Jaxon’s fingers twisted together, and her stomach burned, a hard knot of pain. “Why? What would he accomplish?”
Lucian’s black gaze moved over her, fathomless, moody, possessive. “Precisely what he did. Pain. Vampires thrive on other people’s pain. He must have caught you out in the open, away from the protected property, and read your memories. He could not have hidden his taint of power from me had I been close.”
Jaxon felt as if he had punched her hard in the pit of her stomach. The feeling was so real, she actually hunched over, dropping her head into the heel of one hand. “So
I
did this. Just by going out of the house, I caused all this to happen. Basically that’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”
Lucian’s arm slid around her slender shoulders. Her pain was radiating from her, enveloping him so that he felt almost as sick as she did. “Of course not, Jaxon. You cannot ever think you are responsible for the sick actions of others.”
Jaxon ducked out from under his arm, unable to bear the contact. She was struggling just to breathe. “Lucian, have Antonio stop the car right now. I need to get out. I’ll walk the rest of the way. It isn’t that far.”
“It is almost dawn, my love.” He said the words softly, without inflection, apparently neither for nor against her decision.
“I can’t breathe in here, Lucian. Stop the car.” She wanted to run as fast as she could—whether from herself or from everything that had happened this night, she didn’t know. She knew only that she had to be out in the open. “I need to be alone. Please just stop the car and let me walk by myself back to the house. I have to be alone.”
Lucian’s black gaze moved over her face once more, brooding, suspicious. His mind moved in hers. He read Jaxon’s need to alone, to be in the fresh air, to be able to breathe freely. There was such chaos in her mind, she was having trouble breathing.
At once the car rolled to a stop, and Jaxon realized Lucian had commanded Antonio to come to a halt. Instantly she was out of the car and running, leaving the asphalt behind, taking to the open meadow leading to the hills and the south side of the estate. She ran parallel to the road until the car went around a bend and disappeared from sight. Instantly she switched directions and ran up the hill, away from the house and toward the bluffs. Twice she had to stop, leaning over as her body protested the terrible crimes committed simply because someone knew her. What was she? A monster magnet? Some hideous thing inside her drew out the demon in others. She didn’t pay the price; some innocent bystander always did.
Jaxon had heard the conversations throughout the apartment building and in the squad room. The murmurs, the silent condemnation. Most of her friends were afraid to speak to her, none of them wanted to be seen with her, and all of them were terrified for their families, and rightly so. This latest carnage was worse than anything Drake had ever done before. This vampire was capable of mass killing in two places at one time.
She continued running as fast as she could. As the trail became steeper, she stumbled occasionally, tears streaming down her face, clouding her vision. Jaxon had no clear thought in her head; she really didn’t know what she was going to do. Only that this killing couldn’t continue any longer. Her father. Her mother. Her beloved little Mathew. The entire Andrews family, even poor Sabrina, just home from college on a break. Then her neighbor, Carol. Sweet Carol’s big crime was watching the sunrise every morning, and she died because she enjoyed sharing the experience with her neighbor. And now all these other innocent victims.
She was sobbing as she clawed her way up the steep rock to the top of the bluff. Just as she pulled herself up, the earth rolled and bucked beneath her feet like a roller coaster. Overhead black clouds swirled and roiled, boiling like a cauldron. Lightning arced from cloud to cloud, slamming to earth in white-hot jagged bolts, the thunder nearly deafening her. She screamed as she ran for the cliff’s edge. If there was no Jaxon, there would be no need for Drake to kill anyone ever again.
She tried to run with the earth rocking beneath her feet, hurtling her body toward the edge. Just as her lead foot stepped off into empty space, a thick arm caught her around her waist and lifted her completely off the ground. “Lucian.” She whispered his name, clung to him, her only sanity in the madness of the world. Her slender arms circled his neck, and she buried her face in the comfort of his shoulder.
His body was trembling; she could feel it. She lifted her head and saw stark terror burning in the depths of his eyes. He lowered his head and took possession of her mouth even as the heavens opened above them and poured rain onto the earth.
“I need you, Jaxon.” Each word was enunciated softly. “You cannot leave me alone in this world. I need you.” Whips of lightning sizzled and danced all around them. Thunder cracked and boomed. “You cannot leave me alone.”
“I know, I know,” she whispered back, pressing closer, an offering in the midst of the world crashing down around them. “I don’t know what happened, what I was thinking. I’m sorry, Lucian. I’m sorry.”
“You do not have to say that. Never say that.” His mouth was moving over hers again, hot and needy with fear and rising desire. “I have to know you are here with me.”
“I am here. I won’t leave you. It isn’t you.” She was crying, her hands sliding under his shirt to touch the solid reality of him. He was real, and he was her only comfort, her only sanity. She had hurt him; she felt it radiating from him, deep and intense, along with the terror gripping his soul. She lifted her head to meet him kiss for kiss, giving herself to him, wanting only to comfort and be comforted.
Lucian was consuming her, devouring her, his mouth everywhere, the rain on her bare skin, on their bare skin. He had removed their clothing so quickly, so easily, with a mere impatient thought in his mind.
It took Jaxon a few moments to realize he was enraged, the terrible ferocity of the storm reflecting the blackness of his mood. But his enormously strong arms held her with such gentleness, it turned her heart over. “I need you with me, angel. You still do not see, no matter how often I try to tell you, to show you.” All around them the earth moved and split, great gaping cracks in the rocks. “Without you I have no reason to live. I need you. Really need you. Put your legs around my waist.” He whispered the command to her even as his teeth were scraping over her frantic pulse. “Right now, Jaxon, I need you, need to be inside you, need you surrounding me with your heat and light. I need to feel you are safe and alive and nothing can harm you.”
He was everywhere, his hands exploring, inflaming, his body so hard and aggressive, taut with terrible need, terrible hunger, that Jaxon obeyed him almost blindly. His hunger was intense, the storm increasing rather than waning, a true barometer of his urgent desire.
“You cannot leave me alone to live in an empty world with no light or laughter. You cannot leave me alone.”
His voice was raw, his beautiful voice raw with his fear and relentless hunger for her alone. His hair was soaked, the thick ebony strands hanging down his back. He looked wild and untamed. He looked what he was: dangerous and unpredictable. Yet Jaxon wasn’t afraid. She clung to him, needing him with the same urgency, wanting only to feel the strength of his arms, of his possession, his body moving in hers, his mouth feeding at her breast, his soul anchoring hers in this chaos.
Her legs slipped around his waist, and she eased her body over the hard length of him. He filled her instantly, making her gasp with the unexpected pleasure. The storm intensified, lightning slashing through the gray sky. The sun tried valiantly to rise, but the ominous, swirling black clouds were thick and dark, preventing the light from penetrating to their sensitive skin. Still, Jaxon felt the first prickling of unease at the muted light. Tears were streaming down her face, her eyes burning, her lungs gasping for air from the strangling sobs wracking her as they clung to each other in a wild tango of life-affirming love.