His words sounded like a promise.
She started walking toward the beach. Rose wouldn"t let herself look back at him.
Chapter Eight.
An angel wasn"t supposed to be in h.e.l.l.
Lila stared at her wings. A pale imitation of what they"d once been. She"d already lost so many feathers, and the others didn"t shine any longer. They were darker.
Weaker.
Just as she was weak.
"Hey, angel!" Another female voice called out to her. Her head turned, and she saw the muse frowning at her.
She didn"t know the muse"s name, just what she was. A muse inspired humans. Sent them soaring to incredible heights...because she obsessed them. Her power was dark. She focused the mortals on their task to the extent that they lost focus on everything else.
Her magic was deadly.
And she was supposed to be an angel"s enemy.
"Don"t cry, angel," the muse said, her voice soft. "We"re going to get out of here." She moved closer to the bars of her own cell and Lila saw the glint of the woman"s blonde hair.
Was she crying? Lila lifted a hand and touched her cheek. She was surprised by the wetness she felt there. Angels weren"t supposed to cry.
Angels weren"t supposed to feel.
So many things we aren"t "supposed to" do.
"Don"t lie to her." It was the other woman"s voice...the witch. Another being that Lila was supposed to stay far away from because a witch was a dark paranormal. "Don"t give her false hope. We"re all dying in this h.e.l.l." She came toward the bars of her cell. Her beautiful face showed sympathy as she looked at Lila. "Better go ahead and accept it now." Her hands lifted. She had such gorgeous coffee cream skin. When Lila had first met the witch, the other woman had seemed to glow with power. Her whole body had seemed to shine with an inner light. But that light had been fading. Slowly, day by day.
"I"m not lying," the muse shot back, sounding annoyed. "I"m trying to inspire. It"s kind of my thing, you know."
The witch laughed.
The witch and the muse. She thought they might be friends, of a sort.
"Your thing is to screw with the minds of mortals," the witch threw back. "Don"t even try that s.h.i.t with us."
Maybe they weren"t friends.
Lila cleared her throat. "Our captor...he"s human. Why doesn"t your "thing" work on him?"
There was silence, and she thought the muse wouldn"t answer her. She shouldn"t have spoken. They knew just how different from them she truly was. They were dark paranormals, bound to Luke Thorne, while she was tied to his twin brother, the Lord of the Light.
Tied to Leo.
Or...to the "d.i.c.k" as the muse had called him.
Though she didn"t think he was a d.i.c.k. Leo was her friend. When she"d first been taken, Lila had been so sure that Leo would come find her. But the days had slipped by.
He hadn"t appeared.
"I can"t do my "thing" on him," the muse muttered, "because he"s already obsessed enough. Why do you think we"re all here?"
"I have no idea." No, that wasn"t true. He"d been taking her power away, one feather at a time. "I thought he wanted our magic."
"Oh, he does." The witch laughed. "But he wants it because he has a purpose. A plan."
"What plan?"
"This is just going to make her cry more," the muse warned. She seemed to be scolding the witch.
The witch backed away from her bars.
"Ignore her," the muse ordered. She flashed Lila a smile.
She"s beautiful, too. All muses were supposed to be beautiful. It was part of their charm. Leo had said creatures like the muse were beautiful on the outside, but rotten on the inside.
The muse didn"t seem rotten, though.
"The witch is mad," her voice carried easily to Lila, "because the jerkoff who took us locked down her magic. She"s too weak to crack a spell and get our sorry a.s.ses out of this place."
The witch began cursing. Very inventive curses.
The muse laughed.
"I need a fourth," the witch muttered. "Air, fire, earth, and wind. If I could get all that, we"d be in business."
"I"m guessing the angel counts as air..." The muse tapped her foot. "What are you, witch? Fire?"
"No, that"s you. You burn right through a man"s soul, leaving only obsession in your wake."
The muse glanced down. "You say it like I have a choice."
Lila frowned.
"I"m wind," the witch said. "My power blows down my enemies. When I"m not f.u.c.king imprisoned by a freak."
Lila licked her lips. "What...what kind of being would be your earth?"
The muse replied, "Probably someone who"s been dead. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes and all that jazz."
Nervously, Lila slipped back a step. "And what happens if we do get a fourth?"
The witch laughed. "I make h.e.l.l come to town."
That didn"t sound good.
"Want to know the other option, sweet angel?" The witch"s voice had dropped. "The other option is that the jerkoff kills us all. Because he is never going to let us go. He does have a plan, and for that plan to work, he"s going to destroy us."
She stopped retreating. Her wings curled closer to her body.
"When the time comes..." the witch stared at her with dark eyes. "Will you fight with us?"
Angels weren"t supposed to fight. Her chin lifted. "Yes."
