The Corollaria (15 page)

Stretched out on the bed was Luke. Tying his wrists and ankles to the bed were thick black ropes. He was completely still and it wasn’t until Emily saw his chest rise and fall that she noticed that he was
completely naked.

A flash of heat hit her
cheeks. And then reality of what this could possibly mean sunk in, causing her gut to twist. She felt sick, and then instantly angry. Her blood was close to boiling, a fire of molten lava burned in her veins.

She stepped closer to the bed, unsheathing the dagger and ready to cut his wrist loose.  Luke’s eyes opened suddenly the moment her fingers wrapped around his arm.

“Emily,” he whispered. Pain flashed in his gray eyes.

She c
ouldn’t look him. Turning her eyes back to the ropes, she cut his wrists loose.  He grabbed her arm and stopped her when she went to cut the rope tied around his ankles.

“Em,” he choked. “Please, look at me.”

She kept her eyes focused on the sheets, her stomach rolled.  She shook her head, “I can’t.”

She cut his ankles loose and he swung his legs around to the floor. He grabbed her shoulders, but she still looked down, tears stung her eyes.

“Emily, I didn’t touch her.”

A sharp cackling female laugh rung through the darkness.  “No, but you can’t say I didn’t try.”

Emily whipped her head around as Allison stepped from the doorway, closing the door behind her with a wave of her hand.

Allison
curled her lip in disgust, “It’s sickening really.  How hung up he is on you. I could have shown him a lot more than you could ever imagine, Flower girl, I’m sure.”

Emily gripped the
dagger tighter. Her veins throbbed with fury and rage. She stepped forward. Luke tried to grab her arm, but she shook him off. Her voice was low, deadly, edged with an explosive combination of danger and desperation.

“I told you to never touch my wolf.”

Allison laughed again, a haunting echo devoid of humor. “Your wolf?  You’ve destroyed everything for me!”

Emily furrowed her brow. She didn’t understand why
Allison blamed her.  Maybe she just needed someone to blame.

Emily lunged forward, but
Allison was faster, grabbing Emily from behind and pressing her arm against her throat. Luke exploded into a wolf, his eyes hungry as he growled at the demon seductress.

Luke’s fur bristled and he bared his teeth as he stalked forward. Whatever spell
Allison had dragged him under before had vanished, leaving him feeling nothing but raw, primal anger.

Allison
curled her hand around Emily’s throat, her nails dug into her flesh. “He won’t stop, he’ll come for—”

There was a thunderous crash coming from the hallway, and Luke lunged forward when
Allison’s attention was momentarily diverted. But Emily was faster. Emily was determined. She twisted around, and stabbed the dagger into Allison’s side. Allison crumpled to the floor. Emily deftly and decisively sliced through the flesh of her neck, severing her head.

A second later, the door to the room crashed in, Carson and Trent and John stood, panting, in the doorway. They looked from Emily, who stood over
Allison’s body to the gray wolf standing behind her.

Luke shifted. He stepped forward, placing one hand on Emily’s arm and rem
oving the dagger from the other shaking hand. He tossed it to the floor. Emily turned in his arms and slumped against him.  All of the rage and adrenaline that had fueled her bravery vanished. She clutched his arms, sobbing, shivering, and shaking against his bare chest.

He wrapped his arms tightly around her, murmuring against her hair, “Shhh, it’s over. It’s over.”

~000~

It was late
the next day, the sun had already set, the sky outside her window turned from a vivid painting of pinks and oranges to a soft black, dotted with twinkling lights. Emily sat on the edge of her bed, her bare feet flat against the cool wood floor, her knuckles white against the deep purple comforter.  She was terrified that everyone she loved might die or already be dead, terrified Samuel would find her. Still shaken from the Allison-incident the day before.

It had already been a long day, Curtis and Luke and Carson had been gone, planning and training and strategizing.  She had spent the afternoon with Jenny. Jenny told her why her eyes seemed to change to different hues and her skin literally felt the emotions like an electric charge from the people around her. 

“
It’s the Faerie magic from the flower in your blood,” Jenny explained.

“So my mother and my grandmother...?”

Jenny nodded, and then pursed her lips. “Samuel killed your mother because he wanted her blood. Carson told me that your father died trying to save her and that his father was there that day too.”

“Is that why I was sent to live with my Aunt Lucinda?” Emily asked.

Jenny shrugged, “I guess. To hide you probably.”

“Samuel said he was in love with her,” Emily paused as she ran her fingers over the delicate purple and pink flowers that grew along the edge of the courtyard.  “You think she loved him once too?”

Jenny studied Emily for a moment before she spoke.  “Is that what you felt?”

Emily frowned.  How could Jenny know that? Emily had felt this strange feeling, almost like a memory of something when she was in that room with the vampire.

“Your blood is special Emily.  It carries with it the memories of the Corollaria that have come before you. It’s mostly just feelings, usually triggered by something,” Jenny explained.

Vanessa appeared suddenly, her eyes wild.

Jenny and Emily had looked up, startled by Vanessa’s sudden presence. 

“He’s coming,” she breathed, almost a whisper, a deadly warning.  “He said he’s coming to get her himself.”

Emily sucked in a ragged breath. Her eyes flashed up as she heard the door squeak open, and then shut softly. Her skin tingled, and her heart beat wildly in her chest.

Luke. He stood a moment at the door, his eyes dark and stormy. A deeply seeded want that felt impossible to fight against, coupled with an entire day spent away from her, thinking about losing her, kissing her
again, burned inside him.

His hair dripped with water from a recent shower and she could smell the clean scent of soap waft across the small distance. He crossed the room and kneeled in front of her, pushing her legs apart. He grabbed her face, the tips of his fingers tangled in her wavy blonde hair, as he took possession of her lips with his.

