“And you don’t ever have to worry about me becoming what I was last night,” he said, voice quiet as his gaze locked with mine. “That won’t happen again. Never. I’m not going to lose you. You’re sure as hell not going to lose me.”
My breath caught. “Good.”
“Like, ever, Peaches.”
“I’m okay with that.”
“You’re stuck with me,” he went on. “You’re paper and I’m glue. We go together—”
“Like cheese and bread?”
“That’s my girl.” He leaned his mouth to mine—
Another yawn escaped me, heating my entire face. “God! I’m so sorry. You go to kiss me, and I yawn right in your face.”
Laughing under his breath, he smoothed his thumb along my chin. “It was hot.”
“That was the exact opposite of hot. I can’t believe I did that. I don’t know why I’m so tired.”
“You really don’t?” he asked, dropping his hand from my chin. “A lot has happened, and only a little bit of that included sleep.”
There he went, being all logical and stuff.
“Come on.” Folding his hand around mine, he hopped to his feet, pulling me up with him. “Let’s get you inside, and if you’re good, I’ll dazzle you with some more pickup lines.”
“If I’m good?” I smacked his chest, not at all surprised when he caught my hand with his unbelievably fast reflexes.
Curling an arm around me, he hauled me against his chest and kissed me.
It wasn’t quick, like the one he’d given me before he’d left to speak to Daemon. This one went on until my head swam with the taste and feel of him. He kissed me like it was the last thing he’d ever do, like he was starving just for me, and he was. I could feel it in the press of his lips and the sweep of his tongue. I was his everything, and he was mine.
His chest was hot and hard under his shirt, and his heart was thumping just as fast as mine. I slid my hands up, clutching his shoulders, the nape of his neck and then his hair.
When the kiss ended, his breathing was as ragged and raw as every one of my nerve endings. “I am yours.”
Opening my eyes, I didn’t yell at him for being in my mind. “And I am yours.”
He dropped his forehead to mine. “Cheese and bread. That’s who we are.”
“Mmm,” I murmured, letting my hands slide off him as I stepped back. “That makes me hungry.”
Luc chuckled as he reached for my hand. “Speaking of hunger, that reminds me of what Daemon wanted to talk about.”
Probably because of that kiss we’d just shared, I was thinking about a whole different kind of hunger, and my mind immediately jumped into the land of naughtiness. I tried to blink away the images of Daemon and Luc.
And failed.
A slow smile pulled at the corners of my lips.
His eyes narrowed, but a teasing glint showed through. “Such a dirty mind.”
“Whatever.” I laughed. “What else did Daemon want to talk about?”
“One of the unofficial but entirely official leaders here is having a meeting outside the zone, and that’s got everyone antsy, especially since a group that went out to pick up a package hasn’t checked in like they were supposed to.”
I thought about the Luxen family that hadn’t made it here and the Luxen Jonathan who hadn’t come back. “Can I ask you something and you be a hundred percent honest?”
Luc didn’t answer immediately. I could tell he was thinking about his response. “Depends.”
“It can’t depend on what the question is.”
His brows snapped together as he stared down at me. He gave a little shake of his head. “Ask your question, Evie.”
“Do you think the Luxen that have been captured by ART…” It was harder to say out loud than think. “Do you think they’re dead?”
His gaze met mine, and there was no hesitation in his answer, no thinking twice. “Yes, I do.”
I closed my eyes, heart and soul heavy. “Zoe told me the family I’d seen at the club hadn’t made it here, and that’s what I feared.” Drawing in a deep breath, I opened my eyes and met his gaze. “They have to be stopped, Luc. The Daedalus. All of them.”
“Agreed.” Luc smoothed his thumb along the bottom of my lip, and we stood there for what felt like a small eternity, neither of us speaking while the air was weighted with what could be the loss of thousands of innocent lives.
I broke the silence. “How do you move on from that knowledge? Think about anything else?”
“You just do, because you have to. Nothing good comes from traveling down that kind of road. I would know.”
He would, far more than I, and that saddened me even more.
“We move on, but we don’t forget, Evie. You know what we do? We get revenge. We get justice. That is what we do.”