Dark Prince's Enigma

by I. T. Lucas

  Carol shook her head. “You can take the Doomer out of the island, but you can’t take the island out of the Doomer.”

  Her comment was offensive, and she was well aware of that, but so had his been. Lokan had earned the insult fair and square.

  Except, he just smiled. “I know that you think I’m brainwashed by Mortdh’s chauvinistic teaching, but you can’t argue with nature or with facts. Regardless of Western propaganda claims, males and females are not exactly the same and are not suited for the same jobs.”

  Looking smug, he continued. “I’m not a chauvinist. I accept that one gender is not smarter or better than the other, nor is one more or less valuable to society. But they are valuable in different ways.”

  With a sigh, she pulled her hand out of his. “You are old, Lokan, and you think in outdated terms, and it’s probably impossible to undo nearly a thousand years of thinking in a certain way. But the only difference is physical, and even that is rendered irrelevant by technology. I can squeeze the trigger just as easily as any male, but I happen to be a better markswoman than most. And as for ruthlessness, I won’t kill indiscriminately, and neither will my clansmen. But all bets are off when it comes to protecting my people or in self-defense. I haven’t killed anyone yet, but if the need arises, I know I can and will.”

  If she could’ve killed the sadist, she wouldn’t have hesitated for a millisecond, except maybe to prolong his suffering. The monster hadn’t deserved the merciful death by beheading Dalhu had granted him.

  Frowning, Lokan reached for her hand again. “Who hurt you, Carol? Give me the name, and I’ll find a way to avenge you even from here.”

  She must’ve made a face. Something to watch for if she had any aspirations of ever becoming a spy. “Was I that obvious? How did you know?”

  He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “Your angelic expression turned murderous for a moment. It happened only once before, when I mentioned Sharim and his men. What’s the connection?”

  Impressive. She hadn’t expected him to pay such close attention. Apparently, Lokan had been listening to every word she’d said and watching every facial expression.

  Carol just hoped it was because he was so enamored with her and not because he was searching for clues to get free.

  It wasn’t a tale she wanted to share with him or with anyone else, but for better or worse Lokan was her mate. To protect her clan, there were so many things she couldn’t share with him yet, or ever, but she could tell him about herself.

  Not an easy thing to do. In fact, she dreaded telling him about her past. As attuned as he was to her, Lokan still hadn’t made the connection between her response to his views on prostitution and her selling her body for sex.

  She might lose any respect he had for her, and that would be a blow she wasn’t sure she could recover from.

  Torture by a stranger was not as bad as that. It had passed, and she’d survived. That was all that mattered. But to spend her life bonded to a male who didn’t respect her was inconceivable.

  Then again, hiding it from him for eternity was not an option either. Her past wasn’t a secret, and Lokan learning about it from someone else would be even worse.

  At some point, she would have to confess, but not today. Telling Lokan about what she’d suffered at Sebastian’s hands would be enough for now.

  “It was a freakish coincidence for which I paid dearly. About three years ago, I went to smoke outside a club at the same time as a van full of Sharim’s men showed up. As an immortal female, I lack the built-in alarm mechanism immortal males have to detect each other. All I saw was a bunch of hunky males get out of that van, and I allowed myself to have naughty thoughts about one of them.”

  “They smelled you?”

  “I’m not sure. A lot of what happened that night is kind of vague.” Carol wasn’t ready to admit that she’d been drunk and high that night either. That too would have to wait for another time. “They might have thought that I was a human and wanted to have their fun with me, but when I started struggling, they figured out that I was too strong for a human.”

  Lokan’s expression turned from irritated to feral, the red glow from his eyes making him look like a gorgeous demon. “Did they rape you?”

  “No. They brought me to their leader.”

  His fangs fully extended, Lokan hissed. “Did he rape you?”

  “He did much worse than that.”

  “What can be worse?”

  She pinned him with a hard stare. “Can you imagine what a sadist can do to an indestructible female?”

