CHAPTER FIVE:His Touch,Her Fire
880 Words
The silence between them wasn’t quiet. It was thunder waiting to crack. Elena stood frozen in the middle of Lucien’s penthouse, her breath caught between fear and fascination. She could still feel the echo of his voice — low, growling, and seductive — vibrating in her bones.
He hadn’t touched her. Not yet. But his eyes had.
Lucien paced to the window, his silhouette outlined by the city lights below. His shirt hung open, exposing pale skin stretched over muscle, a faint scar riding just above his ribs. She noticed how tightly his hands gripped the window ledge. Control — he was always clinging to it like it could shatter at any second.
“I should go,” Elena finally whispered, her voice small but defiant.
“You won’t,” he replied without turning.
It wasn’t a question. It was a fact.
And he was right.
Lucien finally turned. His eyes — no longer hiding the hunger — pinned her in place. “You should have never come here, Elena. You don’t know what I am.”
“Then tell me,” she challenged, fists clenched.
A flash of something—pain? anger?—twitched in his jaw. “You wouldn’t believe it.”
“I came to your friend’s party, Lucien. Not into your world.”
“You stepped into it the second you looked at me like that,” he snapped, striding forward. “Like I was something you could understand. Something you could... tame.”
Elena held her ground. “I don’t want to tame you. I want the truth.”
Lucien stopped just inches away. She could smell leather, blood, and something darker—like midnight air after rain. “I haven’t felt anything real in centuries,” he murmured. “Then you walked in, and I wanted to rip out every man’s throat just for breathing your name.”
Her breath hitched.
“But I won’t touch you, Elena,” he said, his tone hardening. “Because once I start... I won’t stop.”
Her chest rose and fell fast. “You’re scaring me.”
“I should.”
They stood like that — predator and prey, flame and fuse. But Elena didn’t run.
Instead, she said, “Then why didn’t you just let me leave?”
Lucien growled low in his throat. “Because I can’t. Because you make me forget what I am, and that’s dangerous. For both of us.”
The lights above flickered, a subtle crackle in the air — electricity responding to his mood.
“I don’t need saving,” she whispered.
His voice dropped. “That’s the problem, Elena. I do.”
She reached out before she could stop herself, her fingers grazing his wrist. His skin was cold at first... but then, beneath it, a fire surged. Their connection was instant, violent, and intimate.
Lucien pulled away like her touch burned. “Don’t,” he said, harsher than intended.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said.
He turned away, walking to the fireplace. “You should be. There are things hunting you now. Because you’re mine.”
She blinked. “Yours?”
Lucien didn’t turn. “They sensed my mark. When I stopped that man outside the club from touching you, I didn’t just warn him. I claimed you.”
Elena felt like the ground had shifted beneath her feet. “You had no right—”
“I don’t care about rights,” he growled. “I care about what’s mine. And the moment you looked at me like I wasn’t a monster, you sealed your fate.”
Her heart thundered.
“I’m not your pet,” she hissed.
“No,” he said, finally turning, “you’re my weakness. And that’s worse.”
A sudden knock shattered the moment.
Lucien stiffened, his head jerking toward the door. His nostrils flared, and his fangs — unmistakable now — elongated just slightly.
“Elena. Go upstairs. Now.”
“Who is it?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he stalked toward her, faster than human reflex, grabbing her hand. “Do not open that door. Do not make a sound.”
Elena’s heart slammed against her ribs. The air shifted — heavier now, colder. She could feel the presence behind that door. It wasn’t human.
Lucien pressed her back against the wall near the staircase. “I’ll handle it,” he said. “But if I call your name, you run.”
She nodded, her voice stolen by fear.
He turned and opened the door.
A woman stood there. Tall. Ethereal. Blood-red lips and eyes like a winter storm. She wore a black coat that looked expensive and dangerous.
“Lucien,” she said, voice like silk wrapped around a blade. “You’ve been hiding.”
Lucien stepped outside, closing the door behind him.
Elena crept up the stairs, every muscle tense. Through the glass, she could barely make out their shadows. The woman leaned in close. Lucien’s fists were clenched.
Then, the woman looked toward the window. Elena swore she smiled.
They knew.
They knew she was here.
Moments later, Lucien came back inside, his jaw tight, his eyes dark.
“She knows about you,” he said grimly. “And now, there’s no turning back.
- Writer
