The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld #1)(49)
Author: Gena Showalter

Yet still she’d desired him.

He’d threatened to lock her away with another innocent woman – a woman he had already locked away. Shameful behavior, to be sure.

Still she’d desired him. Had even bitten his earlobe and tried to tempt him to finish what they’d started in that shower. But he’d resisted, escorting her down the hallway and into this room, where he’d dumped her without a kiss or even a word.

And still she foolishly desired him.

She wanted him to hold her, to cuddle her as she’d always dreamed someone would. She wanted him to talk to her and get to know her. And then she wanted him to freaking make love to her! All the way, this time. Nothing held back.

This desire she had for him was too strong and she didn’t understand it. He was ruthless and cryptic and temperamental. He was spawned from hell itself. But he was also kind, caring and the best thing to ever happen to her body. Oh yeah. And he was silence. As if she could forget about that. Damn it!

"Who are you?" a female voice suddenly asked.

Pulled from her musings, Ashlyn whipped around. Danika and three other women, ranging in age from late seventies to twenty-something, peered over at her with equal measures of concern and fear. Dear God. Maddox had four women locked away? Was this to be an immortal’s harem?

Well, you do have the costume.

Danika stepped forward. "She’s the sick one. The one I – " she coughed " – healed."

"Thank you for that," Ashlyn said softly, not sure what else to say to this stranger who wasn’t a stranger.

Danika nodded in acknowledgment. "You look better." Her gaze raked over Ashlyn before slitting with suspicion. "Miraculously better, to be honest."

"I wish I could explain it, but I can’t. Once the nausea passed, my strength returned. Seems those ‘small pebbles’ did the trick, after all."Ashlyn studied her, as well. "You look better, too. You’ve lost that lovely green tint."

"Well, that was the first time I ever rode a man to fetch painkillers." Danika anchored her hands on her hips. "So what brings you to Castle Spook? Were you kidnapped, too?"

Ashlyn wasn’t given time to answer.

"Who are these people?" a slightly older version of Danika asked. "What are they? Danika said one of them has wings."

If they didn’t already know, she wasn’t going to be the one to break it to them.

With barely a pause, the oldest of the group asked, "Do you know a way out?"

All of the women closed in on her as they spoke, encircling her. They peered at her hopefully, as if she held all the answers and could save them from the vilest of fates.

She held up her hands, palms out. "Everyone slow down." Kidnapped, Danika had said. Why would Maddox have done such a thing? "Are any of you hunters or bait?" Every time Maddox said those two words, there was disgust in his voice.

"As in, do we hunt treasure? Bait a hook?" Danika’s face scrunched in confusion, but there was a hard glint in her green eyes. "No."

"As in, I have no idea. I was hoping someone here would know." Voices of the past began to edge their way into her mind. One conversation after another. "No. No, not again." She felt herself pale, heat evaporating from her skin, leaving only a cold, trembling shell. Breathe. Just breathe.

"I think she’s getting sick again," Danika said, concerned. "Can you make it to the bed?" she asked Ashlyn.

"N-no. I just want to sit."

Suddenly a pair of hands settled on top of her shoulders, easing her to the floor. Ashlyn went willingly, her legs becoming too weak to hold her up. Shuddering, she drew air into her lungs.

They’re going to kill us.

We have to escape.

How? Hysterical laughter.

If we have to jump out the window, then we jump. They want to infect us with some sort of disease.

We jump, we die.

We stay, we die.

The voices belonged to these women, Ashlyn realized. Every word they’d spoken in the room was going to play through her head. Damn it, she’d gotten used to the silence.

Had assumed she’d have peace as long as she stayed out of the dungeon. Hopefully, they hadn’t been here long enough to have too many conversations.

I miss Grandpa. He’d know what to do.

Well, he’s not here, is he? We have to figure it out on our own.

A buttered roll and a glass of apple juice were shoved under her nose. "Here," Danika said gently. "These might help."

Who’s talking? Who said that?

Who are you talking to, Dani?

Uh, no one.

Ashlyn accepted both with shaky hands. On and on and on their exchange tumbled. Sometimes, as it had been in the dungeon, the conversations seemed one-sided. She couldn’t hear who the women were talking to; she only knew they were talking to someone other than themselves.

She heard Danika say, If – if I am a healer, will you swear to spare my mother, sister and grandmother? They haven’t done anything wrong. We came to Budapest to get away, to say goodbye to my grandpa. We –

But she didn’t hear the comment before it. Or after. Why?

The men were immortal, but she’d heard immortal creatures speak before. Vampires, goblins, shape-shifters, even. Why not the demons here? They had to be the ones Danika had been speaking to.

Ashlyn nibbled at the bread and sipped the juice, trying to tune out each new discussion. She hummed. She meditated. The women attempted to engage her, but she simply couldn’t respond. There were too many voices vying for her attention.

One by one, the women gave up. How many minutes or hours passed after that, she didn’t know. So many times she almost called for Maddox, but she held the pleas back, biting her tongue until she tasted blood. He had chores to do, he’d said. Besides, she didn’t want to be a burden. A nuisance.

That’s what you came here for, she reminded herself. To demand that these men teach you how to control your powers, even if it meant becoming a nuisance to them.

But that had been before Maddox actually entered her life. Now she wanted him to be her lover (if he would, the jerk), not her nursemaid. Again.

You hear a… a… voice? In your mind?

Yes.

And it’s not your own?

Maybe, probably. I don’t know.

Blessedly, the murmurings did stop, ending at the moment of Ashlyn’s entrance. Relieved as she was, she had to admit she had learned several new tidbits of information. The first and most significant: Danika had heard of hunters – she’d told her family about them.

"Hunters," Ashlyn said, lifting her gaze. Danika was looking out the room’s only window, a window none of the women had been able to pry open. Ashlyn had heard them try and fail. "What are they? Don’t lie to me this time. Please."