Luke twisted his rough calloused hands into her long blonde hair, pulling her closer, his lips somehow both soft and gentle like a warm whisper on her lips and hungry, desperate, his intense overwhelming need for her plunging his thoughts into a thick lust-filled haze.

Emily’s slender fingers clung to his shirt and tugged him to her. Luke propelled himself forward, pushing her back onto the bed.  She let her hands roam down his
muscular torso, lifting the hem of his shirt, silently demanding its removal. Luke leaned back and pulled the shirt over his head, revealing smooth tan skin stretched taut over hard muscles.

This was not the moment for slow or careful thinking. There was a fervent urgency to his kiss, his hands hot and searching. His heat seeped through her thin tank top causing her to melt
against him. A fire ignited in her belly. A need to be completely consumed by him overcame her senses. He kissed her jaw and her neck, his hands slowly, but insistently moving up her shirt.

Emily
didn’t tense or protest when he removed the thin tank top and tossed it to the side. But she blushed as his eyes roamed appreciatively over her body.

Beautiful and soft, she flush
ed pink. Luke felt dizzy. Drunk.  So starved for her it was physically painful. He kissed every inch of skin he could, slowly moving down her stomach and below her navel. His lips grazed across her bare hip, and then lower to the center of her thighs. She gasped quietly, fisting her hands in his thick hair.

Her whole body ached for his touch. W
hen he finally did touch her, his tongue and fingers working together, curling and tasting, passion and pleasure surged inside her. She shattered in his arms.

Luke climbed back up her body, kissing
every inch of her skin before ending at her lips. He kissed her deeply. His lips left hers again, moved up her jawline to her ear, and traced the shell with his tongue.

“Are you sure?” he asked, her fingers hooked in the waistband of his shorts.

“Yes,” she nodded eagerly. She had never been surer of anything in her life.

Quickly, Luke pushed h
is shorts off his hips and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He ducked his head, and kissed her neck. Her body hummed and tingled with anticipation and want.

“Emily,” Luke murmured against the slick skin of her neck as he made love to her for the first time. Slowly, gently, each and every movement deeper than the last. She clutched his taut biceps and ar
ched into him.

Sweaty and breathless and spent from passion they clung to each other, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

“I love you,” Emily whispered as he reluctantly pulled away from her. Luke swallowed hard. The words punched him in the gut. He kissed her once, his lips just barely touching hers, before he started to get dressed.

Anger bubbled
up inside her. “Why can’t you say it back?”

“Emily,” Luke sighed, running a hand through his hair.
Emily grabbed the sheet to wrap around her naked body. Her eyes turned a dark, violent shade of blue.

“No, don’t do that,” she warned. H
er voice then turned earnest, imploring, and insistent. “I’m in love with you.”

Luke faced her, “Emily, how do you even know that’s true? Up until two days ago I might have had feelings for you but I tried not to, I tried to think of you as my sister.”

Emily snorted, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I am not your sister.”

He sighed again, pulling on his shirt and shorts. “I don’t know what you want, honey. Two days ago, I exploded into a fucking werewolf. And almost the instant I did, every single thing I ever felt for you was suddenly amplified. I don’t even know how to process that yet.”

“I just—” Emily took a breath, too many emotions and words fought inside her. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe you don’t feel it like I do. Maybe Samuel was right.”

“That’s not what I—”
Luke’s fists clenched at the old vampire’s name. His nostrils flared. “What the hell does that mean? What did he say to you?”

Emily stared down at her hands. “He said you were the first wolf in history to not want his ma
te.”

“Right, because I have a choice,” he muttered. Want. He wanted her more than he thought he had any right to. The throbbing in Luke’s chest told him that this whole situation was wrong. He should be comforting Emily, not making her cry.

Luke knew Curtis wasn’t right for her, but that didn’t mean he was either.  Everything was just so intense, including the overwhelming feelings he had for Emily. Like someone had suddenly turned up the volume.

Luke
turned to leave. He had to help the others patrol the city.

“You’re leaving?” she huffed.
“
Now?
”

“Yes, I have to
go. This is what I am meant for.” He couldn’t look at her, his heart already felt heavy in his chest. “To
protect
you.”

Emily swiped angrily at the t
ears that collected in her eyes as she watched Luke walk away.

~000~

Luke was aggravated. His whole body was vibrating, and his fur bristled with irritation as he paced back and forth along the tree line just outside the city. His paws sunk into the wet grass and mud, and he growled.

Whoa. Calm down little brother.

Luke snorted through his snout and shook his gray fur in response.

Luke.
Carson’s voice inside Luke’s head was sharp and commanding. Luke instinctively dipped his head and flattened his ears.
Enough of this. Why are you acting like such a baby?

Without really meaning to, Luke’s thoughts were suddenly consumed with Emily. Thoughts of her bare skin underneath him, her blonde curls spread across the pillow, and then the awful, gut-wrenching look in her eyes when he didn’t say he loved her back. He’d hurt her. He could feel it even now.

Listen, little brother. You have got to let this go. She loves you. She’s always loved you. And if you’re honest, I’m pretty sure you know you’ve always felt something for her too.

A memory of a night last summer suddenly played through his mind.

Luke came home, tired, to find Emily sitting in the overstuffed chair in the family room, half-way through watching a movie.  She smiled up at him when he plopped down beside her. Even then he remembered feeling the pull to touch her.  Luke wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled into his side. Just like he’d done before, with her, with a hundred other girls. Okay, maybe not a hundred, but not all of them girlfriends either. Some just friends. Like Emily.