Kresley Cole - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

“Where is your mate?”

He roared, “Dead!”

Bowen hissed in a breath. “Oh, Christ. I know this well. We have to get him out of here.”

“No, this canna be right,” Lachlain said. “He’s been maddened. Look at his eyes. Garreth, why do you think she’s dead?”

Garreth choked out, “Slammed the blade… through her neck. Ah, gods, her head !”

“Who did this to her?” Lachlain’s own beast was stirring to avenge his brother’s mate.

Bowen’s eyes were turning as well. “Tell us who!”

“Me! I cut off her fucking head!”

“Ah, Garreth, no!” Fear for his brother gripped Lachlain, like a hand wrapped round his throat. “You could no’ hurt her.”

“I killed… my Lousha.” With a yell, he flung himself free from their grip, clawing at his chest again.

“Damn you, Garreth, stop this!” But he wouldn’t.

The beast wanted to rip out its aching heart.

As they grappled with him, Lachlain saw the milky white of Garreth’s eyes turn to the palest blue.

It’s taking over. “Fight it, Garreth! You have tae fight this.”

He gazed up at Lachlain. Just before Garreth turned irreversibly, before the beast claimed him for good, he rasped, “Brother… I’m lost .”

Into the desolate woods Lucia had run with her bow, her hands still flayed and dripping blood from escaping those bonds.

She’d left behind that lair forever, running from a forsaken past into her future—with MacRieve. If I can find him… and bring him back.

For two days, she’d searched this forest, tracking him. He’d run in a frenzy, with no rhyme or reason. She might have lost his trail if it hadn’t been for his claw marks on trees.

Lucia couldn’t fathom the pain and loss he was feeling, the confusion. At repeated intervals, her eyes would tear up, and then she’d berate herself for being weak. He needed her, needed her to be strong.

Now, at last, a break—his footprints in the muddy ground! And beside them, the prints of two shoed men, two big men, as towering as Garreth was.

In her mind flashed the memory of Lachlain standing tall next to Garreth in that cell.

The tracks changed. The shoed men had dragged him away.

Garreth had once told her, My brother used to get me out of scrape after scrape. If the witch Mariketa had given Bowen and Lachlain the coordinates to this place, they could have found him….

Her eyes narrowed. The Lykae had taken Garreth.

They’d taken him home.

Kinevane Castle, Scotland

Lachlain and Emma gaped at the security feed of the mystically-protected front gates of Kinevane. Realization had just dawned on both of them that the rain-drenched female who’d been frantically banging on the impervious gates was—

“It’s Aunt Luce!” Emma cried. “I told you she was alive! We would’ve felt it if she’d died.”

“That is the reasonable one?” It was Garreth’s mate. If nothing else, Lachlain recognized the bow slung over her shoulder.

“Let me the hell in!” —two rapid kicks— “I know he’s in there!” With a boxer’s jab, she punched the proud Lykae seal in the center.

Lachlain let out a stunned breath. “She lives .”

Emma hit the intercom button. “Two seconds, Aunt Luce!”

“Aye, it’s freezing outside, so let’s get her the hell in—” Emma had already disappeared; Lachlain hated it when she traced without him.

Exactly two seconds later, Emma had returned with her sodden aunt.

Lucia wasted no time. “Where is he?” There was a wild glint in her eyes, a dangerous one, and Lachlain felt the tiniest spark of hope for his brother.

Though I know better. There was no record in their clan’s thousands of years of annals of a Lykae ever coming back from this state. And Lachlain had already had Bowen bring Mariketa, the most powerful witch in existence, to Kinevane. She’d tried to help, but with her magicks bound, she could achieve nothing.

For two days, the only thing Lachlain had been able to do was watch as Garreth continued to regress further and further. “We have him here,” Lachlain told Lucia. “He’s safe. But he’s… gone .”

Emma added, “Aunt Luce, it’s bad.” A maid rushed up with a towel, handing it to Lucia, then bustled away, likely afraid of the wild-eyed Valkyrie.

Dropping the towel without interest, Lucia said, “Explain to me what happened.”

Lachlain related how they’d found him in the woods. “He was maddened. For some reason, he was certain that you’d died. He thought he’d killed you.”

“In his mind he did,” Lucia said. “An evil god made him believe that—made him see it.”

Lachlain’s beast stirred, and he asked slowly, “What god did this to my brother?”

“A dead one. Now take me to Garreth.”

As he and Emma walked with her down to the dungeon, Lachlain said, “He will no’ likely understand how you’re here. Just seeing you will no’ bring him back. Our kind… we doona return once gone this far.”

How would Lucia react when she saw Garreth? When she saw the claw marks up and down his body from where he’d torn at himself? They’d drugged him, but for some reason, he readily shook off the effects.

The three hadn’t even reached the dungeon’s outer door when Garreth scented his mate and roared.

The sound of his pain made Lucia’s façade of strength waver, tears threatening again. Lachlain gave a low growl in answer, so clearly desperate to help his brother.

Inhaling a steadying breath, she followed them in front of the cell. Inside, a cot lay mangled. A pallet was tucked into a corner of the floor. Darkness shrouded most of the spacious area.

From the shadows, Garreth’s eyes blazed, just as they had the first time she’d met him. But now, they glowed the palest blue. She could see his muscles were bulging, his fangs glinting, his black claws so long. The beastly image that usually flickered over him was so strong it concealed the man beneath. He wore only jeans, and they were in tatters. He’d dug his claws into himself and all the brick walls around him.

The pale gaze that had been locked on her face now turned away. He refused to look at her and kept to the back wall of the cell, as far away from her as he could be.

Emma whispered, “He doesn’t think you’re real.”

She couldn’t imagine his misery, was wishing she could bear it for him. “Then I’ll have to convince him.”

Lachlain said, “It’s no’ just the turning at this point—the beast is so entrenched it’s like a madness.”

Lucia was only half listening.

“The drugs have worn off again. I need to dose him.”

She shook her head. “No, I need him awake. Just let me in.”

“Verra well, then.” Lachlain exhaled. “You must stay behind me—”

“I need to be alone with him.” Lucia would do whatever it took to get Garreth back.

Could get ugly. Just look away, Lachlain, this doesn’t concern you….

“Damn it, Valkyrie, I canna guarantee your safety. And Garreth would expect me to protect you if he could no’.”

Lucia could tell he didn’t dare hope that she could save his brother. He was tempted to let her try but torn by his sense of responsibility.

I’ll make it simple for him. Drawing her bow free, she said, “Where do you want it this time, Lykae?”

“Aunt Luce!”

“You doona ken how strong he is in this condition!” Lachlain snapped. “I’d be sending you into the lion’s den. He could hurt you in his confusion, could think you’re a spirit sent to torment him. And considering he’s a male in his prime with his mate, he’ll likely…”