  45

  Lokan

  Never before had Lokan felt like his blood was boiling. The phrase had always seemed figurative to him, an exaggeration used to emphasize the feeling of anger. But now he understood its true meaning.

  The meal forgotten, he dropped his napkin on the table, pushed to his feet, rounded the table, lifted Carol off her chair, and sat down, cradling her in his arms.

  “I heard rumors of Sharim’s inclinations, but I assumed he was choosing partners who were into that crap. I’m so sorry, babydoll.” He held her close to his chest and rubbed circles on her back. “I wish I could kill him for you, over and over again.”

  Carol sighed. “For a long time, I wished that too. I mean, I wished I could have killed him myself. But first I would have subjected him to the same torment he’d inflicted on me.”

  Her voice had turned into a whisper, but Carol didn’t tear up or shudder as she told him her horror story. Such a brave woman.

  “Did he torture you for information?”

  “In the beginning. I pretended to be a dumb blonde who knew nothing about anything, and he bought it. But he kept torturing me anyway. He got off on it.”

  Reining in the fury, Lokan tried to keep his tone calm for Carol’s sake. She needed his comfort, not his anger. “How long did you have to suffer before the clan saved you?”

  “Long enough to start losing my mind. But the clan didn’t save me. One of his men took pity on me. First, he helped me by sneaking in painkillers, so I could at least numb the pain, and eventually, he helped me escape before my people managed to find where Sebastian was holding me.”

  “Sebastian?”

  “That’s the name Sharim used while in the States. Anyway, after I got away, I called Kian and told him about the other girls Sebastian had kidnapped and locked up in the basement to serve the other men. Me, he kept for himself.”

  “Is he in the catacombs? Because a monster like him should never be revived. Although I wouldn’t mind doing it temporarily, just to torture him and then to execute him.”

  Carol’s eyes blazed with vengeance. “That would have been awesome. But no, he is not in stasis. He’s dead for good.”

  “Did the man who helped you escape kill Sharim?”

  She shook her head. “No. Dalhu did. By then, Kian trusted him enough to take him along on the rescue mission, and he even gave him a sword. Dalhu bested Sebastian in a fencing duel and took off his head while the Guardians watched. I wish I had been there to witness it. I was told that it was an epic duel. I’m not even sure if they brought his corpse for burial in the catacombs. I hope they burned it together with the monastery he’d used as his base.”

  “I need to thank Dalhu for that. I wish I could do that in person, but since I can’t, can you do it for me?”

  “Sure.”

  “And thank the other one who saved you, too. If I’m ever in a position to reward him for his bravery, I will do so lavishly.”

  Carol chuckled. “The Fates have already seen to that by giving him his true-love mate. Robert counts himself extremely lucky.”

  “I’m happy for him and even happier that it isn’t you.”

  Looking up at him, Carol scrunched her nose. “About that. For several months, I rewarded Robert in person. But I knew he wasn’t the one for me and let him go, so he could find the one he was meant for.”

  Lokan swallowed. Thinking about Carol w
ith any other male was difficult, but the jealousy was irrational. It wasn’t as if he’d been celibate while waiting for her to pop into his life.

  “Are you jealous?” she asked.

  “Of course, I am. I’m jealous of any male you’ve ever been with, but I know I have no right. I’ve been with plenty of females too.”

  She scrunched her nose again. “Yeah, hearing that makes me jealous too. I think it is best that we don’t mention our past partners to each other again. They are inconsequential anyway.”

  “I agree. And I understand why you felt obligated to reward Robert.”

  “Yeah. He’s a fine male, and he sacrificed everything to help me. At the time, I didn’t know about the compulsion, which must have made his decision to help so much harder. Robert didn’t hate his life in the Brotherhood. He didn’t want to leave the only home he knew, but he did it because he couldn’t stand seeing me suffer. I wanted to reward him for that, and at the time, I wished with all my heart that he was the one for me, but he wasn’t.”

