by Erin Hayes
She had tried to ignore the voice in the dark, having heard various voices throughout her life. This one wouldn’t shut up, and grated on her nerves as she curled into a ball and looked up at the moon above.
Bored, and lonely, Allyn finally replied to the curious entity that shared her space.
“Go on. Tell me the secret.”
“Are you sure you’re ready?”
Allyn stared at the moon, wishing she could fly far far away.
“I am.”
“Once upon a time, there was a girl.”
“I know this story already,” Allyn said. If there was ever a once upon a time tale, Allyn had read it. Back at home, she had rows of shelves that her father made with books from all over the world.
“You do not. This story has never been told.”
Rolling her eyes, she sighed and pressed her cheek to the cool dirt. “Go on then. Tell me this new story.”
“The girl looked just like you. And she had her bones eaten by a wolf.”
Allyn sat up, her eyes darting around her. The pounding of her heart within her chest filled her ears as she strained to catch a glimpse of what spoke to her. “Who are you?”
Laughter came from all around her and Allyn covered her ears.
“No more stories,” Allyn shouted. “Go away!”
The laughter only got louder, and louder.
Allyn shot to her feet, her cheeks reddened, her eyes narrowed. She held her hands out in the shape of a triangle. Red bands escaping her palms like blood.
“LEAVE!” Her voice boomed throughout the well. The ground and walls shook, and she gritted her teeth as the bands of power swirled around her like a tornado of blood.
The laughter ceased, and Allyn was left in peace.
Exhausted, she crumbled into a ball on the floor and cried into the night. When the sun rose that next morning, she woke up to red writing all over the stone walls.
She’d never forget the three phrases that she read and traced with her fingers.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry.
I just had to warn you.
Tame the wolf.
Tame the wolf.
TAME THE WOLF.
Chapter Twenty-One
TAME THE WOLF.
Those three words kept replaying inside Allyn’s head as she waited in silence for her eyes to adjust to the darkness of Baran Castle’s dungeon. She couldn’t remember what was real and what was a dream anymore. So, she was left numb, the sting of Lennox’s fingers on her flesh all she could feel.
Prince Lennox had shoved her in there and locked her in. Though Calinda had brought her a blanket and warm tea, she was still in a state of shock.
Conall.
Wrapped in the blanket, Allyn curled in the corner of the ancient cell, her eyes fixed on the large iron door just outside her bars.
Trying to escape was the best thing she could have done. If she hadn’t, she might not have discovered the real curse of the Baran clan. It all made sense as she pieced together the puzzle. Even when she stayed at the palace as a child that fateful weekend, she’d been curious to see Lennox, who was always away.
Lennox and Conall had never been spotted in the same place at the same time. Ever.
She sighed.
Was it worth dealing with Lennox to get to Conall? One weekend as children and a few nights as an adult was a stretch for building a real connection. But, what she felt had been real—more real than anything she’d felt with another man.
She pounded her fist into the stone floor. Just when she thought she was finally getting some luck, this craziness had to enter her life and make it that much more difficult and confusing.
But, that brief moment seeing Conall had rocked her to her core. Conall had emerged to save her. Wasn’t that proof enough?
She could only imagine the suffering he must have gone through to share a body with Lennox, his darker side. She shook her head. How did she even know which of them was the real prince?
She covered her mouth. Dear Lord. It was her mission to find out.
So many questions filled her mind as she pulled her blanket closer and laid her head down. Exhaustion didn’t begin to describe her level of fatigue. Her head lolled to the side as a ghost of a guard walked past her cell.
Dressed in ancient armor, he carried a pike that kept dragging along the stone floor.
Allyn groaned and turned the other way. Any other girl would have cowered in fear at the hollow look in the ghosts eyes. All Allyn could think of was how she was ever going to get some sleep with that annoying sound?
The dungeon door opened, a creaking sound alerting Allyn. She sat up and looked over her shoulder.
Lennox stepped through the door, dressed in a plain gray long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. His hair was wet and slicked back. He carried a candle with him, shedding soft light on the space. He paced before her cell in silence as her eyes followed him.
“So,” he said, pausing before the bars. He knelt down and folded his hands while nodding his head. “You’re the first person to learn the truth of my curse. I admit, I never thought you’d figure it out. I’d hoped to learn your secrets first.”
“What do you want to know, Lennox?”
The softness of her voice must have caught him off guard. Her willingness to open up to him caused him to pause. He rubbed his chin as if in thought.
“What are you?”
Allyn shook her head. “I wish I knew.”
He continued pacing the room. “You’re not just any witch, are you?”
“I don’t think so. The nuns say that I’m cursed.”
“Fuck off. You don’t know anything about curses.”
Allyn shrugged off her blanket and showed him her hands. The candle flickered as she showed him what coursed through her veins. Red bands slowly seeped from her palms, dancing like the light of the candle. The power glowed, illuminating her face and the green of her eyes.
