Stealing Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 5) (20 page)

When her eyes opened, she was back in the present. “You need to go,” she breathed, barely able to get the words out.

He lifted a hand and gently stroked her face. “You feel exactly the same.”

Warmth snaked through her at his touch and she clenched her fists to stop them from shaking. “Please, leave.”

“Get your hands off her!” shouted Charlie.

“Is he your new man?” asked Lucian.

She shook her head, unable to form words.

“What the— Get the fuck off me!”

Ella looked over Lucian’s shoulder and saw Dean holding Charlie back. The ex-SEAL struggled in Dean’s grasp, but no amount of lifting weights would make him stronger than a myotis.

She was all alone.

“Lucian—”

She never finished. His mouth covered hers and everything seemed to melt away. She brought her hands up to push him away, but they fisted in his coat and pulled him closer.

How had she pushed this out of her mind?
His kiss was just as fierce as the man. Soul-searing and earth-shattering. Thorough. Devouring.

His hands rested on her hips as his tongue teased the seam of her lips.
She should stop him. This was wrong.

She opened for him, all logic and reasoning floating away under his touch. He backed her fully against the post; his hands ran up and down her sides as his erection pressed against her stomach.

The feel of him suddenly brought her back to earth and she ripped her mouth away. She kept her gaze firmly locked on the ground. “Lucian, I’m not joking. Get. Off. My. Property.”

He huffed out a breath. “How can you kiss me like that and tell me to leave?”

“I was telling you to leave before
you
kissed
me
like that.”

He opened his mouth, but the deafening sound of the doorknob twisting interrupted him.

Ella twisted out of his grip and turned to the door.

There stood Clara, messy blonde hair framing her face, large blue eyes looking back and forth between Lucian and Ella.

“Mommy, who’s he?”

Ella’s heart stopped in her chest as her gaze slid over to Lucian.

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L
ucian stared at the small child as he tried to put the pieces together.
She called Ella her mother.

She looked like Ella. They had the same pert nose and almond-shaped eyes. A little mini-Ella with different color hair and eyes.

His eye color, to be exact.
Was he imagining it?
She looked older. Probably at least four. But Ella hadn’t had any children when she’d been with him.
She would’ve told him if she had a baby waiting for her, right?

But when he looked back at Ella, he knew all he needed to. “You were going to keep her from me.”

She stiffened at the accusation. “I was keeping her from
all
of you.” She shifted her gaze to the child. “Clara, this is Lucian. He’s my...friend.”

He raised a brow at that. Of the many words to describe their relationship,
friend
definitely wasn’t one of them.

He opened his mouth to speak, but the words caught in his throat. This was his
daughter
. A son hadn’t been born to a myotis in centuries. A daughter was unheard of. What was he supposed to say?

Had Ella told her about him? Did she tell the child about the brute who stole her from her home and family or about when he brought her the dog and kept her warm in that cave?

“Hello.”
Great first impression, jackass
.

“Hi,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Mommy, is Charlie in trouble?”

Lucian turned to where the human was still struggling to break Dean’s grip. He’d forgotten he was even there. With a subtle twitch of his hand, he signaled to Dean to let the human go.

Garret stumbled away from Dean at the abrupt freedom. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but never opened his mouth. Lucian wasn’t sure whether it was the threatening look coming from him or the deer-in-the-headlights look from Ella.

“Charlie’s fine, honey. Why don’t you come here?”

The girl shuffled over to Ella, where she was lifted into her mother’s arms, perched on Ella’s hip.

“What’s your name...” He trailed off as he tried to think of a term of endearment for a small girl. Ella called her “honey,” but that didn’t sound right.
Sweetie? Little girl?

He must’ve taken too much time in his thoughts.

“This is my daughter, Clara.”

“It’s really nice to meet you.” Lucian frowned. That didn’t sound right. Too formal.
Was he supposed to speak in a higher voice or something?
He thought it was called baby talk. But she wasn’t a baby.

Fuck
.

Clara just stared at him. He was messing this up so badly.

“It’s getting late.” Ella eyed him warily. “I think we should talk about this later.”

He glanced at the horizon, where the sun was slowly disappearing. In less than an hour, he would need to change. Hardly the best first impression. “There was an incident last night. A...someone allergic to the sun made an appearance. Know anything about it?”

Clara’s eyes lit up. “Are you talking about monsters?”

“Umm...yes?” He looked to Ella, not sure whether he was saying the right thing.

A corner of her mouth twitched up. He almost missed it, but she was definitely amused.

Clara smiled. “Mommy killed the monster!”

“I didn’t—I mean, I did, but—” Ella winced. “Okay, yeah, I killed the monster.”

“You? Really?”

She straightened. “Yes,
really
. I didn’t just sit back and twiddle my thumbs after you left. I can take care of myself.”

“And your daughter.”

“And my daughter,” she agreed.

The silence stretched, thousands of questions going unasked.

“Other, um,
monsters
were here. Garret was in the news. The police think he killed the monster. The monsters are going to come for him.”

“Who’s Garret?” asked Clara.