  “What did he do when you ended things with him?”

  “Sulked.” She chuckled. “You should have seen the nasty looks I got from my own people. I was the ungrateful bitch who kicked out the guy who gave everything away to save her. Never mind that he was drowning his sorrows by bedding most of the clan’s single ladies. They only stopped giving me the stink eye after he found his true-love mate.”

  Lokan couldn't imagine the clan turning against their own over her supposed mistreatment of a Brother.

  “How did you know he wasn’t the one for you?”

  “As I said, Robert is a good man, and he is perfect for Sharon, but not for me. He bored me to death. We had nothing to talk about, and we weren’t compatible in bed.”

  That last statement helped to relieve the jealousy that burned through his veins every time Carol mentioned bedding the guy.

  She chuckled again. “Don’t get me wrong, even as mediocre as Robert was, he was a thousand times better than any human, and since there were no other immortal males for me to choose from, it wasn’t easy to give him up. What all those who looked down on me didn’t understand was that I did him a favor by releasing him. He deserved better than being barely tolerated. He deserved to be loved and cherished.”

  Loved and cherished.

  Carol had just put into words Lokan’s greatest desire, one that he hadn’t been aware of until she’d verbalized it for him.

  They weren’t there yet. Their bond had snapped into place so quickly that those feelings hadn’t had time to solidify, but they were going to.

  From what Carol had told him about fated mates, they had to love and cherish each other. Wasn’t that what true love implied?

  46

  Carol

  “You are so brave,” Lokan said. “It takes an incredible resilience to overcome what you did. Ella was so much worse after Gorchenco, and what was done to her was nothing compared to what had been done to you.”

  “True, but don’t forget that Ella was a young, naive girl who had never been exposed to the ugly side of humanity before, and to make it worse, she was a virgin. I was none of those things.”

  “Still, I’m amazed and grateful that you were able to put this behind you.”

  “Thank the merciful Fates.” Carol wound her arms around his neck. “They’ve rewarded me with you. Now you just have to prove that you are worth it.”

  Lokan’s normally composed expression turned troubled, and his olive-toned skin paled. “I don’t think it’s possible. Even if I was perfect, which I’m not, and even if I was free and could shower you with gifts and trips and fulfill all of your heart’s desires, I could never compensate you for that. If the damned Fates are responsible for your unimaginable suffering, then all I feel for them is intense hate. I’d rather stick to my conviction that they are a myth and that what happened to you was a random misfortune. I will definitely never offer my thanks to those imaginary bitches.”

  Gasping, Carol put a finger over his mouth. “Shush. Don’t say things like that. The Fates can be vindictive and take back their gifts. Besides, it gives me comfort believing that my ordeal wasn’t meaningless. I like thinking that it earned me a big reward. You.” She pulled up and kissed him. “I got a prince. I can’t imagine a greater gift.”

  He grimaced. “I can. In my current predicament, I’m worth less than the lowliest of warriors. I wish I could be more for you.”

  “I have all that I need right here.” She kissed him again.

  Her grim tale must have disturbed Lokan greatly because it took him a couple of seconds to get into it, but when he did, he did it with gusto, taking charge and setting her body on fire. As he devoured her, his large, strong hands were everywhere, caressing, gripping, kneading.

  There was nothing timid about him or the way he touched her, and she loved his intensity and his dominance. That was what an immortal male should be like.

  She was one lucky lady.

  The Fates had done right by her, and Carol was grateful despite Lokan’s misgivings. She would take her imprisoned enemy prince over any other immortal male.

  When he finally let her come up for a breath, it was only to push up to his feet and carry her to the bedroom.

  “We didn’t finish dinner,” she tried a weak protest.

  “I have a different feast in mind.” He put her down on the bed.

  Well, she wasn’t going to argue with that. Reaching for the hem of her shirt, she started to pull it up, but Lokan stopped her and pointed at the camera.

  “I’m not an exhibitionist.”

