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  “We’ll take care of you, Cass,” Reysalor said, his eyes filling with pain as if he felt my torment.

  His words made me feel like I was more than just a tool to him.

  “We need to get her back to our suite and figure something out,” Lorcan said. “Let me carry her back.”

  “I’ll carry her,” Reysalor insisted.

  Reysalor carefully scooped me up into his arms, and the pain seemed to lessen a little in his embrace. My head lolled onto his arm.

  Reysalor tried to run as smoothly as he could, but it didn’t matter. Pain riddled me. I drew a few shaky breaths to gather strength.

  “You’re a fae, Reys,” I croaked. “I want you to change back to the panther.”

  I didn’t get an answer, because right after my protest, I passed out.

  When pain awoke me, I heard the voices before I could peel open my eyelids.

  “She’s burning up,” Reysalor said in a low voice. “If this keeps going, she won’t survive.”

  “She’ll need to drink my blood,” Lorcan said.

  No! I thought in horror.

  But I couldn’t object. I was still struggling to come back to the world, and my voice seemed to have left me.

  “She isn’t a human,” Reysalor said. “Can she take a vampire’s blood? We don’t know what she is. I’ve never met anyone like her.”

  “She’s one of a kind,” Lorcan said. “Jezebel’s blood revealed no heritage to me, not even her own. She isn’t any species I’m acquainted with, either. But I tasted potent old dragon blood in Jezebel.”

  “Dragons don’t exist anymore,” Reysalor said. “They all left with the Dragon God.”

  “Jezebel kept accusing Cass of being the spawn of Death,” Lorcan said uncertainly.

  “You mean there’s a chance our Cass is the daughter of Hades, the Death God?”

  My heart stuttered. Did Reysalor just call me his, theirs?

  “Jezebel is a loose cannon,” Reysalor continued. “Nothing she said can be proved.”

  “We have a lot of digging to do,” Lorcan said. “You’ve seen Cass carry dark fire, even though she hasn’t fully developed it yet. Hades also wields dark fire in the underworld.”

  “The demigod knows more about the gods than anyone,” Reysalor said. “He might have a counter spell for Cass, or something that can help her. My twin has set out to search for him, but I haven’t heard from Pyrder yet.”

  The dream I had with the four males swirled back to me. Reysalor’s twin and the demigod had suckled on my nipples. When my fascinated gaze had dipped to his massive manhood, the demigod’s honey-brown eyes had laughed at me.

  I fluttered my eyes open. “The demigod Alaric Desreaux?”

  Lorcan and Reysalor both leaned toward me, tension and anticipation etched on their handsome faces. My eyes flicked away from them for a second to take in where I was.

  They had set me down on the large couch in Lorcan’s sitting room.

  Lorcan and Reysalor were the only ones with me. They hadn’t even bothered to call the healers, because no healer could help me.

  I sensed many guards outside the door.

  “How do you know about Alaric?” Lorcan asked.

  Reysalor glanced at him in annoyance. “Cass baby, we’ll get the cure for you.” He brushed a kiss on my forehead, which made me feel better.

  “I dreamed about him,” I said. “He told me his name. He has sun-kissed skin and auburn hair. He smells good.”

  Lorcan and Reysalor traded a look. The vampire lord seemed to swallow a growl, and a dark light flashed through Reysalor’s turquoise eyes.

  “What did he do in your dream?” Reysalor asked, his voice velvety and enticing.

  I gave him a sly smile, which quickly morphed into a grimace as pain speared into me. “He was giving me a foot massage, and I approved of his good service.”

  Reysalor and Lorcan traded another perturbed look.

  “Not in a million years would Alaric give anyone a foot massage,” Lorcan declared.

  Reysalor ignored him. “Did you dream about anyone else, Cass baby?” he asked hopefully.

  The fire traveled along the runes bordering the pentagram on my skin again, and the symbol of three daggers in the center of the pentagram turned to phantom blades, stabbing and twisting into my abdomen.

  I howled.

  It would only stop after it finished the circle. The spell fire would give me a few minutes of interlude, then start again. I’d figured out its pattern, but there was nothing I could do about it.

