Dark Prince's Dilemma
Page 1
Dark Prince’s Dilemma
The Children of the Gods Book 30
I. T. Lucas
Copyright © 2019 by I. T. Lucas
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Dark Prince’s Dilemma is a work of fiction!
Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations and/or events is purely coincidental.
Also by I. T. Lucas
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS ORIGINS
1: Goddess’s Choice
2: Goddess’s Hope
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS
Dark Stranger
1: Dark Stranger The Dream
2: Dark Stranger Revealed
3: Dark Stranger Immortal
Dark Enemy
4: Dark Enemy Taken
5: Dark Enemy Captive
6: Dark Enemy Redeemed
Kri & Michael’s Story
6.5: My Dark Amazon
Dark Warrior
7: Dark Warrior Mine
8: Dark Warrior’s Promise
9: Dark Warrior’s Destiny
10: Dark Warrior’s Legacy
Dark Guardian
11: Dark Guardian Found
12: Dark Guardian Craved
13: Dark Guardian’s Mate
Dark Angel
14: Dark Angel's Obsession
15: Dark Angel's Seduction
16: Dark Angel's Surrender
Dark Operative
17: Dark Operative: A Shadow of Death
18: Dark Operative: A Glimmer of Hope
19: Dark Operative: The Dawn of Love
Dark Survivor
20: Dark Survivor Awakened
21: Dark Survivor Echoes of Love
22: Dark Survivor Reunited
Dark Widow
23: Dark Widow’s Secret
24: Dark Widow’s Curse
25: Dark Widow’s Blessing
Dark Dream
26: Dark Dream’s Temptation
27: Dark Dream’s Unraveling
28: Dark Dream’s Trap
Dark Prince
29: Dark Prince’s Enigma
30: Dark Prince’s Dilemma
31: Dark Prince’s Agenda
PERFECT MATCH
Perfect Match 1: Vampire’s Consort
Perfect Match 2: King’s Chosen
Perfect Match 3: Captain’s Conquest
TRY THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS SERIES ON
AUDIBLE
2 FREE audiobooks with your new Audible subscription!
Contents
1. Carol
2. Lokan
3. Kian
4. Lokan
5. Carol
6. Lokan
7. Carol
8. Lokan
9. Carol
10. Kian
11. Annani
12. Kian
13. Lokan
14. Carol
15. Lokan
16. Kian
17. Carol
18. Lokan
19. Carol
20. Kian
21. Ella
22. Lokan
23. Carol
24. Lokan
25. Syssi
26. Losham
27. Carol
28. Lokan
29. Carol
30. Kian
31. Lokan
32. Carol
33. Lokan
34. Kian
35. Ella
36. Magnus
37. Syssi
38. Carol
39. Lokan
40. Syssi
41. Kian
42. Syssi
43. Kian
44. Carol
45. Lokan
46. Carol
47. Julian
48. Syssi
49. Ella
50. Carol
51. Carol
52. Kian
53. Annani
54. Lokan
55. Kian
56. Ella
57. Kian
58. Lokan
59. Kian
60. Carol
61. Lokan
62. Carol
63. Lokan
64. Carol
65. Lokan
66. Carol
67. Lokan
68. Carol
The Children of the Gods Series
FOR EXCLUSIVE PEEKS
1
Carol
During her drive to the village, Carol contemplated how to present her idea of rescuing Areana to Kian without him dismissing it out of hand before she could adequately articulate it.
The way she saw it, Kian would have two major objections. The main one was that he didn’t trust Lokan and would never let him go with her to the island. The second one was the level of risk involved, which he might decide was unacceptable.
But that was because he was overly protective and risk-averse when it came to civilians and especially females.
Except, Carol was willing and ready, and she had to convince Kian that her plan was the only way to verify whether Annani’s sister was being held captive by Navuh, and if she was indeed there, to get her out. Carol hadn’t figured out the second part yet, but that could be done later, when and if Kian approved the first one, which was iffy at best.
She’d spent most of the night trying to come up with an alternative to infiltrating Navuh’s harem, with Lokan’s help or without it, and then reporting her findings to him via dream-sharing. But then, Carol wasn’t a strategist, and her imagination could carry her only so far.
Kian and Turner might come up with a different plan, one that didn’t involve letting Lokan out of his prison cell or sending her to the island. If they did, Kian would undoubtedly choose that plan over hers.
If they failed to produce a viable alternative, though, Annani might pressure him into approving her plan.
