Doomsday Brethren, Book 04: Entice Me at Twilight

by Shayla Black

  “Exactly.” Bram nodded. “It’s a bond. A wizard speaks words to you, the Call. Then a female either Binds to him … or Renounces him. But sex plays a role in the bond. Or should.”

  “If I repel magic, how can a magical ceremony meant to bind me to another take effect?”

  “Good question,” Bram conceded. “Mating magic is some of the oldest, strongest magic known. Perhaps it supersedes your ability? And perhaps Shock doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about and this plan won’t work at all. We can’t find out unless you Bind to one of the unmated wizards and we see if your imprint on him is altered.”

  Felicia frowned. “Why would that change my imprint?”

  Hurstgrove shrugged. “I didn’t grow up with magic and haven’t had my abilities as long as the others. The subtleties of magic … I don’t know.”

  “I suspect it’s because you merge with someone, which, magically speaking, should change your imprint. But I can’t say for certain. What we know about Untouchables is very limited,” Bram supplied. “Since they’re born once every thousand years, that predates everyone here, except Marrok.”

  Felicia stared at the big warrior. “But you’re human. You’re a thousand years old?”

  He grimaced, and Olivia grinned. “Plus another five hundred. He should be dust by now, but he looks pretty good, huh?”

  Amazingly, they were telling the truth. Wow …

  Marrok rolled his eyes, then curled a beefy arm around his wife. “Methinks you should be silenced, wench. Thankfully I can think of many uses for that pretty mouth.”

  She gave him a huge smile and batted her lashes. “Bring it on.”

  “Can we focus, please?” Hurstgrove demanded. “Marrok, did you know Fayre? Can you tell me anything about her or her mating?”

  Clutching the sword at his side, he looked regretful. “I heard no more than whispers. At the time, I did all things possible to avoid human and magickind alike.”

  “What about Merlin? Did he write about … people like me?” she asked Bram.

  “He was brilliant and knew virtually everything about magic. He passed a great deal along to his family, so …”

  “I’d like to read it before deciding anything.”

  “Well,” Sabelle jumped in, “Merlin pontificated. A lot. He left us volumes upon volumes of his work. Reading them to find that answer won’t be an overnight task.”

  “But they were intact in the ruins of the house?” Hurstgrove demanded.

  “Ruins?” Something cold slithered down Felicia’s spine.

  “Mathias demolished my home a few weeks ago,” Bram answered. “Merlin’s works were inside, sufficiently hidden, thankfully. I retrieved them recently.”

  “Let’s all start reading,” Duke barked. “We must make Felicia safe.”

  Bram sent him a sharp glance. “Even if we began now, we wouldn’t finish every volume for days, perhaps weeks. Mathias and the Anarki will come knocking long before then. Shock gave you the solution to keeping Felicia safe.”

  Mate with one of them. Magically marry a wizard. Oh God. Felicia swallowed. “I’m already engaged.”

  “Is your promise to Mason worth your life?” Bram challenged.

  No. The word darted through her brain before she could stop it. If she could agree to marry Mason without loving him, perhaps she could mate with one of these wizards and keep her distance. Like a marriage of convenience. Not an awful sacrifice to stay alive. Mason would be hurt, but what were her more appealing options? None.

  What if they chose Hurstgrove to be her mate? What of her unruly desire for him? She wasn’t certain she could tie herself to her fiancé’s brother and not succumb to him. The kiss they’d shared last night haunted her over and over, connecting her to him in a way she didn’t understand.

  Hurstgrove snapped, “There must be another way. If Mathias was dead, the danger to her would end.”

  “To all of us. To magickind.” Bram tossed his arms wide. “We’ve been trying to kill him since his return months ago. Olivia nearly succeeded during our first big battle. We invaded his home and cornered him. Ice fought him and was nearly able to deliver the death blow. In every case, he weaseled away. I don’t think we can count on killing Mathias before he hunts Felicia down.”

  Hurstgrove opened his mouth to object, but Ice interrupted, “The planning would take days, at least, and that’s if we knew what rat hole he now called home. As Bram said, Shock’s given us a simple solution to protect Felicia. We must take it and divert our energy into rescuing Tynan. Stupid, noble git. I know from experience that Mathias’s hospitality can be deadly.”

