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4. Ten Things

POV: Leila

It took Lucifer a few minutes to get up to the spot I was at. I guess he’s not used to climbing trees, but he didn’t do that badly. When he got to the same branch, he sat down right next to me. Our thighs were almost touching, and he grabbed my hand; his other hand was holding onto the branch we were sitting on. Sparks shot up my arm from where our hands were joined. I looked at Lucifer and I could tell from his smile that he felt it too.

“Really, we only have to know 9 other things about each other, because I know that you are the Alpha King of the Blood Moon pack, and you know that I’m the alpha's daughter. That counts as one for us both.” I offered, smiling at him.

“Looks like someone’s eager,” Lucifer replied, smirking at me.

I looked at him from beneath my lashes and I said, “Would that be a bad thing?”

He took a deep breath and his throat bobbed.

His eyes were looking between my lips and my eyes before settling on my eyes and saying, “Hell no, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

I giggled at that and bit my lip. Lucifer suddenly growled and, using the hand that wasn’t holding mine, he put his hand to my cheek and ran his thumb along my bottom lip. My breath caught in my throat at his touch and all I could do was stare into his eyes.

Lucifer leaned in closer to me, so that we could practically share a breath, and said, “If you don’t stop biting that lip, then I’m going to have to take my own taste of it, and then you’ll never get your ten things.”

At that instant, I was ready to say screw the ten things and just kiss him, but Lucifer pulled back before any of that passed my lips. I released the breath that I hadn’t realized I was holding. Once again, I was blushing. I was never one to blush, but I’m starting to believe it's something I’m going to have to get used to. We were both quiet for a few minutes just looking out at the meadow. I glanced at Lucifer to see that he was smiling slightly. He seemed content enough just to hold my hand and look out on the meadow. I could feel contentment and happiness from him. I felt the same but after what he said a few minutes ago, I couldn’t wait to kiss him. I’ve never kissed anyone before, but I’m ready to learn how.

With that in mind, I broke the silence by saying, “So what do you want to know first?”

Lucifer took his attention away from my meadow and smiled brightly at me.

“You can tell me whatever you want.” He replied sweetly. I couldn’t help thinking how swoon worthy he is.

“Ok. Well, how about just the basics to start with,” I began, and Lucifer nodded.

“I’m 17. I shifted into my wolf at 11 because of my alpha blood, and I’ve been training as a warrior ever since. My wolf's name is Sia.” I paused to give him a chance to reply.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be a warrior. You’re so tiny.” Lucifer replied, smiling and held up my hand that was swallowed by his as an example.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say there was a bit of adoration in his smile. I laughed at his reply. Everyone thought that.

“I know, but my brothers insisted on it. They wanted me to be able to protect myself. Ryder and Axel train me, and now I can go toe to toe with both of them,” I answered proudly.

My brothers trained me hard so I could claim that. Lucifer looked proud as I finished.

“That’s amazing. I hoped my mate would be a warrior,” he replied proudly.

Lucifer looked thoughtful for a moment before he looked away from me and asked, “Are you disappointed to have a Lycan as your mate? I know some werewolves prefer to be mated to other wolves."

I was shaking my head before he even finished. "I could never be disappointed because of the type of shifter my mate is. Besides, I knew my mate would be a Lycan."

Lucifer looked shocked for a moment until he smiled widely at me. There was a light in his blue eyes that wasn’t there before, and he seemed at a loss for words.

I only smiled and asked, “So, what are your basics?”

He smiled back at me and began, “I’m 24. I’ve been training to be the Alpha King since I was a kid. I’ve always wanted to be king. I've had ideas on how to improve the kingdom since I could form thoughts. I took over for my father and mother after they died in the rogue war, when I was 19.” He paused to see my reaction. I'm sure he knew this was common knowledge.

“I’m so sorry. It must have been hard to take the responsibility of Alpha King and deal with the loss of your parents. Of course, I could see how it would be comforting to carry on with their work and kind of still be close to them in a way.” I replied sincerely.

I know what it’s like to lose a parent. Lucifer looked a little surprised when I said the last part, but I could feel he wasn't upset, only surprised.

“Most people don’t understand that. When I took over for my dad, Michael's father, he was always trying to lessen the responsibility a little at first, so I could ‘grieve’. I know he was trying to look out for me, but doing what my parents did helped me grieve more than holding out on the responsibility ever could.” Lucifer told me.

“I understand. When my mom died in the rogue war five years ago, the only thing I wanted to do was the things we used to do together. Plus, I took over her Luna responsibilities before Damon met Amy about four months ago. Since then, I've been teaching Amy how to be Luna. Not that she wants me to.” I replied with a sad smile.

“You were doing Luna work at 12?” Lucifer asked, surprised.

I nodded and said, “Yeah. It wasn’t all that much. In all honesty, Damon had to step up too. Dad was in no condition to be the alpha. Damon may have only done the ceremony four months ago when he met Amy, but it was just a formality. He’s been the alpha for five years. At 18, my brother had to be a father and a mother for me and Fox and Ryder, since we’re the youngest. Axel and Hunter helped him, but Damon felt the brunt of our mother's death. Stepping into the Luna position was the least I could do for my brother.”

