Page 43

I sped down the dark road toward the jailhouse.

My conversation with Henry left me sick to my stomach.

While my gut told me Henry was behind the murder, I lacked sufficient evidence to accuse him and take action.

Real life isn’t a TV show where the bad guys are locked up.

In human courts, they were innocent until proven guilty.

With Breed, we were guilty until proven innocent.

My commitment to the law meant I needed to safeguard my fellow Councilmen from potential repercussions. Henry could easily twist this around on me, and the ripple effect was unpredictable. Unless he confessed or we found evidence that linked back to him, he had me under his thumb.

After the guard slammed the door, I headed to Lucian’s cell. We had arrested someone earlier that morning, but the Enforcers had already stopped by to collect the Mage and deal with him. That left the room empty.

Lucian was standing in the middle of his shadowy cell, the dim lights in the outer hall barely reaching him. A beige blanket was heaped in a pile on his cot, which was bolted to the floor. Prisoners were given the bare minimum: a bed, a toilet, and a sink.

“Hi,” I said, noticing someone had brought him black sweatpants and a grey T-shirt. I set two paper bags by the opening at the bottom where we slid their food tray through. “The guard says you’re not eating.”

“I’m not hungry.”

I gestured to the bags. “Calvin dug around in the fridge and found Bear’s leftover spaghetti. If you want, I can heat it up.” The silence created distance between us. “I wish you would eat.”

Lucian squatted and pulled the bag inside his cell. After opening it, he took out the container and a plastic fork.

“The utensils are contraband,” I pointed out. “I could get in trouble for giving you that.”

“I’ll put it back in the bag when I’m done. It’s not much of a weapon. The prongs always snap off.” He took a giant forkful of the spaghetti and shoveled it into his mouth. Lucian seemed listless and inside his thoughts. “How’s your father?”

I leaned against the wall behind me. “Montana drove out to check on him and make dinner.”

Lucian choked on his spaghetti. After swallowing his bite, a smile played on his lips. “I hope it doesn’t involve rice.”

“How’s your head? Did the medicine help?”

He wound up more noodles around his fork. “Yeah. A lot. Thanks for that.”

“It’s not in our protocol, but technically there’s no rule against it.”

“So you’re giving me special treatment?”

“Of course I am. Are you sure you don’t want me to call your brothers?”

“No,” he fired back, casting a serious look my way. “I don’t want them involved.”

“Okay. But if you think they could somehow help…”

He laughed and folded up the box. “We’re out of their jurisdiction. All it’ll do is make me feel like shit for causing all this trouble. I want to sort out my own mess.” Lucian stood and walked over to the sink. While he bent over to drink from the faucet, I stared at the second food bag.

“Lucian?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you able to make venom?”

The faucet squeaked off, and he glared at me over his shoulder. “What?”

“It’s relevant to the case.”

He stopped halfway across the cell, and his fangs punched out. A second later, liquid dripped from the tips. “I’m not a defect.”

“It’s nothing personal; I just needed to confirm. I’m ignorant to a lot of things about Chitahs and want to understand.”

He wiped his mouth and stared at the sack on the floor.

I closed the distance and firmly grasped the bars. Now that I was promised to Henry, my heart ached. All I wanted to do was turn back time to that moment in the kitchen with Lucian and make him stay, hold him until he couldn’t refuse. Then we could live in that moment forever.

His jaw slackened as he drew in a forceful breath and pushed it out. Black rings appeared around his golden eyes, and he surged forward. He leaned toward me, pressing his face against the bars, his nose poking through as he inhaled forcefully. “That’s it— that’s the scent from outside the bar.”

“Just as I thought.”

“Who were you with?” he growled.

Should I tell him?

“Lucian, there were a lot of people on the scene that night, and it’s not enough to prove he committed the crime.

It might prove he was there, but that’s all we have.

You should know more than anyone that slander ruins lives.

An unproved accusation not only hurts the victim but also the accuser.

It’ll stay with you forever, and you could lose opportunities. Look what happened to your father.”

“Who is it!” he roared. “His scent is pungent—you’re thick with it. I need to know, female. Tell me!”

I shook my head.

Lucian white-knuckled the bars, his rage as palpable as the chill on my arms. “I’m locked up in here, and you’re out there with a maniac! His smell is all over you.”

