by Meg Xuemei X
He pulled a bandage from his medical kit. Within a minute, he had cleaned her and patched her up. Then she felt his soft, warm lips a few inches from her wound.
Lucienne tensed, though she shivered with pleasure at his touch, her heart swaying like a swing in the air. “Vlad,” she warned.
He pulled up her panties and let down her skirt. “Just a kiss,” he said. “I missed you. You have no idea what kind of hell I went through.” He leaned his face against her leg for a moment before rising. “I’ll have to carry you. You have an injured ankle.”
“I can manage,” Lucienne said firmly. She wouldn’t let him carry her like a bag. And who knew what he would try if he had her wrapped in his arms.
“With shoes like that?” he said, then sat her in his lap and untied her stiletto.
“I can’t be barefoot,” Lucienne said. “Look at the ground.”
Vladimir tore the heel from the stiletto. “That’s better,” he said as he put the shoe back on her foot and tied the lace around her ankle.
The small gesture was so intimate and loving that Lucienne felt tenderness brimming inside her. She took the moment to drink in the sight of him—his thick lashes curled at the end, his fine-boned nose that betrayed his aristocratic breeding, and his kissable lips—as he untied the other stiletto and removed the heel.
“It came off easily,” he complained. “That short girl got you cheap shoes.”
“They’re not cheap!” Ziyi’s voice burst from Lucienne’s phone on the ground. “They’re Prada.”
“Winter sale, I bet,” Vladimir said.
Lucienne had forgotten about the world when Vladimir showed up. She jumped up from his lap, her cheeks flaming, as if her friend could see how cozily she was snuggling up to the traitor.
She went to fetch her phone. She knew the Chinese girl had heard everything.
“Ziyi,” she said. “We’re moving out.”
“Is that really Blazek?” Ziyi asked.
Lucienne could picture the girl’s eyes turning to ice picks. She flickered a glance at Vladimir as he gave the teenage group instructions.
“He got me out,” Lucienne said.
“Yeah, out the kindness of his heart,” Ziyi hissed. “If he has one.”
“Hello to you, too, Ziyi.” Vladimir walked back to Lucienne and didn’t flinch at Ziyi’s lethal tone. “I do have one, and it beats beautifully.” He reached for Lucienne’s hand and led her out of the lab.
The group followed them closely.
“Don’t be so sure,” Ziyi said on the other end. “I’ll make it stop if you dare hurt Lucia.”
“You’re crazier than I thought if you think I could hurt my Lucia,” Vladimir said.
“You’re calling me crazy?” Ziyi snorted. “If you think she’s yours—”
“Ziyi,” Lucienne cut in, “tell the men to hold their ground until the reinforcements arrive. Don’t come to me.”
“But Lucia, you can’t trust—” Ziyi said.
“No worries. We’re coming home.” Lucienne hung up, catching the last words from her friend, “Be safe, Lu—”
Vladimir moved ahead to scout the hallway, his Armatix gun leveled before him. He gestured to Lucienne and the group that the coast was clear.
Lucienne, despite the throbbing pain radiating from her shoulder and ankle, scrambled along the wrecked hallway.
Noticing her limp, Vladimir came to her, letting her lean on him as they trekked on.
“Why?” Lucienne drew a breath. She finally had a chance to ask him the one burning question. “Why did you turn on me?”
“I never turned against you, Lucienne Lam.” He looked straight at her, a swirl of emotions warring in his eyes. “You’re more than the world to me.” His thumb grazed across her cheek. “I flew right here when I heard what they were going to do to you. I sent a messenger to warn you and I freed Duncan after I told him about the weapon.”
So torturing Duncan was a show to convince the Sealers, just as she suspected. The rescue team that ambushed the Sealers’ force was Vladimir’s men. The mysterious rescuer was Vladimir himself.
Then a thought sank into Lucienne—Kian never actively pursued Vladimir. He wasn’t even angry when Duncan recounted how Vladimir humiliated and tormented him.
Kian knew, right from the beginning, that Vladimir had never betrayed them. Yet Kian hadn’t breathed a word to her. Anger darkened Lucienne’s eyes.
“But you hated me,” she said.
