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Another excerpt from Soul Mates: Sacrifice...

I continued on down the hallway and when I got to the bedroom door, I stood there for just a few minutes, trying to relax as much as possible. If I went in all worked up, Lucien would want to know details. At this point, I figured details were a bad thing to be giving out.

A muffled cry sounded from the other side of the door, prompting me to get on with it and scan my hand to get inside. The light flashed green on the first pass and I opened the door, only to hear two of the most beautiful sounds in the world. Lucien and Xander both grunted and groaned, but I was sure there were two very different reasons for it.

I couldn't see them from the doorway because of the curtains around the bed. Xander had apparently pulled them shut after I'd left. It was a habit of his; always wanting to sleep closed off from the rest of the world. About midway to the bed, I started stripping off my clothes. It wasn't until I got to my jeans that I realized I was still wearing Nikolas' boots.

He'd come looking for them after he got a little rest. I was sure of that. The boots were his favorite and I couldn't see him leaving them with me for long out of fear that I'd take them over. I kicked them off and to the side, then stripped off my jeans. I made my way to the bed, but before I got there, I felt an odd prickling down my spine.

The sensation was one I'd only felt once before. The night Nikolas had attacked me I'd gotten my first glimpse at Xander's power. It was something I'd never forget.

There was no reason, however, that I should be feeling it now. Xander kept a tighter lid on his powers than anyone else I knew. Lucien had never seen even a glimpse, as far as I knew. I quietly continued to the bed and drew part of the curtain aside. The soft light of the room filtered into the darkness around the bed.

At first glance, nothing seemed unusual. But to someone who knew Xander, who'd felt Xander's power before – and knew how he felt about showing any of it – this was so totally wrong.

Lucien was above Xander, feeding. With each pull, I could hear a groan of satisfaction. Xander was beneath him, legs spread, hips rocking up against Lucien's belly. His breathing was slow and deep, a grunt preceding each exhale. It was grunting that drew my attention—or rather the pulse of power that came with each one.

Or maybe it was the way Xander was planting his feet on the bed and grabbing on to Lucien's shoulders as if he was about to push Lucien off and away. In the next second, Xander rolled Lucien to the bed and pinned him to it. Lucien struggled, arms flailing as he tried to push Xander off.

"Xander!"

I crawled across the bed, but when I touched him, he turned that power on me and shoved me back. The impact with the headboard knocked the breath out of me and I could only watch, struggling for breath, as Xander planted his palms on Lucien's chest and dropped all of his shields.

Power exploded all around me. The sensation was nothing and everything like the night I'd been attacked. The power Xander had let slip there outside the hunting area – the power he'd shown me – was a slow, gradual reveal. This was all of that power magnified a dozen times and concentrated into one place. The air around the bed was alive, and the sensation of hot, sticky fur rubbed along my body, trying to find a way in.

And I just wanted it to stop.

I tried to get to Lucien, but it was as if the power created a physical barrier between him and Xander and me. Lucien bucked and gasped, body bowing, eyes rolling back in his head, his hair growing longer and longer. After a few moments, Lucien grabbed Xander by the shoulders and flung him away. Xander hit the curtain on the other side of the bed and fell to the floor.

The silence was almost deafening. Or would have been if not for Xander cursing and Lucien lying there panting as if he'd just run for miles. I crawled to him, turning his head so I could see his face.

"Lucien? You okay?"

He opened his eyes and looked at me, licking a spot of blood from the corner of his mouth. Nodding slightly, he closed his eyes again. "If he does that again… I will kill him."

© Jourdan Lane. All rights reserved.