  Though Tynan hadn’t given himself over to Shock for her benefit, his sacrifice might keep Mathias busy until she found safety. Still, she wished he hadn’t done it. Though she barely knew the wizard, she ached for him and prayed he hadn’t just committed suicide by madman.

  “You want Felicia safe, don’t you?” Bram raised a cutting golden brow.

  Felicia turned to Hurstgrove. Tense, he raked a hand through his hair. His dark eyes latched on to her as he drew deep, agitated breaths. “You know I do.”

  Though the admission had been reluctantly given, Hurstgrove’s words warmed her insides. She mattered to him. Was that why Shock thought he wanted to mate with her?

  “I thought so.” Bram sounded smug. “Get a taste, did you?”

  Hurstgrove charged the other man. “Shut your bloody mouth.”

  Marrok grabbed His Grace by the shoulders and restrained him. “We cannot effectively fight Mathias if we do naught but fight amongst ourselves.”

  What was Bram talking about, a taste? And why would it infuriate Hurstgrove so much? They spoke in constant subtext around her, and she was tired of it. “Someone explain what’s going on.”

  No one said a word.

  Jerking free, Hurstgrove clenched his fists, but left Bram alone.

  “Maybe we’re not thinking about this correctly,” she said into the silence. “Mathias wants me for one particular purpose, right? To open this tomb and resurrect this witch? Can we not find some way to simply derail him?”

  Ice’s face lit up. “Open Morganna’s tomb on our own and destroy Morganna’s essence before Mathias can find you. Brilliant! It might work.”

  “But warnings about that tomb abound,” Sabelle cut in. “Yes, it might work. And it also might kill her.”

  “What do you mean?” Hurstgrove snapped.

  “As lore goes, the tomb was rigged with multiple magical and non-magical traps, designed to eradicate nosy wizards and witches or curious humans. I read something about it once in one of Merlin’s tomes.” She rubbed her forehead with her palm. “Trying to remember … I can only recall something about multiple sections and each being rigged. Each is progressively more dangerous than the last, and designed to kill. Only an Untouchable can bypass that sort of magic. And only someone very bright can pass the human barriers. Even then, nothing is guaranteed.”

  “Then, no,” Hurstgrove returned immediately. “Felicia will not step foot near that tomb.”

  “I am perfectly capable of answering for myself, Your Grace.” She anchored her hands on her hips and glared daggers at him.

  “For the last bloody time, my name is Simon.” Then he shook his head. “You don’t understand any of this. Not magickind, not Mathias, and definitely not Morganna. A single wrong move will mean your death, likely a painful one.” He shook his head. “I won’t put you in a position to die for our cause.”

  Hurstgrove was angry—on her behalf? He didn’t like her pulled into the middle of this and in danger. He wanted her as far from harm’s way as possible. Though he’d been bossy and high-handed at times, his protective mien melted a bit of her ire.

  “Mathias already did,” she countered, placing a gentle hand on his arm.

  He tensed beneath her touch, his face a thunderous mix of fury and desire.

  “Indeed.” Bram paced. “We haven’t much time before Mathias comes calling. Enterin
g that tomb should be done cautiously, with a great deal of planning and studying, or we’ll be signing more death warrants than yours.”

  The unvarnished truth—from everyone here. Felicia had wanted this last night when Bram and Hurstgrove and the others had disrupted her wedding and carried her away. But now, she shivered. The truth lurked like a specter, frightening, unavoidable. A very powerful wizard would either use her and murder her, or kill her outright if she refused to cooperate in bringing back a witch who could torment human and magickind alike. Her only possible recourse was a magical “marriage” to a wizard she wanted above all men. Both prospects terrified her.

  She knew so little of magickind. Hidden dangers lurked around every corner, it seemed. As surreal as it was, this was her new reality. She must learn all she could, then make quick, sound decisions. Or she would wind up dead and possibly put others in danger.

  “Tell me more about this … magical marriage,” she asked Bram.

  He hesitated. “Every unmated wizard, remain here. Felicia must understand who her options are. The rest of you discuss a plan for rescuing Tynan.”

