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Garreth MacRieve With his firin said, "If not the pain, then what gives with you? You&039;re not thinking about MacRieve, are you?" She tossed up her dagger, catching the tip in her fore-claw "Since you&039;re his mate and all And for the record, e"

Lucia drilled her knuckle into Regin&039;s upper arm "Take it back"

"Yow!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? I&039;m not his mate! Fullconfusion, he hadn&039;t coend held that nothing could stop a ht

Lucia had been so sure she was his Now she didn&039;t knohat to think

Of course, she&039;d been pleased to confira beast?

Yet, strangely, seeing hi the vained it He&039;d been brutal and unsettling, but the terror she&039;d felt that night had ebbed - because once she got past her memories of Cruach, she sa different MacRieve was from the Broken Bloody One

That didn&039;t ; it just re could be as bad as Cruach

"Wait!" N&iu a pattern here?"

They all stared blankly at her

She tilted her head "Yeah, rew enthralled with her pal her arin asked, "If you&039;re not MacRieve&039;syou?"

"I don&039;t know," she lied MacRieve had clearly ground out the words protect you And she suspected he had been doing just that

Just last night in the city, as she&039;d hunted back alleys for kobolds, an aniht when she&039;d been about to confront the colossal male, she heard a thud behind her She&039;d whirled around and had seen the des The rest of his body had been concealed behind a building, but only for a split second, before he&039;d been yanked back out of her sight

Annika hastened by then, with her blond brows drawn together, checking all the logistics of her trap, as h she could ist, she was never supposed to be leader of their coven - theValkyrie queen Furie was

Once Annika had buzzed past the intense around here, eh, Luce? With the velancing up from her palin shook her head hard "Which sounds so laot et it! Va this stance just to be contrary," N&iu intense The Valkyrie were on red alert They&039;d hired the Wraiths, the Ancient Scourge, to protect Val Hall That measure was drastic, but the vampire demon had shaken them

Vemons were supposed to be truly mythical The one they&039;d faced had been nearly invincible, which made them wonder how a creature like that had come to be - and how many more of the nefarious

"And now the long-lost olf king is in play as well," Regin said, tossing up her dagger

Lucia herself had spoken to Lachlain, the olf king That long-distance call had been so surreal, forin a room full of Valkyrie, and neither they, nor Lachlain, had any idea she&039;d been with his brother o, occupied with - oh, how had Garreth put it? - riding his crotch like a wanton as she sucked his tongue

As the "reasonable" one in the coven, Lucia had entreated Lachlain to release Eentle with her He hadn&039;t sounded capable of gentle

At least he hadn&039;t seemed to want to hurt Emma - and he had protected her fro the three who&039;d come for her

Annika&039;s own atteotiate with Lachlain had ended with his roared "She&039;sfor "Celts&039; pelts"

Afterward, everyone in the coven had voiced disgust for the Lykae, calling theuilt mount Aside fro with a Lykae

Regin leaned in "Luce, what&039;s really going on with you?"

"I just think this is a bad idea" She plucked her bowstring faster

"He&039;s an ani inable strength and ferocity to save their lives Another example of how different he was froin said, "We keep secrets from everyone else - not fro back from me Haven&039;t I proved that I&039;m a vault where your secrets are concerned?"

Guilt flared "Yes, always" This was too true, and besides, could anything be as shameful as Cruach? "Look, in a ht have MacRieve and I" - she paused, then added in a rush - "we in&039;s glowing skin paled "What?"

Re in Garreth He needed to ease her pain frohter more of their kind for her

Never had he seen a being in agony like his mate after she&039;d missed a shot When he&039;d stormed into Val Hall, she&039;d been curled on the floor, writhing with her fingers knotted

Gazing up at e of himself, to remind her how he normally looked But the Instinct warned him to take it sloith her - She will run Be cautious -

So he&039;d been shadowing her, ca as Ivo, Lothaire, and that de for a specific Valkyrie, Garreth refused to leave the area, not even to return to the Lykae co behind his kinsht - especially not those Lykae who&039;d found their ly content How I envy theuard his own mate He hadn&039;t been able to spare the rest of his loved ones from the Horde - but he&039;d be damned before they hurt his woman Whether Lucia wanted it or not, he&039;d watched over her every second he could Except for the night of the full ements

Not that she needed protection within her horown more so After the vampire attack, the Valkyrie had called upon the Wraiths, the Ancient Scourge, to protect them Red-robed skeletal feuard impenetrable Each time a Valkyrie exited or entered, she lopped off a lock of her hair, handing it to the Wraiths - as if in paylee over the token

Tonight, Lucia and at least two others had gone out in the bayou She&039;d peered keenly into the darkness as if she sensed hi his distance

But for how er could he silently follow?

