Chapter 142

Harper’s POV

I jolted awake, feeling my lungs desperately fill with much-needed air.

I pressed a hand to the side of my face and found my skin cool and slightly sweaty as though I had just finished going for a long run. I spent the next couple of seconds trying to get a hold of my breathing pattern.

My heart was thumping erratically within my chest. Every part of me felt numb. Especially my head. It was like someone had taken a sledgehammer to my cranium and tried to crack open my skull.

A deep voice broke through the air, sending chills down my spine. “Lay. Down.”

I snapped my head in the direction of the voice and found a very pissed-off-looking Lucas sitting in one of the chairs in the far corner of the room. His eyes were firmly fixated on me like he was a predator stalking his prey.

“Lucas—”

“Don’t test me, Harper,” he said gruffly. “If you so much as press one foot down on the floor, I will tie you to that goddamn bed frame.”

I gaped at him in shock. My cheeks flushed horribly under his furious gaze. His words sent my mind in various directions. I was both stunned and confused—but all the more concerning, I found myself slightly intrigued by such a threat.

While the feeling of waking up in Lucas’s arms was a sweet and blissful feeling, both my wolf and I craved something more. More intimate. More passionate.

It didn’t take much for my mind to become filled with various images of the two of us tangled amongst the bed sheets...His large, muscular frame caging me against the bed and moving between my legs...The hot heat of his breath against my neck as slow, precise thrusts of his hips sent me spiraling...

Whatever emotions were flying through my head were enough for Lucas to pick up on his end of the bond. The Alpha let out a choked groan. His fingers dug into the arms of the chair.

“You’re trying to kill me, sweetheart.”

“S-Sorry,” I mumbled as another wave of heat touched my cheeks. Of course, he felt the rush of arousal that had surged through me.

That damn bond. Just another thing that I now have to learn to live with.

I sank back against the mattress and let my head rest against the pillow. My gaze drifted off to the far corner of the room while my mind recounted my time in the dungeons, dealing with the captives.

Lucas moved silently over to me and took his position on the corner of the bed. I could feel the heavy weight of his eyes cast over me.

“We need to talk about what happened in the dungeons.”

“I really, really don’t want to,” I replied weakly.

He let out a sigh and rubbed a tired hand over his face. “Harper...”

“I don’t want this power, Lucas,” I admitted quietly.

I knew I should have been grateful for the sacrifice that had been made in my place. Without Aurora’s willingness to pass on her family’s gift, I wouldn’t be alive. Yet, at the same time, I felt like I was reaping the consequences of a choice I didn’t even make for myself.

I felt the emotion burning in the back of my throat. “I don’t want to have dominion over others—not against their will.”

I dared to glance back at him to find his eyes pouring into my own.

“It’s like I’m no better than the monster we’re trying to track down,” I said.

A lethal look flickered across his features. Lucas moved closer, practically towering over me as his hands pressed on either side of my shoulder.

“You listen to me,” he started. “You are nothing like that screwed up son of a bitch that we’re trying to hunt down. How could you even think to compare yourself to him?”

“I felt the strain of compulsion streaming through that wave of power. Just looking at those men made my blood boil, and the anger inside of me grew stronger. Each time I demanded answers, I felt like I was torturing their wolves instead.”

That wasn’t the kind of person I was or ever wanted to be. I felt ashamed and truly disgusted by my actions.

“Harper, none of those men were saints. Each of them has made their own bed, and they must now learn to live with the consequences of their actions. What you did is nowhere near the kind of punishment they deserve,” he explained.

My eyes briefly fluttered closed as he cupped my cheek.

“Also, I really need you to keep in mind that you were the only one who managed to get anything valuable out of those prisoners,” he added with a smile.

I suppose he had a point there. Now we knew for certain who we were dealing with was a man. A man who possessed the unsightly ability to draw people into his corrupt lifestyle.

Infiltrating the Domain was one thing—but knowing that we didn’t manage to apprehend the person behind it all made it feel pointless to some degree. No, even that wasn’t true. I was glad that whoever needed to be rescued was recovered and set free from that awful place.

“Lucas, what if this so-called Master relocates and starts up his operation all over again?” I asked. “What if we missed our chance?”

His expression turned indifferent. “I don’t think he will.”

My brows furrowed. A strange feeling tugged at the bond between us. I couldn’t quite make it out, but what I did know was that Lucas was deeply bothered by something that I was unaware of.

“Why do I always feel that you know something I don’t?” I questioned him.

He shook his head and brushed the hair back from my face. “What my true main concern is, at this very moment, is you,” he said pointedly. “You’ve passed out more in the last forty-eight hours than I think you’ve ever had in your life. The truth is, there is still a lot we don’t know about this power you have.”

“I know, I need to learn how to control it,” I said. “It’s just that I have no idea what I’m working with to even know where to begin.”

“Aurora informed me that she would be coming back in a few days to check in on you. During that time, I bet the two of you can meet and really go into depth about what it is you need to know.”

I haven’t overlooked the fact that Lucas had diverted the conversation from our previous topic. There is something he knows that he’s not telling me, and I cannot fathom why.

As much as I wanted to press the matter, my body was still eager for my rest. Unlike before, I wasn’t about to try and push my physical limits again. At least, not so soon.

In the meantime, I needed to think about how I was going to be able to control these new abilities. There was no way I would ever be able to go about my previous life without having some firm grasp on it.

Knock. Knock. Knock.