Lucca (The A'rouk Brothers Book 3)

by Serena Simpson

  “Lucca?” She whispered his name not wanting to bring attention to herself.

  The slithering on the floor in front of her stopped her cold. Snakes. A quick prayer rolled off her lips; she hated snakes. They started moving around her feet like they could feel her fear. She ran blindly to get away.

  She used her light to see that the cells were lined on every side of her, but they were empty. If he wasn’t in one of the cells where could he be?

  She ran into a door, and the acid in her stomach burned her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  She reached for the knob and pulled her hand back. The heat coming from it burned her hand. Shaking it, she blew on it and looked for a different way to get through the door. The panel of the door was cool as well as the door frame. The door wouldn’t budge as she tried to undo the nuts and bolts holding in place, they were heavy metal and old, there was no way she was going to budge them.

  Stepping back, she looked around the room for something to give her leverage. Nothing. There wasn’t anything that she could hold in her hand to keep herself from getting burned. The wind blew around with a voice that told her to go back. He’s not worth it. The voice was insidious trying to dig into her brain.

  The wind. She moved her hands calling it to her. She wrapped it around her hands and then sent it to circle the knob. It never made it; it fizzled out as if the storm lost potency, and the wind was gone.

  “Go home little girl save yourself. I’ll take him and leave you alone.” The voice came from the other side of the door. It was taunting her teasing her because it had the only thing she wanted.

  It’s not like she really needed her hand, right? She reached out with her dominant hand. That meant she might be giving up the only thing that made her special, her ability to control the wind, but he was worth it. If she left this place, he would die it was like a word that written inside of her from the beginning of time but not revealed until this moment.

  She reached out and grasped the knob. A scream went through her as she fell to her knees. The knob grasped her back refusing to let her go until it made sure the burn would last the rest of her life. Her hand was released, and she fell to the floor lying there cradling it.

  The door silently opened. She would have wondered about it if her whole body didn’t feel like it was on fire. Staggering to her feet, she made her way through.

  “You surprised me.”

  There was a black male standing in front of her. He was gorgeous, the kind of male she expected to see on the big screen.

  “Who are you and what are you doing here?

  “You can call me Harold.”

  “Harold, were you looking for the call back as an extra? This is the wrong place and where is Lucca?” She was still cradling her hand in front of her, little bursts of fire were traveling through her body, but she knew enough not to show weakness.

  “You should have walked away. Now you’ll die in his place.”

  “Maybe, but if you were going to kill me today, I would be dead.”

  He lifted a hand moving it through the air. A wall behind him became visible before it slid open.

  She gasped bringing her hand up to her mouth. The breath she sucked in was to keep from screaming as her hand touched her lips.

  He was covered with a thin black fur. His shoulders were wide with a narrow waist and legs that looked like tree trunks. His fangs hung low with teeth that were serrated. His eyes were set far apart in his small head. He threw that head back and roared. There was nothing of Lucca in the beast that stood before her.

  “What did you do to him?”

  “Nothing. That’s part of who he is, one of his inner beasts. Lovely, isn’t he?”

  His eyes opened they were a fiery red making her hand throb even more.

  “Change him back.”

  “No, you wanted him back. Well, you got him.”

  She reached out to grab Harold, but he disappeared leaving her with a Lucca she didn’t even know existed.

  Her tongue came out and licked her lips. What was she supposed to do now?

  “Lucca, you’re a shifter. I think you forgot to mention that. Menace, I turn into a scary beast would have been a nice heads up.” She took a step towards him, and he roared making her stumble backward. He struggled with the chains that held him.

  Her head shook as she wrapped her mind around what was happening. Yep, he wanted to kill her.

  She awkwardly sat on the floor in front of him.

  “Hi.” She smiled through the tears that were now streaming down her face. The tears weren’t because she was scared. They were because she was out of options. It felt like their lives were over with even though they were still breathing.

  “Your name is Lucca, and you’re a shifter. There is so much more I should know about you, but don’t. You showed me a memory once. I knew when I watched that memory what kind of little boy you were and what kind of man you became. I even knew you were a shifter; I just wasn’t putting it all together.”

  “My name is Tempest, but you call me menace. I don’t think you’ll ever call me that again, and my heart is breaking. My hand is killing me.” She lifted it so he could see it. “You stopped roaring that’s nice. That man, Harold didn’t think you were worth my hand, but you're worth it.”

  She took the end of her shirt and wiped up her face with it. “Voice in my head are you still with me?”

  She held her breath wondering if it would answer.

  “I’m here. I thought you may have forgotten about me.”

  “I did. Lucca, my… my mate, needs help. I don’t know how to help him. Do you know how to help?”

  “No.”

  “That’s okay I was hoping for a miracle; those don’t happen in my life. I want to take him back to our home. Is there a way you can help us?”

  When he didn’t answer, her head fell into her hands.

  “I think we’re going to have to figure this out on our own.”

  “Does this mean you no longer want my help?”

  Her head came up so fast she got a headache. “Do I know you?”

