by Cynthia Eden
The witch laughed.
The witch and the muse. She thought they might be friends, of a sort.
“Your thing is to screw with the minds of mortals,” the witch threw back. “Don’t even try that shit with us.”
Maybe they weren’t friends.
Lila cleared her throat. “Our captor…he’s human. Why doesn’t your ‘thing’ work on him?”
There was silence, and she thought the muse wouldn’t answer her. She shouldn’t have spoken. They knew just how different from them she truly was. They were dark paranormals, bound to Luke Thorne, while she was tied to his twin brother, the Lord of the Light.
Tied to Leo.
Or…to the “dick” as the muse had called him.
Though she didn’t think he was a dick. Leo was her friend. When she’d first been taken, Lila had been so sure that Leo would come find her. But the days had slipped by.
He hadn’t appeared.
“I can’t do my ‘thing’ on him,” the muse muttered, “because he’s already obsessed enough. Why do you think we’re all here?”
“I have no idea.” No, that wasn’t true. He’d been taking her power away, one feather at a time. “I thought he wanted our magic.”
“Oh, he does.” The witch laughed. “But he wants it because he has a purpose. A plan.”
“What plan?”
“This is just going to make her cry more,” the muse warned. She seemed to be scolding the witch.
The witch backed away from her bars.
“Ignore her,” the muse ordered. She flashed Lila a smile.
She’s beautiful, too. All muses were supposed to be beautiful. It was part of their charm. Leo had said creatures like the muse were beautiful on the outside, but rotten on the inside.
The muse didn’t seem rotten, though.
“The witch is mad,” her voice carried easily to Lila, “because the jerkoff who took us locked down her magic. She’s too weak to crack a spell and get our sorry asses out of this place.”
The witch began cursing. Very inventive curses.
The muse laughed.
“I need a fourth,” the witch muttered. “Air, fire, earth, and wind. If I could get all that, we’d be in business.”
“I’m guessing the angel counts as air…” The muse tapped her foot. “What are you, witch? Fire?”
“No, that’s you. You burn right through a man’s soul, leaving only obsession in your wake.”
The muse glanced down. “You say it like I have a choice.”
Lila frowned.
“I’m wind,” the witch said. “My power blows down my enemies. When I’m not fucking imprisoned by a freak.”
Lila licked her lips. “What…what kind of being would be your earth?”
The muse replied, “Probably someone who’s been dead. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes and all that jazz.”
Nervously, Lila slipped back a step. “And what happens if we do get a fourth?”
The witch laughed. “I make hell come to town.”
That didn’t sound good.
“Want to know the other option, sweet angel?” The witch’s voice had dropped. “The other option is that the jerkoff kills us all. Because he is never going to let us go. He does have a plan, and for that plan to work, he’s going to destroy us.”
She stopped retreating. Her wings curled closer to her body.
“When the time comes…” the witch stared at her with dark eyes. “Will you fight with us?”
Angels weren’t supposed to fight. Her chin lifted. “Yes.”
Chapter Nine
“That little one-on-one didn’t go so well, did it?” Rayce murmured.
Julian had just marched back into the main house. He paused in the doorway, glaring at the wolf who was his semi-friend.
“I ask because well…you came back in without the girl.”
“She’s not a girl. She’s a woman.”
“Right. Yes, absolutely. I mean you came back in without the sexy vampire who—” His words broke off because Julian had lunged forward and grabbed the guy by the throat. Julian shoved Rayce against the nearest wall. Rayce’s flailing hands hit a table and a vase crashed.
Luke would be pissed. So what?
“Watch what you say about her.” He eased his hold, just enough for Rayce to speak.
“What’s wrong with what I said? The woman is gorgeous! She’s sexy as all hell. I’ve always had a thing for women with bite and—”
He tightened his hand on Rayce’s throat. “Why the hell do you push me?” Disgusted, he let the guy go. “Bugger off, mate.”
Rayce cleared his throat. Once. Twice. And he didn’t bugger off. “As I was saying…” He flashed a smile—one that showed his own lengthening canines. “I’ve always had a thing for women with bite and apparently, so do you.”
Julian nailed him with a right hook.
Rayce grunted and took a step back. “What the ever-loving hell? Dude, get control of your jealousy. Seriously.” He rubbed his jaw. “In a minute, I’ll stop being nice and I’ll fight back.”
“That hit wasn’t from jealousy.” His eyes raked the werewolf. “It was because you freaking locked her up. She hates being locked up. Rose had tears on her cheeks.” His hand lifted. He should hit the jerk again.
But Rayce’s eyes had widened in shock. “What? Shit, look, I thought I was helping. I’m a helper. That’s what I do.”
Julian snorted. “Don’t feed me that tosh.”
“Tosh?” Rayce blinked. “You’re throwing out your British shit again—”
“Crap,” Julian gritted out. “Don’t feed me your bull.” Rayce was a rogue wolf. He might put up a veneer of humor and charm, but the guy was a ravenous killer. He had no pack, so that made him even more dangerous. He wasn’t an alpha—he was one step above that power level. So all the other wolves in the world were terrified of him. And when you feared something, what did you do?