Chapter 10

"Keep your voice down!" Lucia hissed to Regin

"And you didn&039;t tellyou about this for the rest of our immortal lives"

"It&039;s not that bad - "

Regin gave avampire flesh from his teeth for days And you kissed him with that mouth? In any case, do you want Skathi to kick your ass? Or repo your powers? Who a out hen you&039;re a talentless nobody?"

Lucia glared

"Wait! It all becorossity, Luce Bag and tag the Lykae!"

"Has everyone forgotten what he did for us?" Mac-Rieve could have escaped with Lucia but he&039;d stayed and defended them He&039;d done that for her And hoas she about to repay him? With deceit

Annika overheard that and crossed over to where Lucia was setting up her shot "It seehter" She punctuated her words by cocking her tranquilizer gun "I know you don&039;t feel right about this after what he did for us, but we need hiet my Emma back from that fiend"

"I&039; everyone stare Levelheaded Lucia didn&039;t get testy often "Though I&039; to pay for this"

"No one wants you to get hurt," Annika said, then added more softly, "But, Lucia, you know Em must be terrified"

Cosseted Eh Lachlain knew she was a half-vampire, and most of his family had been murdered by them, he hadn&039;t sounded like he planned to hurt Emma Didn&039;t matter Em would be terrified just by what he was She didn&039;t cohtly - she was afraid of her own shadow

If only she&039;d been able to trace like other vampires, then she could&039;ve escaped Lachlain They&039;d tried to teach her, but Emma had always been too weak

"Yo, Annika How in asked "I don&039;t want to ht - because of the being covered in bricks and all - but he&039;s brutal"

"I got the mixture from the witches," Annika said "They swore it&039;d take down elephants"

Regin shook her head "Dude&039;s a olf, that won&039;t be en - "

"Fifty elephants"

"Oh"

"Are you ready?" Annika asked Lucia

Sure, Annika I&039; pain, so you can catch hts were crazed, Lucia evenly said, "I&039;ll do what I have to in order to get Emma back"

"Good," Annika said with a firet this started"

As the others took their places, Lucia readied her bow, nocking an arrow Duty to fa her teeth, she ai At the last ers relaxed to release the string, Annika shoved her to the left The arrow missed the tree

At once, pain seared her - the agony of bones grinding, poisoned blood wrung fro exploded, and she dropped to the ground, helpless not to screaht

Roaring in answer, Garreth raced in her direction Va Valkyrie And she&039;d just screas sharpened; rage burned hot My ed faster Tree li out of his way as he plunged deeper into the swa the beast out of the cage He knew he horrified her like this but he couldn&039;t help it - the need to protect overwhelmed him

As Garreth ran for her, he scented other Valkyrie Therein number But as he neared, he s, spied Lucia on the ground, twisting in pain

Turning even hter whoever did this

- What you see is not so -

He felt a prick on his neck, slapped at it A dart? Oh, fuck no! Still struggling to reach her, he felt his body go boneless, his legs giving way

Garreth crashed to the ground right beside Lucia, landing on his side As Lucia gazed at hi Valkyrie surrounded them Realization struck Lucia had done this on purpose She was the bait

"You helped theh

She nodded Despite the fact that she&039;d deceived hiht of her tears He reached forward to brush her face, but his arm went limp "Why?" he rasped "Why, Lousha?"

She whispered, "He took her took Emma"

"Who?"

"You don&039;t know?"

"Knohat?" He saw her lipsas consciousness faded

Chapter 11

"For the love of all that&039;s unholy, will he not shut up?"

Regin deae in the basee - an unco froht before Gods, how she paid for those , N&iu her long sable hair, studying Lucia&039;s reactions N&iu her keenly She kno I feel about him

Or how she&039;d felt about hie, his fangs so sharp

"Let me the bluidy hell out of here!" sounded up frolared at Lucia, as if this were her fault "He is harshing in turned to yell over her shoulder - "not interested!"

"Open this fucking cage, you glowing bluidy freak!" Gods, he was fierce

Yet as soon as the thought arose, she recalled how he&039;d aardly patted her tears And last night, even after realizing what she&039;d done to him, he&039;d still reached for her

"So, &039;cause this howling is freaking old!"

They could hear hiainst the bars, but he could never break theest species in all the Lore, the metal was indestructible, made so by spells purchased fro her video galy

"What do you think I can do?"

"He&039;s attracted to you Skeevy as that is At least go try Just don&039;t lift tail for hi a telling glance at N&iuin said, "Oh, yeah, like the soothsayer doesn&039;t already have your number"

N&iuotten this far in the ga a wince when herput out over seeing MacRieve, though she&039;d wanted to since he&039;d awakened She wanted to finally thank hi her away, then rising up like wrath eainst the vampires who&039;d invaded her family&039;s home