"An act."

Probably. He'd told himself that very thing, but he couldn't seem to make it matter. Not then, not now. Frustrated with himself rather than Aeron, he backed down this time. He faced Lucien. "Why are they here?" he asked, composed but no less disbelieving.

Or rather, as composed as he was capable of being at the moment.

Lucien glanced at Aeron, who motioned to the hall with a tilt of his chin. Understanding, the warriors filed out. Each hummed with expectation. Lucien was the last to exit and was quick to close and lock the door.

Maddox peered at his friends, most projecting the same disbelief he felt. Nothing like this had ever happened before. None of them had ever brought a woman here, even Paris (that he knew of), and now there were almost as many females on the premises as warriors. It was surreal.

"Well?" he prompted.

Aeron explained how the Greeks had been overthrown by the t.i.tans, those leaders from thousands of years ago, and that these new sovereigns wanted-no, commanded-him to execute those four innocent women. Were he to resist, he would be driven mad with bloodl.u.s.t. Were he to ask to be released from the deed, he would be cursed as Maddox was cursed.

Maddox listened, stunned. Shock and dread washed through him, all but swimming laps in his bloodstream.

"But why would the new king of G.o.ds tell Aeron to-" The answer slid into place and he pressed his lips together. I did this, he realized. I'm responsible. I dared the G.o.ds yesterday evening, insulted them, even. This had to be their way of retaliating.

He flicked Torin a dismayed glance. The warrior was staring at him with a hard glint in his green eyes. Then he turned away and flattened his gloved hands on the mirror hanging just above his head. His reflection was bleak. Only yesterday, the two of them had claimed they didn't care if the G.o.ds punished them. They'd thought nothing could be worse than their current situation.

They'd been wrong."We cannot allow Aeron to do this deed," Lucien said, interrupting Maddox's dark thoughts. "He's at the breaking point already.

We all are."

Reyes once again punched the wall, grunting from the force. There were angry red cuts on each of his forearms and they burst open on impact, splattering flecks of blood onto the silver stone. "These t.i.tans had to know what would happen if Aeron obeyed." He bared his teeth in a scowl. "They had to know what a precarious edge of good and evil we're all balanced on. Why would they do this?"

"I know why," Maddox replied grimly.

All eyes flew to him.

Shame weighed heavily on his shoulders as he recounted what he'd done. "I never expected this to happen," he finished lamely.

"I didn't know the t.i.tans had escaped, much less that they had taken over."

"I don't even know what to say." Aeron.

"I do. f.u.c.k." Paris.

Maddox's head fell back and he stared up at the ceiling. I thought I was goading the Greeks, he wanted to shout. They would have done nothing. They would have continued to ignore him.

"Do you think Ashlyn is a punishment from the t.i.tans, as well?" Lucien asked.

His jaw clenched. "Yes." Of course she was a punishment. He'd thought so earlier-the timing of her arrival, the way she'd haunted his mind and fanned his desires-but he'd a.s.sumed the Greeks had been responsible. "The t.i.tans must have led the Hunters straight to us, knowing they would use Ashlyn and how she would affect me."

"You did not curse the G.o.ds until after Aeron was summoned. What's more, you hadn't yet cursed them when Ashlyn first appeared on my cameras," Torin pointed out. "They could not have known what we would later do and say."

"Couldn't they? Perhaps they didn't send her, but they must be using her somehow." Nothing else explained the intensity of his feelings for her. "I'll take care of her," he added darkly, but every muscle in his body stiffened, begging him to s.n.a.t.c.h the words back. He didn't. "I'll take care of all of them."

Paris leveled him with a frown. "How?"

Grim, he said, "I'll kill them." He'd done worse. Why not add this to the list? Because I am not a beast. If he did it, he would be Violence. He would be no better than the spirit inside him, reduced to only one reason for existence: causing pain.

Yet he'd brought this plague upon their house; he needed to fix it. Could he destroy Ashlyn, though? He found he didn't want to know the answer.

"You can't kill the four inside Lucien's room," Aeron said, just as grim. "The t.i.tans commanded me to do it. Who knows how they'll react if their orders are not followed exactly."

"I can hear you, you sick b.a.s.t.a.r.ds," a female voice cried from behind the door. "You kill us, and I swear to G.o.d I'll kill every one of you."

There was another temporary halt to movement and speech.

