by Juniper Hart
“Let me guess,” Gia sighed sourly, her eyes narrowing. “We can’t be together.” She thought back to what Allegra had told her, that she was just a one-night stand to Lennox. But if that were true, why was he here, talking to her?
“We will be,” Lennox said immediately. He kindly took her hands into his and led her toward the bedroom, where they sat down on the edge of the four-poster canopied bed. Black curtains protected the highly-decorated mattress littered with gold and ebony pillows, the tassels glistening off the candlelight.
“There is a clause that forbids me from becoming involved with an employee of the palace,” Lennox explained. “If anyone finds out that we have been together, I will lose my standing as ruler.”
Gia blinked. “What?”
He nodded and shrugged, almost sheepishly. “I had no idea it existed, but if anyone gets wind of this, I will be overthrown.”
“I—I don’t understand. In all your years as ruler, you never knew about this?” Gia demanded skeptically. He had surely been with employees before, right?
“I… I can’t explain it to you,” Lennox said, lowering his head in embarrassment. “But no, I didn’t know about it. I’ve tried to have the clause overwritten, but I need my brothers to approve it, and they won’t.”
Gia tilted her head to the side, reading the expression of pain on his face. He wasn’t lying to her. “So, what does that mean for us?”
Lennox cupped her cheek in his hand. “It means I will find another way,” he promised. “But I need you to be patient. And discrete.”
His last words sent a pang of disappointment through Gia. That was what Lennox had been trying to tell her the last time they had seen each other. That was why he had told her to quit her job and move in with him, as if that were the perfect solution to everything. Was it?
“If I quit my job,” she whispered, “we can be together freely?” Lennox didn’t respond right away, and Gia knew there was more that he wasn’t telling her. “Lennox, you can’t keep me in the dark!” she cried.
“I can’t ask you to quit your job in the palace when I know you’re moving up in the realm,” he said, his voice quiet. “And there is no guarantee that it will rectify the situation because—” He stopped dead in his tracks, like he had said something he hadn’t meant to.
“Because what?” Gia demanded.
“Because I think that my brothers are plotting to overthrow me anyway.”
Her face twisted in shock. “They can’t!” she gasped. “You’re the ruler! They’re your brothers!”
“They loathe me,” Lennox mumbled, sadness laced through his voice. Then he spoke in an even quieter tone, almost to himself. “I thought it would be different if I was in charge… that I would do better than…” He heaved a deep sigh.
“No,” Gia said, determination coursing through her. “If you’re serious about us being together in the open, I will quit my job today. It’s ridiculous to put you at risk for such a silly, trivial thing like the place where I work!”
Lennox shook his head. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking me to,” Gia corrected him. “I’m offering, but only if you’re sure you really want to be with me.”
Allegra’s words echoed in her mind: And I know he is charismatic and convincing, but he is the ruler of the Hollows. In eons, he has never settled down, not once.
Gia wanted to make sure that, if she was going to take a leap of faith, she wouldn’t just be throwing herself off into the abyss.
Lennox’s expression, full of love and admiration and amazement, dispelled all of Gia’s doubts. He leaned into her and crushed his lips to hers, the urgency sending jolts of electricity through her body.
“I’ve never wanted anything more in my life,” he whispered, his mouth falling to the curve of her throat. “Never doubt that, Gia. I won’t give you up. There is nothing that can keep us apart.”
Gia had known that since she had fallen into Lennox’s embrace at the gala. She had gone astray and tried to ignore it, tried to push it away until she had convinced herself it was the right choice. But their connection was made of something stronger than rules and clauses. Lennox was right. Nothing could keep them apart.
Gia closed her eyes as Lennox lay her back against the soft mattress beneath them, her fingers entwined through his thick hair.
“I don’t know how this is happening,” Lennox murmured, his face buried in the buttons of her dress as he undid them. “But I will never let it go. I swear it, Gia. You and I belong together.”
“I know,” she sighed, wrapping her legs around his waist as his lips met the taut skin of her breasts, his tongue teasing along the ridges of her swollen flesh. A thousand sensations flooded her, each one plucking at her heightened emotions and causing surges of warmth through her from head to toe. She was floating above herself, lost in Lennox’s mouth, in his fingertips, in the lines of his sculpted body.
Once more, they joined together, his thickness filling her as she had never known, and she locked her ankles around him, drawing him near. In those moments, they were one being again, an unlikely mix of fairy and dragon, pushed to the heights of passion and ecstasy.
“I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to find you,” Lennox murmured, his breaths escaping in short, hot rasps. Gia’s nails dug into his skin, her body responding to the pulsating motions of his thrusts.
Despite the impossibility of it, Gia realized that Lennox loved her.
Perhaps it was the way they lost themselves in each other’s eyes or the timing of their release, again falling into one another in perfect synch. Whatever it was, as they lay in a heaping pile of sweating legs and arms, Gia knew what she had to do.
They were quiet for a long time, sinking into the endless pillows, which were now strewn about the bed in a haphazard pile.
“I’ll quit my job at the real estate office,” Gia said, her fingers still twirling through Lennox’s hair. “But I won’t let you take care of me, Lennox.” She felt him tense slightly.
