Page 32 of Legion
The twins obligingly left the room.
He switched his attention back to Naomi, walking toward her.“Did the fucker touch you?”
“No, he just desperately tried convincing me that his feelings were genuine.He was beyond the point of being reasoned with.”She grimaced.“It always creeps me out when someone fixates on me so intensely.It’s like they lose who they are little by little,” she added, guilt threaded through each word.
Luka frowned, inching closer to her.Her scent swirled around him; beckoned him, enticed him, urged him to reach out and touch her.An urge he didn’t fight.“Don’t feel guilty, Naomi,” he said, palming her nape.“He isn’t in that state because of you.”
“My song—”
“Snared him, yes, but it hasn’t taken his choices from him.As you yourself once pointed out to me, he’s still responsible for his words and actions.If he’d done as you asked and left you alone, he would have recovered months ago.But he didn’t do that.He hasn’t respected your wishes at any point.He’s all about himself.That isn’t on you.”He squeezed the back of her neck.“It’s a reflection of his basic personality.”
She licked her lips.A simple sight, and yet brutal lust bit at him.A lust that shot straight to his dick and fed the sexual tension that was always present when they were close.He should be used to it after a week in her bed.Should have developed some sort of immunity to her song.No such luck.It sang to his system even now.
The sex between them wasn’t merely good, it was fucking phenomenal.Memories of it—of the softness of her skin, of her nails digging into his back, of how she arched into his every thrust—played through his mind constantly.
“I know,” she said, her voice thick in a way that told him she wasn’t immune to the tension.“I still don’t like seeing him that way.”She thrust a hand through her hair.“I didn’t expect him to show up here.I thought he’d listen to you.”
“So did I, but I was having him monitored just to be sure.He must have known, because he made every effort to give his watcher the slip.”And the bastard had been successful—something Luka wouldn’t have foreseen.
He’d underestimated just how determined Iain would be to have contact with her, and she’d essentially paid for that.Luka wouldn’t make that mistake again.“On the day I release him, I will assign you a guard.”
Surprise rippled over her face, and her brow knitted.“That’s not necessary.”
“Oh, but it is.He should never have gotten near you tonight.I will not allow it to happen again.”
“He isn’t a danger to me.”
“At present, no.But you said yourself that things might get ugly.Men have threatened you in the past when in his state.They’ve even tried to harm you.”Which made Luka want to fucking kill them.
“But—”
He reached up with his free hand and loosely cupped the side of her jaw.“No, Naomi, I’m not budging on this.”He brushed his thumb over her lower lip.“I will not risk him harming you.As you already know, you’re mine for the foreseeable future.That places you under my protection, which I take very seriously.It’s as simple as that.”His eyes dipped to her mouth of their own accord.“Now, I need to go deal with Iain.But I want a taste of you first.”
He stole a kiss that was slow, teasing, and deep, feeling the tension gradually leach from her muscles.Pulling back, he hummed.“If I wasn’t wound so tight with fury that I could trust I wouldn’t be far too rough with you, I’d take you here and now.It will regretfully have to wait.”Releasing her, he let his arms fall back to his sides.“I’m going to be ...busy tonight.”Busy dealing with Iain.“But I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She gave a curt nod.“Tomorrow.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Luka strode out of the breakroom, his blood still buzzing with rage.He looked at Daniil, who had evidently returned and now stood with the twins.“Take us to Iain.”
Their surroundings blurred briefly as Daniil teleported them out of the pizzeria and straight to an underground vault.Located in an isolated spot of the Nevada desert, it was constructed of thick soundproof walls that were cracked and moist with damp.
It was windowless and dimly lit.The only light came from the weak, flickering bulbs placed sporadically around the vault.The air was ripe with the scents of fear, old blood, terror, rusted iron, and a defeated despair.
It was one of Belial’s favorite places in the entire world.
“You may go,” Luka told Daniil, who promptly disappeared.
Luka stalked along the narrow passageway that split the short rows of cramped detention cells.Only two were presently occupied.A badly hurt demon was curled up asleep in the corner of the first.Iain stood at the back of the other, his palms pressed against the walls as if he might disappear into them.
Luka halted in front of the cell.“I would imagine that being here has stirred up some extremely unpleasant memories for you.People who are brought to my vault generally don’t do anything that would result in a second visit.There have been exceptions, of course.I hadn’t thought that you would be one of them.We both learned that your threshold for pain is far from high.”
Iain cast a fearful look to his right, knowing what lay beyond the cells.Knowing of the furnaces, pits of water, interrogation rooms, and—finally—torture chambers.
Each chamber was worse than the one before.All contained various instruments and machines—some medieval, some modern.The severity of the crime dictated how many chambers you were taken to and the length of the torture sessions you endured.
Many words had been used to describe the happenings here in the vault.Sadistic.Barbaric.Hellish.All were accurate.
