Page 40 of The Black Lotus (Fatal Florals Duet #2)

THIRTY-THREE

SERENA

K nowing who took Aster and finding her are two completely different things.

One was only possible because of Cynthia, and the other is impossible.

I feel defeated, everytime we think we’re close to any kind of answer, a giant wall; and I mean a literal wall on Zephira’s program, it covers her computer and then we’re back to square one.

She said she is close to figuring out how to work around the virus, but it’s been five days, and we aren’t any closer to locating him than when we started.

I have locked myself in our room while Zephira continues to run her programs. She was trying to talk more, opening up and offering the friendship I was desperate for, but I can’t be around anyone right now. Not until Aster is home.

I lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling and creating shapes out of nothing. I look over to where Aster sleeps as my hand glides across the bedding, my fingers squeezing around the black fabric and wrinkling the otherwise pristine surface. “I miss you,” I whisper.

“I’ve missed you, too,” I hear his voice say back to me, my lower lip quivering as a sad smile covers my face.

Great; now I’m hearing him in my head. Soon I’ll be seeing him and imagining he’s there when he’s not.

I feel the bed dip, and my heart accelerates as I whip around to see a very bruised, very cut up Aster in front of me. Is this real?

Springing up, my hands cup his face as tears flood to my eyes. “Are you real?”

His hand cradles around my own. “I’m really here, little vixen,” he softly says.

A sob bursts free as I wrap my arms around him and cry into his shoulders.

My body relaxes in his hold, the chains that were constricting me breaking free, and I feel like I can breathe for the first time since he was taken.

The weight that has been heavy on my heart from not being able to do anything finally falls free. He’s here. He’s home .

I extend my arms to get a good look at him, searching his features. What is this? My brow furrows as I slowly bring my hand up to touch the new scar on his eye. He winces and my face falls.

“Hey,” he whispers, bringing my sad gaze to his concerned one. His features soften watching me watch him. “I’m okay.”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t find you.” I grab his hands, a hiss escaping his lips. Releasing his hands quickly, I’m scared I’ve injured him further. “What happened?” I whisper, my body shaking as I realize how badly he’s been treated.

He holds up his hand. “I had to dislocate it to escape.”

My mouth falls open. We took too long. We couldn’t find him.

If Zephira’s programs just ran faster, we could have saved him.

Maybe… maybe he wouldn’t be so broken. He looks skinnier than usual, and his complexion is paler.

He has healing cuts along his arms and abdomen, fading bruises. She really did a number on him .

He grabs my hand, his thumb rubbing gently back and forth. “Hey. Come back to me. I’m here. I’m alive; that’s all that matters.”

I shake my head looking down. “If we’d just found you sooner, then you wouldn’t be so…”

“Broken.” he finishes for me.

I snap my head up, a wave of sadness washing over me for what he thinks of himself. “You are not broken.”

“I let my guard down. I got caught, tortured, and barely escaped with my life. That isn’t very Morbid Monet of me.” He laughs sadly, a faraway look in his eyes.

Looking at him, seeing a side of Aster I’ve never seen before only makes me want to bring back the person he fears he lost. The one he always was.

He doesn’t look like the killer I fell in love with.

He looks like a shell of himself, and my soul is shattering.

Can the broken parts of him be put back together?

Can I be the one to rearrange the puzzle pieces and bring back the man everyone cowers from with just a stare?

Sitting on my knees in front of him, I straighten my back and place my hands on his legs.

“You’re home now, and you came back stronger than when you left.

Yeah, you lost some weight and you have some new scars.

” I cup his face, forcing his eyes to meet mine.

“But they’re a part of you now. You went through something terrible, but if I’ve learned anything, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

” His eyes burn into mine, the same look of defeat I had when he was missing.

He needs tough love right now, not soft.

“Plus, that just means I get to train you . And I won't go easy on you just because you’re injured.” I crawl off the bed, reaching my hand out to his. “I’m going to make you swea–”

My words are cut off, his hand gripping my wrist and pulling me onto the bed.

He lays me on the bed as he crawls over me, my cheeks heating from the sexual tension.

His cock presses against my aching cunt, my hips move to create some kind of friction we both desperately need.

