by Alex Rivers
My heart skipped a beat as a towering, golden figure stepped from them—Roan, moving toward me, gripping his sword.
Slowly, I straightened, my grip on the hilt tightening, hands shaking.
“Roan,” I managed, feeling strangely compelled to slice his perfect face with my knife, although I had no idea why. “What are you doing here?” I gritted my teeth, trying to marshal my control.
Shadows slid through his eyes, but there was something else in them as well. Concern.
“Elrine has been taken.”
“Imprisoned? Did the High King capture her again?” We’d already broken her free once. I wasn’t sure we could manage it a second time.
“No.” His entire body was tense, his thickly corded muscles coiled tight, like a snake about to strike its prey. “I think it’s the fae who took your friend. She took Elrine. She left me a note, on the mirror. A note in blood.”
Bony fingers of dread tightened their grip on my heart. “What did the note say?”
“It said I should come here, and kill whoever I met if I wanted Elrine to live.”
No. I swallowed hard, the realization slamming me in the gut. I pointed my knife at him. “That’s what my note said as well.”
His eyes widened, and I could see he understood. The abductor wanted us to choose between our friends and each other.
His jaw tightened. “I told you that you were in over your head. You should have done what I said. You should have come to the council, and then left London for good. You can’t survive among the fae. You don’t belong here, and you can’t protect yourself.”
“Really? Because right now I feel like I could slaughter an entire army.” Blood lust was still blazing through my body, and I had to fight the urge to hurl my knife at Roan’s chest. Sweat slicked my palms. “I’m not thinking clearly. Something is wrong with me.”
A muscle twitched in Roan’s jaw. Without taking his green eyes off me, he pointed to the lake, where red water lilies floated on the surface. “You see those flowers? We’re by the Lake of Blood.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. “And what does that mean? It doesn’t look like blood.”
His fingers were tightening on his sword. “It’s not the lake itself. It’s the lilies. They provoke fae to lose ourselves to our baser instincts.”
My legs were shaking, my body desperate to attack. But there was no way in hell I’d ever win in a fight against Roan. I had seen him fight. Even with my gun, he could probably disarm me in a fraction of a second. And besides—even if I could kill Roan, I didn’t want to.
The abductor had been watching me, knowing that Roan had helped me get the bone from Grendel. And she’d put us in an impossible situation—having to choose between slaughtering each other, and keeping our closest friends alive. I snarled. I wasn’t going to let her control me this way. We had to find a way out of it that didn’t involve killing each other—assuming the Lake of Blood didn’t overpower us. But Roan smelled amazing, and I wanted to devour him…
No. I tried to pick through the angry fog of my thoughts to something clear and logical. I knew something about my tormentor. Something crucial…
I took a deep breath. “She’s using mirror magic. To watch us.” I didn’t see any mirrors around us, but the lake was perfectly still beneath the lilies. It would make the perfect reflection. Battle fury ripped through my nerve endings, and my teeth began to chatter. “We can fake fighting.”
“And fake dying?” Roan asked.
“Well, maybe we lead the fight into the woods and…” A vision of carnage danced in my mind—my iron knife, plunging into Roan’s chest, my hand around his throat, his green eyes locked on mine as he took his last breath. I shook my head, clearing the thought. What was I talking about? “We could fake…”
“I can’t fake fighting,” Roan said. “Whoever has Elrine would know it wasn’t real.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I fight, I change. Like I said. You have no idea what we’re really like.”
I shuddered. Unveiling. I’d seen a flicker of his true form in the fae club—and it had been terrifying. “Can’t you just… change?”
“I can’t control it. And if I unveiled fully, I’d probably kill you.” His muscles were tense, knuckles white on his hilt, as if he were hanging on to his sanity. With what appeared to be a great deal of effort, he sheathed his sword.
Fiery rage blazed through my veins. The abductor had known that just telling us to fight wouldn’t be enough. She had to tilt the scales, pushing us to the edge of the precipice until she had a proper slaughter on her hands.
“I… think I know how to find Elrine and Scarlett,” I said slowly. “At least… I knew. I had a plan.”