  Amidst a chorus of affirmative murmurs and back pats, nearly everyone left. Marrok and Olivia, closest to the door, exited first. Ice and Sabelle followed, hands linked. Ronan and Kari whispered furiously, the former tossing a concerned glance back.

  “Let me know if you need an ear to bend,” Sydney murmured to Felicia before she and Caden left the room.

  Suddenly, only Hurstgrove and Lucan remained with her and Bram. The room should have seemed much larger, but His Grace stood too close.

  As soon as the door shut, Bram once again began pacing. “Mating is relatively simple. As I said, a wizard speaks the Call. You answer, Bind to him.”

  Why did she get the feeling he was oversimplifying?

  “Hurstgrove and Lucan are the only two unmated wizards?”

  “Simon,” Duke corrected again.

  She ignored him. Though calling the others by name didn’t trouble her, it seemed too … intimate with him.

  “Tynan is also unmated,” Bram clarified. “But I don’t know if we can recover him in time. Raiden is technically single, but he’s currently with Tabitha, the witch who carries his youngling, so … no.”

  “Bram.” Lucan’s tone held a warning. “My presence here is ludicrous.”

  “Don’t start—”

  “Don’t you start.” He shook his head and reached for Bram’s throat. “She does not belong with me. Nor I her, and you know that.”

  Felicia winced at the sight of these two friends fighting because of her. She stepped forward, ready to stop this argument.

  Hurstgrove beat her to it, wrapping a harsh hand around Lucan’s wrist and squeezing. “Let go. Now.”

  Lucan cursed, growled, then yanked his hand from Bram’s neck. Then he turned electric blue eyes on her. Startling, beautiful, almost glowing, those eyes against his coffee-colored hair and bronzed complexion made Lucan a striking man. Gorgeous. But unstable. His volatility, lurking just under the surface, would explode without warning. It was only a matter of time.

  Lucan was in agony without Anka, just as Deirdre had been without Alexei. Having a mate who could never have feelings for Felicia would keep matters simple … but she wondered if his sanity could handle bonding with another. Honestly, she didn’t think so. She refused to do the one thing guaranteed to push someone broken-hearted over the edge.

  “Lucan, it’s …” She shook her head. “You don’t have to say a word to me.”

  Now, barring a miracle rescue of Tynan, she had only one wizard to choose. The thought made her shivery and hot all over.

  “Thank you,” he murmured, then sent Hurstgrove a solemn glance. “Duke, I would never subject anyone to the hell Shock has put me through.”

  Shock. A mate thief, Lucan had said. Was he implying that he wouldn’t steal her from Hurstgrove, as if she was already his mate? Shock, and now Lucan, both thought so. Curious.

  His Grace closed his eyes, his lips flattening into a thin line, but he said nothing to refute Lucan. Even more curious.

  “We appreciate that, Lucan,” Bram began. “But these are desperate times, and—”

  “Don’t speak to me of sacrifice,” Lucan warned. “What have you lost but a pile of stones and a woman you had for one night?”

  Bram charged Lucan now, backing him into a wall. “The ‘pile of stones’ had been in my family for eleven centuries. Though I had Emma for one night, she is still my mate. We didn’t have the two hundred years together that you and Anka shared, but we share a bond, just the same.”

  Felicia sucked in a shocked breath. Lucan and Anka had been mates for two hundred years? “How long do you live?”

  “Around a thousand years,” Lucan admitted. “I’d spend every one of them with Anka, if I could.”

  Felicia’s jaw dropped. An entire millennium?

  She turned to Hurstgrove. “How old are you?”

  “Forty-three, exactly as Mason said.”

  “A child by magical standards,” Bram quipped. “And before you ask, I’m three hundred ninety-eight. The big four-zero-zero is coming up.”

  Mind boggling. “If I agree to this magical marriage, how long must the union last? You spoke of Mathias breaking Lucan’s bond with Anka, but can the bond be broken voluntarily?”

  Bram nodded. “Most mates assume the longer lifespan of the two. So if you mated with Duke, you’d have nine hundred years, give or take, with him. But it’s possible to separate once the danger has passed, go back to your mostly normal human existence.”

  Felicia waited for the acrid burning, but it never came. Perhaps she really could return to her normal life.