“What good is telling you his identity? What if you tell everyone in a fit of rage?”

“I would sully my name if it meant saving you.”

“You would sully mine too, because I’m the one who told you.”

His anger faltered as he considered the consequences. “Then let me out.”

I gave a hollow laugh.

Lucian held my gaze. “You don’t know the things I’d do for you.”

Suddenly I knew perfectly well from the promise flickering in his eyes. “Lucian, things have changed.”

“What do you mean?”

I kicked off my heels and sat down. “I’ve agreed to mate someone.”

His forehead thumped against the bars above me. “It’s Deacon, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not Deacon.”

Lucian dropped to his knees in front of me and sat as close as he could. “Who?”

“Henry Hightower. The man you met at Dragonfly’s that night he and I were on a date.”

His expression became stoic. “Is that whose scent is on you?”

I expected him to explode with rage—flip his switch and rip the room apart.

His calm demeanor unsettled me more as he attentively listened.

“I’m a survivor, Lucian. This isn’t about me anymore. Maybe I should’ve played more chess than checkers, because he holds the power right now. I have to protect everyone.”

“Protect who?”

“You, my father, even Deacon. Henry’s a crafty man, and after our conversation, I’m certain he killed Marcus to set you up and get you out of the picture. But I don’t have any concrete evidence.”

“Did he admit it?”

“He alluded to it in a roundabout way. Anyhow, it’s not like I’m going to have babies with this man. I’ll figure something out.”

“And if you don’t?”

I let out a sigh. Sleep was going to be impossible tonight.

“I can’t think like that. Sometimes you can only plan one move at a time.

I’m not sure why he thought you were a threat to begin with.

He heard about you working on my security, but that’s quite a leap to assume anything more was going on between us.

It sounds like paranoia. Just the fact that he targeted you because he thinks you might be a threat makes him a dangerous man.

” I lifted the paper bag and set it in front of me.

“Aren’t you curious why he’s doing all this… for me?”

Lucian jerked his head back with surprise. “Of course he wants you. You’re a goddess. And I’d bet my ass he’s doing something illegal with his business and knows your connections will benefit him.”

My eyes watered as I stared at the bag. It hadn’t sunken in until now that Lucian and I would have no chance at a future.

He reached through the bars and lifted my chin with the crook of his finger. Using his thumb, he wiped away a tear. “I won’t let him have you.”

I clutched his wrist and held his penetrating gaze.

“If it were up to me, you’d be out of here.

But I’m only one of three, and we uphold the same laws.

If I were to let you out and you went after him, you could be locked away for life…

or executed. I won’t take that chance.” Another tear slipped free, and my chin quivered. “I wish you would’ve stayed with me.”

He cupped my cheek in his hand. “Female, I will stay with you even after my soul has left my body.”

Crying wasn’t something I did in front of others. I had long resigned to choosing a mate for partnership and not love, and that was fine. But then I got a glimpse of love and what that might be like, and it forever changed me.

He rested his forehead against the bars. “I promise you it’ll be fine. I’ll figure this out. That’s what I do best.”

I kissed him through the bars, holding that kiss for an infinity. Lucian kissed me as if we were lovers in another life. Even with the cold bars pressed to my cheeks, I felt only him. He cradled my head, and my heart swelled with a love that could power a million stars.

When his purring fired up, I touched his chest and closed my eyes. “I love that sound more than you know.”

“What’s in the bag?”

“Yeast rolls.” I opened the brown sack and took one out. “They’re still soft.” When I held it to the bars, his purring abruptly ceased.

Spotted patterns appeared on Lucian’s skin, fading in and out like a mirage. He leaned forward and took a slow, meaningful bite—his heavy-lidded gaze giving me butterflies.

“What does this mean to Chitahs?”

After swallowing his roll, he took the rest from my hand.

“Only couples hand-feed each other—especially kindred spirits. It shows you trust the other with your heart. I guess. There aren’t words to describe it.

” He held the roll out with a cautious look in his eyes. “Will you eat from my hand, female?”

My lips parted, and he slipped his hand through the bars and fed me. When my teeth sank into the roll, Lucian growled deep in his chest, and it sounded like a large cat waking from a deep slumber.

Something indefinable shifted in him, altering his confident posture, the way he moved, and even the way he watched me—as if he were secretly holding the key to his freedom.