Lucifer looked considerate and said, “I didn’t know that. We knew that your father lost his mate, but we didn’t realize Damon had taken over for him as alpha.”

I nodded and revealed, “I know. My brothers tried to make sure no one knew that our father wasn’t a strong alpha. They didn’t want to risk the pack. Our father's beta tried to help as much as he could. He looked out for Damon and helped him make it seem like our dad was still running things. Our dad could barely get out of bed. Any time I went near, he called me my mother's name or broke down in tears.”

We were quiet for a little while. I was lost in the memory of the time right after my mom’s death. She was my best friend. She was always smiling and laughing. After she died, it was like a light went out in our family. And she…

”What’s your favorite color?” Lucifer asked all of a sudden, breaking my sad thoughts.

I looked at him surprised and laughed, “What?”

“Enough of the depressing talk. We’ll continue it at some point, but not now. So what’s your favorite color? Mine is red, like your hair.” Lucifer replied sincerely and smiled at the end.

I was definitely surprised, but I wasn’t about to go against him. My mom always said to not focus on the past or else you might miss the future.

Smiling, I said, “I like blue, like your eyes.”

He chuckled at me and said, “Since we’re back to the basics, when's your birthday? How are you at school?”

“My birthday is October 31, so two months ago. I graduated from high school last May, and I’m taking online courses for college,” I said.

Lucifer's jaw dropped, and I couldn’t help but smirk. It’s not every day you meet a 17-year-old college student.

“That’s amazing. I only just graduated from college last year. You’re brilliant.” Lucifer said proudly.

I blushed and said, “I’m not but, thank you.”

He smiled widely at me and replied, “Yes, you are. I can’t believe I got so lucky as to be mates to you.”

I blushed even harder and looked down at my hands. This blushing is gonna have to stop. Lucifer's hand moved to my chin, and he pulled my bottom lip free from my teeth. I hadn’t even realized I was doing that.

I looked up at him through lowered lashes as he said huskily, “What did I say about that?”

Lucifer's eyes had darkened, reflecting his desire. There was nothing more in the world I wanted then to kiss him at that moment, but there was one thing he needed to know before we went any further.

“After I say this, then you can decide if you still want to do that,” I said shakily.

He looked utterly confused and removed his hand from my face. I was afraid, but I couldn’t lie to him. Not everyone was fond of hybrids, and it wasn’t known that my mother was a witch.

I looked away from him for a moment as I took a deep breath before looking back at him and saying, “I’m a hybrid. My mother was a witch and, as you know, my dad is a werewolf. And more than that, the Witch Queen is my Aunt. My mother was her older sister.”

Lucifer's eyes widened when I revealed what I am, and he opened and closed his mouth a few times before closing it permanently for a minute. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would burst from my chest. My wolf, Sia, spoke to me at that moment, ‘It’ll be alright Lee. He won’t reject us for what we are. And if he does, we’ll find someone else.’ I love Sia so much. She’s stronger than I could ever be.

‘Thank you, Sia.’ I replied to her as she wrapped her comforting presence around my mind. Lucifer suddenly looked at me and put his big hand against my face.

“Why would you being a hybrid or related to the Witch Queen make me not want to kiss you?” He asked softly. He was so close his warm breath fanned my face.

I’m sure the surprise was clear on my face as I said, “Most people don’t like or trust hybrids. And you have more reason than most, considering what happened with the Witch Queen.”

Lucifer only frowned and said,“What the Witch Queen did was her choice, not yours. And I guess it’s a good thing I’m not most people. You are my mate, and I'm never letting you go. Now, I’d very much like to kiss you now if you’d let me.”

I didn’t need to think about it, I wanted to kiss this man since I first met him. So instead of answering, I moved my face up and touched our lips together. It was only a brush of our lips, but sparks ignited where we touched and just the brush of our lips had me feeling like I was about to ignite into flames. I didn’t know what else to do, having never been kissed before, but Lucifer did. He wrapped his arm around my back and his other hand plunged into my hair. He deepened the kiss so that he was moving his lips against mine. I did the same, and before I knew it, I was really kissing him. I moved my arm around his shoulders and felt the softness of his hair with the other.

He bit my lip, which caused a gasp to escape me. Lucifer took the opportunity to plunge his tongue into my mouth. It was new and a bit odd but not unwelcome. Lucifer groaned into my mouth and I loved that I could affect him this way, even though I had no idea what I was doing. I tentatively began to move my tongue with his and when he let me pass to go into his mouth, I moaned. We spent the next few minutes like this. Finally, Lucifer pulled away and we were both breathing heavily.

“You are amazing at that,” Lucifer said in between breaths. I shook my head and laughed.

“I had no idea what I was doing, but you were amazing.” I replied, catching my breath.

Lucifer opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a shout, “Leila, you get down from there!”

I looked over at the entrance of the meadow to see a very angry Axel making his way to us.

“Uh oh. We better go.” I said, and Rainer laughed as we began to make our way down the tree.