The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld #1)(11)
Author: Gena Showalter

Knuckles slammed into his jaw, dislocating the bone. A knee jammed into the sensitive flesh between his legs. Still he fought. And as the battle raged, the warriors managed to drag him up the steps and into his bedroom. Maddox thought he heard Ashlyn sobbing, thought he saw her trying to tear the men away from him. He jabbed his fist forward and hit something – a nose. Heard a howl. Experienced satisfaction. Wanted more blood.

"Damn it! Chain him, Reyes, before he breaks somebody else’s f**king nose."

"He’s too strong. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold him."

Minutes passed as he fought, maybe an eternity, then cold metal locked around his wrists, his ankles. Maddox bucked and arched, the links cutting into his flesh. "Bastards!" The pain in his stomach was unbearable now, no longer sporadic but constant. "I’ll kill you. I’ll take every one of you to hell with me."

Reyes stood over him, a dark glaze of determination and regret blanketing his tanned features. Maddox tried to knock him down by raising his knees and kicking, but the chains held. The warrior, too, held steady, withdrawing a long, menacing sword from his side.

"I’m sorry," Reyes rasped as a clock chimed the hour. And then he stabbed Maddox in the stomach.

The metal sliced all the way to his spine before leaving his body. Instantly blood poured from the wound, wetting his chest and stomach. Bile burned his throat, his nose. He cursed; he bucked.

Reyes stabbed him again. And again.

The pain… the agony… His skin felt scorched. With only those three slices, his bones and organs were already shredded, each tear a point of anguish. Still he fought; still he felt a desperate urge to kill.

A woman screamed. "Stop! You’re killing him!"

When her voice pierced Maddox’s consciousness, his struggles became all the more wild. Ashlyn. His woman from the forest. His. Get to her, had to get to her. Had to kill her – no! Had to save her. Kill…save…the two needs battled for supremacy. He jerked at his chains. The metal shackles dug deeper into his wrists and ankles, but he reared up and kicked. The bed shook with the force of his movements, and both the headboard and footboard bent forward with a whine.

"Why are you doing this?" Ashlyn shouted. "Stop! Don’t hurt him. Ohmygod, stop!"

Reyes stabbed him again.

Black cobwebs wove over his vision as he searched the room. Paris, he saw dimly, was striding toward Ashlyn. Reached her, wrapped his arms around her. She was dwarfed by the larger man, enfolded in his shadow. Tears glistened in those amber eyes and on her too-pale cheeks.

She fought, but Paris held firm and dragged her from the room.

Maddox uttered an animalistic roar. Paris would seduce her. Strip her and taste her. She would not be able to resist; no woman could. "Let her go! Now!" He strained so fervently for freedom, a vessel burst in his forehead. His vision blackened completely.

"Get her out of here and keep her out." Reyes stabbed Maddox once more, the fifth blow. "She’s making him more crazed than usual."

Had to save her. Had to get to her. The sound of rattling chains blended with his panting as he struggled all the more.

"I’m sorry," Reyes whispered again.

Finally, the sixth blow was delivered.

That’s when all of Maddox’s strength seeped from him. The spirit quieted, retreating to the back of his consciousness.

Done. It was done.

He lay on the bed, drenched in his own blood, unable to move or see. The pain didn’t leave him, nor did the burning. No, they intensified, more a part of him than his own skin. Warm liquid gurgled in his throat.

Lucien – he knew it was Lucien for he recognized the deceptively sweet scent of Death – knelt beside him and clasped his hand. That meant his demise was close, so torturously close.

But for Maddox, the true torment had yet to begin.

As part of his death-curse, he and Violence would spend the rest of the night burning in the pits of hell. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a cough emerged. More and more blood was rushing into his throat, choking him.

"In the morning, you’ll have a lot of explaining to do, my friend," Lucien said, adding gently, "Die now. I’ll take your soul to hell, as required – but this time you might actually want to remain there, eh, rather than deal with the trouble you’ve brought into our home."

"G-girl," Maddox finally managed to say.

"Don’t worry," Lucien said. Whatever questions he had, he kept to himself. "We won’t hurt her. She’ll be yours to deal with in the morning."

"Untouched." The request was odd, Maddox knew, because none of them had ever been possessive of a woman. Ashlyn, though… He wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do with her. He knew what he should do – and what he couldn’t. Both mattered little just then. Because, more than anything, he knew that he didn’t want to share.

"Untouched," he insisted weakly when Lucien said nothing.

"Untouched," Lucien agreed at last.

The scent of flowers intensified. A heartbeat of time passed, and then Maddox died.

CHAPTER FOUR

"Who are you and how do you know Maddox?"

"Let me go!" Ashlyn wiggled and squirmed, trying to free herself from her captor’s iron grip. Her ankle throbbed, but she didn’t care. "They’re killing him in there." Oh God. They were killing him, stabbing him over and over again. There’d been so much blood…such terrible screams. She gagged, remembering.

The voices might still be gone, but she felt more tormented than ever.

"Maddox will be fine," the man told her. Maddox had broken his nose – she’d seen it – but it had snapped back into place almost immediately. There wasn’t even a trace of blood on his face. Now he removed one of his arms from her waist, only to caress her temple and gently brush aside a lock of hair. "You’ll see."

"No, I won’t see," she all but sobbed. "Let me go!"

"Much as I hate to deny you, I have to. You were causing him undue torment."

"I was causing him undue torment? I wasn’t the one stabbing him. Now let me go!" Not knowing what else to do, she stilled and gazed up at him. "Please." He had brilliant blue eyes and skin as pale as milk. His hair was a captivating blend of brown and black. He was handsome beyond anyone she’d ever seen before, too perfect to be real.

And all she wanted to do was escape him.

"Relax." He smiled a slow, seductive smile. Practiced, even to her untrained eye. "You have nothing to fear from me, gorgeous. I’m all about the pleasure."

Fury and fright, sorrow and frustration gave her strength and bravery; she slapped him. He’d just watched a man stab Maddox, and he’d done nothing to stop it. He’d just watched a man stab Maddox, and he dared to flirt with her. She had everything to fear from him.