You avoided it. You ran from it.
Just like Rose was running from him.
His shoulders fell.
“Are you really going to take her back to the mainland?” Rayce wanted to know. “I mean, is that a good idea? She can stay here. You know that. She can stay here and—”
“Be locked up?” So she could hate him even more? Julian shook his head. “I said I’d stay by her side every minute. That was the deal I made, and I’ve already slipped on that deal too much as it is.” Because when they’d first returned to the island, he’d shifted and left her alone. It had only been the distance of a few acres, and that still counted as close, didn’t it? “I don’t know how much he’ll allow for the deal.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Julian knew he’d made a mistake.
“Deal?” Rayce repeated as he tilted his head. “You made another deal with Luke? Didn’t you learn from last time?”
He looked away. “I didn’t say the deal was with Luke.”
“Yes, but why would you make a deal with anyone else? You’re a paranormal powerhouse, just like me.” Rayce didn’t say the words as if he were bragging. More like just stating a fact. And, yes, it was a fact. “There’s no one you need to barter with, no one who can help you except…” His words trailed away and horror—real, honest-to-goodness horror filled his eyes. And Rayce wasn’t the type to easily be horrified. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I didn’t.” He turned away and headed for his room. The room he’d wrecked with Rose. Why had she let him touch her if she was still afraid?
Her voice echoed through his mind. It’s because I’m a vampire, isn’t it? I carry a darkness now and that darkness—it likes you. Part of what she’d said was true. Her desires were darker now that she was a vamp. His desires had always been dark. Nearly insatiable.
But when he was with her…
“You British asshole, stop!”
Julian frowned and glanced back.
Rayce’s cheeks were flushed. “You lied to me.”
Why was that an
issue? “You lie to me all the time.”
“No, no, you made a deal.” Rayce pointed a finger at him. “And you did it with the good one, didn’t you?”
Tread carefully. “You’ll have to be more specific.”
Rayce’s cheeks flushed even redder. “You made a deal with Luke’s freaking twin! You made a deal with Leo!” He marched forward, glaring the whole way as Julian turned to fully face him. “He’s the only one who can match Luke’s power. And since Luke has gone all AWOL on us with his new lady, Leo would be the only one around for you to deal with.”
Luke Thorne was the Lord of the Dark—the ruler of every dark paranormal to walk the earth. And his twin brother Leo…Leo led the so-called light paranormals. The ones who were supposed to be good for humanity.
Only things weren’t really black and white in the world, and, according to every legend that Julian had ever heard, an old prophecy had foretold that one day, the twins would battle to the death.
Then hell would truly reign.
“You can’t trust Leo. Tell me you realize this.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
A growl broke from Rayce. “I do worry about it. What do you think he’ll do? Help your lady? Give her back a human life? Cause that can’t happen. There is no going back. She died. If she stops being a vamp, she’ll turn into a corpse.”
Julian’s muscles clenched.
“What did you offer him?” Now worry edged Rayce’s voice. “I mean, that guy isn’t going to bargain easily. He’s like Luke that way.”
The twins were alike in many ways. That was the problem.
“Tell me what you did. Tell me, man, so I can help you.”
Julian raked a hand over his face. “I agreed to find someone for him.”
Rayce’s eyes widened. “Leo is freaking all-knowing—”
“No, he’s not. He just likes to act that way.”
“—and you mean to tell me he’s lost one of his paranormals and can’t find the guy?”
“Not a guy. It’s a woman.” This was the tricky part. “An angel.”
Rayce rocked back a step. “Fucking hell.”
“The Collector has her—that same SOB who thinks he is going to get his hands on Rose. Leo is the one who told me about him. He warned me that the Collector was coming after Rose and that’s how I was able to get to her and save her sweet ass.”
Rayce’s brows climbed. “How did Leo know the guy was targeting her?”
“His angel managed to send him a message. She got to one of the Collector’s guards. You know how angels have a way of turning humans to their sides…Well, she pulled at a guard, found his soft spot, and got a message to Leo. She warned him who the next target would be—”
“Because her kind always wants to save the world,” Rayce muttered.
Yes, they did. That was kind of their thing. “And the guard was supposed to give Leo the angel’s location, too. But the guy barely got out the warning about Rose before he died. Leo said the fellow’s heart burned from inside his body.”
Rayce blinked. Then he blinked again. “That’s a…new one.”
Yes, it was.
“Witchcraft?” Rayce wondered. “Maybe one seriously powerful spell?”
“I don’t know, but I’m hoping to find out. Leo said magic is blocking him from finding the angel. He wants her back, badly. Badly enough to make a deal with me. I get her, and he will give me what I want.”
“We both know what you want.”
Julian forced his back teeth to unclench. “If I don’t save the angel, there’s no deal. I have to find her, so that means I have to track the Collector to his fucking hole. I’ll get all the paranormals he has imprisoned there, and then I’ll do what I do best.”
They both knew exactly what that was.
Kill.
“I’ll have your back.” Rayce’s voice was quiet. “You know I stand with you.”
“Thanks.” He turned away once more. He’d only taken a few steps when…
“Thought I heard something…interesting this morning. Some unusual noise coming from your side of the house.”
