Chapter 418

Lucien was being overly attentive. He knew that. He'd had the thought several times as Elain stood by the window, wrapped in a fluffy blue towel, and he'd held her there, hands on the towel as he'd dried her. She had just stood, eyes on his face as she allowed it, and he'd wondered what she had thought of the fact that he didn't seem to be able to allow her more than three feet from him. Lucien had been possessive before and, while this was like that, this felt different. He wanted to fuss. He felt like he'd earned the right to fuss. So, he was going to fuss.

"What's going through your mind?" Elain asked, while Lucien wrapped a corner of the towel around her hair and squeezed some of the excess water out. He glanced up at her beautiful face, and tried to put his thoughts into words.

"Not sure, really." He breathed, "I'm glad we're finally done with… everything that happened. Well, even if it's not all finished, we're safe now. You're safe now." His eyes moved over her again, as if reassuring himself of that, "I keep feeling like I need to check that you're okay, that you're well… that you're here."

"I'm here."

"I know… I just…" his hands ghosted her arms. "When I saw you tied to that pillar…" something cold moved through him at the memory of that image, and he glanced down again, stroking the fluffy blue towel across her ribs, collecting any water droplets that still clung to her skin. "And I can still hear you screaming…" When Colm had turned his magic on Elain and she had been writhing on the ground, he'd wondered if he would ever have her back the same way. "I didn't know what he had done to you…"

Elain took the towel from Lucien's hand, dropping it over a nearby chair as she stepped toward him. He looked up, meeting her dark eyes, as she wrapped her gentle arms around his neck, coming up on her toes to press a kiss to his jaw. Letting out a relieved breath, Lucien held her to himself. He didn't move, didn't do anything other than hold Elain firmly, breathing her in. It worked, and the tight knots in his chest seemed to ease. "I don't think I'm going to be able to let go for a while."

"I'm alright with that."

The pleasant breeze that had been coming through the door to the garden had turned chill, and Elain felt goosebumps rising on her skin as she stood by the window with Lucien holding her to himself. She had closed her eyes, cheek against his warm chest as she had enjoyed that warmth, but the air was changing and it was growing shadowy outside.

Before Elain had even voiced these ideas, however, Lucien had moved. He lifted her to himself, and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he had pulled the garden door firmly closed and then settled the heavy curtains in front of it and the window to further keep their heat inside. When he glanced up at her a shudder that had nothing to do with the cold moved through Elain and she slid her fingers carefully into his vibrant hair.

"We will have to go to dinner soon." Lucien breathed, and Elain couldn't help the disappointed expression that spread across her face. With the way he was holding her, strong hands on her skin, the urge to pull him closer, to feel him against her had begun growing, burning within her. He had almost died today. She had almost died today. Up on that dais, Elain had thought that Rian was going to kill her in front of the entire Day Court. She had almost been separated from her mate and now that she had him here, with her, his hands on her, Elain wanted more of him.

He had known what she was thinking, Elain could tell from the look in his russet eye as he met her gaze. He knew exactly where her mind was going, and then she felt his own desires crash into her down the bond. "Ah, Petal…" he breathed, metallic eye clicking as he held her gaze, "I could just so easily sink into bed with you…"

Elain tightened her arms around him. "Why don't you…?" She was growing hotter by the second, and she knew that Lucien was aware of it.

"Dinner…" he breathed, "We need to go. We need to eat, and it would be best if the Court saw us there. It would look like we have risen above what has happened and are not cowering in our room."

"I guess…" Elain adjusted her legs around Lucien's waist. Part of her felt like she'd given all she could to the Court today. Now she just wanted her mate. Her breath was coming quickly, and she knew when Lucien tilted his head that he could smell her arousal. She didn't try to hide it. Everything inside of her was screaming at her to touch him, wanted him to touch her. A pathetic sounding whine escaped her lips, and Elain couldn't even be embarrassed by it. Lucien's lips quirked in a knowing smirk.

"What I can do…" he turned and pressed her back against the wall, keeping her there with his hips as he adjusted his hold on her. "Is give you a little something to tide you over… until after dinner." His fingers moved up her inner thigh and Elain couldn't help her hips shifting, wanting to feel more of him. Her breath escaped her in a sharp exhalation that turned into a gasp when those fingers were suddenly exactly where she had wanted them.

Tilting her head back against the wall, Elain bit her lip, her eyes sliding closed when Lucien pushed one of those magnificent fingers directly into her. She knew that her breathing was telling him everything he needed to know because as she drew a shuddery breath, she heard him make a pleased sound of his own before a second finger joined the first.

Elain could barely think after that. Lucien knew exactly what to do with his fingers, and he did it without hesitation, curling and thrusting them into her with a precise rhythm that had claimed Elain's breath and wiped her mind of anything other than her mate within moments. She couldn't stop her hips from moving to meet his fingers, couldn't stop the wanton moans from escaping her as Lucien held her there against the wall as his fingers moved in and out of her, faster and faster as she could do nothing but clutch at his shoulders.

He leaned into her when her moans became slightly high pitched, and his hot breath against her throat and her cheek sent new waves of tingles throughout Elain's body. With one hand thrusting strong fingers inside of her, and the other supporting her weight, Lucien could only touch her with his chest and his lips and Elain moaned again when those hot lips pressed against just the right place on her throat. She felt herself tighten, and she felt Lucien's reaction to that. He licked her then, fingers still moving in exactly the right way, and then she felt herself tumble over that edge, her mind going blissfully blank as she cried out, still clutching at her mate's perfect broad shoulders.