Summary: Fleeing back to the Shadow Den after Nicole’s betrayal, Lydia only wants to be with one other person.
Note: Set after the latest chapter, and assuming that the group hides out at the Shadow Den for the time being.
Lydia feels like she hasn’t slept in years when they get back to the Shadow Den. She’s furious, her thoughts disjointed and all over the place. Ideas of how best to destroy Nicole and Vega run through her head. She’s so deliriously tired that the thoughts almost make her laugh out loud, but she bites it back.
The glares and angry words directed at them from the Clanless probably aren’t best responded to with her exhaustion fueled laughter. Jax manages to calm the Clanless enough to find the four of them a place to stay, at least for now. The room is small but comfortable, and Lydia spots a couple beds tucked up against the walls.
As much as she wants to just sleep for the next twelve or so hours, she really wants it to be in Jax’s room. It’s been a weird, awful night, and all she wants right now is Jax nearby. She’s tired and angry and worried and doesn’t want anyone else.
She catches his eye and gives him a questioning look. He nods, the corners of his mouth tilting up a little. Lydia is too tired to even come up with a good excuse for leaving with him. She just tells Adrian, Kamilah, and Lily that she’ll be back later, and follows him out the door and to his room.
Once they’re inside, she kicks her shoes off and flops on to his bed fully dressed. Her eyes close immediately. She hears Jax rummaging for something, then a quiet click as he turns the lights off. The mattress dips a little, and Lydia forces her eyes open.
“Here,” Jax says, handing her something. “This will be more comfortable.”
It’s a t-shirt, soft and well-worn. He’s right, her jeans and sweater aren’t going to be the most comfortable things to sleep in, but she’s almost too tired to move.
“Too tired,” she mumbles through a yawn, but she forces herself upright.
She blinks at him sleepily when he tucks her hair behind her ear. Even in the near-dark, she can see the concerned look on his face.
“I’m really sorry for all of this,” she says softly.
Jax shakes his head. “Don’t worry about that now, Lydia. Just sleep.”
With some effort, she pulls her shirt over her head, gets out of her jeans, and pulls his shirt on. It smells like him, a comforting, familiar scent that she thinks will help her sleep.
Lydia lays down, watching Jax take his shoes and jacket off. He lays next to her when she scoots over, shifting automatically to hold her close to him, her head tucked under his chin, her face burrowed against his chest.
Her eyes drift closed again. “Thank you,” she murmurs.
“You’re welcome, love,” he says quietly.
That simple word makes her heart beat faster. She wants him to say it again, but before she can ask, she’s fast asleep. Her sleep is dreamless, a welcome relief from the past couple of days.
When Lydia wakes, they’ve shifted while she’s slept. She’s rolled to her other side, her back against his chest now. Jax’s arm is wrapped around her waist.
“What time is it?” she asks sleepily.
“Late,” Jax answers in a low voice, his breath a warm puff against her neck that makes her wake all the way up.
“You can sleep more,” he says, but Lydia shakes her head and turns to face him.
“I’m good for now.”
She shifts forward, bringing her lips instinctively to his.
“I really am sorry,” she whispers.
Jax kisses her slowly, threading his hand into her hair. “It’s not your fault.”
“I’m going to kill Nicole. And Vega,” she mutters.
Jax chuckles, once. “I think you’ll have to get in line for that.”
They kiss again, and she wraps her hand around the back of his neck, her fingers running up into his hair. She feels herself drifting back off, despite her best efforts to stay awake. Jax gently shifts her to her back, and she grumbles in protest when he goes to get up.
“I’ll be back,” he promises when she opens her eyes.
He looks at her a bit apologetically. “The volunteers will be here soon. It’s been a while.”
Lydia wraps her fingers around his wrist. “You know I’m right here, right?”
“You’re half-asleep.”
Lydia scowls. “I am not.”
Jax raises an eyebrow, an amused look on his face, then sits back down on the mattress. “You are stubborn, though,” he says.