“Gia,” he said, sitting up. “You can’t live in the Trenches. At least move into a condo I have in Sunside until you find somewhere more suitable.”
“I’m not moving to Sunside, either,” she replied. “Everyone is going to have enough to say about us being together.”
“Screw what they have to say!” Lennox growled. “The Trenches are dangerous, and you know it.”
“The Trenches are what I can afford right now,” Gia insisted, biting back the urge to tell him that the real estate agency was supposed to be her ticket out of the slums. You can’t have everything, Gia. If you want to be with him and be independent, you can’t blame him for your decisions.
“Well, then at least let me give you some money to find a better place!” Lennox begged.
Gia shook her head stubbornly, even though she knew she should be jumping at the opportunity. She had lived in the Trenches this long already. Hopefully, a little while longer wouldn’t kill her.
“This is such a mess,” Lennox grumbled, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t be asking you to sacrifice so much to be with me. You can’t quit a good job that will give you the financial support you need! I’ll find another way to change the clause.”
“You’re not asking me to do this, I’m doing it for us,” Gia reassured him, even though it pained her to say so. Allegra had threatened vampires to get her that job. She had been trying this entire time to shape Gia into someone stronger, and here Gia was, throwing it all away for Lennox.
She knew that Lennox was her mate, no matter how impossible it seemed. She felt it right down to her very core. But she also knew that Allegra cared about her, that she wanted her to be self-reliant and to be able to take care of herself.
Lennox smiled sadly at her. “You look so unsure,” he sighed, softly caressing her cheek. “Maybe it’s better if you don’t quit your job. As I said, I don’t know if it would even matter in the long run.”
“No, no, I…” Gia t
railed off, having no idea of what to say. The obvious solution was for her to accept Lennox’s offer, to tell him that she was moving into the palace, to allow him to take care of her. But she couldn’t bring herself to say those words. She had always relied on herself and herself only, and if she couldn’t even do that, if she had to depend entirely on someone else, then what was the point?
“It’s okay,” she said, wrapped a comforter around herself. She doubted there was much conviction in her voice. “I’ll figure it out, I prom—”
The sound of a door flying open in the front room startled them both.
“Who’s there?” Lennox growled, lunging to his feet. “This suite is occupied!”
Four faces appeared in the doorway of the bedroom, all of them leering at Gia and Lennox with glittering, malicious eyes. Gia gasped when she recognized them: they were Lennox’s brothers, all wearing equally cruel expressions on their faces. Chills ran down Gia’s body, and she wrapped the comforter tighter around herself.
“Hello, brother,” one of the men called, stalking through the door. “I would say you have a bit of a morality issue here, wouldn’t you?”
“Reef, take the others and get out of here! Have you no shame?” Lennox howled, advancing on him. Before he could take another step, he was flanked by his other three brothers.
“Ah, ah, ah,” another one said in a lilting tone. “Not so fast, Lenny. You’re in breach of your authority, sleeping with an employee. But you already knew that, didn’t you? Otherwise, you would be in your suite instead of hiding here.”
“Lennox!” Gia gasped. “Tell them I quit! I quit, I don’t work here anymore!”
One dark-haired brother cast her a sympathetic look, his blue eyes darting over her. “Come on, guys. Let the lady get dressed. Our fight isn’t with her.”
The other three begrudgingly agreed. That, however, didn’t stop them from grabbing Lennox and forcefully dragging him toward the door of the bedroom with them while Lennox struggled to free himself from their grasp.
“I didn’t do anything wrong!” he snarled. “You heard her! She doesn’t work for the palace!”
Reef turned back to look at Gia. His expression was pained, like he was sorry that she was witnessing this.
“When did you quit?” the blond prince asked her. Gia’s mouth parted, her eyes darting toward Lennox in panic. “Before you speak, fairy,” Reef continued, “let me remind you that the penalty for lying to a dragon is death.”
The comforter did nothing to alleviate the shudders coursing through Gia’s body.
“Leave her alone!” Lennox screamed. “She hasn’t done anything wrong!”
“Oh, we know it’s you who always screws it all up,” Reef agreed, turning back to his brother. “That’s why we’re glad your rule is finally over, Lennox.” He nodded at the other princes. “Come on. Let’s let the girl get dressed and leave with any dignity she can scrape off the floor.”
“No!” Gia cried. But the dragons were already out of the bedroom, leaving her to stare after them with tears streaking down her cheeks.
The brother who had told the others that their fight wasn’t with her returned, standing at the bedroom’s doorway.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, you know,” he assured her gently. “You’re not the first woman whose life Lennox has upset. But if it’s any consolation, you’ll likely be the last.”
Gia’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?” she asked. “What are you going to do to him?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “We’ve designed a place that will keep him for the rest of eternity, where he can’t do any more damage to anyone.”
The nameless brother walked away before Gia could ask him anything else, her heart hammering wildly in her chest. She was certain she was going to have a heart attack, naked and alone in the secret suite.
He’s gone again, she thought mournfully. How can we be meant to be together when he keeps being taken from me? I have to do something, anything! There must be a way to make this right!
