18: Night Sky

**Tristan**

Lucien had taken the time to draw me a bath, and while I sat in the warmth of the water, he began changing the sheets. *Why did I agree to stay here!*

Of course, there was a bright side to this sudden turn of events. Seeing as I was already here on Damon's pack grounds. Perhaps I could do a little sneaking around when Lucien fell asleep. Heaven knew I was not going to be able to sleep in his bed surrounded by the smell of him with the thoughts of what we'd just done still clear and fresh in my mind. Goddess knew why I let him dominate me, but I wasn’t sure I could resist him if he tried to again. All logic left the room when his skin was on mine. Perhaps pleasure was the way to go with regards to seducing the enigma of a man.

I heard a pair of footsteps near the door, and then suddenly, Lucien spoke. "I’ve set some clothing on the bed. Are you sure I can't join you?"

I rolled my eyes and ignored his question. "Thank you."

"What, no 'thank you *daddy*'?"

"Fuck off and don't push it." I mumbled. Lucien chuckled, and then I heard his footsteps retreating out of the room.

I waited a few more moments, soaking up the warmth from the bathwater, before grabbing a soft linen towel and wrapping it around me as I stepped out of the tub.

I was surprised to find a shirt of Lucien's, as well as a pair of his boxers and a jacket on the bed left for me. It seemed I wouldn't be getting away from his scent anytime soon. As I shrugged his shirt on, I absent-mindedly sniffed at the material and my mouth began salivating.

"Bad Tristan. You're a soldier, not one of his toys!" I muttered beneath my breath as a little reminder.

Once I had finished changing into Lucien’s clothing, I opened the door, revealing Lucien who had his hand extended in a fist, as if he were preparing to knock on the door. He was about to make a snarky remark when his eyes rested on my body. He roamed them over every inch of skin clothed by his clothing, and I felt my heart rate increase as his eyes flashed a bright red.

"This was such a bad idea..." He mumbled darkly before reaching out, grabbing at my torso and tossing me over his shoulder.

"Lucien what the fuck are you doing?" I asked, flustered, hot and bothered all over again.

He answered by laying me down on the bed and pinning my hands down to the mattress. I stared up into his red eyes and felt the heat build-up in my stomach. If I wasn't careful, I'd expose myself. I had a hard enough time keeping my eyes from changing colour in our previous encounter. And so, I begged and pleaded, just as I always had, for myself to conceal the wolf part of me. But the way he stared at me began to unravel the barriers I'd put up to prevent people from staring right through me. And so, in a panicked effort, I gripped his shoulders and pushed him off of me swiftly, before climbing on top of him.

Lucien stared up at me, surprised. But his eyes had returned to their beautiful golden colour, and I sighed in relief.

"Tell me, Love," He uttered, running his hands over my exposed legs. I grabbed at them tightly, preventing him from moving anymore, "are you sure you want to resist me?"

"Goodnight, Lucien," I whispered, finally letting his hands go.

Lucien sighed, disappointed and I moved off of him, giving him space to get off of the bed. "Goodnight... Love." He uttered before walking towards the door where he hesitated for a moment. He bit his lip, opened his mouth, then closed it again, shaking his head as he did. Finally, after a moment more, he left the room.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding and leaned back, sinking into the sheets of his bed. I felt the softness of it against the skin of my fingers.

"Daddy," I tested it on my tongue. I'd never called anyone that name before... well until now. I tried it again, and then again. For some reason the word felt easier to say the more times I repeated it. *Strange*.

***

It took Lucien exactly three hours to finally fall asleep. It was the longest three hours I'd ever spent waiting in my life, and I was relieved when I was finally able to sneak out of the front door. It was dark outside, and the air had a cold bite to it that nipped at the tip of my nose. I gripped onto Lucien's jacket tighter, allowing the scent of it to surround me.

I had no idea where I was going, and heaven forbid an accidental bump into someone, especially this late. And so, I tried to stay close to the pavements, and if there were trees available, I'd lurk behind them, in the shadows. Today I'd be checking the amount of security wolves guarding the pack perimeters for in case of a night ambush. Those were my father's particular favourites. Grab them while it was dark, and they were terrified out of their mind. I could swear he fed on fear. Then again, I wasn't so far behind him.

I roamed a little more through the pack grounds, passing the beautiful homes. It really was a lot different here than back home. The houses were grander and more beautiful, and the cars were abundant and fancy. It didn't really seem like a pack at all, instead, it was like a close-knit gated community. Once I was sure I was beginning to reach the right border of the pack grounds, I stopped and began looking for something to give me a good vantage point on the place. Luckily for me, there was a large tree nearby. Naturally well-gifted and experienced in tree-climbing- as I was in most things- I began my climb. The skin on my feet developed scratches and blisters in the process- one of the perks of being barefoot- but I pushed on nonetheless, until I was right at the top, peeking through the branches down below.

I could see most of the edges of the pack grounds well enough to make out most of the areas heavily clustered with guards.

"Five... seven... thirteen... Hmm, rotations." I kept repeating this over and over again, with nothing but the numbers changing from time-to-time. Eventually I finally found a decent number to work with- fifty-seven. Fifty-seven guards, of which exactly twenty-three were Alpha wolves. It seemed that we'd need our own soldiers well trained before even thinking of breaking into this place.

I spent a few more moments up in the tree, no longer observing the activity below me, but above me. I gazed up at the stars as they shone beautifully against the darkness of the night sky. Oliver once told me that the sky was a metaphor for people like him and I. We were covered in darkness, but somewhere in that absolute void of black were tiny, little sparks of light. I couldn't quite agree with him there. When I looked at myself in the mirror, all I saw was darkness. It was different than when I looked at other people. Lucien, for example, was like Oliver. They both were night skies littered with small little stars. Lucien, however seemed to have more stars than Oliver. For a moment, I wondered what incident had occurred three years ago to make him want to leave and then return. Oliver had been vague when he explained that part of Lucien's life to me. Why did he play that game with his brother and his brother's mate? It was at that point that I wondered what lay beneath the surface of the great King of Seduction, Lucien Michaels. The more time I spent with the man, the more interested I became in who he really was. I couldn't say I was too concerned about my curiosity... yet.

Eventually, I grew too cold to stay up in the branches any longer and decided to retreat back. Lucien's bed seemed like the next place I desired to be in.

My descent was quite graceful, until my feet slipped on one of the branches, sending me tumbling out of the tree and falling hard onto the ground. It seemed I wasn't as good getting down trees as I was climbing up them. My leg throbbed badly, and my arms had scratches on them which were already beginning to heal slightly.

"Fucking idiot." I sighed to myself.

"That was quite a fall you took." Immediately I froze at the familiarity of the voice which spoke. Slowly, after taking a second, I began looking up, meeting London's dark eyes. "Can't sleep?" She asked with a smile on her face.