“Good,” Roan said. “But there’s only one way out of this.” Unlike me, his voice wasn’t slow. It was sharp, angry. Underneath his controlled demeanor, he was a bubbling volcano of rage, and it was now threatening to erupt.
“And what’s that?” What did the abductor want? To get rid of me? Or Roan? I felt my rage as well, simmering inside me. That bitch… I wanted to rip her fucking heart out and bathe in her blood. I wanted to beat her fucking head in with her own bones.
Roan growled, his eyes glowing amber. He could sense my rage. And out here, by the Lake of Blood, it fed his own rage, with nothing to stop him. “We need to find this woman, and rip her organs from her body.” Steel laced his voice.
“Right.” Battle fury blazed through my system, and teeth chattered. “But I have no idea where she is.” I clenched my teeth to stop their frantic chattering. “We can’t let her win. Elrine needs you, Roan, and we have to focus.”
A chill rippled through the air, and Roan’s eyes flared with gold. My free hand crept into my bag, fingers brushing against my gun. Somehow, I knew that if I turned my back to him, he’d unveil immediately.
“We need to get out of here.” I took a step back from him.
Ivory antlers appeared on the top of his head, and my stomach swooped as he prowled closer. His arms, thickly corded with muscle, tensed. “You can’t run from a hunter, Cassandra. Don’t turn your back to me. As soon as you run, you look like prey. And don’t ever pull an iron weapon on me, because you will die. I am Death, and I will destroy you.”
“Roan!” I shouted. “Snap out of it!”
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. After a moment, he opened his eyes, and they were green once more.
I let out a breath of relief, trying to think clearly through the carnage in my own mind. “We don’t want either of our friends to die.” Anger blazed, igniting my body. “We need to find the monster who is doing this, and rip her rotten spine—”
I stopped mid-sentence, staring at the lake. Under the clear, blue sky, it shimmered, and an image began to form on its surface. The abductor was showing us something, and the immensity of it took my breath away. I could never have manipulated such an enormous reflection, and her power sent a shiver of fear up my spine.
“Roan. We have to go. I don’t want to… Roan?”
He was staring at the lake, his eyes wide. The air had thinned. I followed his gaze, staring at the image on the lake. It was a pair of coppery butterfly wings, severed at the base. They lay in the dirt, ripped and bloodied. Jagged, gory bones protruded from them—like severed finger bones. No… they weren’t butterfly wings. They were wings ripped from a fae’s back. Why was she showing us this? The image shimmered again, showing a knife, soaked in blood. It had a dark, rusted tone; I thought it might be iron.
“Roan,” I said, my voice shaking.
He turned to stare at me, and fear ripped through my skull. He glared at me with eyes the color of fiery lava, his savage tattoos glowing metallic copper. White-gold hair draped over his shoulders, and his antlers shone in the sunlight. His fingertips ended in white claws, and his ears had lengthened into points. He snarled, his canines lengthening. Shadows seemed to thicken around him, making my stomach clench. He had completely unveiled—a pure
predator, with me as his target. At the sight of his raw, animalistic fury, terror slammed into me, so powerful I no longer knew my name.
Chapter 24
Run, my mind screamed. Vaguely, I remembered telling me not to turn my back to him, that it would provoke his hunter’s instincts. But I wasn’t in control anymore. The ancient part of my brain had taken the helm, and it was spurring me on through the forest, propelling me away from him. My blood roared in my ears, the world seeming to tilt as I ran from him, my feet rushing over the undergrowth. As I sprinted, my body shook with an overwhelming mixture of fury and terror. My own panic increased my speed, and the wind whipped over my skin, tearing at my hair. I ran, fast as a hurricane gale. But Roan was fast too, and I could hear his footfalls moving behind me, snapping twigs, pounding the earth.
I needed to get away from the Lake of Blood, but I had no idea where I was going. I was being hunted. Panicking, I moved blindly through the oaks, desperate to save my own life.
A voice in the hollows of my mind whispered, Time to fight. Kill. I shoved my hand in my bag, snatching the gun, and I whirled to face my attacker. In a blur of white and copper, he lunged for me. Before I could get my finger on the trigger, he tore the gun from my hand, hurling it away from me, deep into the woods.