Reyes's lips curled in a wry grin. "An impossible feat, but I would almost like to see her try."

Feminine fists beat against the frame. "Let us go! Let us go, do you hear me?""We hear you, woman," Reyes said. "I'm sure the dead hear you, as well."

That Reyes, the most serious of the bunch, had cracked a joke was disturbing. Only when circ.u.mstances were dire did he resort to humor.

This was a nightmare. After centuries of rigid routine, Maddox suddenly had a woman to interrogate, then destroy before she could be further used against him. He had a friend to save from an unthinkable command. And he had G.o.ds to appease. G.o.ds he wasn't even sure how to approach.

These t.i.tans were unknown ent.i.ties. If he asked for mercy and they ordered him to do something vile-something he refused to do-the situation would most a.s.suredly become worse than it was now.

"Why don't I touch them?" Torin suggested, turning back to the group. His eyes were as bright and green as the girl's inside the room. While hers had been filled with anger, his were filled with despair. "If they die of disease, no one will have to worry about his conscience." Except Torin.

"No," Aeron said at the same moment Paris shouted, "h.e.l.l, no."

"No disease," Lucien agreed. "Once it starts, it's impossible to control."

"We'll keep the bodies contained," Torin said, his determination clear.

Lucien let out another sigh. "That won't work, and you know it. Disease always spreads."

"Disease!" the girl cried. "You're going to infect us with a disease? Is that why you brought us here? You disgusting, loathsome, rotten pieces of-"

"Hush," another female voice commanded. "Don't incite them, Dani."

"But, Grandma, they-"

Their voices trailed off. The girl was probably being dragged away from the door. Maddox liked her courage. It reminded him of Ashlyn, how she had stood up to him in the cell and demanded he lift his shirt. She had wanted to run-the desire had shone brightly in her eyes-but she hadn't. Just the memory caused his blood to heat and his body to harden. She had even stroked his wound, sparking something to life inside him. Something he hadn't understood.

Tenderness, perhaps?

He shook his head in denial. He would fight that emotion until his last breath-which should take place in about thirteen hours, he thought wryly. He did not, would not, have tenderness for Bait, or a divine punishment, or whatever she was.

Proof-next time he saw her he would take her hard and fast, pounding...pounding... She would moan and scream his name.

Her thighs would tighten around his waist and-No, no. Of its own accord, the image realigned in his head, shifting to please Violence.

She would be on her stomach, braced on her hands and knees. That lovely hair would cascade down her elegant back and he would grab hold of it, tugging. Her neck would arch; her lips would part on a gasp of pleasure-pain. In and out he would pound, her sheath hot and wet. Tight. Yes, she would be tighter than a fist. His t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es would slap at her legs.

When I finally have Ashlyn in my bed, I'm going to be gentle. Remember?

That thought was ignored. She would beg for more, and he would give it to her. He would- "This is becoming tiresome." Aeron pushed him, hard, slamming him into the wall. "You're panting and sweating and your eyes are starting to glow with red fire. About to erupt, Violence?"

The image of Ashlyn, naked and aroused, vanished-and that infuriated the spirit, who attempted to jump through Maddox's skin and attack. Maddox found himself snarling, too, craving another glimpse of her in his mind.

"Calm down, Maddox." Lucien's serene voice penetrated the haze. "Keep this up and we'll be forced to chain you. Who will protect Ashlyn then, hmm?"

His blood chilled, sobering him. They would do it, he knew they would, and chains he could not allow. Not during the day. At night, yes. He was a menace then and there was no other way. I'm a menace now. But if he were bound now, when he was barely hanging on to his sense of self, he might as well admit defeat and stop trying to be anything other than a demon.

All of the men were staring at him, he noticed.

"I'm sorry," he grumbled. Something was very wrong with him. This hair-trigger dance with the spirit was utterly ridiculous.

Worse, it was embarra.s.sing. They usually fought each other, but not like this.

Maybe he needed more time in the gym. Or another round with Aeron.

"Good?" Lucien asked him. How many times would he be forced to ask that today?

Maddox gave a stiff nod.

Lucien braced his arms behind his back and regarded each man. "Since that's settled, let's discuss the reason I brought you here."