“I can think of other ways to make you sweat,” he teases.

I watch his arms tremble as he struggles to hold himself up.

All thoughts of making love evaporate as I give him a sympathetic smile and lean up to kiss the lips I’ve missed so much, feeling their dry and chapped texture.

They’re not the soft smooth ones I remember, but that doesn't deter me from consuming him.

When our lips part, his eyes glaze over and I slip out from under him. As much as I would love to be devoured, he is too injured to do anything.

“You need to heal,” I say, standing at the end of the bed.

“I can heal later,” he counters, sitting up so he can wrap his arms around my waist, pulling me into him.

I push against his chest, shaking my head.

“As much as I would love to feel your cock deep inside me,” I groan, my core clenching around nothing, “We can’t.

You look like you have been starved of everything and, as your vixen, I am going to make you a hearty meal and get you some electrolytes.

” I sniff the air around him, my nose curling.

“And a nice bath because you smell like death.”

He chuckles. “That’s what being locked up and killing someone smells like.”

I step out of his embrace and walk us to the bathroom.

“I’ll shower, but only if you wash me.”

I shake my head, pushing him into the bathroom. “Nu-uh mister, I know as soon as we get under that water you will shove your dick in me and that is the opposite of healing.” His hand braces the top of the door as I try to close it. Even weakened, he's still stronger than me.

Standing on my tiptoes, I give him one last kiss. “Please bathe and get some rest; I’ll wake you when the food is done.”

He grunts but relents, releasing his grip on the door and closing it softly behind him.

I hear the water turn on and it takes everything in me not to turn around, to not run back into his arms and give into the temptation of him .

Zephira is standing outside the door when I walk out, causing me to nearly fall over, my hand pressed against the wall to hold me up. “Holy shit, Zephira! Warn a girl next time you’re stalking around.”

She reaches her hand out to mine and I gratefully take it. “Sorry. I just wanted to make sure big bro was okay.”

I smile. She's worried about her brother. Spent days searching for him only to come up with nothing. She has to feel like she failed. I know I do.

“He’s taking a shower right now, and I told him to rest after. I’m going to make him something to have for when he wakes up. How did he get past you without you noticing?”

“I was in my room with the door shut.”

“What about the alarms? The cameras?” I ask, with my head tilted to the side.

“With all the programs I have running, I only set up the alarms to my phone and that was… away from me.”

My back stiffens, her confession causing a knot of anxiety to form in my stomach.

Anything could have happened. Anyone could have come in unnoticed.

I had my phone on silent because I wanted to wallow in my misery and I thought Zephira was keeping an eye out for anyone.

But, I should have known better, she is working for Cynthia after all.

I lift my head, my anger bubbling up, but stop when I see her. She nibbles her bottom lip, her arms behind her back. She looks more her age than she ever has before. It's kind of cute to see her all bashful like this.

“Is there anything I can do?”

I brace my hand on her shoulder and all feelings of irritation are gone. “Can you go to the store and get some ointment, antibiotics, bandages, and some drinks with electrolytes?.”

She nods, her eyes lighting at my request. “Yes. I’ll be right back.”

She runs to grab her keys, and I head downstairs to prepare Aster's meal.

Her footsteps come bounding down as she bolts into the kitchen to hug me, her embrace throwing me off guard, my body stiffening against hers.

I’m not used to this kind of affection, especially from her, but maybe since Aster is home, she’s putting on an act of the loving sister-in-law?

Granted Aster isn’t around, so maybe this is real.

I turn around to wrap my arms around her, returning the hug. She smells nice, too. I inhale her scent of honey and lavender, a soft cloud around me. She pulls away from me as quickly as she came in, and before she can walk out the door, I ask one last thing.

“Hey, Zephira?”

“Hmm?” she asks, turning to look at me.

”Why didn’t anyone attack when I was left unguarded?”

“I can’t tell you.”

She leaves before I can ask anything more. If she knows, does that mean Cynthia has called it all off? Is she finally done with me? Can I breathe without having to look behind my shoulder every second?

My stomach churns, the cracking on the stove forcing me back into reality. Something tells me the worst is yet to come.