  But the idea of bonding, even temporarily, with Hurstgrove rattled her. His abduction and their heated kiss aside, she’d known him a mere forty-eight hours. And the way he made her feel, he was much too dangerous to her heart.

  “Is breaking a bond as simple as entering into one?”

  “No. Assuming an Untouchable can truly bond with a wizard, ending the pairing is an uncomfortable process for the female. But once done, you’ll recover quickly. And you won’t remember your mate at all. You can go on with your life as planned.”

  “Bram …” Hurstgrove snarled at him.

  “Not a word. Felicia must know how this impacts her.”

  She studied the Doomsday Brethren’s leader. It wasn’t what he said that gave her pause; every word rang with truth. “What are you not telling me?”

  “Nothing that affects you.”

  Given the absence of stench, Felicia had to believe him, but the murky way he phrased everything troubled her.

  “Say yes,” Bram urged. “If you do, you’ll have a bond with a wizard who will give his life to keep you safe.”

  Aware of Hurstgrove’s gaze on her, she recoiled. “That kind of sacrifice is something a person only does for a loved one. We won’t have that sort of relationship, correct?”

  “Saving a mate is a wizard’s first instinct, regardless of emotion. Typically, mates develop feelings for each other, but … bonds may not be the same for an Untouchable.”

  Felicia studied Bram with narrowed eyes. “There’s no love involved?”

  “It’s not mandatory or compelled, no.”

  Another truth. A relief. She’d simply keep her heart—and body—out of the equation. She glanced at Hurstgrove. Well, she’d do her best, anyway. “All right. What do I do?”

  “Felicia.” Hurstgrove grabbed her shoulders. “Mating is—”

  “Good girl,” Bram cut in as if Duke hadn’t spoken at all. “The Doomsday Brethren have to prepare for Tynan’s rescue. It’s roughly two hours until nightfall. Rest. I’ll return then, so we can proceed.”

  CHAPTER 8

  WITH A COMPASSIONATE SMILE, Sabelle led Felicia through the shadowed cave, holding a candle. “Almost there.”

  “Thank you.”

  The witch’s smile brightened. “Except for Ice, I’m use
d to easily reading minds. So odd not to read yours.”

  A hint that the witch wanted her to open up? Felicia bit her lip. So many thoughts racing through her head. In a few hours, her entire life would change—again. She barely knew Sabelle, or anyone else here. Trust never came easily to Felicia, if at all. Yet they knew about her special gift. They were honest and willing to protect her at the risk of their own lives. She had no one else to talk to, to help her understand what was happening.

  Felicia yearned for Mason’s soothing voice. Whenever emotions threatened sound logic, he was always there. But she’d bet Mason didn’t know what his brother was. Even if he did, how could she ask him for advice before temporarily bonding with Hurstgrove? Mason would never understand.

  Finally, Sabelle stopped and opened a door. “Sorry it’s so far from the others. Bram hopes that by secluding you deeper underground, you’ll be distant enough to allow us to use magic, should it become necessary.”

  In other words, if Mathias attacked.

  Feeling vaguely guilty, despite the fact she couldn’t control the power, Felicia nodded and entered the little room nearly consumed by a wide mattress on a simple frame, piled high with quilts. A little water closet with a nearby sink was attached. “Thank you.”

  “It’s not much. We haven’t had time to add more than the necessities.” The witch shrugged with apology. “Would you like something to eat? Drink?”

  She shook her head and kicked off her shoes. “Just some answers, if you please. If you have any information about people like me …”

  “Like I said, I haven’t much. But I’ll start looking through my grandfather’s writings and bring you whatever I find about Untouchables.” Sabelle cocked her head and sent her a considering stare. “I’m surprised you’re able to sense lies, since you dampen magic. But there are some races whose traits are genetic, not magical. Vampires, lupines, fae, and I suppose, Untouchables.”

  “Apparently.” Felicia smiled wanly. Silence ensued.

  Time to deal with the elephant in the room: mating with Hurstgrove.

  How would it affect her relationship with Mason? Was it even fair to contemplate marrying him now that she knew he loved her, when she would never love him the same way in return? Felicia bit her lip. Not likely. But how could she abandon her best friend? Betray him?