  “One of us needs to find Alaric as soon as possible,” Lorcan muttered. “Since Pyrder hasn’t succeeded. it’s best if I go.”

  “I’ll guard Cass,” Reysalor said. “Be swift.”

  Lorcan nodded. “My guards are at your command.”

  Lorcan looked at me with longing before he stalked to the door. Then he ground to a halt and returned to me.

  “We still need to try this,” he said. “My blood is purer and superior to any other vampire’s. Even if it can’t get rid of the spells, it’ll give you energy to fight the pain.”

  “No!” I hissed through gritted teeth. “I don’t want to be like your kind.”

  “It takes a lot to turn,” Lorcan said roughly, though I heard the concern under his voice. “And I doubt any vampire can ever turn you.”

  “No!” I insisted, blowing out a breath to stop myself from screaming in pain. “I don’t want anyone’s blood, least of all yours. I’m not a blood whore.”

  “Cass baby,” Reysalor said. “What about letting Lorcan be your blood whore?”

  That was the worst idea I’d ever heard. Even Lorcan growled. But Reysalor ignored him. “The High Lord’s blood is the most potent among vampires. He doesn’t give it easily. I believe it’ll help you. He’s the first and only natural-born vampire.”

  I blinked. “Is that why he smells different from the rest?”

  Lorcan arched an eyebrow.

  “The other bloodsuckers smell like they have been made or turned,” I said. “They were altered, their original scent a shadow clinging to their unnatural essence. But Lorcan has a fresh, earthy scent, as if he’s part of nature.”

  Surprise warmed Lorcan’s face for a short moment.

  “Then you shouldn’t worry about my blood tainting you,” he said drily.

  His claws protruded and he sliced open his wrist. Blood gushed out in rivulets. He pressed his wrist to my mouth. “Drink,” he commanded.

  I pressed my lips together, but the asshole cupped my cheeks hard with his other hand, forcing my mouth to open. I couldn’t fight him. I glared at him with all the menace I could muster, and in his eyes, I saw the manic glint of my own irises reflecting back at me.

  The vampire would pay for this.

  “You’ll be fine, Cass baby,” Reysalor said. “Lorcan and I will never harm you. We can never harm you.”

  Baby, my ass! Silver-tongued devil!

  I cursed under my breath. Ever since Reysalor had shifted from beast to fae, I no longer trusted him. And this forcing me to take blood just made it worse.

  The first drop of Lorcan’s blood hit my tongue. It didn’t taste metallic, rustic, or rotten as I’d imagined it. It was rich, sweet, and smooth. It tasted like ancient wine with special spices—cinnamon and something else I couldn’t discern.

  My eyes widened as a stream of blood flowed down my throat, cooling the burning along the way. Then a shockwave of pure ecstasy pumped into my veins, washing over my agony.

  I closed my lips over Lorcan’s wrist and sucked hard, my tongue lapping over the cut.

  Lorcan’s gray eyes glowed silver, intense desire burning through them. The image of him burying his face between my thighs flashed before my heavy eyelids.

  The tender flesh between my thighs ached, and my pussy was slick with urgent need. I clenched my thighs to relieve the pulsing, but to no avail.

  Both Lorcan and Reysalor sniffed, their nostrils flaring, their eyes brightening
in lust. Lorcan clenched his teeth for control, his heart beating wildly.

  My arousal didn’t even embarrass me. Anything was better than feeling knifed without a break.

  I kept drinking, the pounding pleasure from Lorcan’s blood a pure energy. I’d never let him go. I could drain him dry.

  Lorcan pulled his wrist from my clinging lips, and I darted my tongue out to lap up any stray droplets on my lips.

  “That’s enough for now, Cass,” he said harshly, yet his masculine voice was full of heat. “Too much of my blood won’t do you good.”

  My chest rose and fell as I panted. I should have been ashamed at my weakness, but pleasure still pulsed through my veins.

  I’d vowed to never exchange blood with a vampire, and I’d just broken my vow by drinking from one, and not just from any vampire, but from the High Lord of Night, who ruled them all.

