Page 114 of Dark Lover

He was conscious now. He held the pike in his hands and his eyes met hers, stunned. Then they glazed over with pain.

Brie was feeling his pain, not Aidan’s.

Sam looked at the monk furiously. “You sonuvabitch. He was unconscious!”

“And now I believe he’s fairly helpless…don’t you?” Carlisle mocked.

Sam turned back to Ian, who was as white as a corpse, but trying to get to his feet. Four giants were circling him. “Don’t move,” Sam said harshly. He needed medical attention.

He shook his head, as pale as death, getting to his knees. The sight was obscene. No sight had ever sickened her as much. His power blazed weakly at the four possessed men. The Highland giants seemed to feel the blow, just a bit, but then they realized how weak he was. They grinned and advanced, confident.

“Don’t use your power,” Sam gasped, sliding her arm around him. “Save your strength, please!”

Ian reeled, in spite of her body stabilizing him. Ignoring her, his power sparked weakly. One of the giants leapt toward him, sword raised.

Sam jumped, attacking the giant with her dagger. Shouting furiously, she cut his throat, but it didn’t matter. The other three giants were on Ian. For one heartrending moment, she thought they were going to hack him to death with their swords while she helplessly watched.

Instead, they seized him by three of his four limbs. He screamed.

“Stop,” Sam screamed up at Carlisle. “We’ll do what you want!”

The monk smiled cruelly and nodded at his giants. They pulled on Ian’s arms and lifted him by the pike. He fainted, hanging between them.

“What a shame,” the monk said, laughing.

Sam felt a giant wrestle her backward, shackling her as he did so. She never took her eyes off the monk. She was going to kill him. She couldn’t wait. Maybe she’d impale him first…

His smile was triumphant now. He came down from the tower and murmured, “And how will you accomplish that, mon amour?”

“Wait and see,” she hissed.

“I wonder if he will survive the leap.”

Sam inhaled. “Don’t. I’ll get you the page. In fact, I’ll give you whatever you want. He needs healing.”

He caught her by her arm. “Say goodbye, Sam.”

“No!” Sam shouted, but it was too late. She was flung upward, into the sky, at the sun. And she was speeding so swiftly into another time that she couldn’t even look back.

SAM FELT a rough surface beneath her cheek, almost like gravel. There were shackles on her wrists, which were bound behind her back. She recalled Ian on that pike and everything that had happened at Awe in 1527. Her body was on fire from the leap, and she felt as if she’d been ripped apart on a rack, but she opened her eyes and somehow pushed herself up to sit, a feat that required the exclusive use of her abdominal muscles. Gray walls greeted her. She blinked, swimming in pain, and saw high, glass-paned windows. Her eyes widened. The windows were industrial and modern. Daylight colored the chamber a pale gray, illuminating it, but there was nothing beneath those windows, against those walls. And then she heard him breathing.

She jerked around, using her feet and fanny to swivel herself. And she saw Ian, lying in the center of the empty room, about twenty feet from her. The pike remained in his chest, with the spiked metal tip protruding out of his back.

“Ian,” she cried. On her knees, she hurried toward him.

He lay on his side. There was so much blood. She was so afraid. “Ian, it’s me, Sam,” she cried, reaching him. Furious now that she was bound, she fought the shackles. But she was never going to be able to break them and free herself.

He moaned.

“Ian.” She couldn’t use her hands, obviously. Sam sat down to get better balance and pressed her knee into his hip, so he could feel her presence. “Ian?”

He moaned again.

She cursed. What had happened to Tabby’s magic? Where was Aidan, Macleod? And where, exactly, were they? The room was so plain—concrete floors and walls beneath a steel roof. They could be in 1950, for all she knew.

“Cursing…won’t…help.”

She met his gaze, which was feverishly gray and blinded with pain. “I’m going to promise you something. I will kill the monk, and if I don’t, Tabby will. But he’s not getting away with this.” To her horror, tears filled her eyes. “And don’t you dare die!”