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I turned away, hoping the woman wouldn’t come barging in here. Gods, why did I even agree to that Delphos rite?
“What’s wrong?” Ander whispered. All around us patrons waited patiently for their names to be called. Ander was the only male, and even though he wore gentlemen’s clothing and looked nothing like an Ongahri warrior, his bulk and height gave him away. The effect had drawn every eye in here.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
I waved him away and forced a smile. “Just looking forward to whatever Lucius has planned here for me. My mother always wanted to visit such a place.”
“Sure that’s all?”
“Of course, Ander. I’m fine.”
He frowned. “If you say so.”
“Lady Dega?” A lovely woman around my mother’s age came up to us and touched my shoulder. Her skin was a lovely shade of sienna, and she smelled of sandalwood and cedar. Her eyes were large and almond shaped and so filled with kindness I wanted to hug her.
Seeing that woman across the street must have really affected me, I thought, as I said goodbye to Ander and followed Hannah up the stairs, where for the next five hours I was waxed, plucked, brushed, bathed, and oiled.
Five hours of both pain and bliss and embarrassment—I had no idea that women did such things. But the result left me feeling like I’d donned new skin, a new me, plucked like a ripe fruit and polished, dipped in the essence of flowers.
When I came down the stairs, the effect left me with a surge of desire and longing. My eyes immediately found Lucius, who through the bond was letting me know he more than approved of what he saw.
Hannah and her handmaidens had outfitted me in a flowing gown of the softest silk I’d ever felt. Layer upon layer of delicate color in every shade of pastel. My long hair had been left down in a cloud of moonlit curls, swept away from my lightly painted face.
I glided down the stairs feeling like a queen, Lucius’ queen. By the time I stood at his side, I was panting with the need to be alone with him.
“You look…” His throat bobbed, his pulse at his neck drumming against the skin. He wore a brocade tunic in crimson, which made his sable locks and silver eyes look even more exotic.
“Take me to the villa, husband. Now.”
Lust simmered at the surface. “Let’s go,” he growled.
I heard several gasps around me, felt the tension in the room pick up as the women realized a predator was in their domain.
Before I could wave a goodbye, Lucius grabbed my hand and pulled me into the waiting carriage outside that took us back to the villa, where he ravished me the rest of the day and night.
Chapter Ten
Lucius
Lucius let her sleep, barely able to leave her side, not touching her. Instead, he lingered near enough to kiss her temple. Sierra was stunning when awake, but asleep… she looked like something out of a storybook, the kind of tale that warned young warriors about the dangers of lust and seduction. He was lost to her spell, though, had been from the start. Yes, Sierra was dangerous. Dangerous to his control, to his future, and in some ways, to the current landscape of Titus.
She was a catalyst that everyone wanted a piece of, himself included. Unlike others, however, he loved her with a fierceness that took his breath away.
As he pulled on his breeches, standing at the foot of the bed to admire her, he felt a trace of guilt for the second time ever in his life. The first had been when he’d discovered her unconscious in the arms of that Servant on the island. He’d felt so many things that day, but the shock of knowing he’d almost been responsible for her death—and worse—had literally brought him to his knees.
But she had survived their evil clutches and was now his, both in the eyes of the law and through an Alpha Omega bond. But that guilt… It was eating at him little by little over the past week and more. He had lied to her. And it hadn’t been just a lie of omission but an intended, fully-thought-out lie. By Ongar, he had lied about who his father was his whole life, and he would continue to do so for as long as he lived. He could have easily told her. He trusted her with that knowledge—there wasn’t any doubt of that. It was fear that had made him lie, however. Sierra wasn’t the kind of woman that gave in halves. Indeed, she was the kind to shy away when bitten, and knowing her and how their earlier relationship was, she would, without a doubt, believe Lucius had planned on using her as a major piece on the board against House Trajan.
The funny thing was, she was no such thing. She just… happened. Lucius admitted that, on paper, it would be something he’d do; steal the promised bride from the Trajan’s prince and make her his own. It was a brilliant strategy that he wished he had thought of sometimes. But it wasn’t the case. Far from it.
Lucius wasn’t the marrying kind. He wasn’t even the mating kind, a trait he’d never been born with. Women were a means to an end for him, a vessel to burn off lust when lust became too much after going without. Emotions were messy at best, dangerous at worst.
And now here he was, mated and married, utterly in love with an omega who loved him back with all her body and soul.
Lucius ruefully shook his head, and a slight smile lifted the corners of his mouth.
He reluctantly stepped away from the bed and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him as he made his way downstairs to the dining room, where Pateus was eating a light breakfast. Today was going to be long and more than likely trying.