  My lips parted in shameful want, and I wondered if his blood glistened on my skin.

  Lorcan stared at me, his eyes hooded, burning with hunger and desire. He moved his thumb along the ridge of my bottom lip, and another kind of pleasure shot toward my heated core.

  Lorcan leaned over me, and I opened my mouth in anticipation of his kiss, but instead he brushed a kiss over my burning cheek.

  “I’ll return for you,” he said, and in a flash he was gone.

  11

  I woke up nestled against a warm body in the middle of the night, my head resting in the hollow of his broad shoulder, my hand splayed on his hard chest.

  The smell of the forest, of pure, powerful man enveloped me, giving me a sense of safety and satisfaction. Reysalor. He was naked from the waist up, his trousers hanging low on his pelvis.

  He murmured something in his sleep and pulled me closer to him.

  Had he held me like that the entire night? If he had, I wouldn’t complain. My skin craved touch and connection. No one had ever held me like that. I sighed contentedly and licked my lips, reminded of the taste of Lorcan’s blood.

  Lorcan’s blood had neutralized the spell fire. The pain was merely a dull echo now. The cursed runes on my skin had gone from leaping fire to ash-colored marks. But my power was still bound.

  Without it I felt vulnerable. I didn’t like depending on anyone, not even Reysalor. And I had no trust in Lorcan’s guards. Jade had done nothing to help me when Jezebel attacked me.

  Reysalor had told me before I fell to slumber that Jade had fled. Lorcan’s vampires were still hunting her. The High Lord of Night didn’t take any form of betrayal lightly. Even I shuddered for Jade’s fate.

  Dario and Jezebel were both locked in the dungeon under heavy guard, awaiting Lorcan’s verdict upon his return.

  “All those who want to hurt you have been kept away,” Reysalor had promised. “I won’t let anyone touch you again.”

  I inched closer to him, my legs pressing against the hard muscles of his thigh, and basked in his body heat. His touch was like a healing balm. Strangely, both Lorcan and Reysalor were like soothing medicine while my own mother felt like a burning poison.

  Dreamless sleep took me to its sweet nest with Reysalor beside me.

  I woke up again to knuckles brushing my cheek fondly. My lashes fluttered as I stared up at a pair of turquoise eyes that sparkled with laughter.

  His touch was so pleasurable I never wanted it to end. However, I had an attitude to maintain and I didn’t want to lose it. I wouldn’t be Cass Saélihn without my power and attitude. And now I was only half of what I was, caged by the spells seared into my flesh.

  I let his touch linger a few more seconds before I swatted at his hand.

  “What are you doing on my bed, Reysalor?” I demanded.

  “Sleeping,” he said with a smile. “You’re soft and warm and you smell good.”

  “You need to get out of my bed,” I said.

  I didn’t want him to, but I had to be a badass so no one would take advantage of me. People had a habit of taking a mile if you gave them an inch.

  “I will, later,” he said. “I like being in bed with you.”

  My heart fluttered at his confession.

  “Now that you aren’t a panther anymore, we need to establish rules and boundaries,” I said, though I wasn’t certain if I wanted a barrier between us.

  I huffed in displeasure as I remembered that he’d hidden his true form from me. He’d almost made a fool out of me.

  “I’m still a panther,” he said. “I can shift back if you want me to.”

  “You can stay fae for now,” I said. His sexiness was getting to me.

  He grinned.

  “Even in your panther form, there are still rules,” I emphasized.

  I wouldn’t let him charm me out of my principles and integrity.

  A smile ghosted his sensual lips. How it would feel to have those lips on my skin, tracing hot, sensual kisses, slowly all the way—?

  I swallowed.

  Quit going there.

  He would smell my arousal if I didn’t rid my mind of that image.

  “Cass baby,” he purred. “But you hate rules.”

  “Not my own rules.”

  “You’ll have to list all of them on a piece of paper, so I don’t make mistakes.”

  I sneered. Like I had time to do that.

  “Now, you’ll come clean and explain to me who the heck you are,” I said. “And don’t bother lying. I can tell it a mile away and I don’t take kindly to it.”

