Conquering Lyssa Read online

  “Oh no,” Skyler moaned. “Not right before his heat.”

  Lorenzo nodded and turned around to face her. “And it’s taken a number on him. I’ve never seen him like this.” He turned from her and sank into a chair with a tired sigh. “The heat still lingers in him. I don’t know if he is just holding onto it or the animal, but it’s still there and he’s suffering with it.”

  “That’s not possible.” Adrian joined him, sitting down in a chair right next to him. “We don’t stay in heat after the time is up.”

  “I know, but I saw him and could smell it. He’s still in heat. He’s also not sleeping or eating a thing. I don’t know how to really explain it, but it’s almost like—”

  “He’s broke,” Adrian looked up at Skyler for a moment before his eyes went back to Lorenzo. “I know just what that’s like.”

  “I had thought that she came here. Came home. I was just going to talk to her really, and find out what happened. What made her run away? I know they were having some trouble coming to terms with her cycle and such, but would never have dreamed that she’d run away after.”

  “You mean she did have her cycle with him?” Skyler asked, sitting down on the sofa right across from both of them.

  “Yes,” Lorenzo said and nodded. “My housekeeper told me she was able to strip the bedding when she got home. It was about all she got to do in his room before he scared the hell out of her. I was told that there was proof on the sheets and her scent is still on him.”

  “Still? He hasn’t cleaned up any?”

  “When I came home he hadn’t, but I finally got him somewhat cleaned up last night. I had hopes that it might help ease him some. It didn’t.”

  “If his body is still in heat then the only damn way to ease him is her,” Adrian said.

  “But I don’t know where she is,” Lorenzo replied.

  “I do.” Everyone in the room turned to see Jewels coming into the house from the back. “I know where she is.”

  “Where?” Adrian stood up quickly as did Skyler. She put her hand on Adrian’s chest and he looked down at her.

  “Look, before you all go ape shit on me,” Jewels said with both of her hands up in the air, “I want you all to know that I picked her up on the side of the road walking in the rain.”

  “When?” Skyler asked. She kept her hand on Adrian’s chest.

  Lorenzo also stood up. “I’m not here to start anything, young lady. I just wish to talk to her, to understand why she ran.”

  “Well, I think I can answer that,” Jewels said. “He freaked her the hell out.”

  “Where is she, Jewels?” Skyler asked.

  “In my car, outside.”

  Adrian made to move but Lorenzo held his hand up. “May I, please?” he asked Adrian.

  “Adrian, let Lorenzo handle this one,” Skyler said. “If Daxis has done something to scare Lyssa, then he should be the one to help fix it.”

  “What?” Jewels snapped at Alex who was giving Jewels a narrow- eyed look.

  “One of these days you’re going to step in a pile of shit you can’t get out of,” Alex snapped right back.

  “In your dreams,” Jewels smarted off.

  Lorenzo went to the back of the house and out the door. Like the human said, Lyssa was sitting in a car alone. He walked to it and knocked on the widow. When she looked up at him, he smiled and then she opened the door.

  “How about we take a walk?” he said.

  She nodded and got out. They headed for the water, both of them silent until they got to the docks. He was the one to break the silence.

  “I can see now why you love it here,” he said. “The air is fresh and the water breath-taking.”

  “How pissed is he?”

  Lorenzo took a deep breath and turned to face her. “He’s in bad shape. Hurting in a way I’ve never seen him hurt before.” She lowered her eyes and he went on, “What happened?”

  “I don’t know.” Lyssa hugged herself and moved closer to the water. She kept her back to him. “I woke up after my cycle and, and, I don’t know. It all just scared the hell right out of me.”

  “I know that first time scares us all, but my gut is telling me that there is more here.”

  “How’s he hurting?” She turned back around towards him.

  Lorenzo slid both hands into his pockets. “Well for one, his heat is still with him.”

  “That isn’t possible.”

