Chapter Sixteen: Home

Ava couldn’t pinpoint what felt heavier. Her aching wrists held the kind of blinding, burning ache that made you want to hold your skin against ice for hours on end, or the heaviness in her head. The dizziness that erupted into her brain and made her re-close her eyes before she had even opened them. Or thirdly, the heaviness around her body as she felt herself get pulled into a tighter hold and felt her body shiver with the most pleasant sparks of warmth and love.

It took her another twenty minutes before she was finally able to open her eyes. Her surroundings instantly made her panic before her brain caught up. Ava held her hand against her forehead and took in a deep breath, Lucas’s scent clouded the entire room, and that soothed her but she didn’t know how she had gotten back to his ship and into his bed. The clothes she wore were not the ones that she last remembered wearing and she smelt clean as if someone had bathed her in her sleep.

The confusion only enhanced more as she turned her head and found Lucas’s sleeping form wrapped up behind her. His arm was around her waist and the other was under her head with his fingers tangled in her hair. Ava turned her body so that she was facing him, his eyes were dark and puffy as if he hadn’t slept for days and he held an attractive amount of stubble along his jaw that made her pull her fingers up and gently traced.

His skin was soft to the touch and so was the small amount of facial hair as she smiled at his sleeping, exhausted face. Ava tried to piece together what happened but her mind fell blank after she had jumped into the water. Her wrists held scares that would never go away but she knew Lucas was the reason why her wrists were saved, to begin with, and that only made her heart beat even faster for him.

She closed her eyes and tried to think of what happened. Cole and Eugene were on the boat with them, she could smell their scents and they had been in this room multiple times but that only made her worry about how long she had been out for. It had only felt like minutes but as she opened her eyes and examined Lucas’s face, she realised that it might have been days.

Ava cupped his face, feeling his hold on her tighten again as a small frown formed. She didn’t like seeing that frown and wanted to fix it instantly as she moved her fingers and gently rubbed her thump up his nose and around his right eye. The frown had disappeared and the cutest sigh had escaped his lips before his eyes slowly opened.

Lucas stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes showing shock, relief and something else that she couldn’t place before she felt his hand move to cup her face. “Ava?”

Her eyes softened at the sound of his tired, broken voice. “I’m here.”

Something snapped in his gaze. His lips connected with her so aggressively that her moan shocked her to her core. The hunger and sorrow in the way he kissed her made her melt into the bed as they rolled, her legs opening for him to be in between them as his tongue grazed her bottom lip.

She opened her mouth to him, allowing him to taste every inch of her because he needed her too. He needed to know that she was okay and she felt that in the way he grabbed her hips and cupped her face. She felt that in the way he connected their lower halves causing another moan as she felt how hard she had made him feel. Ava felt every inch of his need and care for her and as her hands glided along his chest and around his neck she realised just how much she needed him.

“I almost lost you” He choked through panted breaths as he kissed down her neck and grazed his thumb under her breast. “Four days, four long days of waiting for you to wake up so I could see your eyes. So that I could hear your voice and see that breathtaking smile.”

Her back arched with her moan, his fangs nibbling at her ear. She forgot how to breathe, his touch drove her mad with desire and she didn’t know how much longer she would be able to last before she started begging him to touch her. “Four days with you in my bed. Wrapped up in my arms, and all I could do was tell you how sorry I am that I failed you. Tell you how much of a weak coward I am that it took the strength of another species to save you.”

“You’re not a coward, Lucas.” She groaned. Her hips bucked up into his hardness again as she felt his lips and teeth graze around her throat and towards her chest. “And you’re not a failure. You did everything you could to save me.”

He growled, the vibration sending her body into a heated fire. At that moment she hated clothes and the sheets that separated them but it was for the best. “All I did was watch! All I did was wait for some miracle to happen while anything could have happened to you!”

She was somehow able to gather a little composure, her hands cupping his face so that he would look at her. His eyes were blurred with tears, tears that she hadn’t felt on her skin until now. “Listen to me. You did everything humanly possible to help me and no matter what could have happened or what you could have done differently, the outcomes still would have been the same. I would take one thousand wolfsbane cuffs around my wrists if it meant that you were safe and I know you would do the same for me. Please stop hating yourself, please!”

He placed his forehead onto hers, their heavy breaths mixing into each other but neither one of them cared. She wanted him to know how much his words had hurt. How much of a lie his brain was telling him and how proud she was that he had fought with everything he had. Werewolves were stronger than Vampires, it was in their DNA but Lucas dismissed that fact and fought. He did more than anyone besides Gene and Cole has ever done for her and that made her love for him grow. “I don’t deserve you.”

“You deserve me.” She smiled as she leaned forward and kissed his lips. “You are the kindest, sweetest man I have ever met. I couldn’t ask for a better mate and if I have to prove that to you every single day then so be it because you have become everything to me.”

His eyes slightly brightened, his thumb stroking her bottom lip before he bit his own. “We never stopped following your Alpha’s ship. Gene and Cole said that they want to go back to the house sometime to pack your things but they have already decided that once we dock at our kingdom, they are staying. I don’t know what we will face, I sent letters to Zack and I’m hoping they get to him before we get there but I need you to promise me that no matter what happens, you stay here. Don’t sneak out again and follow, stay here and wait for me.”

She wiped a tear away from his eyes as she nodded. Her bold move wasn’t intelligent, she knew that and she also knew how terrified he was when she had exposed herself and that made Ava want to prove that she can listen to him. Prove that she can keep her promises and never see that type of fear in his heart ever again. “Whatever we are about to face, we will face together.” She said with a ragged breath. “But I promise you, I will stay. And I can make another promise to you that will make things better.”

“What is it?”

She smiled, this idea was nuts. It wasn’t something she had thought through but it was their only hope that his message would be brought to light and that her Alpha would be facing his doom. “Do you have any items from your brothers or their mates?”

Lucas frowned in confusion. “Mack left a shoe here from when she threw it at Zack. I think it’s still in their room...why?”

She bit her lip and felt her heart pulsate with nerves. Ava didn’t know if this was going to work, she questioned herself and had almost told him that she changed her mind but she had to stick to it. She had to try. “Because if I get this right, I’ll be able to contact her through my mind link, and we’ll have an army waiting to take my Alpha down.”