  Taking off his own shirt, he climbed on the bed and tossed it over the camera. Unbelievably, the thing stayed on and didn’t slide down.

  “You are really good at this.”

  “I’m good at many things.” He waggled his brows.

  One of his many talents, as she discovered a moment later, was undressing a female in a matter of seconds without tearing her clothes.

  Naked before him, Carol felt her arousal flare. Lokan might not be an exhibitionist, but she was.

  Her allure was her special talent, and she craved the reactions her nude body elicited from males.

  It was a power rush.

  The Fates had gifted her with a perfectly curved, extreme hourglass figure. Carol was the archetypical temptress, who males lusted after, coveted, and even fought over.

  Lokan’s eyes blazed red as they roamed up and down her body. “You are Aphrodite personified.”

  Bracing on her forearms, she smiled coyly. “If I’m your Aphrodite, then you are my Apollo.”

  “Why Apollo?”

  “Duh, he was the most handsome of gods.”

  Dropping his pants, Lokan pounced on her, caging her between his outstretched arms and knees. “If I’m Apollo, then I need to make sure you don’t run away or trick me. If memory serves me right, Apollo didn’t have much luck with the ladies, despite his perfect physique and many godly powers. Daphne ran away and turned into a laurel, Coronis was unfaithful, and Cassandra tricked him into granting her a wish, and when he did, she asked to remain a virgin till the day she died.”

  Looking up at his gorgeous face, Carol didn’t want to talk about Greek mythology. She wanted to feel his weight on top of her, and to bury her nose in his neck, filling her lungs with his intoxicating male musk.

  But there was another part of her that enjoyed the banter and the fact that Lokan seemed well-versed in mythology. She knew he was better educated than the other Doomers, but this demonstrated that he was interested in more than the arts of war and politics. Although on second thoughts, Greek mythology was filled with both.

  “Didn’t Apollo have the gift of prophecy?” Carol asked.

  Lokan dipped his head and nuzzled her neck. “Among his many other talents.”

  “So, he should have known not to chase the wrong ladies.”

  Lokan’s eyes were smiling as he gazed at her with what looked like adoration. “Maybe he was a glutton for
punishment.”

  Fates, she was falling in love with him, and it seemed like he was falling for her too.

  Dear merciful Fates, let it be real and not an act.

  “Perhaps Apollo was so confident in his sexual appeal and prowess that he believed he could change the future?”

  “That’s also possible.”

  “What about you? You seem pretty damn confident.”

  “I am. But I’m also smart, proud, and I know a good woman when I see one. I would never chase after a female who wasn’t interested in me and hope to change her mind.”

  “You did with Ella.”

  “That was different. I wasn’t stupid in love with her. I needed her for a mission.” Lowering himself slowly on top of her, he positioned his hard shaft at her entrance and cupped her cheeks. “I don’t want to talk about Ella or some silly human myths. Right now, in this bed, the only epic story that matters is ours.”

  47

  Lokan

  “Don’t go.” Lokan wrapped his arm around Carol’s middle and pulled her back against his front. “Isn’t it Sunday? It’s okay to laze in bed.”

  “I have to go. People are counting on me.”

  “To do what? Isn't your current job to see to my needs?”

  Lifting his arm off her waist, she chuckled. “This is not a job. This is a holiday in paradise.”

  And didn’t that make him feel like the king of the world. Watching her rounded bottom bounce as she rushed into the bathroom, Lokan wanted to follow her and grab it, but he knew she wouldn’t appreciate it.

  The woman needed a few moments of privacy in there.

  He’d lost count of how many times they’d made love. Carol was just as insatiable as he was, and just as lustful and resilient. Finally, after nearly a thousand years of bedding human females, he could let go and unleash his ferocity without fear of causing damage.

  Even better, Carol was a hellcat in bed, scratching and biting and squeezing, and he loved every second of it. It was a shame none of the marks she’d made had lasted for longer than a few seconds. He would’ve liked to look in the mirror and enjoy the sight.