Darkness Captured Read online

  She nosed open the door and sprinted quickly down the winding staircase, down to the bottom and out the door into the cobbled street.

  The melding aromas assaulted her nostrils, but she inhaled deeply, catching an elusive and familiar scent. She bent closer and drew in the scent, quivering when she recognized it.

  Guntram was here! She dropped her nose to the ground, found another spot where his fading scent remained, then took another a long stride farther down the street, ignoring the gasps of people darting from her path as she rushed forward in her eagerness to find him.

  Then she heard shouts and the heavy whomp of large wings and raised her nose from the trail she followed to see a winged creature swooping down. A thick golden ruff of fur surrounded its leonine head. Golden brown feathers cloaked its wide-spread wings, but it was the lion’s paws, outstretched, claws extended, that made her heart skip a beat.

  She whirled and headed the opposite way from Guntram’s scent, away from the demon bird rushing toward her. She ran hard, her lungs burning, felt claws rake her tail and changed direction again. When another swipe at her flank turned her again, she realized the creature was herding her, but she was panicked, couldn’t take the time to think, because the thing was just above her.

  Then she saw the open gates, saw the desert stretching in front of her and darted outside, flying down the grooved and graveled track to the bottom of the ridge where the fortress perched and ran for the dunes stretching as far as she could see.

  The flapping grew fainter; the creature’s rumbling roar rose above her as it returned to the fortress.

  She was outside with a wide-open expanse in front of her, and she was free.

  Marduk’s heart lightened as soon as he entered his chamber. Her scent, freshly bathed, hovered in the air. “Gabriella,” he called out.

  There was no response. He walked to the bed and flung back the covers, walked to the pool and peered into the corners beneath the branches of the trees, peered into the bottom as his heart skipped a beat, but she was nowhere to be found.

  He heard a footpad behind him and whirled, but his heart fell to his toes at the sight of Xalia, wringing her hands.

  “Where is she?” he said, keeping his voice even.

  “Gone,” Xalia said tearfully.

  He froze. “Xalia, you had only one duty. You know where she is. Tell me now.”

  “She went outside. Shifted into a wolf. She was too fast for me to follow.”

  “She overpowered you then? That’s how she got out the door?”

  Xalia’s glance fell away. “She’s been pretending to love you. Pretending she’s happy. I left the door open to prove it to you.”

  Marduk didn’t trust himself to touch her. He set his fists on his hips and towered over her, making her quake at the sight of his fury. “Where did she go? And don’t tell me you don’t know. I won’t believe you.”

  “An anzu-bird followed her through the streets. She escaped into the desert.”

  Marduk’s body vibrated with horror. He walked toward the balcony, scanned the horizon but found no trace of her. She was out there, alone. He’d have spared her the truth if only she’d been willing to let him guide her.

  He shouldn’t show her any mercy, should let the lesson she was about to learn be imprinted on her mind. Then she’d never attempt to escape him again. When her body cooled from her rush to freedom, the nightmare would begin.

  If she’d escaped the jaws of the anzu.

  For her own good, he should let it happen, but he remembered how sweet her cries had sounded as she’d whimpered in his arms the last time he’d taken her in the night. Remembered, too, how warm his chest had grown, how deeply he had slept.

  He stripped on the balcony, aimed a glare at Xalia, telling her silently to await his return. Then he stepped off into the air, transforming before he fell to the ground.

  CHAPTER

  9

  Gabriella ran as far as she could until her lungs felt ready to burst, then settled at the bottom of a dune and scratched at the sand, digging a hole to back inside and hide from whatever else might follow her from the air.

  Only as her blood cooled did she begin to worry. She had no water, and hunger rumbled in her belly. Worse, she hadn’t a clue how far the desert stretched or if there was an end, a place beyond the hot, golden sand.

  She’d have to wait for darkness, climb to the top of the tallest dune and have a look around. One thing she knew—she couldn’t go back. Marduk would be furious she’d escaped.