“At my darkest moments, I hated you more than anyone in the universe,” Vladimir said. “I thought if I got far away from you, I’d forget you. Out of sight, out of mind, they say. But that’s a lie. There isn’t a single moment when you’re out of my mind. I realized that no matter how upset I was with you, my love for you is stronger than anything.”
Lucienne felt the sting of tears behind her eyelids, but she forced them back. “I betrayed you. I broke my promise to you. You saw Ash—Ashburn and me—”
“That wasn’t a pretty sight,” Vladimir admitted. “In fact, that was the most unpleasant scene in my life. Nothing can break that record. But still, it can’t diminish my love for you. Nothing can stand between us, láska, as long as we want each other.”
The ache in her heart vanished. Lucienne curved her fingers around his hand that held hers tightly and pulled him to a stop.
“Vlad,” she whispered.
He smiled at her.
She pressed her palm to his face. His rough stubble rubbed against her hand. The heat of his skin warmed her. He was so manly and sexy, she thought to herself. He was everything she wanted. How could she have ever broken his heart in the first place?
Vladimir half shut his eyes with a shudder, as if savoring her touch.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He put a finger on her lips. “I saw how you wept when I left with Black Widow.” Over her questioning look, he said, “That’s the name of my MiG-25 fighter. I should change its name.” He waved a hand to dismiss the thought. “Later on, I realized you just had a moment of weakness when you kissed another guy. I wanted to turn Black Widow around and come back to you, but I was drained. I had no strength to face you, and I didn’t want you to see how wrecked I was.” His gaze on her was both gentle and intense. “When I saw the joy in your eyes when you first spotted me, I immediately knew you still had feelings for me. You believed I betrayed you, yet you couldn’t shoot me. The Lucienne Lam I knew never made an empty threat, but you made an exception for me twice. You must hate yourself for that, but you just couldn’t shoot me. So I must still have a spot in your heart.”
“You’ll forever have a spot there,” Lucienne said. “I’ve always loved you.”
Vladimir’s hazel eyes brightened to golden.
It dawned on Lucienne that it was the first time she confessed her love for him.
“I’d love to hear more of that,” Vladimir rasped. “I could listen to that all day long, but,” over her alarmed look, he added, “now’s not the time for romance, láska.”
Their surroundings rushed back to Lucienne—blackened and broken walls, smoke and dust, and sporadic gunfire. Rushing footsteps stomped overhead. The war raged on.
Vladimir led the group across two labs. He seemed to know the structure of the building well. Lucienne didn’t question where he was taking her. Being with him made her feel safe.
“Nexus Tear is a real threat to you,” he said. “The Sealers Brotherhood isn’t what we thought it was. It’s the oldest secret society. Brotherhood of Death, the Order of Golden Dawn, the Knights of Templar, the Priory of Sion, and many more, are all part of it.”
“There must be an ancient feud between the Sealers and the Sirens,” Lucienne said. “Bad blood my ancestors have forgotten and the Sealers still remember.”
“They waited to strike until Nexus Tear woke.” Vladimir nodded. “The activation of the Eye of Time must have initiated it, like what happened with Seraphen.”
“Do they know about the Eye of Tim
e?” Lucienne mustered an effort not to let acid get into her tone.
“What do you think?” he asked. “That I’m an idiot? Do you think I’d tell them that?”
“I don’t know anything anymore,” she sighed.
“You can still trust me, can’t you?”
“I don’t know where you’re taking me,” Lucienne said, “yet I’m following you. I’ve put my life in your hands again.”
Vladimir lifted Lucienne’s hand and kissed it.
Lucienne felt her pulse instantly quicken and it wasn’t from running.
“I’ve spent months trying to find out more about this Nexus Tear and where they guard it. My source mentioned it’s the counterpart to the power in you—the Siren’s insignia.” He gave Lucienne a look. “And it will unmake the Siren.”
A chill like no other crept up Lucienne’s spine. Her mark had been acting up due to the activation of the weapon. She’d been feeling as if someone had stolen one of her body parts.
But how could Vladimir’s source know about her implant?