  “Shouldn’t be, but it is. He’s still suffering. Not sleeping or eating and anyone that gets close he nearly attacks them. Your father seems to think he’s broken. Maybe he’s right.”

  “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” she whispered, her lower lip quivering and tears filling up in her eyes.

  “Oh, I know you didn’t.” He quickly closed the distance between then and pulled her into his arms. “We all at times make stupid mistakes. But you need to know, my dear, that this mistake can be fixed. You can fix it.”

  “I don’t know how.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you do.” He pulled back, smiling down at her. “All you have to do is go to him.”

  “You make it all sound so easy.”

  Lorenzo shrugged his shoulders. “What’s so hard about it?”

  Sniffing, Lyssa pulled away from him. “I’m afraid he’s going to hurt me.”

  “And what makes you think he’s going to hurt you?” Lorenzo and Lyssa both turned at the same time. Skyler was walking towards them. “What did he do to make you think that?”

  Lyssa looked from her mother back to Lorenzo. Clearly, she didn’t want to say. Or at least not in front of him.

  “Why don’t I give you two some time,” Lorenzo said. “Sometimes a mother’s shoulder is better to cry on than a male’s.”

  * * * *

  Lyssa waited until Lorenzo was out of earshot before turning her full attention to her mother. “God, what’ve I done? I didn’t know his heat would still be going on like this.”

  “Normally it doesn’t. Now tell me what is going on here? Why did you run away right after your time and leave him alone to deal with his own.”

  “He scared me, alright!” Lyssa raised her voice at her mother and tears fell once more down her face. “I woke up afterwards, all bruised. It freaked me out. I mean, he was supposed to be in control then and wasn’t, so what would he be like out of control?”

  “Oh, Lyssa, you really didn’t listen to a damn thing I told you and your sister, did you? You didn’t pay one bit of attention to me when I sat you both down and had a talk with you about what might happen the night you share your cycle with your mate.”

  “You never said anything about getting hurt.”

  “And did he really?” Lyssa stepped back, shocked at the question. “Did he really hurt you, or did he just give you what you wanted and needed and that seemed to scare the hell out of you?”

  Skyler took a deep breath, licked her lips and pressed a hand on her forehead as if to get herself under control. “God, I swear you have so much Draeger in you it isn’t even funny. You’re no longer a child here, so you need to stop acting like one. We all get bruises on our bodies during our time and theirs. It’s just part of it. But what I see right now has nothing to do with that. It has to do with how you’re starting to feel for your mate.”

  “Don’t go there.”

  “You’re falling in love with him and that is what really is scaring the shit out of you.”

  Lyssa shook her head and started to shake all over as she broke down and began to cry. “No,” she sobbed. “I’m not.”

  “Honey, it’s alright to fall in love with him. It’s natural.”

  “Nothing about anything is natural.” Lyssa dropped down to the deck and brought her legs up to her chest. She looked out at the water and fought to stop crying. “When did everything start to change?”

  “Things have been changing for you for a while now. You just didn’t want to see it.” Skyler sat down next to Lyssa. “It’s alright to be in love wi
th your mate. Not the worst thing in the world you know.”

  “I had always thought that my time would be this fairy tale in a way. A swept off my feet kind of thing. I wanted what others had, you know? That love at first sight kind of thing.”

  “And sometimes that does happen for us, but for the most part I think it happens for the guys more than us.”

  “So how do I fix this mess then?”

  “Well for one, you have to go back.”

  “What if he hurts me again?”

  “I’ll ask again. Did he really hurt you the first time, besides it being the first time, that is? And be honest.”

  “Guess not,” Lyssa said low, dropping her chin down on her knees.

  “They protect, Lyssa, not hurt. Even when they want to hurt a female, they really can’t. Besides, I think I know Daxis a bit better than you, since you didn’t seem to want to get to know him. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of male to hurt someone intentionally. Look, we are just as demanding as they are when we are in need, and sometimes in that need we need things to be a bit rougher. It’s natural. I’m sure if you’d said something during your heat, he would have stopped. But you won’t be getting anywhere if you don’t communicate with the man, and we all know how much of a big mouth you have.”