  She settled her muzzle atop her front paws. Happy at least that she was alone and had time to think about all that had happened, away from the enticements of her captor. She’d almost succumbed to his seduction, had been close to surrendering. She’d felt her will bending, nearly breaking beneath his sensual assault.

  A shadow passed over the sand in front of her, so large it sunk her surroundings into dusk-like darkness.

  She raised her head and watched a black cloud blot out the blazing sun. Odd, since there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky when she’d watched from the balcony of Marduk’s chamber. Then a distinct chill arrived on a breeze, and the blazing, empty desert blurred before her eyes.

  The fur on her back lifted; her heart began to pound slowly. Something wasn’t right. Then she remembered Marduk’s warnings and knew she was in real trouble.

  “True hell” had found her.

  Gabriella blinked, then glanced down. She was no longer a wolf lying in a sandy den. She was in humanskin and clothed in a white shift. Her bare feet curled against cold, damp stone. Looking around her, the bare stone-block walls and arched ceiling above her head seemed familiar. She stood in the foyer of a stone keep, a tall oak door in front of her.

  Voices carried from beyond the door. She slumped toward it, her ear at the crack. Inside, familiar voices whispered. Voices she hadn’t heard in centuries.

  Mother? Father? Dear God, where was she? And when?

  “She’s just a child.” Her mother’s voice quavered.

  A deep snort sounded. “She bled. She’s a woman now. It’s our way.”

  “They’ll savage her.”

  “She’ll survive. And she’ll have a mate to protect her.”

  “It’s too soon. Please, husband. Let me lock her door. We’ll wait until her next season. She has a right to know what is expected. I haven’t had time to prepare her.”

  “You’ve coddled her. She should have known long ago.”

  A wolf howled in the distance, drawing Gabriella’s attention from the heated conversation in the other room.

  And suddenly she knew where she was, and what night this was, and her blood ran cold. “Run to your room and lock the goddamn door!” she screamed inside her mind.

  But the girl she’d been didn’t hear. Heated excitement of a sort she’d never experienced before flooded her young body, moistening the place between her legs. She wondered if it was blood. Her menses, or so her mother had explained when she’d provided the rags she would use to protect her clothing. But it had ended a fortnight ago.

  It was too soon for that to happen again, and the moisture was too hot and thin. Something else was happening.

  Another howl, another voice, called to her, inviting her to run.

  She ignored the conversation in the hall and ran on light steps to the tall wooden doors at the entrance of the keep and pushed them open. At the top of the steps, she shed her clothing, wanting to join the wolves, her playmates, in the forest.

  Her mother’s shriek sounded in the distance behind her, but she was already shifting, already running for the gate, her heart beating happily as she entered the forest.

  Freedom awaited her there. Whining howls erupted around her and she called back, letting them know where she was as she raced toward the stream. Her pack’s special meeting place.

  Rabbits and deer would be feeding. A hunt would ease the tension coiling inside her body these past few days. She entered a clearing and halted, not recognizin
g the wolves that waited there.

  Not her pack. Lone wolves. Ones her mother had warned her about. She began to back up, preparing to whirl and run the opposite way, but another blocked her path.

  Low growls emanated from the two largest wolves in front of her, one a speckled gray, the other pure black. Teeth bared as the two males faced off, until the gray leapt, jaws opening, and he took the black to the ground, rolling in the leaves and dirt.

  She backed up, knowing she needed to escape because the other males weren’t watching the fight. They watched her. And were slowly closing in.

  She felt a cold nose nuzzle beneath her tail, and whipped around to snap, forcing him to jump back, but when she faced forward again, the black was on his feet and approaching, his head low to the ground, his eyes glinting in the darkness.

  The other wolves continued to close in, and she began to quiver, knowing her escape was closed.

  Frozen in place, terrified by the vicious flair of his nostrils and the length of white fang he displayed, she could only watch in horror. He came close, his nose sniffling along her sides, under her tail, his tongue lapping out to lick her there.