It arced through the air, far out of my grasp. I looked frantically around me, realizing where we were for the first time. The Lake. Somehow, it had pulled me back to its shores, the blood lilies luring me back like a savage siren song.
Roan’s sword was still sheathed, but that did little to comfort me. He could kill me with his bare hands.
Afternoon light glinted off his pale horns, his lethal claws. His fiery eyes burned into me, ancient and demonic, demanding submission. I struggled to hold his gaze, compelled by an instinctual force to lower my eyes. And yet, somehow, I knew that if I did, he’d go in for the kill.
A chilly breeze rushed over the Lake of Blood, and strands of platinum whipped around his face in ghostly wisps. He took a step closer, growling, his eyes locked on me. My stomach swooped, and I took a step back from, completely helpless without the gun.
“Iron,” he snarled. “You brought iron.”
The air thinned. He hated iron. It had enraged him, and something about that vision—the iron sword covered in blood, the severed wings—those images had made him snap. They’d broken something inside him.
I stumbled back, away from him, my back slamming into a tree. Now, pure terror had burned away my battle fury, and I only wanted to survive.
Roan lunged for me, and the next thing I knew, his hand was around my throat. He wasn’t squeezing—yet—but his enormous hand encircled my neck, pinning me in place, taking complete control. His other hand clamped around my hips, his claws nearly piercing my flesh through my skirt.
For just a moment, I tried to move away from him, but his fingers tightened on my hip, claws pressing against my soft flesh. His low growl slid through my bones—a rebuke. He was in control here. Behind those fiery eyes, I could see nothing human, nothing gentle.
He pressed his body closer to mine, his enormous hand encircling my throat, and my blood roared.
I still had the knife in my bag. Slowly, my hand crept toward the blade, and I heard the gleeful whispering of the warped iron. If I could just get it out without him realizing, I might be able to fend him off. I slipped my hand into my bag, feeling the cool hilt under my fingertips, calling to me. Kill, it whispered through the fog of my mind. Kill the fae monster.
Yes. My own thoughts responded. It’s time for him to die.
I gripped the hilt, but as I did, Roan’s hand darted from my neck, clamping around my wrist. In the next second, I felt his canines threatening to puncture my skin— a threat. Then, for just a moment, a sharp pain seared my neck. At the same time, he slammed my wrist against the trunk and a jolt of pain shot through my arm.
He pulled his mouth from my throat. “More iron,” he snarled, pinning me to the tree. “I told you. Someone would get killed.” Venom laced his voice, and something else, too—a deep sense of betrayal. “You should never have come here.”
Maybe Roan had been right. I was in way over my head, and I didn’t understand the fae at all.
Unveiled, Roan was terrifying. And yet, something in his expression was changing. His eyes still blazed with fire, but his lips parted slightly, sensually. His strange beauty mesmerized me—the blazing copper tattoos that snaked over his muscled body, and shimmering locks of pale hair, like an ancient god. Slowly, his fiery gaze raked up and down my body, as if he were memorizing every curve.
Heat from his body warmed mine, and I could no longer remember why we were here in this forest. I inhaled, breathing in his delicious, musky scent. Suddenly, I had the strongest desire to kiss his skin, to taste the salt with my tongue. Now, another primal desire was caressing my ribs with licks of fire, and I could remember nothing except for the intensely carnal appeal of the man staring down at me. Why were we here? Roan’s body called to me, a primal song I couldn’t ignore.
“Roan,” I said softly.
His grip softened on me, just a little. He moved in closer, and with the feel of his body pressed against mine, liquid heat pooled in my belly. He inhaled, and another low growl emerged from his throat, this one softer, nearly inaudible. Around me, the air seemed to thicken, growing heavier and fuller, and Roan’s hard body glowed with a pale amber light, so staggeringly beautiful, and strangely erotic. Suddenly, my body felt constricted in my clothing, my breasts swelling against the fabric. A wave of desire washed over me. My body was too hot in these clothes, burning up.
