Page 79 of Irrevocably

“That’s none of your concern.” His tone cuts through me like that knife cut straight through my finger. “All you need to know is that you’re going with the Hound, and he will protect you.”

I barely take it in. All I can see is that something has hurt him, something has doused that fire in his eyes, taken something from him, and I’m desperate to know what. “Who do I need protecting from?” I ask. “Is someone⁠—”

He moves before I can finish, closing the gap between us, his fingers wrapping around my upper arms like iron shackles. His face is still unreadable, but I can feel the fury in his hands, can sense it in his big, taut, muscular body. And deep in his eyes, in amongst all those ashes, I see a blue spark flicker. “You have to leave,” he says, low and ferocious. “And if you don’t go, I’ll carry you out there myself.”

But worry for him is strangling me. “Why?” I demand. “Why can’t you tell me what’s wrong? You look as if everyone you’ve ever loved has just died.”

A muscle ticks in his hard jaw, his fingers pressing against my skin. It’s as if he has himself on a leash and the collar is getting tighter and tighter as he strains against it. All I want to do is undo that collar, set him free. Isn’t that what he wanted? That’s what he told me in the cabin, that he wanted to be free.

I surge forward, going up on my toes, kissing his hard mouth, and for a second he doesn’t move, his lips warm beneath mine. “I think I’m falling for you, Luc,” I whisper, the words spilling helplessly out of me. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

I shouldn’t have said it, I realise that straight away. I didn’t know what I expected would happen, perhaps him saying it back or even just kissing me. Pulling me into his arms, the fire back in his eyes. Giving me his hunger, his demand, and the special pain that’s his and his alone.

But he doesn’t do any of that.

Instead, he pulls me roughly from him and before I can say a word, he picks me up, tosses me over his shoulder, and strides from the room.

I’m too shocked to say anything at first, but then I’m aware of his hard shoulder beneath me, his arm wound around my thighs, holding me tight, and for a second a wild thrill goes through me. Then reality asserts itself.

But he’s not taking me to his bed. He’s doing what he told me he’d do if I didn’t obey him. He’s carrying me away, striding through the front doors and out into the night. And he doesn’t stop. He stalks up the driveway, still carrying me over his shoulder, and it doesn’t matter how I struggle or kick, or how I rain my fists on his strong back, he keeps going.

He doesn’t reply, either, as I shout at him to put me down, that I want to talk to him, that I want to know what’s going on. He doesn’t reply. He’s as silent and inexorable as a stone golem.

Eventually we get to the front gates, and I’m exhausted from fighting and yelling, and my finger is starting to throb again. There’s no one on the dark road so he keeps hold of me, standing there inviolate as I thrash about like a fish on the end of a hook.

Finally, the throb of an engine gets closer and closer. A familiar engine. Wolf’s Harley.

Lucien puts me down at last, and the headlights of Wolf’s bike light up his face. There’s no expression on it, and my heart twists, my vision wavering as my eyes fill with tears. I don’t know what to say, or how to make it better, because I don’t know what’s wrong and he’s not telling me.

Something has happened and it’s terrible.

“Luc,” I whisper, my last plea.

Finally, a brief spark flickers in his eyes and he lifts a hand, fingertips brushing over the star of my necklace before dropping to his side again. “You need to forget about me, Astrid,” he says in a low voice. “Forget you even met me.”

I swallow, the lump in my throat getting bigger and bigger. This can’t be goodbye, can it? It can’t be. I mean, we said goodbye at the cabin, but I knew I was going to see him again. He was going to come to me.

This time, though, it feels permanent.

This time it feels like forever.

“No,” I say thickly, trying to blink away my hot tears. “I can’t do that.”

The spark in his eyes goes cold and he looks at me suddenly as if I’m an insect that’s crawled out from under a rock. “You were an asset,” he says icily. “A source. That’s all. Understand? And now I have what I want, I don’t need you anymore.”

I know he’s lying, yet the words twist like daggers inside me. I want to deny it, tell him that what we had was more than that, and while he might not need me, I need him, but Wolf’s bike roars up beside us, and the moment is gone.

Lucien looks away from me. “Take her,” he says to Wolf. “She’s served her purpose. She’s the club’s to deal with now.”

Then without another word, he turns his back on me and stalks back down the driveway toward the house.

I stare after him, shock pulsing through me, my stomach dropping away, razor wire wrapping itself around my heart.

No. No. No.

“Luc!” I scream after him. “Luc, wait!” I go to run, but strong arms wrap themselves around my waist, holding me in place. “Let me go,” I say desperately. “Let me fucking go, Wolf!”

But he doesn’t. “We have to leave, Addie,” he says, an edge of gentleness in his voice. “We have to leave right the fuck now.”