“Tell me what this is then. Why do I hear voices in the dark?” She scratched her skin, tears pooling in her eyes and he seemed awestruck by what he saw before him. “Why can’t I scratch the incessant itch within? Tell me, Lennox. Are we that different?”
She watched him swallow and lick his lips. A flicker of fear crossed his expression and she slumped to the ground, the blood-colored power soaking back into her skin.
“What am I going to do with you now?”
Allyn crawled to him, her face an inch from the bars as she peered at him from the darkness.
“Tell me where my father is,” she whispered.
Lennox moved closer, his face free of any emotion. “No.”
She wiped her eyes. “I only asked as a courtesy. You can’t keep me here. And, I will find him.”
He thumped the bars with his fingers. “You’re the one behind bars, love.”
Allyn grabbed the bars and they turned red. The once cool iron heated until steam emitted from its surface. Her lips parted as all of her energy rushed forth from her palms until the bars melted and dissipated like ash.
Lennox shot to his feet. “Clever girl.”
“You can’t keep me here against my will,” she said.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, because you don’t have to. I will stay willingly, but you must tell me where my father is.”
He blinked. “You’ll stay?”
Allyn slowly came to her feet and nodded. “Just promise not to harm my father, and I promise to stay.”
Her dress was still wet and clung to her body. As his eyes looked her over, she stepped over the boundary of her cell and the rest of the dungeon. She took Lennox’s face into her hands and he tensed at her touch. For the first time, it was him that was afraid to look at her in the eye. She wondered when was the last time he’d felt a tender touch.
“You better not be putting a spell on me.”
She shook her head. “No,” she said and leaned up to kiss him on the lips. The same electricity she’d felt with Conall was there, and she bre
athed him in, her tongue entering his mouth and gliding along his. “I’m simply showing you who really is in charge.”
His eyes widened as she pushed him against the wall and wrapped her arms around his neck. Lennox held her by the waist, and she could tell he was conflicted by desire and the impulse to run from her. Instead of running, he kissed her back, greedily. With a firm hold of her hair, he tilted her head back and kissed her throat. His other hand lifted her damp dress up to her waist and he gripped her by her buttocks, pressing her pelvis to his.
Allyn’s mind was clouded by images of his naked body on top of her. She’d exposed herself to this man in a way she’d never done before. But, it was too soon. Not like this—not in a dark and damp dungeon.
There were still truths to be told, and she couldn’t let him win her body too easily.
When she pulled away, he gave her a wary gaze. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked her, breathless, his icy-blue eyes lingering on her heaving bosom.
Her brows furrowed as it came to her. Why she was there. She licked her lips. She put her hands on his cheeks. “I think I’m here to cure you.”
His hands shot to hers and he wrapped his fingers around her wrists. “I don’t need to be cured.”
Though he spoke those words, his eyes softened to her as she pressed her cheek to his chest and listened to how his heartbeat quickened.
“You can’t hide the truth from me,” Allyn said. “I can read what’s written on your heart. And your heart wants me as much as I want you.”
He shoved her away. “Enough. You know nothing about me.”
“I know why you can’t bring yourself to kill me.”
From the way his chest heaved, and his cheeks flushed, she knew she was right.
She kept her distance as he glared at her. Despite his resistance, Allyn knew what she had to do.
Tame the beast.
She had to make both sides of the prince fall for her.
Allyn was up for the challenge.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“GET OUT OF my sight,” Lennox said, opening the door to the dungeon. He couldn’t let her see him that way. Vulnerable and completely caught off guard.
Why did Conall have to ruin things by showing his face?
Allyn stood there for a moment, watching him. He wanted to grab her and rip off her already tattered dress. Visions of taking her on the grimy floor of the dungeon heated him from the inside. He licked his lips, panting at the very scent of her. A glance over his shoulder revealed that she still stood there, not budging.
As much as he wanted to fuck her right there, she was too pretty and special to be ravished on the floor.
Allyn nodded. “Whatever you say.”
She walked past him, hand brushing his as she passed by.
Lennox flinched. The desire was too strong. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back.
She gasped as he pressed her pelvis to his hardened manhood and kissed her.
She didn’t resist. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and submitted.
Lennox lifted her by her thighs and pressed her back against the cold dungeon wall. Her legs wrapped around his waist and he took cupped her butt, his tongue feasting on hers.
She tasted more delicious than he’d imagined. Her scent was intoxicating. His wolf senses were overwhelmed by it. All he heard was the sound of both of their hearts.
He wrapped his hand around her throat and looked into her eyes.
She licked her lips, unfazed by his sudden action.
Lennox nibbled her ear. “Do you think you can handle me?”
The sound of her heart quickening made him harden even more.
He pressed his chest to hers to keep her up and searched under her dress’ skirt for her panties. He pulled them aside and dipped his fingers into her wet core, relishing in how she sucked in a breath.
“Answer me, Allyn. Or I’ll stop.” He stroked her sweet spot and licked her clavicle.
She clutched his shoulders. “Yes.”
Hearing that word sent him into action. Dungeon or not, he would have her right now.