I had the strongest desire to see what Roan would do if I stripped off completely right now, wanted to tear my clothes of and stand naked before him. Except, one of my hands was still pinned.
Instead, I craned my neck to look up at him; I licked my lips, a silent invitation. I wanted his powerful hands all over me, needed to feel him possessing me. He stared at me, his eyes a deep gold, flecked with ruddy brown.
With my free hand, I reached for him, my fingers brushing over his waist. Instantly, I felt him respond. His grip still possessive on my body, he moved his hand from my waist down to my thigh, searing me with his touch. His fiery eyes locked on my face, searching. Slowly, his fingers slid up my skirt, sliding over my bare skin. Higher, higher… Then, in one swift movement, he ripped through my panties with his claws, as if he’d intuited my desperation to strip off my clothes. As the forest air caressed my skin, I felt completely naked before him—a sensation that sent a hot thrill swooping through my belly. His gaze scalded me.
My breath heaved, and he moved his hand to the top of my shirt. Yes, Roan. My eyes implored him to strip me bare. I hardly felt him rake a claw down the front of my body, his movements precise and controlled. He slashed through my shirt and my bra, cutting through the fabric. Slowly, he trailed his carnal gaze over my peaked breasts, as if examining his prize.
He moved his hand to my thigh, his claws retracting. Electricity rushed over my skin where his fingertips curled around the inside of my thighs, and I groaned. I wanted his hand higher.
He leaned down, kissing my neck—exploring, tasting, caressing the place where his teeth had been. My breath hitched in my throat. As he kissed my neck, he slid one knee between mine, forcing my legs further apart, and my pulse raced. I slipped my free hand under his shirt, feeling his powerful back, his muscles flexing as my fingers stroked his skin. I rocked my hips into him again, and he grazed his teeth against my neck, warning me to stay just where I was, that he was in control.
Slowly, his grip loosened on my wrist, and his hand brushed down my arm, his tongue flicking against my throat. Heat claimed my mind, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. My back arched, my nipples grazing against his chest, and I let out a low moan. At the sound, he growled, and moved his hand further up my skirt, cupping my bare ass. My breath sped up, and molten heat pooled in my core.
I thrust my fingers into his pale hair, and
pulled his mouth to mine. He kissed me hard, his lips crushing mine, fingers possessive. I opened my lips, letting my tongue brush against his. Moaning, I pressed my body against his, and his hand slid further up. At the feel of his hand between my thighs, I lost all sense of control. Writhing against him, I threw back my head, gasping—
But when I did, I saw something moving in the corner of my vision—white light dancing over the Lake of Blood.
Reality slammed me in the skull, and I froze.
“Roan,” I breathed, trying to think clearly through the haze of desire.
His body tensed, went still, as if he were waking from a dream.
“Roan,” I said. “The lake. It’s shimmering.”
He still seemed dazed, his gaze lingering over my bare skin, his horns fading away, eyes returning to emerald green. He pressed his forehead against mine. Gently, he ran his fingers over the tattered edge of my tank top, frowning. “Cassandra.” There was an unspoken question in his voice, a trace of despair.
He seemed to be recovering.
“Are you with me, Roan?”
“I could have killed you.” He stared at my neck, where he’d bitten me, his brow furrowing. “It was the lilies, and that vision in the lake…”
“I’m fine.” I glanced at my tattered silk panties on the ground. “Though I can’t say the same for my clothes.”
With a final glance at my body, he stepped away from me. He pulled off his sword and scabbard, then pulled his black T-shirt over his head, showing off the savage tattoos that snaked over the muscled planes of his body. As I pulled off the remnants of my tank top and bra, he handed his T-shirt to me. “I’m sorry.”
I slipped his shirt over my head, smelling his delicious, oaky scent. “I’m fine,” I said again, though a deep fatigue began to burn through my body, making my legs shake.
I took a step closer to the lake. Slowly, the blood lilies were closing their petals, but beneath them, an image was crystalizing on the lake’s serene surface. When I saw the vision stretched over the lake’s surface, my knees buckled. Roan slipped an arm around me to steady me.