  He sighed. “I haven’t really lied to you. I told you I was more than a beast when we first talked, mind to mind. There was a reason I kept my panther form when I first came to the vampire court. Vampires don’t like outsiders. They’re a paranoid lot and there’s no love lost between their race and mine. We’ve been fighting for dominance in the realm for as long as I remember.”

  I didn’t blame him for not getting along with the bloodsuckers. I’d hated vampires since I was young. I’d despised my mother for being a vampire’s whore more than anything. Yet I couldn’t explain why I was so drawn toward Lorcan. My body reacted to his presence as strongly as it did to Reysalor.

  Whenever they trained a heated look in my direction, the apex between my thighs immediately turned hot and slick.

  I narrowed my eyes. “Is your name even Reysalor?”

  “Everyone knows me as Reysalor Iliathorr, but only a handful of people know my full name.”

  “Does Lorcan know your full name?”

  “He should be the last ones—he and the demigod—to know my true full name.”

  So, he and Lorcan and the demigod were actually rivals. And I’d dreamed all four of them shared a bed with me.

  I peeked into his beautiful blue eyes. Who had the privilege of knowing this man’s deepest secret?

  “Who are those handful of people?” I demanded.

  “My parents and my twin.” His eyes flashed with a challenge, as if he wanted me to ask him his full name.

  “Why is your full name such a secret? I don’t see why it’s such a big deal!”

  “Oh, it’s a big deal,” he smirked. “Those who know a fae’s full name hold power over him. I have a lot to teach you about this world and the mortal world. I don’t intend for anyone to take advantage of you.”

  “What if you take advantage of me?”

  He flicked my nose. “Cass baby, I’d never take advantage of you.” The way he rolled my name on his tongue made my toes curl.

  He pulled me closer to him, my breasts against his hard chest. Thankfully, I wasn’t naked, though I wouldn’t mind being naked with him at all. My face flamed at a naughty thought.

  I was clad in only a sports bra and shorts. Reysalor must have wanted to make sure he could check the runes on my belly when he’d chosen this outfit for me.

  I pulled away from him. “Who dressed me?”

  “I did,” he said.

  I glared at him. “How dare you?”

  “You were too exhausted to stay conscious, and your gown was in shreds.”

&nbs
p; I scoffed. “You could have asked the servant girls to dress me.”

  “Not a chance. I don’t trust anyone. And I don’t want anyone else touching you.” He had the audacity to flash me a grin. “It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before. If you think it’s unfair, I can show you my nudity.”

  His hands moved to the waistline of his trousers, ready to pull them off.

  “Stop!” I called.

  “Why?” He looked at me with confusion. “I thought you wanted to get even.”

  “Forget about it,” I said with exasperation.

  Reysalor was the most incorrigible being I’d ever met. Lorcan was seriously annoying, too.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, his big blue eyes gazing at me.

  “I’m certain,” I bit out. “Anyway, you need to tell me more about your background—who you really are and where you come from. Omit nothing. I’m not going to share a bed with anyone I barely know anything about.”

  “So you’ll share a bed with me if I tell you everything?”

  “It’s my ass on the line! I might have a lot of unknown enemies.”

  His face suddenly was devoid of all playfulness. “Is the pain all gone, Cass?”

  My irritation shifted inside me. Reysalor had only been trying to distract me from my pain.

  “It’s still there, but it’s dull and throbbing now, not the sharp burn like before,” I said. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  He rolled me over, examining the runes on my belly, then carefully ran his fingers over them. I shivered, but not because of the pain. His touch cooled my skin and heated it at the same time.

  “We’ll remove the spells,” he said. “When Lorcan and the others return, we’ll allow no nastiness to mar your perfect skin.”

  “Who are the others?”

  “Alaric and Pyrder, my twin.”

  Four men. Just like in my dream.

  What did that mean? Would I share a bed with all four of them? Would I have a relationship with all of them? Just one was enough to give me a headache. No, not really. Reysalor was sweet. Lorcan wasn’t sweet, but he had his merits.

  As I thought of him, my heart clenched at his absence. I shook my head at the longing.

  “So this Alaric is good with spells?” I asked.