Their Thief: Redemption

Chapter 21 (Part 3)

Another harder scrap had my muscles tensing, preparing for the bite that I was sure would follow. That was the next logical step my brain expected.

At least I was getting a warning this time.

My mind went blank as the sound of my pounding heart became all I could hear while my focus zeroed in on Luca's hands that had dropped to my waist. Them and the sharp fangs that had disappointment tightening my chest.

He was just like them.

My eyes clenched shut against the thought, but that didn't stop me from feeling Luca flinch as though he had heard it. His hands jerked against my sides along with his body between my thighs.

A gasp had my lips parting when I felt the air in front of me shift, pulling strands of my hair with it to brush over my face. They tickled my cheeks and my nose as I opened my eyes and took in the empty space before me. Bringing my knees together, a feat made simple without a towering man standing between them to stop them from meeting, my eyes rose to the entrance of the bathroom leading into the room. It's where Luca now stood with his hands straining the doorframe under his hold.

Shock had my emotions creep their way up on me. The first to arrive while I took in Luca's chest that was heaving with heavy breaths while his eyes avoided me was... confusion. Why had he pulled away so violently? It was quickly followed by a dull ache when I took in the disgusted downward pull of Luca's lips. It gave me answers I didn't want.

Instead of feeling relief that he hadn't bitten me, I felt my heart tighten painfully and found myself wondering... why? Why hadn't he bitten me? Was it because he found me reclusive? Was it because I let Jace touch me?

He didn't want me. No one wanted a whore.

I couldn't help but flinch at the whisper that made its way through my head. It was getting harder and harder to convince myself how much I didn't want the man before, especially when his rejection had dark thoughts returning in the voice of the first man who ever screamed them at me, my father.

My heart twisted at the lack of Luca's touch where I once thought it would rejoice.

Who cared if he thought I was a whore, I tried to tell myself with gritted teeth. Them not wanting me was what I had wanted all along... right?

They never gave me a chance to want anything else.

Except, Luca had. It was just easy to overlook with everything his brothers had been doing. Enjoying the sleep his arms provided wasn't a plus when his brothers were the ones staring in the nightmares disturbing it in the first place. They dragged him into it with the features they so closely shared.

I hadn't realized I was waiting for him to raise his head and meet my eyes until my chest tightened when his eye skipped over me as he turned to face Jace who stood just inside the washroom. It appeared he had slowly been inching his way closer while Luca and I were preoccupied with one another.

My eyes met Jace's for only a moment before they dropped down in embarrassment. He had seen the emotions play out on my face. He saw my disappointment and hurt clear as day, but that wasn't all. He saw the confliction I felt towards Luca, towards all three of them to a degree. The confliction I tried to hide from them whenever it arose. It seemed I had failed this time, evident in the shock looking back at me in Jace's gaze.

Determination quickly filled the green orbs, making his wide eyes narrow. The wavering resolve I had witnessed in his eyes when he had offered to leave earlier had solidified into determination. He saw a sliver of a chance in how I had reacted to Luca and it was all he needed.