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"Things are different between us," Sabine ad"
"Good! I&039;ll make you another portal in six days, and you can return then But for now, you have to come with me!"
"What has happened?"
"Omort lied-the ht"
"He did what?" That bastard! When she faced hihtmares, would show him scenes that even he couldn&039;t bear
"It&039;s true He admitted it to me himself Abie, it&039;s a mess at Tornin The vampires bailed The fire demons are squir-relly And Omort nearly took o back there!"
"I convinced him that you would never accept him if he harmed me Omort still believes the two of you ed Now, find your way out of the house, and follow my voice to the portal We can&039;t waste any more time"
"I can&039;t just leave Rydstro? As much as I hope it works out for you kids, now is not the ti in him"
When Sabine heard the paneled bedroo open, she quickly cloaked herself in invisibil­ity, then cast an illusion of herself sleeping soundly
Rydstro form with an unmistakably proud expression She probed his mind, just a touch
-My womanin ed once
"Oh,at an illusion of me-and he appears to bein love"
"You saw that look?" Lanthe sounded wistful "Did he have his brows draith feeling?"
"Yes And as he walked out of the room, he kind of rubbed his chest a little" "Like his heart hurt!"
"I&039;ve only ever seen that on TV beforel" Sabine said "Lanthe, I have to tell hi"
"So he can do what exactly?" Lanthe deoing to a place he will never let you go, I&039;ll be Vrekener bait"
If Sabine explained the poison to Rydstrom, he wouldn&039;t likely allow Sabine just to waltz back to Omort And if she told him that she would probably die if she didn&039;t h this portal, he&039;d insist that he could find help for her here But there was no one on this plane who could prevent thethis, Sabine bit her lip, torn about what to do "Sneaking out of his house see"
"You are without a doubt one hundred percent in love, because it&039;syou stupid! It&039;s not reasonable even to consider this You can come back in mere days" "I could write his"
Sabine was on her feet in a second "I&039;!" She hauled on her boots, then snatched up her clothes Leaving the illusion on the bed, she kept herself cloaked in invisibility and slipped fro the house and eluded him to find her way out of a back door As she hurried
off the property into the night, she hastily dragged on
her top and skirt
The de-she could only hope to make it to Lanthe&039;s portal before then
"Lanthe?"
"Sabine, just follow my voice I&039;m in a park somewhere"
The streets all looked the sahtly at first, then intensifying Soon, lightning fractured the skies Thunder quaked As though poured from a bucket, rain pounded down
"Lanthe?"
"I&039;ht of a park in the distance "Talk to me"
"You&039;re close"
"I can see a-" Sabine stumbled when she heard the de like a can­non&039;s boom
He&039;d started the chase And he sounded enraged
"Lanthe, he&039;s co for me!" No answer "Lanthe?Where are you?"
When she answered, her voice was fainter "Kind of had tofarther away fro?"
Her voice was a scarce whisper "Right now I&039; a seven-foot-tall rage deone to check on her again, he&039;d reached down to brush her hair
And found nothing but illusion He&039;d stared for long
She tricked me She&039;d obviously never intended to stay Another lie She&039;ddeserted hied fro her naht her scent from what must beher, following his instinct He sprinted down sodden streets, rage over­whel him with every step The frenzied need to mark her consumed him
She doesn&039;t carry ht of her nearing a sh the rain In the distance, he saw an area of diffused air-a portal And she was heading directly for it
Can&039;t lose her He pued for her Seizing her by the hips, he took her down into the rass
"You told , he tossed her to her back "Youback to Omortl"
"NoyesRydstro rain hitting her face
He hauled her beneath hihs "Why? Every word out of your mouth is a lie! How many tiht to escape hilowed in the night, cruel obsidian Rain poured down painfully-never had Sabine felt it like this The drops pelted her eyes so hard, she could barely see, could scarcely hear herself
&039;I&039;d planned to be good to you," he grated "To an unbuckling his belt, her eyes ide "Not like this!" she cried, raking her nails over his face and chest
He roared with fury, then seized her wrists, fettering them behind her back with his belt
"Rydstro has happened! Demon, listen to me My sister&039;s here-"
"Your sister&039;s not here, she&039;s in Tornin! In"I don&039;t want to hear any more of your lies!"
"Please, Lanthe&039;s in danger" Her words tangled on her tongue as she tried to explain to hi for Lanthe&039;s voice or the sound of wings "And the Vrekeners are everywhere!"
Rydstro and flipped her hack over to face hio to her!" she said, trying again, but there was no talking to hi I broke him The de happens to her" Her heart was about to explode with fear for Lanthe That fear turned to nausea, then fury "You have no right to keepme into the mud!"
"You lied-you&039;ll pay for it"
"Get off of me, you animal! You have to release me, now!"
"Never, Sabine, Never" He snatched her up into his ar back to his home
"No!" she screamed as he forced her away from the portal, away froh the rain was easing, she still couldn&039;t hear her sister
"I&039;ll keep her any way I have to," Rydstrom muttered to himself "Chained to the bed if I have to The deazed back over his aret back to her, had to escape Rydstroale ended, she attempted onceto a wall He wouldn&039;t listen, not even when they returned to the
house, not even when he stripped her Not even when he stalked outside and found chains to trap her body to his bed
One way to deal with a woman like her
Rydstro He didn&039;t need to hear any more of her lies Just need to mark her
She lay on the bed with her damp red hair in a fall all around her head, her pale body spread and tre He shoved his pants off, then cliot to let et back"
Do nothing irrevocableBut he had to, because she wouldn&039;t stay anyway Mark her
He knelt between her legs "I was going to take you slow" When he lay over her, he clasped the sides of her face His cock pulsed against her hot sex
Get control She makes me crazed! Got me so twisted inside
"Don&039;t do this toeyes
"You told me you would stay I believed you"
"Rydstroet back, they&039;ll kill her Trust me to return to you, and I will"
"Did you think it would have ended between us when you went back to Oainst her, he said at her ear, "Cwena, if we are apart, it&039;s only because I&039; o?" she asked desper­ately "Then take me, claim me, do whatever you have to, but just release me"
"You must bear my bite"
"Then, yes! Do it!"
"You knohat you have to say, sorceress"
"You wanty-"
"No!" He shoved his hand over her mouth He didn&039;t want this Didn&039;t want her to break When she grew quiet, he removed it
"Th-that&039;s what you wanted, isn&039;t it?" she asked
"Yesno!" He eased off her, sitting on the edge of the bed, pinching his forehead Just think
"Then what?" she cried, writhing in her chains
He rose, pacing Think
"What do you want me to do, demon? What do you want?"
"I don&039;t know&039;" he bellowed, putting his fist through the wall "I want you to feel so her nape "Because you&039;re clawing my bloody heart fro for you, demon Take me, mark me as your own Forever "
Words from a dream He couldn&039;t decipher the sub­texts, couldn&039;t foresee what trickery this was Her silken tongue was telling hi the beast inside hio I will return to you!"
Can&039;t thinknothing irrevocableHe rose once ered to the bathrooainst the wall, digging in his claws as he grappled for control-
He heard the unmistakable sound of Cadeon&039;s old truck in the drive With a curse, Rydstro on some jeans, then went to head him off before his brother could use a key
When Rydstrom cracked open the side door, his uely noted Cadeon appearedtired
"Rydstrom?" Cadeon bit out incredulously
He could only iine what he looked like He wore no shirt or shoes and had been buttoning up his jeans Cadeon&039;s gaze flickered over his clenched jaw, his shoulders bunched with tension, and the thin lines of blood running down his chest and across his cheek