Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

replaced by dread. Lachlain’s pale-haired little mate would not last the week.
    If she succumbed, Lachlain would be lost all over again. Garreth’s voice grew deadly.
“Get her well.”
    “We’ve tried everything!”
    “Why will she no’ drink? Aye, Valkyrie, I hear your whispers. I know what she is. What I doona know is how she is my brother’s mate.” A vampire, a blood drinker. He gazed at Lucia. Her expression was inscrutable.
    Annika answered, “Emma will never be a ‘mate’ to one of you!”
    But ’twas done. A male marked his woman to keep other males away, to brand her as his. Yet since the bite was done in the throes of taking her for the first time, it could also be an indication of how much he wanted his female. Any doubt that Lachlain wanted Emma for his own vanished with one look at her neck.
    Lachlain had marked
the ever-living hell
out of her. Vampire or not, he desired this female desperately.
    Any thoughts of escaping vanished as well. Garreth knew he had to remain here. This was where Lachlainwould be. Just a matter of time. “It has been done,” he grated. “I assure you.”
    Annika struck him.
    He gave her a killing look. “He’s marked her,” Garreth bit out. “He’ll be coming for her. I’m just surprised he’s no’ here already.”
    Annika raised her hand again, but Emma had awakened and murmured, “Annika, don’t….”
    “Force blood down her throat,” Garreth said.
    “You think we have not tried that? She can’t keep it down.”
    “Try other blood, then.” Though being bitten by a vampire was considered deeply shameful by Lykae, Garreth said, “Take
mine
!”
    “Why do you care?”
    “Because that’s my queen, and I’ll die for her.”
    “Now do you believe me?” Lucia asked in a deadened tone. Hours after MacRieve’s confrontation with Annika, she was sitting outside his cage once more, watching him pacing within. “Your brother abducted her in France.”
    “Aye, but he would no’ harm the female like that!”
    “We know Emma was with him for weeks, and now she returns to us delirious, talking about fires and war and blood. She mumbles about Furie, our missing Valkyrie queen, and about Kristoff, the rebel vampire king. Lachlain captured Emma, and now she lies
dying
.”
    MacRieve shook his head hard. “It was no’ Lachlain.”
    “How do you know what he’s capable of?” Lucia asked. “You don’t know where he’s been for nearly twocenturies. He could’ve been trapped somewhere, tortured. He likely was—there are rumors that Demestriu has Furie chained to the bottom of the ocean, dooming her to die and regenerate back to life over and over. Maybe he did the same or worse to your brother.” She shuddered. “Lachlain was famous for his hatred of vampires, and Emma is one. You can’t speak for him.”
    “You’ll never convince me of this. I
know
my brother.”
    “Annika will exact retribution for this.”
    “And what will you try to do to him?” Garreth demanded. “Kill him?”
    “MacRieve, you can’t just abduct one of our own and not suffer repercussions. Your clan would do the exact same thing.”
    She was right. “Lachlain
will
be coming for her.”
    Lucia met his gaze, her face hard, another facet of her revealed. “We’re counting on it.”

FIFTEEN

    That night, Garreth shot upright on his cot. He sensed Lykae all around Val Hall. Were they planning to war with the Valkyrie to free him and retrieve their queen?
    Please, gods, let his brother be one among their number….
    “I’m taking Emma from this place tonight,”
Lachlain called from outside the manor.
    His brother’s voice. Garreth’s eyes slid shut, and he sagged with relief.
Just doona war with them, doona hurt Lousha.
    Annika called back, “Never would I give my daughter to a dog.”
    Good luck with that one, Lachlain.
    “Then trade me for my brother.”
    Wait, bargaining himself for Garreth? Oh, bluidy hell no. Brotherly irritation—so welcome to Garreth— flared. In Gaelic, he bellowed, “Goddamnit, Lachlain, I just got
into
this house!”
    “Or take both of us,” Lachlain amended. “Just let me talk to her.”
    More whispers from within. They’d be fools to turn down his offer—and the Valkyrie were no fools. Momentslater, Garreth heard louder footsteps upstairs and scented his brother inside. They were bringing him to the basement.
So I can see him for myself.
    Once they led Lachlain down the stairs and into the cell, Garreth stared at him as