A deep shadow coated Lucienne’s eyes. The ultimate secret belonged to Sirens only, except for Ashburn, who knew about it because he had the memories of her ancestors.
Now her enemies had invaded her sacred territory. She had never felt so exposed and threatened.
“I hate to tell you the bad news,” Vladimir said in a low voice, “but we must prepare. Nexus Tear will not only hurt you, it’ll eventually kill you. The Sealers want to destroy your legitimacy first.”
He must have felt the sudden frostiness of her skin. His warm, rough hand tightened around hers. “I’ll not let them touch you,” he said fiercely. “Now you have me in the enemy’s lair.”
“Who is your source?” Lucienne asked.
“The daughter of Immanuel Thorn, one of the twelve elders,” said Vladimir.
Lucienne frowned. She couldn’t verify the information passed to Vladimir from the third party. “So you’ve managed to charm this daughter of the elder?” she asked.
“Did I hear jealousy?”
“You wish,” she said. “Have you met the ringleader of the Sealers?”
Vladimir shook his head. “Almost no one knows the true founder of the Sealers. He passes orders through one of the elders. I’ll find out which one and deliver him to Sphinxes. And then we’ll force the information out of him.”
“We’ve been chasing false leads,” Lucienne said. “I thought half of my family members were my enemies. It turns out they’ve only gathered under the flag of an ancient enemy I knew nothing about.”
“Not anymore,” Vladimir said. “I’m your dagger in their sides. They think I hate you. They believe my only passion in life is to bring you down.”
“How sweet,” Lucienne said.
Vladimir stopped and touched her pale face. “As long as Nexus Tear exists, you’ll never be safe. That’s the reason I stay with them.”
“You’re not coming back with me?” She widened her eyes. “All this running together, I thought—”
“Being separated from you is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Vladimir said with a ragged breath, “and the hardest thing I’ll have to continue to do until I destroy Nexus Tear. I’ll never allow any threat to you to remain on this planet.”
“You don’t need to do it alone. We can handle it from our home base.”
“We can’t, and you know that. I am your only chance.”
“I don’t want you to do this,” she said. “You’re coming back to Sphinxes with me.” If she lived and he perished, nothing mattered anymore.
Lucienne made up her mind to force him to leave with her when they reached their destination.
They ran past two domes and didn’t meet the rebels. Behind them, the teenagers kept as quiet as they could, except for their labored breathing.
“This is the end.” Vladimir led Lucienne into a spacious storage room after a left turn down a corridor. “You’ll leave by the secret passage.”
Secret passage? Lucienne’s jaw dropped. Not again. When Vladimir and she had fled the monastery’s secret passages, the warrior monks had ambushed them inside.
The corner of Vladimir’s lips tilted into a wicked smirk. He obviously recalled that adventure. “We had all the fun in the world, didn’t we?” he asked.
Lucienne tore her gaze from his curvy lips, looked around, and then stared back at him defiantly. “I’m not leaving my men behind.”
“You are,” Vladimir said, his smirk gone. “The rebels are everywhere. This is the only clean exit I could find. My men, who ambushed the Sealers’ team in Mexico, are waiting at the other end.”
He strode to the side wall and yanked off metal mesh that was disguised as a cover for the building’s cooler system.
“Get going.” Lucienne turned to the teenagers. “Tell them Vladimir sent you.”
“Thank you,” the blonde said, and the teenagers crept into the air duct one by one.
“Now it’s your turn,” Vladimir said, touching her face tenderly. “I’ll distract the militants from your team.”
Vladimir had proposed a reasonable move. The rebels, regarding him as an ally, wouldn’t shoot him. And she could reach the safe shore and secure back-up for her team. However, good logic didn’t smooth the knots in her stomach. She didn’t want to leave him. Anything could happen in a war.
“How do you know this secret exit?” she asked.
“I’m a sucker for uncovering secrets, you know that,” he said with a smile. “I acquired the blueprint of the psychopath doctor’s labs when I heard you were coming.”
Lucienne sighed. He always had a knack for that. He even found one of the Red Mansion’s secret routes that only the Sirens knew about.
He sent her a probing look, as if questioning the purpose of her visit. Lucienne looked away. “Go,” he sighed. “The rebels will get here any second.”