  He was tall with dark hair and eyes that were ever changing like molten silver.

  “We haven’t met yet. I’m Dante.”

  “Lucca’s oldest brother.”

  “That’s me.”

  “Look at him.”

  “It’s not that bad. This is just another side of him.”

  She glared at him. Why couldn’t he see what she was seeing?

  “He doesn’t know who he is or who I am. I think he wants to kill me.”

  “You’re right he wants to kill you. If you were him, you would want the same thing. He was tortured to the point that he’s nothing but a beast. There’s no higher reasoning in him.”

  “Will it come back?”

  He walked around Lucca and pulled out three knives that looked like they were red hot dropping them on the ground.

  “Doesn’t look that way. Are you ready?”

  “Yes.” She stumbled to her feet. She reached out with her uninjured hand. He took her injured hand squeezing hard. She passed out from pain.

  “How did you let them sneak up on you like that, Lucca? Wait, I was responsible for that.” Dante chained him to the basement wall in his house.

  He walked over to Tempest and did a quick check of her wound. “The two of you have to work this out.”

  She woke up with hot breath on her face. Opening her eyes, she saw shifted Lucca trying to reach her. She smiled at him while she discreetly moved back a little.

  “I see you brother gave you some length on your chain allowing you to move. That’s good I don’t want to limit your mobility. I just don’t want you to kill me.”

  He roared at her. “Are you hungry, thirsty? How are you going to go to the bathroom? Shit! You ever just want to shut down hide your head under your covers and wake up when it is all over? Probably not, you’re a big bad Created. I bet you don’t know anything about stress or having to make decisio
ns for others.”

  She dropped her head in shame as she remembered how he felt in the memory he showed her. “Sorry. Hey, my hand feels better I wonder if your brother took away the pain.”

  She looked at her palm, there was a raised design burned into her hand. “What do you think this is?” He roared at her. “Yeah, I don’t know what it is either. I’ll be right back.”

  She stood and went to the steps. He started pulling at the chains.

  “I’ll be back I promise. Just going to the kitchen.”

  Standing on her tiptoes; she reached for a deep bowl. After trying several minutes, she gave up and dragged a chair over to the cabinets.

  “Bowls check. Food now.” Opening the fridge, she found several raw steaks with a note ‘feed him this.’

  Was he going to eat it raw? Of course, he was. Where was her darn manual? The care and feeding of your Created. She grabbed the cooler with her shakes in them and made herself a small sandwich. Leaving the food, she went upstairs and grabbed a pillow and several blankets before taking it all downstairs. It took her several trips, but she should be good for the night.

  “I brought you some food. It’s in a bowl and raw. Sorry, your brother said that was what I should give to you. I also brought you a bowl of water.”

  She put it on the floor and used her fingertips to get it close enough while she stayed away from him.

  “This goes back to that conversation we were having on mates. When you’re with the person who makes your heart beat, you can’t leave him just because he got sick or shifted into an animal.”

  She made a pallet on the floor then sat down and drank her shake and ate her sandwich as she watched Lucca devour his raw steak and drink his water from the bowl.

  “You know I don’t think of myself as someone overly critical but honestly right about now I feel like I should be freaked out. Instead, I find myself accepting you just as you are. Goodnight.”

  She didn’t know about him, but she needed some sleep. Maybe her mind would work better in the morning.

  Her body was stiff as she woke up. “This is only a little better than sleeping in the cave.” Her eyes flew to his.

  “This is the second time we tried to approach that cave and the second time we’ve ended back at our house never reaching the cave.”

  This was home now. She’d be adding some decorating ideas as soon as Lucca came back to her.

  “Alright, I don’t think we have a lot of time.” What was she about to do? This impasse could last for months or years, except they didn’t have that kind of time.

  “I guess you win. Maybe we’ll meet in the next life.” She stood and stretched.

  “I care about you Lucca, probably more than I should, but I waited too long. My fault, don’t cry for me. I made this decision. One last time feet.” She ran to the first chain holding him in place undoing it. Before he could reach her, she was at the second chain. She went to the furthest corner and waited to feel his claws raking down her back.

  “Do it fast, please.”

  He stood watching her. When he straightened up, she saw just how tall he really was and how big his body was. She felt like a child standing in front of him waiting to be chastised.

  He claws came for her throat, and she tried to burrow deeper into the corner.

  Chapter Seventeen

  His hand went around her neck. She tried to stay perfectly still as she waited for him to choke her to death. His other hand picked up her burned hand. She was avoiding looking at it, but now that he was peeling her fingers back one by one; she sucked in a breath and looked down.

  In the middle of her hand was a raised design. She didn’t know what it was it could be a picture; it could also be a different language.

  He roared. She shook then she looked at him with suspicion. The roar wasn’t the loud one from earlier it was softer, and it sounded differently. Then another one came out.

  “Are you talking to me?”

  He took his claws away from her throat allowing her to breathe easier. He took the back of one claw that was smooth and traced what was on her hand.