"Let's discuss the reason you brought the women here," Paris interjected, "rather than leaving them in the city. Yeah, Aeron has a job to do, but that doesn't explain-"

"The women are here because we didn't want them leaving Buda, perhaps compelling Aeron to follow," Lucien said, cutting him off. "And I wanted you to see them so that you wouldn't kill them if you caught them wandering around the fortress. If they manage to get loose, just bring them back to my room and lock them inside. Don't talk to them, don't hurt them. Until we figure out how to free Aeron from this deed, the women are our unwilling guests. Agreed?"

One by one, the men nodded. What else could they do?

"For now, leave them to me and relax. Rest. Go about your day. You'll be needed soon enough, I'm sure."

"I, for one, plan to drink myself into oblivion." Aeron scoured a hand down his face. "Women in the house," he muttered, adding as he stalked away, "Why don't we invite the whole city over for a party?"

"A party would be fun," Torin said, once again amused. "Might help me forget all this hive-inducing male bonding." And then he, too, was off.

Reyes didn't say a word. Just unsheathed a blade and stomped down the hall, leaving no doubt about what he planned to do.

Maddox would have offered to cut him, to whip him or beat him and spare Reyes the agony of self-infliction, but he'd offered before and always the answer was an abrupt no.

He could understand Reyes's need to do it on his own. Being a burden was almost as bad as being possessed. They all had their demons-literally-and Reyes didn't want to make it worse for any of them.

At the moment, though, Maddox might have welcomed the distraction.

"I'll see you losers later," Paris said. "I'm going back to the city." Fine lines of strain bracketed his eyes-eyes that were now a dull blue rather than bright with satisfaction. "I didn't have a woman last night or this morning. All this-" he waved a hand toward the door "-has f.u.c.ked with my schedule. And not in a good way."

"Go," Lucien told him.

The warrior hesitated and glanced toward the door. He licked his lips. "Unless, of course, you'd allow me inside your bedroom..."

"Go." Lucien gestured impatiently.

"Their loss." Paris shrugged and disappeared around the corner.

Maddox knew he should offer to guard the women. After all, he was probably the reason they were here. But he needed to see Ashlyn. No, not needed. Wanted. Better. He did not need anything. Especially a human with questionable motives who was already marked for death.

But not knowing what these t.i.tans would do next, he realized he did not want to waste another moment. He would go to Ashlyn even though he hadn't completely subdued the demon. Besides, he might never be calm when it came to that woman. And it was better to do what he wanted with her now, before he was forced to-he could not even bring himself to think it.

"Lucien," he began.

"Go," his friend said again. "Do whatever you need to do to get yourself under control. Your woman-"

"Ashlyn is not up for discussion," Maddox responded, already knowing what Lucien meant to say. Your woman needs to be taken care of as soon as possible. He knew that, too.

"Just get her out of your system, then do what needs doing so that at least part of our lives can return to normal."

Maddox nodded and turned, part of him wondering if his normal life was worth returning to.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Maddox stepped into his bedroom, unsure of what he'd find. A sleeping Ashlyn? A freshly bathed, naked Ashlyn? A ready-to- fight Ashlyn?

A ready-for-pleasure Ashlyn?

To his irritation, his heart drummed erratically inside his chest. His palms were sweating. Fool, he chastised himself. He was not a human, a servant to fear, nor was he inexperienced. And yet, he wasn't exactly sure how to handle this woman, this...

punishment.

What he didn't expect to find was an unconscious Ashlyn, sprawled on the floor, a puddle of crimson-blood?-around her, soaking her hair and clothes.

Darkness shuddered through him. "Ashlyn?" He was at her side in the next instant, crouching down, gently rolling her over and scooping her into his arms. Wine, only wine. Thank the G.o.ds. Droplets splashed her too-pale face and dripped onto him. He almost smiled. Just how much had she drunk?

Previous Top NextShe weighed so little he would have been unaware he held her if not for the low-voltage tingles seeping from her skin into his.

"Ashlyn, wake up."

She didn't. In fact, she seemed to slip deeper into unconsciousness, the movement behind her eyelids ceasing.

His throat was tight, and he had to force the next words out. "Wake up for me."

Not a moan, not a sigh.

Worried by her lack of response, he carried her to the bed, ripping off her wet jacket in the process and tossing it aside. Though he didn't want to release her, he lay her on the mattress and cupped her face in his hands. Her skin was ice-cold. "Ashlyn."