Soul Mates 04: Secrets(52)

Fuck.



This night just kept getting better and better. I figured that I'd better go and do my best to stop this and get the two of them separated, and set off to find them. The moment I stepped out of the kitchen, I heard a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass.



I followed the sound to the hallway leading to the study. When I arrived, there was a crowd starting to assemble and Lucien and Nikolas were on the floor, limbs tangled together as they struggled for dominance, each of them throwing punches and growling out threats.



About that time, Lucien flipped Nikolas and slammed him into the marble floor. I rushed to them, wrapping my arms around Lucien's chest and trying to pull him off.



"Stop, Lucien!"



Nikolas threw a punch that hit Lucien square in the jaw and knocked his head back into mine. I winced, and Lucien took the opportunity to free himself from my hold. Sabaan came running in, pushing his way through the crowd. He looked at me and shook his head.



"It was bound to happen sooner or later."



"Help me get them apart!"



Sabaan and I went in, grabbing Lucien and Nikolas, barely managing to pull them apart. Sabaan whispered into Nikolas' ear and it seemed calm him some. Lucien tried to tear himself away from me and it was all I could do to keep hold of him.



Oh yeah, he'd had an uppage in power all right, and I realized I was nowhere near strong enough to hold him back if he decided to use that extra power. I tried to guide him down the hall and through the crowd.



"Come on, Lucien. Work with me here. This is not the time or the."



Lucien roared and tore out of my grasp, broadsiding Nikolas and Sabaan, sending them crashing to the floor just inside the study. Sabaan immediately rolled away from them and dematerialized, ending up next to me.



"This is bad, Peter," he whispered.



I looked over at him. Blood ran in a thin line from his eyebrow down his cheek. "What do we do?"



"Besides shooting them? There's not much we can do," he said softly. "Bar the doors."



We'd never had to literally bar the doors to the study before. It took a moment for us to find the releases for the steel slide-outs that were set into the door frames. When we got them closed, we made our way to a corner to try to keep out of the way.



There was nothing we could do. They had to fight until one of them gave up or one of them was too hurt to go on. Neither would just give up, I was certain of that. They were too stubborn and hard-headed to know how.



We watched them fight and throw each other around and cast insults and barbs left and right. Their clothes were ripped and torn and both of them were covered in blood and numerous scratches and deep claw marks.



Sabaan wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. "What started this?"



"Well& I found Lucien eating potato salad and ended up cooking him a steak." Sabaan had the decency to look sympathetic instead of shocked, considering he already knew Lucien's secret. "We were talking about secrets and he told me his, wanted to know mine, but I wanted an answer to a question, first."



"And that was?"



"Why it was hidden from me that the bond between me and Xander could have been fixed. Nikolas walked in and popped off that he wasn't going to let Xander have what was his& Lucien took offense."



"Oh, shit."



I nodded and gestured to our men, rolling around on the floor like two cavemen fighting over a piece of meat. "And here we are."



Everything went quiet, and I looked over to where Nikolas and Lucien had been on the floor only moments before. Lucien was on the floor, leaned up against the back of a couch, and Nikolas was nearly to his feet.



"What are we going to do? Fight until we kill each other?" Nikolas asked Lucien.



"The thought had crossed my mind," Lucien answered.



Nikolas laughed and walked around the couch nearest him. "You were always so blind to what was happening right before your eyes."



"What the fuck does that mean?" Lucien got to his feet and faced Nikolas. "The only one blind here is you."



Boy, this was going nowhere fast.



I started to get up, but Nikolas chose that very moment to jump the couch and get in Lucien's face. I actually held my breath because he didn't speak right away. He just stared, and that worried me more than anything.



"Why can't you just accept it?"



"Because I don't have to."



"No, you don't," Nikolas said softly. "But tell me this: would you rather it was me or someone else?"



Lucien's hand shot out and grasped Nikolas' throat. "It didn't have to be anyone if you'd have just left it alone."