Ella narrowed her eyes at Lucian. “Garret is Charlie’s last name.”

Clara’s mouth dropped open. “Mommy, I don’t want the monsters to get Charlie!”

“The monsters aren’t going to touch him, baby. That’s why Lucian and Dean are here. They’re going to protect him.”

Garret swished his arms in front of him in an
X
motion. “Hell no!”

“This is important to you?” asked Lucian, ignoring Garret’s protests.

“If it weren’t for Charlie, I probably wouldn’t have survived last night.”

“Then we’ll make sure he lives. But this isn’t over.”

Ella nodded, looking back to the ground.

At least she had the grace to be ashamed.
He swore to God, he was obsessed with the woman, but he couldn’t get the image of her running from him out of his mind. She truly believed he was a danger to Clara.

Was he?
He pushed Ella away for her own safety, and he wasn’t even close to getting the rebel vampires off the earth realm.

“Good-bye, Lucian,” she said, effectively dismissing him.

He shook his head and turned away from her. He couldn’t say good-bye. He was too busy trying to figure out whether he was relieved to find her or pissed off.

“We’re leaving, Dean. The human comes with us.”

Garret strode over to him. “Listen, I don’t know what the hell your problem is or what you
think
you are, but I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Leave him alone,” called Ella from the porch.

“If you want me to protect him, I have to keep an eye on him all night. That means he’s coming with me. Unless you plan to invite us all in?”

She eyed him, as though trying to decipher his intentions. “You said you’d help.”

“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do?”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do. That’s the problem.”

He took a deep breath. “Go inside, Ella. Don’t invite anyone in.”

He grabbed Garret’s arm and thought of Dean’s apartment.

“What the fuck?” muttered Garret. “Where am I?”

“New York City. Make yourself at home and tell me everything you know about Ella.”

Garret frowned. “New York? Are you out of your mind?”

Lucian shook his head. “I don’t have time for your disbelief. Tell me about Clara.”

“She’s none of your goddamn business.” Garret crossed his arms defensively over his chest.

“She’s my daughter.”

“Fuck,” muttered the human.

“Pretty much,” said Lucian.

Dean materialized next to the door and Garret backed away. “Was I drugged?”

“Do you feel drugged?” Dean grinned. The grin disappeared when he looked at Lucian. “So...that happened.”

Lucian was in no mood to discuss it with Dean or the human. His questions would just have to wait. “I’m going home. Watch the human. Make sure he doesn’t blow a gasket when you change.”

Before he heard a response, he transported home. He fell into his bed, fully clothed.

A kid. Him.
It was just what he’d been aiming for, but he never expected it to happen like this.

He thought he’d crack what made Ella special and find some sorceress or witch who knew about the realms and dangers involved and was prepared to take on the risk. He would have a son and heir to continue his lineage and help to replenish the dwindling population.

What was he supposed to do with a daughter?
Once his men found out, they would be elated. It was all great while she was young. Before long, she would be grown. Judging by her speech and appearance, it was happening a bit faster than normal.

How long had it taken him to reach maturity? It was so long ago he couldn’t even remember. There was no formal calendar for him to record the days and years. There were no annual birthday parties to mark the passage of time.

The times were so different now. He couldn’t just lock her in a room to keep her protected. Especially not with Ella as her mother.

He bit his lip at the thought of Ella.
God, she still kissed the same.
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, there was something between them. He heard her heart kick up when he was close, and there was no denying that she kissed him back.

If they’d been alone and had a few more minutes, he would’ve had her pressed up against that post, legs wrapped around him.

He opened his eyes, breaking the fantasy.

Ella wasn’t with him. She was hiding in her house, thinking of all the ways he was going to ruin her life.

He let her go for her own protection, but the vampires found her anyway. It didn’t seem as though it was a planned attack. If it was, there would’ve been more than one vampire sent. Just some freak coincidence.

Maybe not that freakish. Just another sign that the vampire problem was getting bigger.

It was time for him to re-evaluate his plan. Distance wasn’t the answer. It was time he and Ella became reacquainted.

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E
lla looked out the front window for the fiftieth time in the last hour. The sun was well over the horizon and there was no telling when Lucian would show up again.

She had no doubt he would. He wasn’t the type of man to discover a love child and take off running.

Not that Clara was a
love
child. More like a lust brought on by a dramatic situation child. A lust that had apparently more than survived over three years of separation.

God, she should’ve fought him. Should’ve run faster and farther.

She heard movement down the hall and jerked her head to the side, but it was just Reno making his way to the back door.

Clara always slept in, averaging ten hours a night. Ella assumed it took a lot of energy to grow and learn as fast as she did. She probably ate twice as many calories a day compared to normal four-year-olds. Of course, she wasn’t four. She was two. And a half. The half was very important.

Did Lucian notice the rapid aging?
He must’ve. It was impossible to miss. Though, he probably didn’t spend much time around kids. For all she knew, he’d think that was normal.

She almost felt bad for him. He’d seemed so uncomfortable around Clara, tripping over his words and carefully considering every syllable.