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The bronzed features tightened with an agony so intense that Viper could physically feel his pain

"They already have her," he rasped "They are bringing her here"

Shit Viper clasped his friend’s shoulder, praying for all their sakes that Darcy hadn’t been harmed

He wasn’t sure he could halt the bloodbath if Styx went over the edge

"If that’s true then we need to get ready to capture them," he said "But I think we had better contact Dante The two vaht have planned to take Darcy, but I doubt they would have found it an easy task" He smiled wryly "Your mate possesses many hidden talents"

Styx slowly fell to his knees, his face buried in his hands

"I at last understand"

Viper knelt at his side, his arm around his shoulders "You understand what?"

Styx lifted his head to regard Viper with haunted eyes "I understand what youto keep your mate safe"

"Yes" Viper gave a slow nod "You are well and truly mated, old friend But there will be no sacrifices necessary on this night Soon enough Darcy will be back in your ars"

Darcy wasn’t at all surprised to awaken with a headache the size of Texas Or a jaw so swollen it felt as if she had stuffed a grapefruit in her cheek She wasn’t even surprised to discover she was in a strange room and chained to a bed

In fact, it all seemed fairly par for the course

How scary was that?

Sing a groan, she lanced cautiously about the roo to see Not unless you counted the faux wood paneling that was haphazardly nailed to the walls and puke-yellow carpeting that was growing a lovely crop of rim room that looked exactly like any other roonize it by its stench

No, not exactly like any other seedy hotel, she acknowledged as she turned her head enough to see the heavy bars across theThey were obviously a new addition that did nothing to lighten theshe was chained and leashed like a raving lunatic

Shifting on the hard lared down at the iron shackles that encircled her wrists They were connected to heavy chains that were bolted to the floor Chains that no doubt weighed as ht she was the o since Al Capone, or they needed her chained and helpless for a reason

Crap

She hoped it was the scary Al Capone option

Nothing good could conoring the lingering pain in her head, Darcy wriggled on the narrowher feet to help push herself up the headboard to a seated position

She was no closer to escape, but at least she didn’t feel quite so helpless

Thank Cod since the door across the roo thrust open to reveal a now familiar woman

Her own beloved mother

The rotten bitch

Darcy was er toward the woave birth to her

Granted their firsthad hardly been the stuff of drea cold-cocked, kidnapped, and chained to a bed But while she could reasonably expect a sense of betrayal and even disappointer was definitely out of character

Perhaps because Darcy could no longer cling to her childhood fantasy of a

A ive her up but still held a deep affection for her lost child

The knowledge left an aching hole in her heart andto lash out at the wo the door, the woman casually strolled toward the bed Darcy shivered as a strange prickle ran over her skin It was a sensation she was beginning to associate with being in the presence of a Were

As if sonized she was in the co near the , the woaze to take in the sight of Darcy