  “Oh, will you get off my ass!” Both Skyler and Lyssa turned and watched as Jewels came out of the house with Alex right behind her.

  “You had no right not telling my parents that she was at your house,” Alex said

  “Hey, I don’t remember giving you the right to tell me what to do.”

  “When it has to do with my sister I have every right to tell you what to do.”

  “No, you don’t. You’re not my brother or father.”

  “Where the hell do you think you’re going now? This isn’t over.”

  “Is for me. She’s home and I’m out of here.”

  “Didn’t you say at one time that those two reminded you of Uncle Dedrick and Aunt Jaclyn?” Lyssa asked Skyler.

  “So much so it’s very scary,” Skyler answered, still staring at the two.

  Jewels got into her car and it looked like she might’ve flipped Alex off. “Wonder what changed between them?” Lyssa remarked.

  “I don’t think we want to know.” Skyler turned back around to Lyssa. “Now, back to what we were talking about.”

  Lyssa held her hand up and raised her chin. “I think I know what I need to do.”

  “Now you sound like you’re going to use your head.”

  “I am. Let me just clean up and I’ll have Lorenzo take me back.”

  “I think that is a very good idea.” They both stood up together, but before Lyssa could start walking back to the house, Skyler took her hand. “Everything works out, if it’s meant to be and with you and Daxis, you two are very much meant to be. He cares for you, Lyssa. Has for a very long time. And it’s alright to give your heart to him. I’m sure he’ll treasure it like gold.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Skyler pulled her into her arms, hugging her tight. “I love you, baby.”

  “Love you too.”

  Together they walked back to the house. When they walked back in both Adrian and Lorenzo stood up.

  “Everything alright?” Lorenzo asked.

  “Yes. I’m going to go upstairs and clean up, then you can take me back,” Lyssa said.

  Lorenzo’s face lit up. “Great, just great.”

  Lyssa headed for the stairs and halfway up she stopped and looked down. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Dad.”

  Adrian looked up at her and smiled. “You haven’t disappointed me, Lyssa. If anything maybe I let you down with not preparing you better for what was coming.”

  “Go!” Skyler shooed with a wave of her hand. “Don’t make the poor boy suffer any longer than what he already has.”

  With a nod, Lyssa ran up the stairs and into her old bedroom. She stripped, took a fast shower and then dug in the closet to see what was left that she could wear. She found one of her old summer dresses. An old one that fit snug over her breasts and waist and then flowed free down to her ankles. It also had thin straps. With a grin on her face and a plan forming, Lyssa dried off and slipped into the dress with nothing else covering her body. Braiding her hair and slipping back into her shoes, she left her room feeling somewhat better now that she’d had a talk with her mother.

  Skyler was right and it took this moment for Lyssa to see it. She was falling in love with Daxis and it scared the hell out of her. But what scared her even more was the thought of not being with him at all. That is what had her flying out of her old bedroom, back down the stairs and into Lorenzo’s car, saying good-bye to her parents once more.

  Chapter Nine

  Lyssa stood alone in the house, at the foot of the stairs, breathing hard with her heart pounding in the chest. She shook, not so much in fear, but with the unknown. She didn’t know what to expect up in Daxis’s room, or know what kind of condition he was in.

  Lorenzo told her a few things on the drive back, but she also knew that he was keeping a bunch of stuff from her as well. Now she stood in the house, alone, working up the nerve to get herself to walk up those steps and fix the mess she’d created. Only her feet didn’t seem to want to move.

  “Come on, girl,” she told herself. “You can do this.”

  Lorenzo gave the staff the rest of the night off, then left himself, giving her the whole house and night to fix things. And she had every intention of doing so. She only wished that the house didn’t have that spooky feeling to it.

  Shaking it off, taking a deep breath, Lyssa started the walk up the stairs. Every never ending in her body was tense and all of her senses were tuned to every small noise she heard. When one of the steps creaked, she actually jumped from it.

