The Darkest Craving (Lords of the Underworld #10)(93)
Author: Gena Showalter

Happy.

He could be happy.

The girl coughed, drawing his attention back to her. Hope spread wings and flew through him. Maybe she would survive.

He crouched beside her.

“When you flash back to the prison, I want you to hold on to me and will me to go with you. Okay? Can you do that? I’m covered. Your skin won’t ever be in contact with mine, and your condition won’t worsen.” Please don’t worsen.

She licked her dry, cracked lips, but left no moisture behind. “Why?”

“I’m not leaving you alone in that cell. I know you have to go back, and there’s no way I can stop you, so I’ll just have to go with you. I’ll be there to doctor you, and maybe you’ll get better.” You have to get better.

“You won’t…be able…to leave.”

“That’s fine. Sienna will find us and I’ll introduce you.”

Between coughs, she replied, “Can…try.”

He stretched out beside her and pressed his mask-covered face against her chest. Her heart was beating too hard and too fast. Heat radiated through the material barriers between them. He draped his arm over her middle and twined his legs through hers.

The position was new to him. One he’d never before experienced. One he was ashamed to admit he liked, despite the circumstances. He’d never been so close to a female. Meanwhile, she was dying.

“I’m here,” he cooed. “I’m with you.”

“Here we…go.”

A second later, the world around him vanished and a new one took shape.

It had worked.

He saw a small cell with crumbling rock walls. There was no window, and barely any light. The only door was made of metal bars. There was no bed, no blankets. The air was cold and damp.

A soft, pained moan left her.

They were on the frigid, hard ground, and it had to be painful to her aching bones. Torin hopped to his feet and tugged the clothes from his bag to create a barrier, a makeshift mattress. Then he picked her up and eased her down.

“Mari?” a pretty voice called from across the way. “Is that you? Are you back?”

In response, Mari coughed.

“Are you okay?” the girl asked, concerned. “And who’s in there with you? The shadow I see is too large to be yours.”

“My name is Torin,” he called. “Mari is sick, and I’m here to help her.”

The girl released a string of curses. “You touched her. You touched her, and now she’s going to die.”

“No,” he said. “I won’t let her.”

Bars rattled. “You better hope she doesn’t. She does, and I’ll find a way out of here. I’ll destroy you and everyone you love.”

* * *

CAMEO’S PATIENCE RAN out as she shoved past another tangle of thorn bushes. Her skin was sliced in too many places to count, her feet were throbbing, and she was pretty sure there were bugs in her hair.

She’d been so close to Pandora’s box, was now so far away.

“I want out of this dimension, like, yesterday,” she said.

“I’m looking for the doorway into the next.” Lazarus paused to move a branch out of her way. “Impatient much?”

“A girl I know could be trapped in another dimension, too, and I want to find her. So yes, I’m impatient.” She stomped past him. He released the branch and laughed when the thorns slapped her. Whirling around, she pointed a finger in his face. “I’m going to hang your balls in my trophy case if you do that again.”

“Good. Hold on to your anger. Your voice is unbearable when you’re complaining.” He stepped around her and resumed his journey.

“I never complain,” she muttered. “I’m a warrior. I’m strong. Tough. Unbeatable.” She’d fought in wars, saved her friends. Battled her way out of enemy territory. “Besides, it’s impolite to point out my only flaw.”

“Only?” Lazarus pushed another limb out of his way—only to let this one swing back and slap her in the face. “Oops. My bad.”

She snapped her teeth at his back.

“I saw that.”

“After I remove your balls, I’ll strap you to a slab of concrete and force you to listen while I sing.”

“Now that actually scares me.” He chuckled. “You amuse me, female.”

She amused him? “That’s a first.”

“But true nonetheless. Unlike the woman who tried to enslave me—a name you will not speak again or you will finally see my dark side—you aren’t the type to hurt an innocent man.”

“You aren’t innocent.”

“Have I harmed you?”

“No,” she grudgingly admitted.

“Then with you, I’m innocent.” He flicked her a glance, lingered. “You are so tiny, and so sad, and yet you consider yourself fierce.”

“I am fierce!” And if she hadn’t needed him so much, she would have shown him.

“Of course you are,” he said, and if he’d been facing her, she was certain he would have been patting her on top of the head.

Her gaze drilled into his back. His wide, muscular back. Because of the heat, he’d removed his shirt. Sweat ran down in rivulets. His skin was gorgeously bronzed, inked with the most vibrant tattoos, and—

“Do you ever laugh?” he asked, tugging her from her inspection before her knees could start knocking.

“I’ve been told I have.”

“You don’t remember?”

“No. Joy isn’t something that sticks.”

A loud roar reverberated behind her.

Lazarus stopped and twisted, a strange amber light shining in his eyes. She bumped into him, and his arms wrapped around her, holding her steady. He was strong. Amazingly strong. And I shouldn’t find that attractive, she thought. I should be immune. I’ve spent centuries with men just like him.

“Be still and quiet,” he whispered, his gaze searching the trees.

Well, maybe not just like him. Her friends would have asked nicely.

Her ears twitched as she, too, listened. In the distance, she could hear the swish of tree limbs shaking through the air, the clap of leaves banging together.

“Run,” Lazarus said, and broke into top speed, dragging her along with him.

“What is it?”

“You don’t want to know.”

A hideous creature broke through the line of trees behind them. The…whatever it was had the body of a wild hog and the face of a dragon. Gnarled wings stretched from its back, and long saber teeth extended from between its lips.