  She folded down her tail and bent her back legs to escape him, but he nipped her flanks and she danced to the side, trying to evade his attention.

  She understood his purpose now. Sensed on a primal level that the males had gathered because of her heat, because of the scent of arousal that carried on the wind, summoning them.

  If one covered her, conquered her, she’d be his. Mated. Despite what her mother thought, she knew that much about their ways. If she was dominated, pierced and locked by his wolf’s knotted member, she’d be his.

  And she wasn’t ready. She’d have preferred meeting her future mate the way her human friends did. She would have preferred knowing something of his temperament, and whether he would expect her to be meek, like her mother, or let her be bold, as was her nature.

  How she wished she’d heeded her mother’s words. The black wolf lunged at her, rolled her to her back and over again, and then as she lay crouched on the ground, he mounted her from behind, his front legs framing her body and holding her, pinning her in place.

  Then his mouth clamped down on her neck, and he began to rut, pushing against her.

  Panic gripped her and she bent her head toward the dirt, trying to ease the painful grip he had on her neck while she clawed the ground with her front paws and tried to crawl from under him.

  She whimpered and yelped as his penis pushed against her entrance and he began to pump swiftly, trying to enter her.

  Gabriella squirmed, panic deepening, knowing she had only moments before they were locked together and his seed spilled into her womb.

  She crawled forward again, trying to escape, but he gripped her sides harder, his teeth sank through her fur into her neck. She had only moments before it would be too late.

  She opened her mouth and howled, ignored the teeth at her neck, and turned her head to slash at his withers.

  He yelped, his grip loosened.

  It was enough. She bucked and dragged forward, crawling from beneath him, then turned quickly to leap at his back and savage him.

  Her fangs sank into his back, a fang hooking into his spine and he wobbled, and fell flat against the ground, whimpering. Then she whipped around and faced the rest, her fur lifting off her neck and back, her growl as low and deadly as she could muster.

  The gray, his coat speckled with blood, approached next.

  She didn’t wait for him to attack. She lunged, fangs bared, with a harsh keening cry eerie to her own ears.

  Their chests slammed together, their jaws slashed at fur and flesh, until he staggered away and lay on his side, blood spraying from his mouth rhythmically with every breath that rattled from his chest.

  The other wolves circled her restlessly, growling ominously.

  But she was maddened, filled with bloodlust for the band of brothers. Blood surged throughout her body, aided by a heart beating fiercely with fear and fury.

  Then the sounds of other wolves rushing through the forest neared.

  She stood above the jerking body of the black male she’d bested, waiting for her own pack as they filled the clearing.

  When they’d halted, chests quivering and breathless, she pulled on her humanskin, uncaring for the blood slipping down her legs or for the myriad of slashes to her sides, neck, and flanks. “The one who would have mated with me is dead. I have the right to rule myself.”

  One by one, her pack transformed. Her father and mother stared at the carnage around her, at the blood soaking into the leaves and pine needles cushioning the forest floor. At the blood staining her pale skin.

  Gabriella held her head high, but her body quivered and she knew she wouldn’t be able to maintain her proud stance much longer.

  Her father’s jaw tensed. His eyebrows lowered until dark shadows deepened the sockets. “Do you know what you’ve done? That was Ulfric’s son you murdered.”

  “It wasn’t murder,” she said, her voice tightening.

  “You’re a breedable female. I sent out the call to the neighboring clans myself. I wanted the best, the strongest of their males to take you.”

  “You did this?” her mother said softly. “Without warning me?”

  “You’re a woman. My bitch. Keep your opinions to yourself. Don’t you see the damage you’ve already done? You let her think she was as strong as a man, as important. If you’d been a better mother, we wouldn’t have this wolf’s blood on our hands.”

  Gabriella stared at her father, at the man who’d seemed proud of her strength and intelligence. But now she realized those qualities had only interested him because they made her more attractive when he’d offered her for mating.