He lifted her into his arms and swung her around.
Lowering her to the floor, his eyes were fixed on hers.
Unbuttoning his pants seemed to take too long. How long had he waited for this moment? Longer than she knew.
After he took off his pants, he pulled his vest and shirt off and lifted Allyn’s skirts for a look at her slender, white thighs. Sliding her panties off had her biting her lip in anticipation. Lennox was not one to disappoint.
He parted her legs and lowered himself in between them.
“Mind if I taste?”
He took her clit in between his teeth and licked it with the tip of his tongue. She grabbed his hair and let out the most exquisite sounding moan he’d ever heard.
His fingers worked inside of her, stirring her wet core while his tongue encircled her nub. Allyn clutched at his hair so tightly that he knew she was close to climax.
Not yet.
Lennox lifted himself from between her legs, satisfied that she was suitably warmed up for him, and slid inside.
She gasped and arched her back as he went deeper until their pelvises were pressed to one another. He pulled grabbed her thighs and pulled her closer.
The pleasure was too much. He wanted to close his eyes and savor each thrust, but he couldn’t look away from her and how her lips were parted in euphoria.
The witch he’d hunted for years was his. That thought excited him. The thought that she also belonged to Conall sobered him.
He growled, willing it away.
She was his.
Lennox picked up speed and held her legs up to his shoulder, testing her flexibility as he scraped her G-spot with expert precision.
Like music, she cried out and he closed his eyes, a satisfied grin on his lips.
Pulling her onto his lap, he drove her mad as he lifted her bottom up and down onto his shaft until he joined her in a climax that had him clutching her body to his.
The ringing in his ears blared too loudly, blocking out everything.
Even the sound of Conall’s voice inside his head.
Chapter Twenty-Three
ALLYN HELD ONTO Lennox as she worked at controlling her breaths. She was covered in a sheen of sweat, but her body sang with bliss.
The fact that she’d just had sex with Lennox both frightened and excited her.
She kept reminding herself that he and Conall were the same person. This was all to break the curse.
If that was the case, why did she feel dirty all of a sudden?
She licked her lips and swallowed.
“Lennox?”
“Yeah?” He hugged her to him without any indicator that he would let her go anytime soon.
“What now?”
He pulled back until they were face to face. He lifted a brow.
“What do you mean?”
Allyn ran her hand through his hair.
“Are you going to let my father go now?”
His jaw tightened. “That’s what you want to know?”
She nodded.
He stood and set her down on the floor.
Stark naked, he showed not a shred of bashfulness as he stood before her.
“I’ll set him free. In time,” Lennox said and collected his clothes. He headed out the door and paused. “The castle is yours. Except for the top floor.” He cleared his throat, clearly avoiding her eyes. “I’ll call for you if I need you.”
Allyn covered her chest and watched him go. Had her question hurt him somehow?
Why shouldn’t she ask about her father?
What had she done if not tamed the beast? Why was he still the same?
Allyn left the dungeon, her mind racing. Was this just another win for Lennox?
She sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought.
Chapter Twenty-Four
TWO WEEKS PASSED without a word from Lennox,
and Allyn explored the palace freely.
All except for the top floor as Lennox warned.
Each day that passed, she wished she would catch a glimpse of the prince. And each day she was disappointed. How could they have that intimate moment just to become strangers once again? It churned her stomach to be in this position.
All alone, with the ghosts of the castle watching her, Allyn felt that for the first time since she’d been in the castle, she walked through the halls as if she owned the place. She was there on her terms. Even though she’d searched everywhere for a trace of her father, she’d come up with nothing.
“Would you like supper brought up to your room, miss?” Calinda asked.
She ran her hand along the walls, finally allowing herself to feel the history of the castle. “I’m not very hungry. But, thank you, Calinda.”
She absorbed the energy of the castle, breathing it in. It was a lot to take in. Centuries of love, loss, and sorrow flooded her senses, but she allowed it to. She embraced it. If she was going to break the curse and free Conall, she needed all of the information she could get.
She paused in the middle of the hallway as Maisie walked by, her eyes fixed on Allyn. She wore an old-fashioned purple smock, her short hair dull and lifeless, her face a pasty white.
“Hello, miss,” Maisie said, smiling.
Allyn spun around, her eyes wide as saucers. That voice.
Calinda paused as well. “Something wrong, miss?”
Allyn covered her mouth as she watched Maisie walk away.
It can’t be.
She turned back to Calinda and shook her head. “I’m fine,” she said. “I just thought her voice sounded familiar.
Calinda bowed. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Nodding, Allyn’s mind raced. “Just one more thing. Can any of the ghosts of the castle leave?”
As if confused by the question, Calinda’s brows furrowed. “No. Part of the curse is that we are bound to the castle and the grounds.”
“Is Maisie your daughter?”
“What kind of question is that?”
Allyn shrugged, her eyes fixed on the little ghost as she vanished into the darkness at the other end of the hall. “Just curious.”
