247 Trial by Fire
Lucian
I woke to warmth.
Not just the heat of the morning sun slipping through the curtains, but something deeper. Something soft and electric blooming across my skin. For a second, I thought I was dreaming, lost in the haze of something sensual and tender, the kind of dream a soldier has when he’s finally home.
But then I opened my eyes.
Mara.
She was nestled between my thighs, her lips and hands working in unison, slow and focused. Her touch was everything, reverent, possessive, and full of intent. I let my head fall back against the pillow, a breath escaping me.
She looked up at me with those eyes that always knew how to undo me, and I reached down to brush her hair behind her
ear. “Mara…”
She didn’t stop, just gave a small smile, as if to say welcome home, and continued.
The sensation, the emotion behind it, made my chest ache. I could feel her need, her joy, her relief that I was here, in one piece. It wasn’t just lust. It was love, layered deep and threaded through every motion.
When she slid her body over mine, I felt her heat press against me. Her body, already responding, already aching. I guided her into a slow grind against me, pulling her down into a kiss. Our mouths met with hunger but also gratitude. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to.
She moved, and I matched her rhythm, both of us seeking that space where pain faded and only each other remained.
Later, I turned her gently, drawing her onto her knees, my hands sliding along the curve of her back. I knew her body intimately, the way she moved, the way she opened to me, the way she trusted me with all of her. And I gave that same trust back, with every touch, every breath, every deliberate thrust meant not just to claim, but to cherish.
She whispered my name in a way that made my restraint crumble.
We moved as one, chasing the storm between us, and when she shattered around me, shaking, crying out, I followed her over the edge, holding her through the aftershocks.
After, I pulled her against my chest, our breathing slowing in sync. She curled into me, her fingers tracing idle patterns on
my chest.
Home.
This was it.
This was what we fought for.
I stayed inside her a little longer, savoring the last waves of pleasure before gently pulling out and settling beside her. My heart was still racing, but in a different way now, content, not chaos.
“Welcome home,” Mara whispered, breathless against my shoulder.
I smiled and looked down at her. “It’s good to be home.”
She laid her head on my chest, and within moments, we drifted off to sleep, wrapped in the kind of peace only hard-won victories bring.
I woke to soft sunlight and an empty bed.
Mara was already dressed, standing by the window. She looked radiant, composed but glowing in that effortless way only
she could manage.
“Good morning, darling,” I said, my voice still rough from sleep.
She walked over and kissed me, right on the lips.
I blinked. “I haven’t even brushed,” I muttered.
She grinned. “It’s not every day a woman’s husband returns from war and gives her the kind of night that turns her insides
to jelly.”
We both laughed.
I got up, headed for the shower, and cleaned up quickly. By the time I came out, Mara was seated on the edge of the bed, reading Chase, no, Alaric’s, letter again. She was shaking her head, a half-smile on her lips.
“The man is absurdly overconfident,” I said, drying my hair.
“You can say that again,” she replied, folding the letter and placing it aside with a sigh.
Then her expression shifted. More serious.
“So… how do we catch the bastard?”
It was the right question. The only question that mattered now.
“We keep hammering his allies,” I said. “Force him out of hiding.”
Mara didn’t look convinced. “That’s pressure, not precision. We need something solid. A location. A plan.”
She wasn’t wrong. Besides his real name, we had little else.
Then it clicked.
His daughter was with us. The one who poisoned her mother. Helped him destabilize us from within. Ran to him when things got rough.”
Lacy.
She might know more than she realized, and it was time we found out.
Just as I was about to say it aloud, Darian’s voice rang in my head.
“I know you’re up, big brother. I want Lacy’s interrogation now. I didn’t sleep a damn minute last night. It eats at me that she tried to kill my mother. Killed one of our staff. Ran off like a coward. If I’d known in Rockville, I would’ve left her there to rot.”
I felt his fury through the link. It was rare for Darian to sound like this, raw, furious, and heartbroken.
“I don’t get it,” he continued. “How can my mother still cry for her? Still care? After everything she did? I can’t live with it if she walks away from this.”
I closed my eyes, exhaled slowly, then responded.
“Take it easy, Darian. Regardless of what she says, she won’t walk away from this. Whether Martha forgives her or not, Lacy betrayed us. She helped Alaric drain our support, rob us blind, and almost got our family killed. She will be punished.”
He didn’t respond.
But the silence told me everything.
He approved.
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<247 Trial by Fire
I had never seen Darian like that before.
Rage didn’t sit well on him. He wore it like a burning cloak, raw, volatile, ready to scorch anyone in reach. But Lacy’s
betrayal cut deeper than any enemy blade. It wasn’t just about Martha. It was about trust. Family. And how easily it had
been shattered.
“Who were you talking to?” Mara’s voice pulled me back.
She was watching me now, brows drawn together. I must’ve gone quiet longer than I realized.
“Darian,” I replied.
Her frown deepened. She knew, immediately, that whatever we discussed hadn’t been light.
“Are you set?” I asked.
She raised an eyebrow. “Set for what?”
“We’ve got someone to interrogate after breakfast.”
That caught her attention. Her posture straightened just a little, a flicker of anticipation in her eyes.
“Who?”
“Lacy.”
The flicker turned into fire.
“That b***h,” she spat. “How did you find her?”
“She was tied up in Rockville. Left to die.”
Mara scoffed, eyes blazing. “You should’ve left her there. Let the crows finish what she started.”
Her words came fast, venomous.
“She was the mole, wasn’t she? The one feeding Alaric information. That ingrate tried to kill her own mother. For a man who never once lifted a finger to raise her. A man who wanted her dead the moment she took her first breath.”
Mara stood now, pacing.
“Martha prostituted herself, sold every ounce of pride she had to give that girl a good life. She crawled through humiliation, pain, and trauma just to keep Lacy safe. And that’s how she repaid her? With poison?”
She stopped and faced me, breathing hard.
“I want to look her in the eye and ask what kind of twisted mind justifies that. What sickness makes someone betray the only person who ever loved them. I want to understand her. And then, I want to see what it takes to break her.”
Her voice trembled not with weakness, but with fury. And I understood it.
She was carrying a child.
She had a mother.
And the betrayal Lacy committed wasn’t just a crime against a person. It was a violation of something sacred.
I was angry too. But I needed to be the steady one between us. One of us had to keep a clear head when this interrogation started.
“Let’s eat first,” I said calmly. “You need strength, for yourself, and the baby.”
She didn’t argue.
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K247 TBL by tre
We got dressed and headed to the breakfast lounge. Mara didn’t say much on the way there. Her silence wasn’t passive. It
was the kind that smoldered.
I couldn’t help but smirk. Lacy had no idea what she was walking into.
Mara was trained for this.
And today, we weren’t just hunting answers, we were going to make sure every lie Lacy told came to light.
And if we were lucky, maybe she’d lead us right to Alaric.