Chapter Nine.
"That little one-on-one didn"t go so well, did it?" Rayce murmured.
Julian had just marched back into the main house. He paused in the doorway, glaring at the wolf who was his semi-friend.
"I ask because well...you came back in without the girl."
"She"s not a girl. She"s a woman."
"Right. Yes, absolutely. I mean you came back in without the s.e.xy vampire who-" His words broke off because Julian had lunged forward and grabbed the guy by the throat. Julian shoved Rayce against the nearest wall. Rayce"s flailing hands. .h.i.t a table and a vase crashed.
Luke would be p.i.s.sed. So what?
"Watch what you say about her." He eased his hold, just enough for Rayce to speak.
"What"s wrong with what I said? The woman is gorgeous! She"s s.e.xy as all h.e.l.l. I"ve always had a thing for women with bite and-"
He tightened his hand on Rayce"s throat. "Why the h.e.l.l do you push me?" Disgusted, he let the guy go. "b.u.g.g.e.r off, mate."
Rayce cleared his throat. Once. Twice. And he didn"t b.u.g.g.e.r off. "As I was saying..." He flashed a smile-one that showed his own lengthening canines. "I"ve always had a thing for women with bite and apparently, so do you."
Julian nailed him with a right hook.
Rayce grunted and took a step back. "What the ever-loving h.e.l.l? Dude, get control of your jealousy. Seriously." He rubbed his jaw. "In a minute, I"ll stop being nice and I"ll fight back."
"That hit wasn"t from jealousy." His eyes raked the werewolf. "It was because you freaking locked her up. She hates being locked up. Rose had tears on her cheeks." His hand lifted. He should hit the jerk again.
But Rayce"s eyes had widened in shock. "What? s.h.i.t, look, I thought I was helping. I"m a helper. That"s what I do."
Julian snorted. "Don"t feed me that tosh."
"Tosh?" Rayce blinked. "You"re throwing out your British s.h.i.t again-"
"c.r.a.p," Julian gritted out. "Don"t feed me your bull." Rayce was a rogue wolf. He might put up a veneer of humor and charm, but the guy was a ravenous killer. He had no pack, so that made him even more dangerous. He wasn"t an alpha-he was one step above that power level. So all the other wolves in the world were terrified of him. And when you feared something, what did you do?
You avoided it. You ran from it.
Just like Rose was running from him.
His shoulders fell.
"Are you really going to take her back to the mainland?" Rayce wanted to know. "I mean, is that a good idea? She can stay here. You know that. She can stay here and-"
"Be locked up?" So she could hate him even more? Julian shook his head. "I said I"d stay by her side every minute. That was the deal I made, and I"ve already slipped on that deal too much as it is." Because when they"d first returned to the island, he"d shifted and left her alone. It had only been the distance of a few acres, and that still counted as close, didn"t it? "I don"t know how much he"ll allow for the deal."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Julian knew he"d made a mistake.
"Deal?" Rayce repeated as he tilted his head. "You made another deal with Luke? Didn"t you learn from last time?"
He looked away. "I didn"t say the deal was with Luke."
"Yes, but why would you make a deal with anyone else? You"re a paranormal powerhouse, just like me." Rayce didn"t say the words as if he were bragging. More like just stating a fact. And, yes, it was a fact. "There"s no one you need to barter with, no one who can help you except..." His words trailed away and horror-real, honest-to-goodness horror filled his eyes. And Rayce wasn"t the type to easily be horrified. "Tell me you didn"t."
"I didn"t." He turned away and headed for his room. The room he"d wrecked with Rose. Why had she let him touch her if she was still afraid?
Her voice echoed through his mind. It"s because I"m a vampire, isn"t it? I carry a darkness now and that darkness-it likes you. Part of what she"d said was true. Her desires were darker now that she was a vamp. His desires had always been dark. Nearly insatiable.
But when he was with her...
"You British a.s.shole, stop!"
Julian frowned and glanced back.
Rayce"s cheeks were flushed. "You lied to me."
Why was that an issue? "You lie to me all the time."
"No, no, you made a deal." Rayce pointed a finger at him. "And you did it with the good one, didn"t you?"
Tread carefully. "You"ll have to be more specific."
Rayce"s cheeks flushed even redder. "You made a deal with Luke"s freaking twin! You made a deal with Leo!" He marched forward, glaring the whole way as Julian turned to fully face him. "He"s the only one who can match Luke"s power. And since Luke has gone all AWOL on us with his new lady, Leo would be the only one around for you to deal with."
Luke Thorne was the Lord of the Dark-the ruler of every dark paranormal to walk the earth. And his twin brother Leo...Leo led the so-called light paranormals. The ones who were supposed to be good for humanity.