Lucifer's Mate

Chapter Eight- Dangerous Game

     Once she was all packed, they got in her car with him on the driver’s side. He reached over her shoulder and grabbed the belt buckle, leaving his neck right in front of her face. Luci gasped at his closeness, causing her to accidentally inhale his intoxicating scent. She instantly released her breath, like if she was liberating some kind of poison from her body. 

    He felt her breath grace his neck, and a shiver ran down his spine. He reached his other hand and placed it on the seat, beside her shoulder. He inhaled her sweet scent and released his own breath at the base of her neck, right over her pulse, which seemed to be quickening rather fast. He moved back a little, just enough to examine her face closely. Her eyes were closed, and she had her head pressed against the seat. Her hands were on her lap in tight fists. He moved back a little more and clicked the seatbelt in place, before moving close to her again and trailing his nose from the crook of her neck to her cheek where he pressed a small peck, then moved back completely to buckle his own seat belt. He then started the car and set off towards their home.

       Lucy turned her face to look out the window at the passing road, "how did you get here without a car?" She broke the silence after a while, but didn’t turn to look at him.

       "I did bring a car, my beta took it," Xavier replied looking at her for a second, before looking back at the road, both amused and upset that she refused to look at him.

       "Oh" was all she said in return, and that was all the conversation they had, each one lost in their own thoughts. 

       The mention of a beta had Luci thinking about his pack and how they would react to her. She knew she wasn't staying, yet for some unknown reason she still longed to make a good impression.

       Ain't it fun, ain't it fun, living now you're one of us- her cell phone started ringing in his pocket, which caused her eyes to grow wide while staring at the side of his head. He reached in his jacket’s pocket and handed it to her without looking. "I thought you'd want it back" he chuckled nervously, still not looking at her, feeling like he had been caught red handed.

       She slowly took it from his hand, and swiped the green icon upward when she saw D's name on it. She made a mental note to ask Xavier how to change that mocking ringtone. She liked the song, it was good and catchy, but it was a mockery to her nonetheless. 

    "Si?" She said, putting the phone to her ear. "Lucy, hi! Guess where I am" her sister exclaimed excitedly. "No idea," she said, looking out the window. She suddenly felt very awkward talking on the phone while in the car with him. "I'm standing on THE Great Wall of China!" She squealed at the end. "Why?" Lucy asked, not amazed at all. She didn't even know why her sister was so excited, it wasn't like she couldn't just go whenever she wanted to, or like that was her first time standing on the edge of the wall. "Some i***t just jumped off, like a second ago, aaaand, splat. Well gotta go, catch you later, you see what I did there? Cause he just jumped off, but no one caught him, hahaha. Love ya bye." 

       "Love you too." And the line went dead. 

    Lucy stared at the screen confused. ‘What the heck was that about?’ 

       'Love you?' X thought to himself. Who was she talking to? A boyfriend? 'No' his wolf growled at him. 'She's ours!’ Curiously enough, and to make matters worse for his growing uneasiness, he could not hear a single thing on the other side of the line. With how close she was to him and his enhanced hearing he should have been able to hear the whole conversation clearly without a problem, but he got nothing. He only heard his mate’s single word replies and the ‘love you too’ bit that he could have done without.

      Lucy looked over at Xavier after a while. He was looking straight ahead, so she allowed her eyes to examine his beautiful face. His strong jawline was tense, she guessed it was the stress, and once again felt guilty for causing him despair. He gulped and her eyes traveled lower, to his throat. He had a thick neck, and lower, broad shoulders. His arms were strong, and she could see the rippling muscles thanks to his short sleeved T-shirt. His hands had a death grip on the steering wheel, and his knuckles were turning white. She looked away when she realized that she was staring, and blushed when she remembered the words he had told her before, ‘it’s ok to look at what’s yours.’ She felt like she should say something, anything to ease the awkwardness, but she couldn’t think of anything, so she just looked out the window again to watch the rays of sun flash at her through the crowns of the tall pine trees that lined the empty road they were on.

    That's how the rest of the way was, silent and awkward, at least for her. He seemed like he was in his own little world, and she didn't know why the hell he wanted her with him so much if he was just going to ignore her. 

       Soon enough, they reached the pack house. It was beautiful, majestic even. All white, with many windows, and huge double doors, with detailed carvings all over them. It was almost as magnificent as Selene’s mansion. 

