Hunter shook his head with a frown. “I don’t think he would, and I couldn’t ask that of him.”
Mikah listened as Alexa’s voice entered his head and he chuckled slightly. He rubbed his forehead and looked back at Lucie’s pale face. “Don’t you think that’s problematic?” He arched his brow at Alexa, who shook her head.
“What is it?” Reiya asked.
“I asked if Mikah would do it. If her mate isn’t someone who will take care of her, if he would …” Alexa looked at him, almost pleading with him.
“I think honestly the next best choice would be Brian.” Mikah looked up at Xander. “I’m Alexa’s guardian. It would be a bit of a conflict for me. But Brian could. He’s unrelated.” He shrugged a bit. “But I won’t let her die. There are options here. We don’t have to force her fated mate on her. But we would need to reach her …”
Freja gripped Lucie’s hand tightly. She could feel her daughter’s body trembling from the pain. She couldn’t reach her because of the green energy emanating from her. It was troubling, and a realization hit her.
“That light, Lita … the energy.” Freja’s eyes met Lita’s. “It’s demonic.”
“Yes, I think so too.” Lita nodded slowly.
“What the hell happened to her in the vampire kingdom? Get Aedan back in here!” Hunter growled.
CHAPTER 46
“What is this about demon energy and Lucie?” Hunter growled as Aedan and Jasper walked back in together.
“The energy isn’t doing anything to her, is it?” Aedan asked, feeling anxious that Abaas might be hurting his sister.
“No. It seems to be protecting her. Overly protecting her. It won’t let your mother and grandmother reach her. What do you know about it?” Hunter watched as Aedan looked over at Jasper.
“I don’t know if we should focus on this issue right now,” Jasper said quietly. He knew this would be a sensitive topic. “As a general idea, I had a djinn inside me, and Lucie bound the djinn to herself and another. She made herself the master and the other the servant.” He looked at her with a faint smile. “She protected me … when I’m supposed to be protecting her. She couldn’t stand for me to be bound by the master-servant relationship.”
“Djinns are very loyal to their masters. But who would agree to become her servant like that?” Jin asked, a bit confused.
“That is a topic for another day,” Aedan said firmly. “We don’t need to add more to this situation.”
“Well, we can have the servant lower this energy so we can try to reach her.” Lita watched as Aedan shifted his weight, looking at Jasper.
“If we have to, but her servant is recovering now, too,” Jasper said.
“I heard it can take a while for a servant to adjust to the new relationship,” Jin added thoughtfully.
“We’ll wait to see if we need him first.” Aedan frowned. “I don’t know what to do about Derrick, though. I want to believe in him. I want to trust him. I know I’ve been sounding really against him. I don’t want to give the wrong impression here. I really like Derrick, but … I don’t know what to think. Right now I can’t just trust him, not when it comes to Lucie. I need to protect her even more now.”
“Jasper won’t like this, but we’ll be handling Derrick when he gets here.” Xander’s voice was terse and agitated. They would get to the bottom of it, no matter what.
“I’m telling you, he would never—” Jasper growled but was immediately interrupted.
“That isn’t good enough for us, Jasper.” Hunter growled lowly. “I need to have a chat with him before he comes anywhere near my daughter. She needs help, but I won’t commit her to a life of misery. We just need to hear what he has to say about all of this so we can make a wise decision moving forward.”
“A wise decision?” Jasper asked curiously.
“Lucie is in bad condition. The type of pain she’s in … if the guardians weren’t helping her …” Freja shook her head, unable to continue.
“We won’t let her die. In case Derrick does have someone else, we need to think about our next steps.” Hunter’s worried eyes landed on Lucie. She was pale and still sweating, even through Alexa’s ice magic. How long could her body withstand this, even with the guardians?
“Dad, are you saying …” Aedan squeezed his hands into fists and pursed his lips.
