Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

loud, and to see his clan treating me like one of their own, like their
princess
… it was just too much.”
    Before, as long as it hadn’t been acknowledged, she could pretend it wasn’t so.
    Now, the truth sunk in, her suspicions were confirmed, his lie revealed.
    “He won’t leave you alone. Especially not until he’s claimed you,” Regin said.
    “I know.” Lykae simply didn’t give up. They were the living embodiment of obsession. Just like Lachlain with Emma, Garreth would never rest until he’d possessed Lucia completely.
    “And you can’t have sex. So what’re we going to do?”
    Since I also can’t seem to deny him…
“I’m going to get out of town.”
    “Where’re we headed?” Regin asked. When Lucia didn’t answer, she said, “Like I’m letting you go out into the world by yourself to let life kick you in the ass. We’re
both
getting our asses kicked or not at all! We’re a team, Bonnie and Bonnie, together forever.”
    Lucia’s lips quirked. No one could have a better friend than Regin. “We start the hunt for a dieumort.” She stood and turned back inside the compound, striding for Garreth’s quarters. “Pack a bag for me— I’ll be back in an hour. For now, I’m going to act out, demonstrate that some Valkyrie aren’t house-trained either.”
    “Ooh, break something for me!”
    Inside his rooms, Lucia kicked an expensive-looking lamp, sending it crashing to the floor. “Any other requests?”
    “Yeah, since matehood means you own fifty percent of all his swag, then bring me home any vinyl LPs you may come across, some weapons, and of course, anything shiny.”
    “On it.”
    “MacRieve’ll follow us.”
    Yes, but Lucia would protect herself, do whatever she had to do. She had no choice. “Then let the games begin.”
    Lachlain MacRieve and his brother stood outside on the grounds of Val Hall, drinking a couple of rounds of longnecks before Garreth’s imminent departure.
    “You sure you canna stay?” Lachlain was loath to see his brother go. He’d been so panicked about Emma thathe’d barely registered the time he’d spent jailed with Garreth.
    “I need to follow Lousha.”
    Unfortunately, Lucia the Huntress had disappeared. Lachlain had heard she’d “gone on vacay” with her “partner in crime” Regin. The new lingo of this time still stumped him, but he’d gleaned enough to know that Garreth had been right about his mate: Lucia was indeed a runner.
    “Aye, o’ course you must go after her. But maybe you could leave after my wedding?” Lachlain was to marry Emma tomorrow. Though the Lykae considered mate-hood eternal—marriage was a bit superfluous—the Valkyrie insisted on some kind of binding ceremony. Or as Annika had choked out, “Something a little more respectable—than a
bite
.”
    More important, my lass is excited about it.
In less than twenty-four hours, he’d take his sweet Emma as his wife. Those hours couldn’t pass soon enough for him.
    “I canna.” Garreth took a swig. “No’ unless you need me. To help you… acclimate.” His expression darkened.
    Though Garreth had been utterly accepting of Emma’s vampiric nature—even the fact that Lachlain himself fed her and relished doing so—he hadn’t taken the news of Lachlain’s decades-long imprisonment and torture well. And Lachlain had downplayed the worst of it.
    “No, I can manage,” he said. “Especially now with the vampire threat lessened.” His wee Emma had some-howslain Demestriu, and Lachlain himself had killed Ivo the Cruel.
    Garreth said, “Lessened but no’ gone.”
    Lothaire still lived. There was something about that vampire, something that tugged at Lachlain’s subconscious. A threat even greater than it appeared on the surface… “When you return, we’ll strategize what to do about the Enemy of Old.”
    “Aye,” Garreth agreed. “For now, you need to concentrate on your queen. And hup two with the bairns, old man. Tired of being your heir.”
    Lachlain drank deeply. “Doona hold your breath. You saw how delicate she is—will no’ relish the idea of getting a babe on her.”
    “Delicate?” Garreth raised his brows. “The rest of the Lore, and especially the Lykae, see her as a fierce warrior queen who slew the Horde king. And you still see her as delicate.”
    Lachlain scowled. “First impressions are lasting. In any case, doona be concerning yourself with this—you’ve enough on your plate. Do you know what spooked your female in the