The goddess wanted her sister back, and what the goddess wanted the goddess got.
Kian and Turner would still have to come up with the extraction plan, but Carol had faith in Turner. After the two incredible rescues he had already planned and executed, she had no doubt that he would think of something
“Come in,” Kian called out when she knocked on his door.
This time, she entered his office without the anxiety that had accompanied her previous visits. For one, she’d texted him beforehand so he was expecting her, and secondly, she was now Lokan’s official confidant and liaison, which elevated her status from a mere café manager to a spy in training.
“Good morning, Kian.”
He waved at one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Take a seat, please.”
“Thank you.”
“How can I help you, Carol?”
She was in luck. Kian seemed to be in an amiable enough mood, which was a rarity for him. “I have an idea for how we can infiltrate Navuh’s harem and find out whether he has Areana.”
Kian shook his head. “I’m not letting Vivian and Ella go on another risky mission. So, if that’s what you came to talk to me about, we are done.”
Ugh. Even when in a good mood, Kian was hard to talk to.
“That’s not what I had in mind.” She shifted in her chair. “Did Arwel tell you that Lokan and I can dream-share?”
“Yes, he did, and my first response was to put the bastard in stasis the moment I got the island's location from him. But then I reconsidere
d.” He smirked. “I wanted to see if he was stupid enough to try it with anyone else, but apparently, he is not.”
She nodded. “Lokan believes that he can do it only with women he is attracted to. He attempted to dream-share with human male acquaintances, people he wanted to influence, but it didn’t work. It might not work on immortal males either, but I think it’s worthwhile for us to find out.”
“I’d rather not.”
She shrugged. “It’s not that important. If Ella managed to hide her thoughts from Lokan while they dream-shared, then I’m sure others could do so as well. It’s mostly a useless talent, though, except for what I have in mind.”
Taking a long breath, she continued. “If Lokan can get me into the harem, I can dream-share with him and tell him what’s going on in there. It would effectively be the equivalent of what he wanted to do with Ella and Vivian. Dream-sharing is also an undetectable communication that goes both ways.”
Kian leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not going to let Lokan out of his cell, let alone take you with him to the island. But I’m curious to hear how you thought to pull it off. In fact, I’m curious to hear how he planned on doing it with Ella and Vivian’s involuntary help.”
Curious was good.
She could whet Kian’s appetite, and maybe then he would be willing to reconsider.
“Lokan is the one who compels the human pilots operating the island's transport planes. As we know, they are the only ones allowed to fly to and from the island. Also, other than Navuh and Lokan, no one knows the exact location of it.”
Kian’s eyes lit up with interest. “As long as it’s nothing too big and it flies under his father’s radar, so to speak, he can compel them to transport whatever and whoever he pleases.”
“Precisely. And because he is Navuh’s son, he doesn't have to go through the same checks everyone else does. He could have smuggled Ella and Vivian in.”
Kian arched a brow. “Even if no one checked his luggage, how was he going to explain the two new humans? They must have records of everyone on the island.”
Carol shrugged. “Lokan didn’t elaborate, but he could have probably claimed that he brought his personal toys along. Again, as Navuh’s son, he has more leeway than others. Besides, getting onto the island is less of a problem than getting off.”
“How was he going to do that? And before that, how was he going to get one of them assigned to the harem?”
“Lokan says that the guy in charge of staffing the harem owes him some favors. Lokan could have pretended to tire of either Vivian or Ella, put one of them in the harem, and kept the other one for himself or assigned her to general housekeeping.”
Kian nodded. “So far, the plan makes sense. A thousand things could have gone wrong, but if everything went smoothly, he could have pulled it off. Getting them out is another thing altogether, though. But I think he had no intention of doing so. After he got what he wanted from them, he would have just left Vivian and Ella to work on the island for the rest of their lives.”
The thought had crossed her mind, but even if she was willing to accept that her mate was a heartless bastard, it would not have been prudent for him to betray his partners in crime because they could have betrayed him in turn.
“The plan was to fake their deaths or at least the death of the one in the harem. Since humans are in charge of burials, he could have compelled them to load the caskets onto a transport plane that he was flying off the island.”
“A very ambitious plan. I still don’t think that he ever intended to get them off the island, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Carol shook her head. “He could not have just left them there because he would have run the risk of them telling on him. His options would have been to either get them out or kill them, and I don’t think Lokan is that cold.”
Kian arched a brow but wisely said nothing.
