Darkness Unmasked

I shivered—a reaction that was a weird mix of loathing and desire. “And suck me dry information-wise.”

“Well, yes, that is a luscious side benefit.” He grinned. “You cannot deny that our time together was mutually satisfactory.”

I snorted. Side benefit, my ass. If anything had been a side benefit, then it was the sex. And yeah, it had been great, but the truth of the matter was, I was just another cog in the many wheels he had spinning.

“And you were so damn sure of your prowess in bed that you had to place a spell on me to ensure I came back.”

Something flickered in his eyes. Something that was dark and ultimately dangerous. It was a quick reminder that for all the time I’d spent fucking this man, I didn’t really know him.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, Risa.” His voice was as soft as his expression was dark. “It was not just the spell that kept you coming back, but your own insatiable desire. And we both know if I were to touch you now, you would beg me for more.”

“If you tried touching me, the only thing you’d feel is Amaya’s steel.” I paused, then added somewhat cattily, “Oh, that’s right, you’ve already had a close encounter of the ugly kind with her.”

He laughed. It was a short and sharp sound, but held little of the anger and frustration I could sense within him. “Yes. I wasn’t aware that demon swords were capable of thought or action when the bearer was out of it. To discover the sharp end of a sword literally sticking out of your cunt was something of a surprise.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you, I said silently to my sword.

Kill him to thank.

I have to admit, it was a very tempting thought. But until I knew whether he was at all involved with Ilianna’s disappearance, my hands were still as tied as my feet.

“So you kidnapped me just to fuck me?”

“Oh, I didn’t intend to just fuck you, my dear.” Amusement played about his mouth, but there was something decidedly dark in the green depths.

“Then what the hell did you intend?”

“What I intended,” he drawled, “was to seed you with my child.”

Chapter 12

For a moment I simply stared at him, wondering if he’d gone absolutely bonkers in the brief time we’d been apart. He’d been in this world long enough to know it was law that all werewolves—even those of us who were half-breeds—had to be chipped at puberty to prevent conception. The government still seemed to think—despite centuries of evidence to the contrary—that just because we fucked like rabbits, we’d breed like them, too.

“Well, you wouldn’t have had much luck with that,” I bit back. “Even without Amaya’s well-placed intervention, I’m chipped. If you took it out, it would still take several cycles for me to conceive.”

He smiled. It held a very nasty edge. “Yes, but you are no longer what you were. You have been remade by the Raziq.”

My stomach flip-flopped, but I didn’t let the sudden surge of fear show. “Meaning what?”

“That you are fully fertile, for one thing.” His gaze slid down my body, and despite the distaste that rolled through me, I nevertheless reacted as strongly as I ever had. My hormones, I thought in frustration, needed to be bitch slapped. “It is such a shame your sword intervened, but in truth, I am not so annoyed. I do prefer my partners awake and willing.”

A statement that had trepidation crawling through me all over again. But what was more interesting was the fact that he’d intended to breed. Aedh felt that imperative only when their life was coming to an end. Of course, thanks to an Aedh’s long life span, that end could be many years away. Hell, my father was still going strong, more’s the pity.

“I’d love to say I’m sorry to have disappointed you, but I’m not. Now, why don’t you just put that fucking gun down and release me. You’re not going to get what you want from me—no baby, no fucking keys, no revenge—”

“Oh,” he cut in, his expression altogether too confident for my liking. “That’s where you are very, very wrong.”

Again that sick, fearful feeling began to rise up my throat. My fingers tightened against Amaya’s hilt, but I didn’t draw her free from my flesh and throw her at the bastard’s heart. But I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted to.

“What do you mean?” The edge in my voice was fear and anger combined.

“Simply that I have combined my need for offspring with my desire for revenge on all those who have made me less than I am.”

That feeling of dread ramped up several notches. My throat was so restricted, I could barely even say, “How?”

But I knew.

And he knew I knew. That was very evident by the amused glitter in his bright eyes. “Ilianna.”