“I never said I wasn’t,” she smirks.
Jax gently pushes back on her shoulder when she goes to sit up. “You can stay laying down.”
She lays back, Jax lying next to her and gently tilting her chin. Lydia shivers when he traces his thumb along her neck, and again when he bends his head down and kisses her skin.
“You like this?” Jax asks, his voice muffled against her.
“When you do it,” she murmurs, and feels him groan.
He lifts his head up, his eyes red, and leans down to kiss her. The scratch of his fangs over her bottom lip makes her squirm, her hand burying in his hair. She gasps when he suddenly tilts his head back down and she feels his fangs sink into her neck.
“God, Jax,” she groans. “That feels…”
He makes a noise of agreement that vibrates against her skin. His hand slips just under the hem of her shirt, his fingers trailing up her side before settling over her hip. She loses herself in the moment, in Jax, pushing everything else out of her mind. When he’s done (too soon, it always feels far too soon when he stops), he seals her wounds and stares down at her.
“What?” she asks, a drowsy smile on her face.
“You,” he says simply. “I would never willingly hand myself over to anyone in the Council or let any of them in here, but for you…”
He stops, shaking his head. “For you, Lydia, I’d do a lot of things I normally wouldn’t.”
“Mmm,” she hums. “Well, the feeling’s mutual.”
“Yeah?”
She nods, pulling him down to press her lips to his. “Yeah.”
Jax shifts over her, settling between her legs, his lips never leaving hers. Their kisses grow hungrier, more insistent, both of their hands everywhere and all at once, pulling clothing off and out of the way. She’s so desperate to feel him, to have him. The way he groans her name when they come together makes her shudder.
“Oh, Jax,” she moans as he rocks against her.
She wraps her legs around him, her arms around his back. Her hips arch up into his as they kiss messily. She remembers, suddenly, what he’d called her earlier, and wants to hear it again.
“Earlier,” she pants. “You called me-“
“-love?” Jax says, and the word makes her belly tighten.
“Yeah,” she gasps.
His fangs prick against her neck, making her dig her fingers into his back.
“Say it again,” she pleads.
She’s almost begging, but she doesn’t care. She’s willing to go to war with nearly an entire council of vampires for Jax. Lydia is honestly surprised one or both of them isn’t dead right now. And if this is all going to end horribly, well, she’s going to soak up everything and every second with him that she can.
Jax sinks his fangs just below her skin, then lifts his head up. His eyes lock on hers.
“You feel good, love,” Jax murmurs, and the way he says it and the way he’s moving against her has her coming undone.
They’re curled up on his bed after, his fingers running idly up and down her side, hers tracing over the tattoo on his arm.
“I didn’t take you for someone who likes pet names,” Jax says, squeezing her hip.
Lydia smiles. “I don’t. I usually hate them. I once lectured my ex for calling me ‘baby’. I’m talking twenty minutes of me yelling at him. No idea why he broke up with me,” she jokes.
Jax laughs.
Lydia cranes her head up, her fingers stilling against his skin. “I meant what I said, though, Jax. You make me do things I normally wouldn’t.”
“What, you’ve never taken on a group of powerful vampires before?” Jax asks in a casual tone, a teasing smile playing on his lips.
“Nope. Not that I know of, anyway,” she replies.
Her fingers resume their motions, until she’s nearly asleep again.
“Get some more sleep,” Jax says softly.
“Stay here?” she asks him through a yawn.
“Of course, love,” he answers, and she sees him grin out of the corner of her eye when she flushes in pleasure.
Just before she drifts off, Lydia thinks to herself that she doesn’t fall like this, has never fallen like this. She’s never felt this instant, fierce attraction and desire and protectiveness for anyone before. She would do nearly anything for the man holding onto her, despite not knowing him for long, and while the feeling is unfamiliar, it’s welcome and fills her with a burning determination to keep them both safe.