Oh, the wanker had better not say anything about Rose—
He tossed a glare back, his muscles tensing.
But there was no mockery on Rayce’s face. For once, Rayce appeared very, very serious. “It sounded like you were laughing.”
Julian’s lips pressed together.
“It sounded like you were happy.”
Again, he didn’t speak. He headed down the hallway.
But he clearly heard Rayce’s words as they followed him. “If someone made me happy like that, I’d fucking fight with every breath to keep her with me.”
That was exactly what Julian planned to do.
***
A boat was coming toward the shore.
Rose stood on the beach. She’d taken off her shoes and the water tickled her toes. Her gaze was on the boat. It bobbed in the water, but kept coming closer and closer. She couldn’t help but wonder, who would be brave enough—or dumb enough—to visit the Lord of the Dark’s island?
It was not like she wanted to be there, and, soon enough, she’d be hauling ass back to the mainland.
But who was coming to visit the island right then? She lifted a hand, trying to shield her eyes from the sun. She’d been outside too long, she knew it. Her body felt leaden as exhaustion pulled at her. That was always the way it felt with too much sun exposure. It was her body’s way of protesting. A vamp protest.
The boat bumped along, drawing ever closer to the island. Fear snaked down her spine and she started to edge back. Would the Collector come out there?
There was no magical force field or anything like that in place to stop folks from getting to the island. And that boat—it was almost there. It was heading straight for the dock. She spun around.
And nearly slammed into Julian’s chest.
“Gah!” She gave a mini-scream. “Stop doing that! Stop sneaking up on me, shifter-style.”
He frowned at her. “You’re a vamp. You have enhanced hearing.”
“And you move too quietly for me to hear you!” She had grabbed hold of his arms to steady herself. It took an effort, but she made her hands let him go. “Someone’s coming.”
“I know. I heard them when I was up at the house.”
Her eyes narrowed. That had been a dig at her. “We don’t all have shifter ears,” she mumbled.
He caught her wrist with his gentle hold. “I want you to stay at the house while I take care of the visitor.”
“Is ‘take care’ just another way of saying ‘kill’?”
He didn’t answer. So, yes, that silence was an answer.
“Julian, I think this is a bad idea.” Death wasn’t always the answer. It wasn’t even always close to the answer. “Let’s just see—”
Smoke. Her nose twitched and she looked back at the boat to see black tendrils of smoke drifting from the rear of the vessel. “The motor’s on fire.”
Then she saw a figure—a woman in shorts with long, blonde hair. The woman was waving frantically from the boat and calling for—
“Help!” The woman’s shout reached Rose as a whisper and she took a step forward.
“No.” Julian pushed her back. “Absolutely not. I get that you’re out to rescue the world and all, but this scene has trap written all over it.”
“It has desperate woman written all over it!”
“Go back to the house. Stay inside. If she’s just some lost tourist, I’ll send her on her way. Marcos can tow her vessel back to Key West. If she’s not…then I’ll make sure she doesn’t cause any other trouble.”
“We’re supposed to stay together. You said—”
“For the moment, I want you to stay in the house. I’ll just take a quick trip out there with Marcos and see what’s happening. Generally, we try not to arouse suspicions with humans. If she is just human, we’ll make her understand this is private property.”
But he wa
s still ditching her. “Promise you won’t go to Key West without me. If this is some kind of trick and you’re just lying to me so that you can sail away and leave me trapped here—”
His hold tightened on her wrist. “I’m not lying to you. Stay inside until I assess the threat, then we’ll go, together, back to Key West.”
Okay. Good. She could deal with that.
“Take her in, Rayce.”
She’d actually known the wolf was behind her. Rose had caught his scent just a moment before. Since she couldn’t hear the shifters approach, Rose was trying to focus on recognizing their scents to warn her of their presence.
She turned from Julian and made her way toward the wolf.
“I don’t like this,” she muttered to Rayce.
“You and me both,” he rasped right back.
***
“Ahoy!” Marcos Minos called as he drew the Devil’s Prize closer to the other boat.
“Oh, thank God!” The woman with the long hair gave Marcos and Julian a brilliant smile. “My motor overheated, and I thought I’d have to call a tow from Key West, and then, you know, it could be hours before they got out here.”
The Devil’s Prize was just a few feet away from her vessel.
“Please tell me that one of you knows a lot about motors,” she pleaded, her smile winking again.
Marcos looked at Julian.
Julian held his gaze a moment, communicating that Marcos was not to move, not yet, then he glanced back at the woman. “You’re out here alone?”
“Yes, I am—wait, I’m not supposed to say that, am I?” She gave a nervous laugh. “I mean, you’re always supposed to say that you have a buddy with you for safety if strangers ask…”
No one else was on the boat. He didn’t hear anyone else. Didn’t smell anyone else.
“But you two are my heroes, right?” she continued. Her hands ducked behind the railing. “You’re not going to hurt me?”
“We don’t have any plans to hurt you,” Marcos called.
It was looking as if they didn’t.
“That’s good.” Her smile came back, but her hands stayed down. “What happened to the woman on the beach? Where did she go?”
Julian tensed.