She bit her lip, looking for a way to make him go with her. Should she knock him out? She wouldn’t be able to move him through the passage then, given her claustrophobia. Well, she had to play damsel in distress.
“Vlad,” she said sweetly, “why don’t you be a dear and escort me to the end of the tunnel? I’d feel safer with you around.”
“We’ve gone through this, miláček,” he said. “You know I want to go with you more than anything, but I can’t.”
“But Vlad—” Lucienne stopped protesting, surprised by the clack of high heels running in their direction.
They shared a look. He pushed her behind him, his Armatix pistol raised.
She fell into a step beside him, raising hers.
A girl, about sixteen, rushed in. She had distinctive European features with a hint of Asian blood. “Vlad?” the teen called urgently, joy bursting in her brown eyes at the sight of Vladimir. She froze as she found him and Lucienne together, their twin guns pointing at her.
Vlad? The Siren narrowed her eyes. No one should call him Vlad, except her. She studied the girl, whose auburn hair curled down to her ears. Her opponent was half a head shorter than her but more voluptuous. There was toughness underneath her sweet appearance.
“Don’t shoot.” Vladimir lowered his Armatix and turned to Lucienne. “Bayrose is a friend.” Then over Lucienne’s questioning look, he nodded subtly.
So this was the daughter of the elder, Vladimir’s “resource.” Lucienne wondered if the girl, whose face was as pretty as her name, was his new love. Evidently he cared about this newcomer. Lucienne’s stomach turned acid.
“Bayrose,” Vladimir asked unhappily, “what are you doing here?”
“I came to look for you,” Bayrose said. “I was so worried about you.” She gazed at Vladimir with adoration, pouring out her feelings like the summer sunlight.
“Don’t you know how dangerous it is to come to a war zone?” Vladimir asked.
“I can take care of myself,” Bayrose said. “And my bodyguards aren’t far away. I just ditched them.”
“How did you f
ind me here?” Vladimir asked.
Bayrose smiled smugly and radiantly. “This.” She flashed her phone, indicating a red pulsing dot.
They must have been very close if the girl could put a tracer on Vladimir. Lucienne’s eyes darkened, and her finger tightened on the trigger—her gun still pointing at the girl. One shot and she would rid herself of the competition.
Bayrose seemed oblivious to the pistol, her full attention wrapped around Vladimir, which made Lucienne even madder.
“You should never have done that,” Vladimir snarled. “I’m not one of your pets.”
“I’ve never treated you as one.” Bayrose blinked back her tears. “I can’t help it. I just need to make sure you’re safe.” She then flashed a proud grin. “I stopped the Chechen army from firing missiles because I knew you were inside.”
“Is she a threat?” Lucienne asked. She wished he would say yes.
“Who is she?” Bayrose raised her chin toward Lucienne with an air of arrogance. Her expression transformed from devotion to Vladimir to suspicion of Lucienne.
“Jean Vega,” Vladimir said. Jean was every girl’s name, and Vega meant Angel. “Jean was detained along with Schmidt’s other human subjects. You might have bumped into one or two on your way here.” His intense gaze locked on Bayrose, his hands grasping her shoulders—very much to Lucienne’s displeasure. “You’ll never tell anyone about seeing my friend Jean. Can you do that?”
Bayrose nodded without hesitation and said fiercely, “No matter what you do, Vlad. I’ll never betray you. And I’ll never allow anyone to harm you!”
“Never allow anyone to harm you” was the wrong thing to say to Vladimir, Lucienne thought. Never treat an alpha wolf as a sheep. The girl didn’t know him that well, but that didn’t comfort Lucienne. That girl had spent time with Vladimir that should have been hers.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Vladimir said darkly, then released Bayrose from his grip.
The girl pouted, seemingly wanting more from him.
Vladimir took Lucienne’s arm and pulled her toward the air duct. “Go, Jean, We’ll meet again.”
Lucienne was suddenly beyond furious. How dare he dismiss her like this? “Thank you very much for your help, Prince Vladimir.” She shook off his hand and kept her expression as bland as stale water. “However, I can’t leave. I won’t leave my stuff behind. I need to go back”