       As soon as he parked the car, Lucy quickly reached for her seatbelt before he had any ideas. She heard him chuckle, but paid no attention to him, until she felt her door open, and her eyes snapped up to look at a grinning Xavier. "M'lady" he said, reaching his hand out for her to take. She scoffed, but took his hand and got out anyway. Xavier didn't let go of her hand anymore, and, although she would never admit it, she enjoyed the sparks flying flowing in through her hand and spreading through her body. 

       They walked in like that, hand in hand, and soon after he closed the front door a loud squeal was heard. "Daddy!" And a little girl came running down the stairs in a blur. She had long, honey blonde hair, tied into two pigtails that ended in ringlets by her sides. She had large, light brown eyes, and sand colored skin. Luci was not only taken aback by her beauty, but by who she was running towards. Xavier quickly let go of her hand to catch the girl who threw herself at him. "Hi baby girl, did you miss me?"  He asked with a wide smile on his face. 

    It wasn't a grin or a smirk, nor a sad smile, like the ones she had seen on him so far; it was an actual legit smile of happiness, and she couldn't help but stare and look at the sparkle in his eyes. He was beautiful. 

    She snapped out of it when the little girl spoke again. "No. Ama play with me. We play pincess!" She exclaimed, and Luci would've awed at her baby voice and funny pronunciation, if it wasn't for the fact that when the girl said "ama," was she trying to say 'mama?' She couldn’t believe he had a child! More importantly, the mother still lived with them! He sure was stupid if he thought she would share a roof with his past lover. 

       Xavier turned to look at Luci. She had a blank look on her face, and he hoped she wouldn't storm off before he could explain himself. "Why don't you go call Ama for daddy, sweetie" he told her, setting her down, and the bubbly little girl half run- half skipped off to another room.

       "You have a daughter." Luci said, no emotion laced in her voice. She refused to show him just how much it affected her that he had a family. Maybe that would be a good thing, maybe it would make it easier to fix things and leave. Still, as she thought that, her chest tightened and she felt a stabbing sensation in her chest every time she tried to take a breath.

       "I have a daughter" he repeated, eager to know where she was going with this, and to see an actual reaction from her.

       "You still live with her mother" she stated again, in the same tone.

       Xavier was taken aback by her statement. "What? Where did you even get that from?" He asked, turning to face her. He was so confused, but also so amused, he almost laughed out loud. However, he knew better than to piss her off more than she clearly was; he could see the anger boiling in her eyes when she finally looked him in the eyes. The mesmerizing ocean in her irises seemed to be engulfed in flames by the intriguing fire looking limbal ring around them.

       "She said 'Ama' played with her.” her voice brought Xavier out of the trance her eyes had him under. “I can only imagine that she was trying to say Mama" she finished with anger now lacing her voice. Her eyebrows were knit together in the middle and she was pouting slightly as she pressed her teeth together.

       Xavier couldn't resist his urge any longer, and let his usual smirk take over his lips. "What’s wrong darling, you jealous?" He stepped closer to her and pressed his thumb to her furrowed eyebrows. Once her face relaxed, he used that same hand to brush her hair behind her ear, making her blush and try to step away from him, but he quickly snaked his other hand around her waist and brought her even closer to him than before. 

    He used his forefinger to keep her face looking upward at him, and rubbed his thumb lightly along her bottom lip, making her bite her lip at the feeling of the tingles he provoked. She felt a growl rumble in his chest like she had before in the rest stop, and she found herself lost again in those enchanting eyes of his.

    When Xavier looked back into her eyes he saw fire in them again, but it wasn’t the same fire from just a minute ago. Her eyes expressed the same flame he was feeling inside, the need to give in to the mate bond, the need to make her his. 

    She stood in the tips of her toes and grabbed on to his shoulders for additional support as their faces neared more and more with each passing second. The tips of their noses graced each other as they shifted their heads lightly to reach each other’s lips. As soon as their lips touched they heard growling from outside the front door and Xavier’s head snapped up immediately and pushed her behind him in a flash. 

    Lucy’s eyes grew wide as she realized what she had been about to do. She pushed herself away from his body and took a step back to gather her thoughts. She was playing a dangerous game with him, and she was losing.