ADELINE

 

MY EYELIDS SLOWLY flutter open.  Groaning, I work open my sore mouth and swallow hard, wincing at the discomfort in my tender throat.

There's a dull ache all over my body under a layer of fog that must be from some kind of medicine.  It's making my brain feel like mush and my thoughts muddled together.

Feeling around to the soft surface below me, I peer through my tangled hair around the dark room.  I squint, trying to see something…anything…with the help of the moonlight filtering in through the two large windows to my left.

I'm not in my room.  I know that for a fact.

And having no idea where I am throws me right into a panic.

Whose room is this? I wonder as my eyes sweep over the king-sized bed with expensive sheets I'm currently laying in.

Slowly and carefully, I struggle to sit up.  The room instantly turns on its axis, spinning faster and faster.  My head throbs with a ferocious headache, and I have to force myself not to throw up after bile quickly collects in the back of my sore throat.

I collapse back against the soft pillows and press my fingers against my temples until everything eventually stops spinning.

I hear a noise, and it draws my attention to the dark corner of the room.  That's when I see a shadowed figure of a man in a chair.  He's hunched over, swirling a glass with ice and dark liquid with one hand and holding a bottle of liquor with the other, the top of the bottle precariously clenched between his thumb and index finger.

Memories of Rafael's assault bombard my conscious mind, and I gasp a shuddering breath.  The dark figure's head snaps up at the sound, and that's when I realize the man is Lucien.  His dark eyes narrow at me, and then he slowly stands, almost completely shrouded by the shadows.

Tears stream down my face as my body slowly begins to tremble.  "Lucien," I whisper. "Rafael…he…he was going to…you…you stopped…"  I'm quickly becoming a babbling and crying mess, not even capable of forming a complete sentence to describe the complete and utter terror I experienced.

Lucien stalks towards me, his face set in a mask of cold indifference.  He sits on the edge of the mattress near my legs before placing the items in his hands down on the nightstand beside the bed.  "You ran from me," he spits out, not looking at me, his voice as cold as the ice in the glass.

"I…I'm sorry, Lucien," I blurt out with a sob.

He cringes at the sound of his name coming from my lips, and it destroys me.  He thinks I betrayed him.

And that's because…I did.

I betrayed his trust, and look where it got me.  Look what I made him do.

Lucien killed for me.

Another shudder wracks my body, and Lucien turns, his eyes piercing mine.  "I don't know what I would have done if…" his voice trails off, thick with emotion.

"I'm sorry.  I'm so sorry," I cry.  "I'll never leave you again.  I swear!"  My voice wavers as I speak.  I'd never been so scared in my life, not even when I was first kidnapped and brought here.

For a while I thought Lucien was the worst thing that could ever happen to me.

But I was wrong.

So wrong.

"It all happened so fast," I tell him, needing to explain.  "He asked me if I wanted to leave.  I started following him…I don't know what I was thinking."

"You were thinking that you wanted to leave the island.  You wanted to leave me," he says, his words slurring like acid on his tongue.

I stare into his molten-chocolate eyes.  "It was a split-second decision.  And I made the wrong choice.  I know that now."  I swallow hard.  "But I did change my mind.  It was just too late by then."

He scoffs and shakes his head at my words as if he doesn't believe me.

"It's true!" I shout.  "When I thought that…"  I hesitate, closing my eyes for a moment before continuing.  "I couldn't leave without knowing if I would ever see you again."

His brows furrow, but I see an infinitesimal hint of trust in his eyes.

"Please…please don't hate me," I beg him.  I can't bear his aloofness right now…not after everything that happened…not after he saved my life.

"I need you, Lucien," I whisper my secret into the dark room.

And all the feelings I've been shoving to the backburner come rushing forward.  I should have never tried to leave this place.  I should have never tried to leave him.  And I know now that I will never try again.

His eyes search my face for a while before he winces and frowns.  He slowly stands before saying, "What you need is to rest."

There's been this wild tug of war between us since I arrived here, with me always pushing Lucien away while he's always trying to pull me back in.

And I think now that he's finally withdrawing, it causes me to snap.

I seize his hand before he can walk away.  His eyes immediately lock onto our connection, but he doesn't withdraw from my touch.  He simply stares.  "Adeline," he warns with a soft growl.  His breathing eventually grows unsteady, and then his eyes meet mine once more.

"Please.  Stay with me.  Just for a little while," I whisper.  "I don't want to be alone right now," I quickly add before I can stop myself.  I don't know what's possessing me to say these things to my captor — if it's the drugs that Jax has given me or something else, but I can't seem to stop them from pouring out.  "I'm scared," I confess to him, my voice wobbly with emotion.

Lucien closes his eyes for a moment and then nods once.  Pulling away from my grasp, he walks to the other side of the bed and climbs in, still wearing his signature suit.  Keeping some distance from me, he lies down, interlacing his fingers across his stomach.

After a few deep, even breaths, Lucien turns his head towards me.  Our eyes lock, and I stare at him, studying his handsome face.  He seems tense, stressed out maybe.  His eyes are bloodshot as if he hasn't slept much in the past day or so.  I don't even know how long I've been in his room or how long it's been since…everything happened.

I blink once, twice…and by the third time, my eyelids are too heavy for me to open them again.

"Sleep now, Adeline," I hear him whisper.  "I'll keep you safe."

And under his protective, vigilant gaze, I'm finally able to fall back asleep.