Page 49 of Ruby Red Sky

The gross sensation instantly dissipated, and I let out an exhale. “Lukas, let him down. Please,” I begged.

Then I stopped. I couldn’t hear my own words.

“What is wrong?” Panic filled my chest and my fingers reached for my mouth. “What’s happening?” My lips moved, but no sound came out.

Lukas raised his hand again and pressed the tips of two fingers to my mouth. My lips stopped moving. The look of amused satisfaction that covered his face was diabolical. He tilted his chin up very slightly, keeping his eyes on me.

For some reason, completely unbeknownst to me, I found his arrogance hot. Or, at least, the space between my thighs sure as hell did. Internally, I cursed myself. I didn’t want to encourage him, and I knew he’d be able to tell the effect his assholery had on me.

I took a deep breath through my nose and watched as he reached for the discarded makeup kit. Gently, he applied eyeliner to my eyes, and then he carefully lined my mouth with a lipliner before swiping a tinted gloss over it.

Even without a mirror, I knew he did a good job. I mean, just look at these vampires. They were masters of everything they did.

Their own cosmetics were impeccable. That night that I’d first met Lukas and Kiam, I’d admired their skill even though I’d thought it strange to see men wearing makeup. Somehow, it just worked on them. It worked well enough I couldn’t stop staring at the ridiculously hot man in front of me.

Katarina’s jumping around in the background pulled me from the comfort of my distracted thoughts.

Kiam looked like he’d burn Lukas where he stood, but the most interesting thing was how the air wavered around him.

Transfixed, I sucked in a breath. I was observing magic in action. The air twisted around him, appearing as small tendrils of heat. It reminded me of the moisture above a hot summer road. As the power worked around him, he slowly freed his limbs.

Once he released himself, he landed in a crouch on the floor. Then, he stood up, dusted himself off, gave me a nod, and walked out of the room as if nothing had happened.

Lukas cast a casual glance his way, ignoring him, and smoothed my eyebrows with his thumb.

Kiam, my guard and escort, had walked away. My heart thudded in my chest. I knew what I was going to do and screw Lukas if he tried to stop me.

No. There will be no screwing of Lukas.

A disappointed lump formed in my stomach, and I shoved it to the side.

The man straightened and gave me a tiny smile. He loomed over me for a moment, rubbing his chin.

Why I paused, I have no idea. I kept locking up my tumultuous thoughts until they narrowed down to one single course of action.

Lukas’s eyes narrowed and I stood.

Then I leveled him with a gaze and walked out of the room, leaving him calling my name behind me.

I ignored him.

CHAPTER 16

Cassia

Kiam was nowhere in sight, as I expected. I didn’t blame him for taking off.

A growl of frustration rumbled in my chest. Not only had Lukas injured and possibly cursed my only friend, but then he went and pasted his own best friend to the ceiling. So, what if vampire “protocol” dictated these things. You just didn’t treat your friends this way. Or the friends of people you supposedly want to spend eternity with.

I knew I was being difficult, and that things were very clearly different here, but did Lukas not have faith in me? Or, in himself, to be able to keep me safe. His name alone made people cower. All he had to do was walk into a room and nobody wanted to fuck with him.

I’d spent years letting people underestimate me and just going with the flow of whatever they wanted. It may have been the trauma of getting dumped in an alternate dimension talking, but I was fed up and I wasn’t going to be overlooked anymore. Even if it got my mouth threaded shut with fucking iron.

As I made my way down the corridor with my head held high, I spotted Nancy. Or, rather, Nancy was spotted.

Her skin was covered with cystic acne, and I stopped in my tracks.

“Nancy?”