  “I can do this,” she told herself again.

  She went up to the second floor, down the hall and stopped right in front of the closed door that was Daxis’s room. The very room she ran from just several of nights ago.

  Another deep breath and she opened the door, stepped in and closed it behind her very slowly.

  The room was dark and it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to it. The bed freshly made, a tray of uneaten food sat on the nightstand, and that was about all she could see. Taking a few steps farther into the room she spotted him.

  Daxis sat on the floor in the far corner of the bedroom, naked, knees up to his chest with his head down. Sweat covered him and his body shook. Using up the last amount of courage she had left she went up to him slowly. Just like Lorenzo said, Daxis was still in his heat.

  Opening her mouth to speak, he beat her to it. “Don’t!” he barked out.

  “I—I was just—”

  “Just don’t.” His head went back, up against the wall and his eyes opened. They were so red that Lyssa covered her mouth just in case she might make a sound. “Why are you here?” He was breathing hard, and it was obvious he was trying to maintain control.

  “I, um, I want to help.”

  “Help?” he snorted in a half laugh. “I don’t need your damn help. I’m just fine.”

  “You’re not fine. You’re still in heat.”

  “Go away!” His red eyes closed and he bit his lower lip.

  Lyssa could smell it. The need was there and from the expression on his face, it hurt like hell. “Daxis, please. Just let me—”

  “I said, go away!” He got up fast and she jumped back. A low, almost deadly sounding growl left his lips. “I needed you days ago. I don’t need you now.”

  “Yes you do!” She raised her chin up and his eyes narrowed. “I can see it. Hell, I can smell it. I can help take the pain away.”

  “Help!” He barked again, taking a step that felt very threatening towards her. “Now you want to help.” He snorted again. “I helped you, and you ran away when it was my time.” Another step closer, he came and she took one step back. “I gave you everything you needed to easy your pain.” And another ste
p. “And what did I get in return?” Her back hit the wall and he kept coming. “A fist to my heart. Not again—not ever again.” His fist came up and instead of screaming or dropping to the floor, Lyssa closed her eyes and waited for the hit. It didn’t come. He hit the wall over her head. Opening her eyes, she watched as he broke down and dropped to his knees before her, bending over. “You win,” he said low. “You’re free of me.”

  The sight of him broken, on his knees before her tore at Lyssa’s heart. She’d never seen anything like it, heard of it, or thought that Daxis would be doing it now. He shook as if he might be crying.

  Instead of walking away from him, she grabbed her dress and slowly pulled it up over her head and let it down right next to him. When he didn’t look up at her, she went down to him, grabbed his face and made him look at her.

  “I’m not free of you,” she said low. “I’ll never be free of you, ever.” Leaning in she kissed him lightly on the lips, pulled back to look him in the eye and then kissed him again.

  Several light kisses she gave him before pushing him down on the floor and coming over him. Daxis didn’t kiss her back or touch her. In fact, what he did do was look at her as if she might’ve just lost her mind, which in a way she guessed she had.

  It took more of those light kisses then one firmer one before he got the hint that she wasn’t leaving. Slowly his arms came up then around her as well as his mouth opened and then he finally kissed her back.

  Lips moved upon lips and things quickly started to heat up for her. Lyssa didn’t hold back a thing this time. She began to rub her body against his and Daxis’s hands moved up and down her back before stopping at her ass, squeezing it. Then right as he pulled his lips back he flipped her over so she was now under him.

  Lyssa looked up and slowly moved her arms up over her head letting him know without words that she was all his for the taking. One eyebrow of his went up and then his head lowered, a light kiss touched a nipple followed by a low growl.

  Then it was on.

  Daxis moved down her body, spread her legs wide and his head dipped between them. Lyssa sucked in air at the touch of his hot breath on her sex. Thumbs parted the wet folds of her pussy and his tongue touched her. A gasp left her lips when he licked, and then that was it for slow, easy, and gentle.