Page 15 of Queen of the Crimson Throne (Queen of Blood and Stardust #2)

15

LENNOX

I stared at Luka slumped against my door frame, unable to comprehend what was in front of me. Red and black blood stained his clothes and sprayed across his face and neck like dark freckles.

His face was ashen, the color fading more and more every second I stared at him. Why was he here? What trouble had he gotten himself into since I left him a few hours ago?

And why did he smell like rotted flesh?

“I got myself in a bit of trouble. I need your help,” he slurred. Was he drunk?

“What are you doing here, Luka?”

Even in this state, his eyes roamed over my body hungrily, taking in all the areas of exposed skin. I tried my best not to shiver under his gaze as I clamped my thighs together.

“I need your help.” He moved his hand from his side, his palm coming away stained red. “I got a little scratch here that won’t heal.”

Everything came crashing back to reality at that moment. He wasn’t drunk. He was hurt.

And by the looks of it not healing.

“For fucks sake, Luka. Who did that to you?” I knelt beside him, my hands reaching for the wound. “You should have said something right away.”

“Sorry,” he murmured. “I got distracted.” My cheeks reddened. Goddess he was a never-ending flirt. It would be the death of him. My fingers skimmed over the ripped flesh. The wound wasn’t big—only a few deep scratches. Where they came from, would be a question for later. But why weren’t they healing on their own?

“Here, let me help you inside.” I wrapped my arm around his waist, his arm circled my neck and I helped him stand. He wobbled against me as I led him into the room. I looked between the bed and the couch. He was covered in blood and reeked of something foul—but bedsheets could be washed.

I helped lay him down carefully on the bed.

“You want me to heal you? Is that why you came to me?”

Luka’s eyes fluttered. “No, I don’t need you to heal me. I need you to get Nico or Declan.”

“Why?”

“I need— I need blood.” My stomach tightened. That’s why he wasn’t healing.

“Here,” I held out my wrist to him as I sat on the bed. “Feed from me.”

He shook his head, turning his head away from me. “No. I won’t feed from you. Not like this.”

“Luka.” I let out a long breath from my nose. “You’re injured and need blood, feed from me for fucks sake.”

“No.” Even in his distressed state, his words were firm. Leaving no room for argument. I sighed. I didn’t have time to argue with him.

“I’ll be right back.” I stood, brushing my hair from my face with the back of my blood-stained hand. “Try not to die while I’m gone.”

I sat in the chair in the corner, watching Luka as he slept on my bed.

He was clean now, as was my bed. After Nico arrived and got Luka to feed from him, much to Luka’s protests, Nico and Declan cleaned him up. Now he was asleep on my bed as he recuperated.

“How long had he gone since feeding?” I asked the two males who resided next to me.

Nico shrugged. “I’d say three maybe four weeks.”

“He’s been trying to stretch it as long as he can,” Declan added.

“Why?” The two shared a look, a silent conversation occurring between the pair. “For fucks sake, one of you spit it out already.”

It was Declan who finally spoke. “You can’t figure it out?” I glared at him, my eyes narrowing into slits.

“He only wants to feed from you,” he finished.

My throat dried. “What do you mean?” I choked out.

“I don’t know, it’s some weird vampire shit. But once a vampire takes a liking to a certain person’s blood they have a hard time feeding from anyone else.” Nico leaned back in his chair. “He used to not mind the taste of our blood, but now he says he hates it. That it tastes foul.” Nico waved his hand around dismissively.

“But why wouldn’t he feed from me when I offered?”

Declan shrugged his shoulders, his wings twitching with the action. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“I think he’s afraid he’d take too much, and in his delirious state he wouldn’t be able to stop himself,” Nico mused.

I opened my mouth to respond but stopped at the sound of sheets rustling. Luka’s eyes fluttered open like he knew we were talking about him.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Nico cooed. “Glad you could join us.” Luka sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes .

His eyes scanned the room, his brows furrowing as he tried to figure out where he was until his gaze landed on me.

Nico and Declan stood abruptly, making their way towards the door.

“We will leave you to it.” The wolf looked between the two of us. “You have a lot to talk about.”

“But you will be filling us in later,” Declan added, giving Luka a stern look as he passed.

The door clicked shut behind the pair as Luka and I continued to stare at one another.

“So—” he finally said. “I owe you an explanation.”