But Gia knew that she was no match for four dragons determined to keep her and Lennox separated. She had found her mate, only to lose him forever. And it was all because of her.
14
They have been planning this forever, Lennox realized, pacing through the glass cage carefully constructed to keep him inside it. They have been waiting for me to do anything to cause my own undoing. This has been their plan for ages.
It had to be. There was no way that the prison in which he stood could have been made in a matter of days. His brothers had been plotting his demise for longer than Lennox could even begin to comprehend, and the dread was almost overwhelming, threatening to bring him to his knees.
How much anger and hatred did they hold against him to do such a thing? What were they going to do now? Were they just going to keep him locked up in a glass cage for eternity?
They had said little to him, forcing him through the doorway while he breathed fire and fought against them, having fully shifted. In the end, he was no match for all four of his brothers, and he forced himself to calm down and find a way to escape his prison.
But how could he calm down when all he could think about was Gia, who had been left trembling and terrified as he was hauled away from her?
Lennox’s fury grew with each passing hour. If they had done anything to her…
The door to the room opened, and Castor shuffled inside, carrying a tray of raw meat.
“Your Highness,” he announced, shifting his eyes downward. “I’ve brought you food.”
Lennox froze, staring at his driver as he approached the glass cage. “Castor, you have to let me out of here,” he said. “I’m the ruler of the Hollows! This is treason!”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness, I have my orders,” Castor said. His tone made Lennox doubt how sorry he actually was.
You haven’t always acted regally, he reminded himself as Castor leaned down to shove the tray through a slot. He was probably still bitter about his sisters. Even after all this time, Lennox still hadn’t apologized for it.
The metal tray clanked to the floor, and the lycan turned to hurry away.
“Castor!” Lennox called him. He froze in his tracks but kept his back to Lennox, as if he feared making eye contact.
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“Who’s in charge up there?” Lennox asked. “Is it Wilder?”
Castor slowly turned to face him. “I’m not entirely sure,” he confessed. “There seems to be some dispute over who is ruling the Hollows at the moment.”
Well, that can’t be good, Lennox thought, biting on his lower lip. If the rest of the Hollows saw how weak they were now, they would smell the blood in the water like sharks.
“Castor,” he said. “I need you to find Gia Cirone. I need you to bring her—”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” Castor interjected, “but you’re not allowed visitors.”
“This is bullshit!” Lennox roared. “They can’t do this! I won’t let them get away with it!”
“Eat, Your Highness,” Castor said, gesturing toward the metal tray on the floor. “You should keep your strength up.”
“Castor!” Lennox yelled pleadingly. “Can you at least find out what they did to her?”
Castor’s brow knit. “To whom?”
“Gia Cirone! Is she hurt? Did they lock her up too?”
Castor shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he answered. “Their issue was not with Miss Cirone.”
The relief that flooded through Lennox at Castor’s former response quickly changed into more dread at his latter answer.
“Castor,” he tried again, his tone plaintive. “I am not the enemy here. They are making a mistake.”
“It is not my place to dispute the brothers, Your Highness. Is there anything else?”
Lennox could see Castor was eager to be on his way, so he sighed in defeat. “Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t do right by your sisters. I know I haven’t always been the best c
reature, but I never intentionally hurt anyone. I hope you and your family can forgive me.”
Castor’s mouth fell open in surprise, though no sound came out of it.
“You can go,” Lennox mumbled. It was clear to see that pleading with Castor would get him nowhere. At least he had said what he had wanted to.
His driver disappeared, leaving Lennox to rest his massive head against the cool, indestructible glass, his huge body falling back into his mortal form as he slowly resigned to his fate.
I’ll never see Gia again, he thought. Everything will go back to the way it was before I was granted my wish. Wilder will become the same tyrant he always was, and it will all have been for nothing. Why did I ever agree to the wish?
His wish.
Lennox raised his head, feeling the hairs on his arms standing on edge. Mira had told him that she had foreseen the outcome of granting him his wish. She had known this would happen. And not only that—she had sought Lennox out in New Orleans. Had Wilder sent her? No, that didn’t make any sense. But then why had she offered Lennox a wish? Had it been to execute some petty revenge, or had it been something even worse?
Lennox recalled a time, eons ago, when the inhabitants of the Hollows had tried an uprising against him and his brothers. It hadn’t succeeded, of course, but it had started in such a seemingly simple manner: an unrest in the palace, a struggle for power amongst the dragons.
Lennox started furiously pounding on the walls of his glass cage.
“Wilder! Reef! Keppler! Owen!” he screamed as loudly as he could. “Someone! Anyone!”
His pleas were met with an echoing silence that chilled him down to his fire-eaten core.
He couldn’t remember when he had fallen asleep. At least his dreams were merciful, allowing him to see Gia one more time.
“Lennox?” Gia tenderly reached out to him, her heart-shaped face shining with worry and innocence as she pressed her hands against the glass. “Lennox, can you hear me?”
“I hear you,” Lennox mumbled, smiling at her. “I love you, Gia. I’ll find a way for us to be together again, I promise.”