  “Take her back to the keep,” her father said without sparing her a glance. “We’ll have to send word to Ulfric and see what will satisfy him for the loss of his son.”

  “They will want her blood! Please,” her mother said, grabbing his arm and pleading.

  “Perhaps I should offer yours as well,” he said, shaking her off his arm and turning to head back to the keep.

  Gabriella stayed frozen until hands gripped her upper arms to pull her after her father. She dug her heels into the dirt, jerked against their firm hold, but to no avail. She couldn’t let them take her. Ulfric would kill her. But only after he took what his son was denied.

  Her mother’s gaze locked with hers, and she gave her a single slow nod.

  Gabriella sank to the ground, and jerked free of their grips. They bent to pick her up, but she scooted backward, lowering her head to her chest and let the change come over her again.

  As a wolf, she lunged at one pack mate, slicing at the muscle at the back of his heels, then whipping toward the other and snapping at his hands, severing two fingers. Both men howled and fell to their knees. Gabriella gave her mother one final glance and raced into the forest, knowing she’d never see her mother or her home again.

  From one moment to the next, Gabriella was once again in the desert, but in her woman’s form, her body stretched on burning sand. She lifted her head and tried to will her body to change again so that her thick fur would protect her from the fierce rays. But she was too weak. Too thirsty.

  She was going to die here. Still, she’d rather be here than back inside her nightmare. But if that was the best that hell could dish up, then she wondered what all the fuss had been about. So, she’d relived her worst nightmare. She’d survived and prevailed, then and now.

  Then another huge, engulfing shadow crept across the sand toward her, and her eyes widened. God, not again.

  The sand beyond the fortress undulated like a lover’s curving back, dunes lifting and falling, swept from side to side by the sighing wind.

  Marduk searched the ground beneath him, frantically seeking some sign of her passing, but the wind had obliterated her tracks.

  Not until he saw the lillum, circling like vultures, did he release a de
ep, relieved sigh.

  He flattened his wings, diving toward the ground beneath them, then pulled back to settle on the ground beside Gabriella.

  Three female lillum landed opposite Gabriella’s writhing body, folding back their black wings. Aya, the leader of their small flock, stepped forward, her toe touching Gabriella’s buttocks. “Is she precious to you, Master?”

  As always, he was careful to hide his interest. “If I treated her well, do you think she’d flee to the desert to escape me?” he said, sending the message with his mind.

  Her face, as shiny and dark as obsidian, was split by a smile. Long black fangs slid from beneath her upper and lower lips to interlock. “Can we taste?”

  “She’s weakened. Why not wait until later, in Irkalla’s chambers?”

  “Our queen will likely drain her beyond use for us. It’s been so long since any of us tasted of the living.”

  “Aya, take your drink, but only a sip. She must appear tonight, and I have to make her presentable.”

  As the lillum surrounded her, bending their slender, dark forms over Gabriella, Marduk suppressed his revulsion. Lilith’s children were among the oldest demon hybrids in this realm. Their appetites and minds were primitive and rapacious.

  Aya rolled Gabriella to her back. Gabriella’s eyes remained open but unfocused, no doubt still in the thrall of an escalating nightmare. He’d warned her what would happen. Yet, if he touched her now, wakened her from her dream, she’d have another nightmare to add to the one currently gripping her mind.

  So he left her in that other world while the three demons bent over her neck and both wrists, their black incisors sinking deeply as they supped. Wings stiffened as their voices seemed to intertwine and become one, in a high, ululating tone that pierced his ears.

  “Enough,” he said softly.

  Their disappointed sighs sounded deceptively soft and girlish, but their heads rose, blood drenching their lips. Then they spiraled straight into the air, laughing as they darted toward the fortress.

  Marduk studied Gabriella, noting the quivering breaths, her widened eyes. When he pulled her from hell, she’d have little relief once she caught sight of him. Still, this was all part of the lesson she must learn. She might have continued to think of him as just another man—easily led by his desires.