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The warlock wouldn't allow Madadh to stop until Munro released his own beast

Though Jels's purple robe covered him from neck to heels, Munro could tell his frame was spindly He was bald of hair, his face sunken So easily broken Yet Munro was in no position to attack-or to defend hiht above him His manacled wrists were connected to a chain that descended froed, unbreakable even to one like him

"Give it up, Jels," Munro bit out between bloodied lips "Nothing you can dowill " His head had been beaten to a pulp; his brain felt like it rattled inside his cracked skull Thoughts were foggy, but he held on to the knowledge of one critical fact he'd learned: the warlocks couldn't enslave a Lykae until his beast had risen Once it did, they used their dark ic to leash it But they had no arcane power to co the Lykae raid on this dungeon, Madadh had unknowingly freed his beast and been vassaled by the warlocks Then those bastards had used the massive Madadh to attack Munro and the rest of their crew, catching the others off guard

The warlocks had spent the last several days trying to torture Munro's beast to the surface-doing everything they could to add his feral howls to the ones constantly sounding up and down this corridor of cells Yet after living with Will's volatile beast for nine centuries, Munro had taken great pains to control his own

He could resist any torment, especially when he knew another raid would come soon The clan would send in powerful reinforce himself If Munro stayed lucid, he could warn theed

Would Will accompany them? Part of Munro was desperate for a warrior like his brother to come; part of him dreaded it His brother's beast would be so easily claimed

Another punch took Munro across the jaw, nearly dislocating it His head snapped around, blood and sweat spraying the hem of Jels's robe His arms were all but wrenched from their sockets "Bluidy hell, Madadh!"

The endary Mad Dog of the Highlands was now an obedient dog Munro shuddered at the thought No, I'll no' be giving theenuinely confused "Why do you resist our thrall so totally? To be vassaled is to be at peace I never expected it to take this long"

If Jels was finally going to talk, Munro had questions "Why no' just kill me?" he asked, but he feared he knew The few times Madadh had been cos bloody

"Kill?" Jels blinked "The purpose of this entire trap was to secure an elder like you We ensured that a new Lykae vassal would get ht like you would raid us"

Exactly why Munro had cohtered for no reason other than blindly following the warlocks' couide you in Poor girl thought we'd release her sister if she cooperated"

He'd had no reason not to trust the nyh him "A lot of trouble Why would you want me so bad?"

"We could have searched a thousand planes and dozens of eras for a beast so strong as yours"

Munro knew this ancient faction couldportals and even entire planes

"We will use your beast to seed all of our newling vassals"

They wanted Munro to bite huive innocent mortals years of insanity-or death? "Fuck that, Jels! Never" The perversion of it! "You can take your beastly 'seed' and shove it up your warlock arse"

"One Lykae can only produce so s Madadh here has bitten fourteen; two have risen You ht have heard their screams?" Jels asked, his tone deceptively pleasant "He's had his fill of huh tapped out He's only a couple of centuries old, but youwe believe you could turn even more! Many rin "The next bite I make will snatch clean your throat"

"You have no idea what's coers of Doom are soon to rise-the threat that will end all of us, if we can't fight back The Forgotten won't stop until we've ah beautiful felad we have"

"You're crazed, little man Tell yourself whatever you need to"

A nod at Madadh set thethrough his skin and obliterating his right eye

Biting back a yell of agony, Munro told Jels, "Tickling me? You'll have to dobetter than that"

Another nod, and Madadh gripped Munro's thigh in two places, readying to snap his femur Motherfucker!

A second warlock slinked inside the cell, calling out to Jels in their unintelligible language Whatever news the ht pleased Jels He turned to Munro "Do better than that, you said? It see a chain there

As the pulley above squeaked, the tension on Munro's arms ebbed until he could lower the into his liht to rehtline

There was no way to defeat Madadh without freeing his own beast But he could at least peel Jels's head fros appeared not five feet from him, another warlock and a raven-haired female who looked barely out of her teens She appeared dazed, tre beside her captor Mortal? Yes, and utterly lovely with her olive skin and bright irises the color of new pennies Flowers decorated her ypsy

She was dressed in an ornate white gown It was either of olden design-or a wedding dress Or both

At her ethereal scent, Munro's body shot tight, spine straightening

-Yours-

Shock assailed hirated, "what trickery is this?" She was like a vision, an angel come to take him, far too beautiful to be in this fetid place

"No trickery," Jels said "Meet Kereny Ren to her extended fao to procure her Suffice it to say that the mystical expenditure to find your feods

Her wide eyes were glassy, unseeing She tottered on her feet Injured? Munro saw no blood own Yet he scented so likepoison

Munro bellowed, "What the fuck did you do?" He lunged for her, but Madadh clotheslined hiround How badly was she hurt?

As Munro thrashed against the man, his Instinct screamed, -YOUR FEMALE DIES-

Dies?

His beast howled inside to fight for her, but so with her,her life

When the second warlock dreay frohs Her fragile fingers were lilee, Jels shoved up her sleeves, revealing black veins that stretched from her wrists to her elbows "Behold Her lifeblood turns to stone Wait until it reaches her heart-I'ony"

They'd bespelled her Rage reddened Munro's vision

"She has only a couple of minutes before she succumbs," Jels said "Such a distasteful business"

Her expression twisted to one of utter agony, and she cried out, those fragile fingers knotting with her pain