My reaction was instant. Without thought. In one smooth movement, I drew Amaya free, swept her across the ropes binding my ankles, then lunged at him. But he was even faster than me. He jumped back and fired the gun. The shot tore through my hand, blowing apart two fingers before it hit Amaya’s hilt and ricocheted into the nearby wall. Pain and blood surged, but all I felt was anger. My anger, Amaya’s anger, and the utter need to just rid the world of the man who might well have destroyed my best friend. I attacked him, Amaya raised high above my head and screaming for blood.

Just for a moment, surprise flitted across his features; then he retreated from my onslaught and held up the gun.

“Know that I will shoot you again if I need to,” he said. “And know, too, that if I die, so will Ilianna.”

That stopped me. Even Amaya muted her screams. “What do you mean?”

“Just that.” He paused, but the tension in his body suggested he was very much ready to react the minute I so much as twitched. “If I do not contact the people holding your friend every hour, they will kill her.”

“You bastard.”

Amusement flitted across his features. “All Aedh are bastards, dear Risa, because we seed and leave. We are not prey to the emotions and needs that wreck so many human lives.”

And were poorer for it. “But to rape Ilianna—”

“There was no rape,” he cut in, sounding oddly annoyed. “An Aedh’s kiss always ensures that their chosen breeder is more than willing.”

“Ilianna is gay. You would have had to force a kiss, if nothing else.”

Though anger kept the worst of the pain at bay, I was bleeding all over the place and would be in very serious trouble if I didn’t do something about it soon. Yet I remained still. To do anything else would not have been wise right now.

“Well, yes, but we both know I was not her first male lover.”

No, because Ilianna had experimented when she was young. After the attack on her sister had left her incapable of conceiving, her parents’ desire for grandchildren had fallen solely onto Ilianna’s shoulders. The weight of their expectations had all but forced her to least try to have a relationship with a male. But she could no more change her orientation than the moon could rise during the day.

“That doesn’t alter the reality that you forced yourself on her. Whether the magic made her willing or not doesn’t matter in the end.” And I would kill him for it. If not now, then later.

I shifted Amaya to my left hand and tried to ignore the warm slickness covering her hilt. The pain was getting stronger, a monster ready to consume. I clenched what remained of my fingers on my shattered hand, but it did little to stem the tide of blood.

He made a “who cares” motion with his free hand. “It has been done. She will bear my child, no matter what happens to me. The decision you have to make is whether she actually gets to live or die.”

“And why the hell would you impregnate her if all you intended to do is kill her?”

“Come now, let’s not play dumb, Risa. She is captive to your good behavior. And, of course, she is not the only one I have seeded.” His smile was all arrogance. “The Raziq may have stolen many things from me, but they did not take my potency.”

I wished they fucking had. “So does your dark sorceress know she’s about to become a mom?”

“You always did catch on to the inconsequential things faster than most,” he murmured, looking amused. “But no, she does not. It is not necessary. Besides, she has not entirely upheld her part of our agreement, so I see no problem in not entirely upholding mine.”

“That’s a decidedly risky game to play when dealing with a sorceress as powerful as Lauren Macintyre.” But maybe she’d kill him and save the rest of us the trouble.

“Yes, but there is also great pleasure to be found in playing such games.”

I resisted the urge to glance at his body and see for myself just how much delight he was taking in this game. “So what’s next?”

“Why, you find the keys; then we both go to retrieve them, of course.”

“Of course.” Dizziness swept me. I licked my lips and tried to ignore the trembling that was beginning to hit my muscles. “But what the hell are you going to do with them once you get them, Lucian? It’s not like you can get onto the gray fields anymore.”

Again that dark and dangerous energy flashed through him. “Perhaps, but I can use them as a bargaining chip with the Raziq.”

“If you think they’ll agree to restore you to full Aedh in exchange for the keys, you’re not playing with a full deck.”

“They will have no choice.”

I snorted. “They tortured you once for information on the keys. What makes you think they won’t do it again?”

“Because I will have them placed where even the Raziq can’t get them—hell itself.”

I stared at him. He was insane. He had to be to even think that was a logical solution. “I’m sure the inhabitants of hell are going to be as happy as all get-out when they discover what they’ve been handed.”

“I am not so foolish as to simply hide them,” he growled. “They will be guarded by the most powerful demons in hell.”