Not that Carol could blame him for believing the worst of Lokan, when she had nagging doubts herself. The fact that he was her mate didn’t mean that he was good. In fact, he’d never claimed to be a nice guy.
“I assume that your plan is to follow the same scenario?”
“With modifications, of course.”
“Not going to happen, Carol. Lokan is a liar, and he would say anything to get out of the dungeon. Half of what he told you might be lies. But even if everything is true, I’m still not letting him out, and you can’t do any of it without his help. Case closed.”
“What about Annani?” Carol used her one ace argument. “What are you going to tell her? That you are not willing to rescue her sister? She will never accept it.”
Kian grimaced. “I’ll think of another way.”
“I spent all of last night trying to come up with an alternative, and there are none. Only a human can get into the harem or an immortal female impersonating one. And the only way to communicate with someone on the inside is through unconventional means.”
Uncrossing his arms, Kian leaned forward. “With all due respect, Carol, you are not an expert. I’m sure Turner can come up with a better plan.”
“By all means.” She waved a hand. “Let him try.”
2
Lokan
“Are you surprised?” Lokan asked once Carol was done telling him about her meeting with Kian.
Pacing the length of the living room, she threw her hands in the air. “I thought that mentioning how much his mother wanted to find her sister would help, but Kian said that they would come up with a different plan, one that didn’t involve you.”
He snorted. “Good luck with that. I’ve been mulling over that for decades, and until I met Ella, I couldn’t figure out how to get someone on the inside to tell me who was the important female Navuh was hiding in his harem. I never actually planned on getting her out.”
“What if that mystery woman turned out to be your mother? Would you have just left her there?”
“I can’t see how it is possible to get an immortal female out of the harem. She can’t fake her own death.”
As Carol resumed her agitated pacing, the sight of her enticingly swaying hips was affecting Lokan. With his focus shifting from planning and strategizing to his throbbing erection, all he could think of was the shortest route to getting her in bed.
Except, Carol wasn’t doing it on purpose, and sex was the furthest thing from her mind.
She stopped and put her hands on her hips. “What if someone starts a fire? I’m sure your father will evacuate everyone. He wouldn’t let his wives and concubines suffer, right? The immortals would survive, and he might not give a damn about the humans, but what about the babies? His babies?”
Shifting to relieve the pressure, Lokan forced his mind to get back on track. “Too dangerous and too obvious. He would know it was arson.”
“Not if it’s done right.” Carol chuckled. “And believe me, we know how to stage things so they look authentic.”
After the two rescues that the clan had organized for Ella, he had no doubt. “That still leaves the problem of actually getting her off the island. After a stunt like that, security will be at an all-time high.”
Carol sauntered over to the bar and pulled out a bottle of water. “I’ll leave it up to Turner. The guy is a freaking genius. He will figure something out. But first, I need to get in there and find out whether Navuh has Areana. Otherwise, there is no point in taking such a huge risk.”
“Who is Turner?”
“The guy who shot you.”
“Is he a clan member? I thought he was a sociopath human. He didn’t emit any scents.”
Carol sat next to him on the couch. “Turner was human before he transitioned, but even then he didn’t emit any scents. He’s an anomaly, not a sociopath. A bit cold, that's true, but he’s awesome. Without him, Kian would have never found where Sebastian was holding me, and Ella’s rescues would have probably failed.”
Interesting. Lokan had thought that Kian was the brains behi
nd Ella’s rescues. Instead, it was the short, blond dude who reminded him of a younger Putin.
“What I don’t understand is why they didn’t kill Gorchenco. Why let him live so he could chase after Ella?”
Carol put her empty water bottle on the coffee table. “Ella refused. She claimed to have a gut feeling about Gorchenco still being needed for some unknown future purpose that he was supposed to fulfill. But I think she just didn’t want him to die because the girl got soft-hearted.”
“He treated her well. Not that I’m justifying what he did, but it could have been much worse for her. Perhaps that’s the reason she had mercy on him.”
Carol’s expression changed, turning hard. “If it were me, I would have killed the bastard myself.”
It was a chilling reminder that she wasn’t as gentle as she looked.
Then she shrugged, and the viciousness disappeared as quickly as it appeared. “But who knows? Maybe Ella’s other special talent is premonition, and Gorchenco will still prove useful in some way?”
Even though Carol was back to her usual self, witnessing the sudden change in her made Lokan uneasy. The momentary hardness went against her core nature, and he had a feeling that if life had been gentler on her, she would have never developed that hard edge necessary for survival.