“He could be dead.”
“He’s not. If he were, Vicky and the others would have found his body in the woods too. He’s alive.”
Neither of them said what was on their minds, but he knew they were both thinking Lucien probably wished he was dead… if he wasn’t already a monster. He’d been missing for over two weeks; alotcould happen in that time.
Today, they would set out to meet up with Killean, Simone, and the Alliance members who remained searching for him. Declan wouldn’t stop until they found him, but once they did, would they have to destroy him?
“We’re going to find him,” Willow said again. He’d sacrificed himself for her; she wouldn’t settle for anything less.
“We will,” Declan said and kissed her.
Willow melted against him as his hands and mouth did things to her that should be illegal and probably were in some states. She worried about what the future held, but she was positive they could get through anything together. She’d never expected to fall in love with someone like Declan, but now that she had him, she was never going to let him go.
Declan marveled at how much she’d healed his broken soul as he sank his fangs into her throat. He vowed to do whatever it took to make sure he never lost her.
Releasing his bite on her neck, he entered her and whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you too, forever and always.”
She felt his joy through their bond and smiled when she realized this beautiful, amazing, tormented man was hers for eternity.
Epilogue
Two weekslater
Fire burned through Lucien’s veins, tore at his insides, and incinerated him until he was sure every part of him was nothing but the ashen remains of cells and sinew. He had no idea where he was, and he didn’t care.
Hungry. Hungry. Hungry. Must feed. Blood. Feed. Feed. Feed.
Nothing made sense anymore; his brain was a jumbled mess, and everything came back to one thing… blood.
He had to get blood soon. He needed to feed, to sink his fangs into something and drain every drop of blood from it. That was the only thing that would put the fire out. Memories of feeding drifted through his mind and became jumbled with other memories from his life.
He was a child in his mother’s arms, a man covered in blood, a vampire unable to unleash all his pent-up violence, a fighter. He saw the man he followed, his leader, but he couldn’t recall his name. Shadowy figures of other warriors flitted through his mind, and he dimly recalled they once meant something to him, but they meant nothing now.
He saw a Savage… no, a vampire… no, not a vampire but a hunter with strangely white-blue eyes emerging from beneath the earth. The hunter held a sword, and smoke trailed from him as he ran for the woods.
Then a horde of creatures buried him, and he was fighting, tearing, kicking as he sought to break free. He had to save the others.
What others? Who cared about any others when he was on fire, but he was still fighting because he didn’t want to die….
No, he was fighting against a fate worse than death….
He was fighting againstthis!
For a second, his haze of starvation broke, and he knew he was living his worst nightmare. He couldn’t give in; he wouldn’t let them break him. He had to get out of this.
And then the fire burned away all memories and coherent thought once more. In the dark, he snarled and fought against his binds like a wild animal seeking to break free of a trap. He heard the sounds, and sometimes he realized they were coming from him, but at other times, they were as distant as the moon.
Sometimes he became aware of the stench of a filthy animal and knew it was him. Other times, he jerked against his chains as he hunted the source of the smell so he could feed on it. Sometimes, he sank his fangs into his flesh in an attempt to assuage his need to bite and to taste blood, but his blood did nothing to ease his thirst. It only made it worse.
Something clattered then squeaked. He lifted his head, but all he saw was the shadows enshrouding his prison. Then a flame was brought forth. Unaccustomed to the light, he recoiled, but when the scent of blood hit him, he forgot all about the pain the fire created. Lurching forward, those animal sounds filled his cell as his fangs snapped.
“He’s ready,” someone said.
Lucien lunged toward them, but his chains made the action useless. However, he couldn’t stop trying to break free as the thunderous beat of pumping hearts filled the room. They sounded as loud as gunshots in his ears, and they were more tempting than Eve with her apple.
“Unchain him,” the voice commanded.