  “It’s a word, isn’t it?” Her body was shaking. A smile was on her face. It had to be a word.

  She brought her finger up and traced it. He moved his head in approval. He stepped back and roared in pain as he clutched his chest.

  “What happened? What’s wrong?” That was the first roar he had given her. The I want to kill you roar. What changed?

  He fell to his knees and began backing away from her. The fur on his shoulder moved giving her a glimpse of a tattoo? Couldn’t be a tat he wasn’t human. Did other species have tats? Maybe, why should they only belong to humans? Great, now she was going to have to get closer to look.

  “Lucca, my shifter, I need to get closer to you.” She went to her hands and knees to crawl towards him. He snapped his jaw at her making her halt.

  “Hey, remember me? I’m menace the female who would never hurt you. I just want to see your shoulder. Please, I fed you last night. There’s more yummy steak upstairs. If you turn back into a male, I’ll even try my hand at cooking you that steak. I’m coming closer don’t snap those teeth at me.”

  He watched her like a wild animal. At any moment, he might decide to attack, but for now; he watched her approach.

  “Good Lucca. You owe me something big. Bigger than the boots and the shoes you bought me. I’m going to touch you now.” There was a warble in her voice, but she pretended she couldn’t hear it.

  Her hand raised gently touching his shoulder. “Your fur is soft,” her voice was as soothing as she could make it as she stroked him. “I like it.”

  Her fingers went deeper until she was touching flesh. “You run hot in this from. It doesn’t feel too bad; I'd never need a cover.

  She ran her finger over the area she could now see. It wasn’t a tat there were grooves in his skin. Could it be? It made some weird sort of logic if she thought about it.

  “I’m going to touch you a little longer, press my whole hand against you.” She placed her palm against him and began to slide it over his shoulder until her hand fit against the grooves in his body. It was a lock and a key.

  He roared again and pulled her on top of his body using one hand to keep her hand steady. She laid her head against his throat and allowed her body to relax. Fate had already been tempted it was just a matter of whether it decided to kill her or not.

  His body began to move; she raised her head to watch him shift. Once again, he was Lucca. He raised her hand and showed it to her; the marking on it was gone.

  “He is one of the animals that makes up my DNA sequence. They are usually very intelligent, but the male who held me tortured him past the point of reason and then said you commanded it be done. He was born; I was born with that mark that can only be seen when I am shifted.”

  “Tell me about the mark?”

  Lucca stood. “Let’s do it upstairs you're shivering.”

  “My people are born with that mark. The males have it on their shoulders the females on their hands, but it is unique. No two are the same. He explained as he carried her upstairs and laid her on the bed.

  “The female's mark is flat and so is the males until they reach the start of puberty. Then the male's mark begins to deepen until he reaches adulthood. That is the last sign that he is officially a male with the ability to leave his parents dwelling. The female mark is different it begins to push away from her flesh as she works. A bit chauvinistic maybe, but the hard work shows that she is not lazy and will make her mate a good wife. When two people with the same mark come together, they can mate, but the female must be willing to place her mark in the male. It is the reverse of the male claiming his mate with his body.”

  “You knew I was your mate when you saw the mark?”

  “I did. It was hard to believe after so many years that I tried to fight it in that form. You mean too much to me Menace. No matter what form I am in, I’ll always be attracted to you.”

>   “When you are in your other form or forms, look don’t touch, remember that.”

  “I’ll remember.”

  He pulled her close and kissed her. His teeth nipped at her lips until she opened for him.

  “That’s my menace.” He stroked her tongue slowly as his fingers stroked down the side of her neck.

  She sucked his tongue into her mouth taking his taste deep inside of her. His mouth sealed on her kissing her as his body stroked hers.

  “Lucca,” she whimpered. “I need you. I have to feel you real and whole touching me.”

  “I didn’t do anything to deserve you, but someone knew I needed you.” He reached down and took her shirt in his hand pulling it over her head.

  “Shower?”

  “No time.” He stripped her bare as her hand caressed his chest.

  “Well, shifting left you naked.”

  “One of the positive things.” He pulled her to him before kissing the globes of her chest. His hands covered her body slowly stroking it. “What do you want?”

  She pushed him until he was on his back then she told him to roll over.

  “How sensitive are you?”

  She started at the back of his neck nipping on him. She licked him loving the saltiness of his skin.

  He let out a deep breath. The feel of her mouth on him had him tied in a ball. How could something so simple make his body shake with need? He let out a deep groan as her hands stroked down his back. A smile touched his lips as she used her tongue to stroke him following the path of her hands.

  He shuddered when she stroked down his spine. Her soft hands had so much strength. He could still feel the pride his beast felt when he watched her. She had been so scared, but she kept it deep within and approached him. How could he not love the feel of his strong mate loving him?

  Her hand pinched at his ass making him tighten. The sound of her laughter made him relax. She bit him bringing a groan from him. She caressed his ass again before going down to his legs.

  “I love your body.”

  He looked over his shoulder. “I think that’s what I’m supposed to say.”