“No.”
Moving to his side, Harley sent her mate a chiding frown. “Salvatore.”
The king heaved a rasping sigh, his golden gaze remaining trained on Cassie. “I’ll try to use my powers as king to connect with Caine, but since he’s never truly been a part of a pack I don’t know if I can control him.”
“And if you can’t?” Cassie pressed.
“My methods will have to become . . .” He broke off with a grimace.
Cassie tilted her chin. “Tell me.”
“Messier.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. She wasn’t stupid. Messier meant bloodier. “No. Absolutely not.”
The golden eyes flared with a drowning power. “Do you want him back or not?”
“Please, Cassandra,” Harley softly pleaded. “You can trust Salvatore. I swear that Caine is in good hands.”
Cassie reached out a helpless hand, her heart breaking. “He needs me.”
Harley wrapped an arm around her shoulders while Regan wrapped another around her waist.
“And you’ll be there for him once he’s conscious,” Regan assured her.
“But . . .”
“What would Caine want you to do, Cassandra?” Salvatore overrode her in stern tones. “Watch him while he is at his weakest or go with your sisters and regain your strength?”
Her jaw clenched at his devious cunning. They all knew precisely what Caine would want and Salvatore was using that knowledge as a weapon against her. Unfortunately, his Machiavellian tactics worked.
“Fine,” she grudgingly muttered. “I will give you until dawn. Not a minute longer.”
The golden eyes narrowed, but before Salvatore could remind her that he was not only her brother-in-law, but her king as well, her sisters were herding her down the marble staircase.
“Come with us,” Harley muttered.
The Dark Lord’s prison
Gaius assumed his prayer that the merciless light and heat would put an end to his misery had been miraculously answered.
He had, after all, been burned to a crisp. Quite literally.
Not even a vampire could come back from such utter ruin.
But like a damned Phoenix rising from the ashes, his body began to regenerate, the slow process nearly as painful as the original destruction.
Merda.
Would this never end?
It seemed not, he decided, rolling onto his back and at last forcing open his newly healed eyes.
Only to see . . . what?
Baffled, he studied the sickly yellow sky spread above him. Where were the choking white mists that had surrounded him? The impenetrable fog?
Had he actually died and resurrected in a hell dimension?
The vague hope lasted only long enough for a massive power to smash into him, the scent of burning sulfur filling the air.
“Gaius, rise,” an all-too-familiar voice commanded.
He didn’t try and fight the compulsion to push himself to his feet. Why bother? If he didn’t do as he was ordered, then he’d be forced to obey.
In the most painful way possible.
Still weakened from his intimate brush with death and the effort of regenerating, it took Gaius several tries before he was able to stand upright. Once certain his knees would hold his weight, he took a brief glance around, astonished by the dramatic change to his surroundings.
With the mists seared away, presumably by the same nuclear energy that had melted him into a puddle of goo, the landscape was revealed in all its bleak glory. Drenched in the same sickly yellow as the sky, the flat ground stretched toward the distant horizon, occasionally dotted with the skeletal remains of dead trees and small pools of noxious water.
He shuddered. Not long ago he would have sworn that nothing could be worse than the nasty fog.
Yet another example of “being careful what you wish for,” he wryly accepted.
Speaking of which . . .
Unable to put off the inevitable any longer, Gaius at last turned his reluctant gaze toward the source of the pulsing power that seemed to be strengthening with every passing moment.
He wasn’t sure what he expected. A column of pure, searing light. Or a towering ten-foot monster with massive fangs. Perhaps a creature beyond his comprehension.
Instead, he discovered that the delicate female body remained, currently covered by a black satin robe, as did the long, raven hair that floated on the faint breeze and the guileless blue eyes that held hints of crimson fire.
It was only when the Dark Lord took a step forward that he realized there was a translucent outline that flickered around the human form. He frowned, studying the odd halo. The head looked vaguely like a lion, although larger and far more terrifying than the real beast. And the body was a muscular human shape that was neither male nor female.
Was that the Gemini?
And if it was, why was it still no more than a shadow?
The questions were driven from his mind as the Dark Lord lifted a hand and her blistering power wrapped around him.
He clenched his teeth against the pain. “Mistress.”
“Come forward.”
The voice rang through the air like a massive bell, sending his feet moving forward. “I am your servant,” he muttered, shuddering beneath the force of her coercion.
He was a puppet.
A weak, spineless puppet.
“Yes, you are.” To emphasize his defeatist thoughts, the Dark Lord ran a mocking glance down his naked body before reaching out to wrap her fingers around his neck. “Pretty, pretty leech. What shall we do first?”
“You promised to return my mate.”
Nails sliced into his flesh as the flickering lion’s head briefly merged with the pretty female face. “You are so eager to join your mate?”
Gaius shuddered. He had no desire to be around when that hovering specter joined its power with the Dark Lord.
“Yes.”
“No.” A petulant expression settled on the deity’s pretty features. She didn’t like that Gaius wasn’t eager to play the devoted worshipper. “Not yet.”
“What do you want from me?” he managed to choke out.
There was a long pause, as if his captor was inwardly weighing the pleasure of ripping out his throat against her mysterious need of him.
At last he was shoved away and the Dark Lord smoothed a hand down her robe, turning it to a pale shade of peach. The color emphasized the absurd innocence of her youthful appearance even as the strange shadow loomed behind her in a silent threat.
“For now, you will offer me your military expertise.”
Gaius blinked. His military expertise? Was this yet another trick?