Absolution by LJ DeLeon Page A

help if you don’t talk to me.”
    “There’s nothing we can do.” Her inhale shuddered against him. “This man, a monster, is beating her, terrorizing her.”
    “Ah, Carlson.”
    “Such evil. He wants to impregnate her as the Dark Lord did me.”
    Luc scowled in the dark and pulled Allana tighter against him. He didn’t stop until she was draped over him, his skin in contact with every inch of hers he could reach. “We’ll get back to the Dark Lord later. But Carlson—he isn’t a problem for Sophie. She’s finally safe. Her mate, Jamie won’t let anyone harm her again.” His hold on her eased as the rise and fall of her chest slowed and her breathes softened from gasps to gentle exhales.
    “What’s Jamie like?”
    Luc thought back on the man he called friend. “Jamie comes across light-hearted, maybe because he’s a younger twin. He’s one of the strongest men I’ve ever met.” He glanced to check her reaction, and at her raised eyebrow, he shrugged. “Yeah, I know, a twin falling for a twin.”
    “Is he stronger than his brother the alpha?”
    “In some ways, yes. It’s never easy to have all the potential to be an alpha and choose the role of second instead of leaving to form your own pack. He puts pack security ahead of personal gain. He knows how to comprise and get along with people. He’s the fixer, the smoother of ruffled feathers. If it takes from here to eternity to make Sophie feel safe and loved, he’ll do it.”
    “Does she love him? Are they together?”
    How would he know? “They aren’t together yet. She helped save him from Carlson. From what Fritz said, Mark and Jamie both thought she was their mate.” At her surprised look, he shrugged and smiled again. Damn this woman made him want more. Too bad he wasn’t a were. Then he could act on instinct and take her again. His Druid senses said she was sore, something he hadn’t expected. A twinge of guilt worried at him for his hurried possession of her.”
    Before he could dip too deeply into regret, her fingers absently traced designs over the chakra at his heart. In soft, feathered movements, they continued to his solar plexus, throat, and the third eye.
    She repeated the process—this time at his root and sex chakras. She wasn’t aware of her actions, but he and his cock were. He stifled a groan and fought his impulse to take her again—now. If she continued, he could forget soothing her fears. Instinct would reign.
    Desperate, he clamped his hand over hers when it reached his heart. With a smile at her confused expression, he clutched her fingers to stop the tracing. “Do you know who fathered your twins?”
    “No.” She gnawed her lower lip. “I don’t even know how I became pregnant. I was fourteen, and only had my second menses. Then I was with child.”
    Whoa . Shit. Fuck . He struggled to hide his shock that, motherhood notwithstanding, she had been a virgin when they’d made love. Luc met her frightened gaze with a steady, and he hoped a compassionate one. “I know you well enough to believe you have suspicions.”
    “Until recently, I’d believed it was the Dark Lord. Darkness below, even he accepted the girls were his. For a century, my relief warred with sorrow that they hadn’t survived. Once my father, Iasan, told me the truth, that the girls were alive and well, that their father was a Seraphim not the Dark Lord, guilt consumed me. I’m their mother. I should have known they were alive, should have felt something.
    His thumbs wiped away her tears. “That’s normal. You’re their mother, whether you believed their souls were stained with the Dark Lord’s corruption or not. That guilt you need to let go. You were an innocent pawn.”
    She nodded against his chest. “If I’d had them in my arms, it wouldn’t have mattered. They were half mine. I would have loved them anyway. It would have been enough to save them.”
    He stroked his hand along her hair. Yes, she would have loved them anyway, a