Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

with a fierce look.
    Cupping her waist and gripping her long hair, he bucked into her, roaring with pleasure as she moaned his name.
    Then they both gave themselves up to the beast within him.

FORTY

    What have I done?
    When Lucia woke, her eyes opened wide— with realization. She was lying in MacRieve’s arms, her back tucked into his chest, both of them naked.
    Ah, gods, he was still…
inside
her.
    He roused then and gave a self-satisfied exhalation. The sound was so utterly masculine, and grated on her like nails on slate.
    Job well done, conquest is complete, I came, I saw, I conquered her
.
    His mark on her neck burned….
    When he began hardening again, she stifled a cry and shrugged out of his grasp, disentangling her body from his.
Can’t handle this. Aching everywhere.
    Without a word, she rose, unsteadily sifting through the clothes she’d worn last night. All ruined when he’d ripped them from her.
    Once she found her pack, she dug for underwear, shorts, and a T-shirt. As she quickly dressed, she kept recalling that satisfied sound he’d made.
The conquest.
He’d gotten everything he’d wanted with her.
From
her.
    I’ve gotten
nothing
I wanted.
She couldn’t be here,had to get away from him, away from the bow that had been a part of her for centuries.
    She was no longer an Archer.
Do I feel different?
Dazed? Crazed?
    I feel… wrong.
    “Lousha?” MacRieve leapt up, snagging his jeans and stabbing his legs in them.
    After shouldering her backpack, she staggered toward the levees. The statues along the cobble walk glared down.
    MacRieve hurried after her, shoving the bow in front of her face. “You left this and your quiver, lass.”
    She wouldn’t look at it. At him. She couldn’t. He’d done this to her. Ruined her ability. Now with no means to finally destroy Cruach, Lucia would be expected to sacrifice herself, to appease that monster.
    Going back in that foul lair? Without an arrow trained on his heart? At the idea, Lucia couldn’t catch her breath.
I can’t do that! Even now that I have nothing else to offer…
    Her neck burned, the pain seething, a constant reminder of her sins.
Can’t catch my breath…
    “Uh, I’ll hold the bow for now.” He slung it over his shoulder. “Love, talk to me. Did I hurt you?” He scowled at himself. “O’ course I hurt you. But how badly?”
    She didn’t answer.
    “Where are you going?”
    “H-home.”
    He jogged in front of her. “What about the dieumort?” he asked, turning to walk backward. “Saving the world and all that? We’re so close.”
    They’d never been farther away! “Nïx sent me down here for an arrow. Because I’m… I
was
”—her breath hitched—“an archer. All that’s different now.” Lucia couldn’t even stop Cruach from rising with one of Skathi’s arrows. “I have another job to do.”
And I’ll grow to hate you for it.
“This is where we part ways, MacRieve.
You
go retrieve the dieumort.” Hell, maybe that was why Nïx had sent him down here. Maybe
he
was the one on the quest.
    “Lousha, it’s no’ over yet.”
    “You have no idea what the repercussions from last night will be. No idea what will be expected of me now!”
    “Nay, because you will no’ bluidy tell me!” He gripped her forearms in his fists. “Talk to me!”
    She gave herself up to her outrage, to her need to blame, both preferable to this wretched fear. Imitating his accent and low voice, she said, “Lousha, o’ course the cuff will work. That’s why I got it from those bluidy witches. I would never hurt ye!” Flinging herself away from him, she screamed, “You shouldn’t have come for me! You should’ve let me do what I needed to.”
    She can’t even look at me.
    Maybe this was one female who shouldn’t have given up her career for her man. There was nothing in her eyes but… bitterness? It was as if a piece of her had died.
    And he’d helped kill it.
    She was no longer a Skathian. Thousand-year-old vows had been broken last night, and as she’d clearly told him, she hadn’t been ready for it. She’d also warned him that she would
hate
him forever if he pressured her to go against her beliefs.
    When he reached for her again, she backed away. “In the beginning, I asked for one year, and you ignored my wishes, dismissed them so easily.”
    “I know I fucked up.” He scrubbed his palm over his face. “Gods know this is all my fault. But would it be so bad to be with me? You’ve seen what we can have