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“It always does.”
The door unlocked, and he twisted the knob and walked in. The tattoo shop was dark for a brief moment and then he had to shield his eyes as Talitha turned on the overhead lights.
“Holy shit!” she exclaimed. “You look like a nightmare.”
“Sorry. I didn’t have time to get a shower.”
“Well, you need one now. No way am I inking you while you’re covered in filth. I have to spell the ink anyway, it’ll take about ten minutes. Let me see what’s up.”
He was still wearing his torn jeans, but that was it. He was glad she opened the door for him at all, considering he probably looked psychotic. Without going into too much detail, he explained how he’d had to set his berserker free to save his mate.
She stared at his chest, her lips puckered into a frown. “Even if you cut the magic, the ink should’ve still remained. You have two tattoos left. You had how many? A dozen? And some of them were quite large.”
“I don’t know what happened.”
“Maybe your berserker didn’t like them.”
He snorted. “It doesn’t matter. He’s gotta go back in the cage so my mate will be safe.”
“If she’s your mate, why wouldn’t she be safe?”
“My mom wasn’t safe from my dad.”
Her brow furrowed, and she opened her mouth, closed it, and then sighed. “I’m sorry about your mom. There’s a shower down the hall. There’s a robe in the linen closet, and I’ll have Reggie bring something for you to wear.”
He lifted the bag in his hand. “I’ve got clothes. Who’s Reggie?”
“The other artist. He’s apprenticing with me to learn how to apply magical tatts. I was going to call him in anyway. If we need to do multiple tatts to get your beast back under control, I’ll need the extra hands. And double the payment, plus a waking-me-up-early tax.”
He smiled. Talitha was in her mid-forties, with short, dark blonde hair and eyes that were a shade right between blue and purple. She was one of the few people who knew of Lucian’s nature, and although he only saw her once a year, he considered her a friend.
He left the main room and headed down the hall to a bathroom that had a small stand-up shower. Even though he’d washed up in the sink at the compound, he still looked terrifying. He didn’t know how Mia had allowed him to touch her when he still had blood splattered on his upper body, face, and arms. Considering that he was aware how much his body changed when the berserker took over, she must’ve really been lost to the mating heat.
Or, she was enough in love with him that she didn’t care what the outer package looked like, which seemed far more likely. And made him feel like a gigantic ass. He didn’t deserve her love. He’d never done anything but keep himself apart from her, which must’ve been hell for her wolf. He hadn’t cared, because he hadn’t allowed himself to care. Caring was dangerous in his profession. He wasn’t sure how he was going to earn her forgiveness, but he’d work his ass off to get it.
He flipped the shower on and opened his go-bag, removing the contents and setting them on the toilet lid. He showered quickly with the water as hot as he could stand it, scrubbing his skin and hair twice until he was entirely blood-free. He dressed in jeans and boots, leaving the shirt for later.
Under his skin, the berserker hummed, anxious to return to Mia. He didn’t know what settling the creature back under the confines of the magical tattoos would do, but he really had no choice.
Talitha and Reggie were talking quietly in the main room when he walked in, their heads together and their voices too low for him to pick up. Reggie lifted his head and stared at Lucian.
Talitha turned around with a tray of colors and a glass jar of dark gray ink that seemed to be moving on its own, swirling and twisting against the smooth surface. “Lucian, this is Reggie. Reg, this is Lucian.”
Reggie extended his hand and Lucian shook it. “You really a berserker?”
“Yeah.”
“Fucking-A. Never met one of you before.”
Talitha elbowed him, and he released Lucian’s hand. “He’s trying to corral the beast, not give it a big ego.”
Lucian half-smiled. “It’s okay. I know I’m unique.”
“I pulled your old tatt sketches since you didn’t give me advanced notice to make you new ones.”
“Those are fine,” he said.
“Start on the back?” she asked. “We’ll work at the same time, so we’ll cover more ground. But I hope you didn’t have plans for the next eight to ten hours.”