“You mean an explanation as to why you showed up at my door, delirious, covered in blood, not healing, and barely conscious, refusing to feed from me even though that’s what you needed? Why ever would I need an explanation for that?”

I stood and started pacing. Now that I knew he was okay, my anger was rising to the surface. Why did he think he could show up like this? This wasn’t who we were anymore.

We were partners in an agreement. Not friends.

“I went back to the witch Scribe.” I froze, whipping my head towards him.

“You did what?” I seethed.

“I went back to the witch?—”

“Even when I asked you not to?” The words came out harsher than I intended. “For fucks sake, Luka, I knew you could be reckless but—this—” I shook my head. “This is a whole new level.”

“Can you blame me, though? I did it for you. I needed answers and I got them.”

“At what cost? What was the cost of those answers? Was it the witch who gave you those injuries?”

He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “No it wasn’t the witch, I’ll get to that—just let me explain.”

“Fine.” I huffed as I continued to pace.

“Can you stop that? ”

“Pacing is the only thing keeping me from strangling you right now.”

“Lennox, please.” Stars above, there they were again. Those words.

“Fine.” I sat myself on one of the chairs in the small sitting area across from the bed.

Luka stood, the toned muscles of his chest moving and flexing as he made his way to the sitting room, sitting in the chair across from me. My fingers itched to run along the defined ridges of his chest. I shook my head, instead focusing on the lines of his tattoo that peaked over his shoulder.

“Can you put a shirt on?”

Luka smirked, the action warming my insides to a dangerous temperature. “Why? Is my lack of a shirt distracting, Sweetheart?”

“Get on with your story, won’t you.”

He sighed. “Even though you told me not to, I returned to the witch Scribe. I knew she had the information I needed, and I was right. She said the Goddess doesn’t have a spellbook, but a journal instead. The spellbook belonged to Hecate. The librarian couldn’t tell me where the journals are located, but she said now that we know what we’re looking for, we can use a spell to locate the journals.”

“And what was the cost of this information?” I wasn’t surprised what the king was looking for wasn’t a spellbook after all, Hecate had told us as much. Although this information was helpful, it couldn’t have been worth whatever Luka had traded for it.

He turned his hand over, revealing a thick black line across his palm. “She linked my life with hers so she can continue to have eternal youth.”

My stomach knotted. “You did what?” No wonder my senses had warned me of the witch. Magic like that was dangerous. Surely she didn’t devote herself to a coven, none of them would allow such magic.

If Caterina learned of her—I shuttered, turning my attention back to Luka.

“You’re so unbelievably stupid. Magic like that comes at a cost, you better hope it only impacts her and not you.”

Luka shrugged. “It was worth it.”

“Stupid, insufferable, idiot,” I muttered. “But how did you get injured?” I pressed.

“I ran into a creature of some sort.” He shivered, his face paling slightly. “It looked like it was dead, maybe a vampire at some point, but its fangs were unnaturally long, everything about it was wrong.”

“You sure have a knack for getting yourself injured,” I mumbled.

“Only when I know I have you looking out for me, Sweetheart.” He smiled sheepishly as he threw me a wink.

“How come you wouldn’t feed from me?” His face fell. “And why have you been going so long between feedings?”

He remained silent for a long time. “Luka,” I prodded.

“The only blood I’ve been craving is yours.”

So Nico was on to something. “What does that mean?”

He combed his hands through his dark hair. “I don’t know how to explain it. Every time I’ve fed from someone since I fed from you, their blood tastes rancid. I have to choke it down.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve never had this happen before. I’ve tried feeding from multiple different people, and they all taste the same.” My stomach soured at the idea of him feeding from someone who wasn’t Nico or Declan.

“Has this ever happened to anyone else before?”

“Not that I know of. The only instances I could find were from mates.” My heart froze. Mates. “Once they were mated they were repulsed by feeding from anyone else.”

A couple of instances recorded of this happening between mates didn’t mean Luka and I were mates.

“How come you wouldn’t let me feed you last night?”

Luka finally looked up to meet my gaze .

“You know why, Lennox.” I swallowed, memories of the last time he fed from me flashing to the forefront of my mind. His hand around my neck, our slick bodies pressed together as he drank from me while pumping inside me.

“Can we not talk about this anymore?” His voice was strained. “Let’s talk about how we’re going to locate the journals.

I swallowed. “About that, I have an idea.”