Doomsday Brethren, Book 04: Entice Me at Twilight (16 page)

Felicia waited for the acrid burning, but it never came. Perhaps she really
could
return to her normal life.

But the idea of bonding, even temporarily, with Hurstgrove rattled her. His abduction and their heated kiss aside, she’d known him a mere forty-eight hours. And the way he made her feel, he was much too dangerous to her heart.

“Is breaking a bond as simple as entering into one?”

“No. Assuming an Untouchable can truly bond with a wizard, ending the pairing is an uncomfortable process for the female. But once done, you’ll recover quickly. And you won’t remember your mate at all. You can go on with your life as planned.”

“Bram …” Hurstgrove snarled at him.

“Not a word. Felicia must know how this impacts
her
.”

She studied the Doomsday Brethren’s leader. It wasn’t what he said that gave her pause; every word rang with truth. “What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing that affects you.”

Given the absence of stench, Felicia had to believe him,
but the murky way he phrased everything troubled her.

“Say yes,” Bram urged. “If you do, you’ll have a bond with a wizard who will give his life to keep you safe.”

Aware of Hurstgrove’s gaze on her, she recoiled. “That kind of sacrifice is something a person only does for a loved one. We won’t have that sort of relationship, correct?”

“Saving a mate is a wizard’s first instinct, regardless of emotion. Typically, mates develop feelings for each other, but … bonds may not be the same for an Untouchable.”

Felicia studied Bram with narrowed eyes. “There’s no love involved?”

“It’s not mandatory or compelled, no.”

Another truth. A relief. She’d simply keep her heart—and body—out of the equation. She glanced at Hurstgrove. Well, she’d do her best, anyway. “All right. What do I do?”

“Felicia.” Hurstgrove grabbed her shoulders. “Mating is—”

“Good girl,” Bram cut in as if Duke hadn’t spoken at all. “The Doomsday Brethren have to prepare for Tynan’s rescue. It’s roughly two hours until nightfall. Rest. I’ll return then, so we can proceed.”

W
ITH A COMPASSIONATE SMILE
, Sabelle led Felicia through the shadowed cave, holding a candle. “Almost there.”

“Thank you.”

The witch’s smile brightened. “Except for Ice, I’m used to easily reading minds. So odd not to read yours.”

A hint that the witch wanted her to open up? Felicia bit her lip. So many thoughts racing through her head. In a few hours, her entire life would change—again. She barely knew Sabelle, or anyone else here. Trust never came easily to Felicia, if at all. Yet they knew about her special gift. They were honest and willing to protect her at the risk of their own lives. She had no one else to talk to, to help her understand what was happening.

Felicia yearned for Mason’s soothing voice. Whenever emotions threatened sound logic, he was always there. But she’d bet Mason didn’t know what his brother was. Even if he did, how could she ask him for advice before temporarily bonding with Hurstgrove? Mason would never understand.

Finally, Sabelle stopped and opened a door. “Sorry it’s so far from the others. Bram hopes that by secluding you deeper underground, you’ll be distant enough to allow us to use magic, should it become necessary.”

In other words, if Mathias attacked.

Feeling vaguely guilty, despite the fact she couldn’t control the power, Felicia nodded and entered the little room
nearly consumed by a wide mattress on a simple frame, piled high with quilts. A little water closet with a nearby sink was attached. “Thank you.”

“It’s not much. We haven’t had time to add more than the necessities.” The witch shrugged with apology. “Would you like something to eat? Drink?”

She shook her head and kicked off her shoes. “Just some answers, if you please. If you have any information about people like me …”

“Like I said, I haven’t much. But I’ll start looking through my grandfather’s writings and bring you whatever I find about Untouchables.” Sabelle cocked her head and sent her a considering stare. “I’m surprised you’re able to sense lies, since you dampen magic. But there are some races whose traits are genetic, not magical. Vampires, lupines, fae, and I suppose, Untouchables.”

“Apparently.” Felicia smiled wanly. Silence ensued.

Time to deal with the elephant in the room: mating with Hurstgrove
.

How would it affect her relationship with Mason? Was it even fair to contemplate marrying him now that she knew he loved her, when she would never love him the same way in return? Felicia bit her lip. Not likely. But how could she abandon her best friend? Betray him?

In the midst of this upheaval, she couldn’t get Hurstgrove out of her head. He’d gone to a lot of trouble to protect her. But he was also the same man who had shagged four women in one night. The same one whose tabloid exploits were legend. If they mated, how long before he snuck away to satisfy his sexual urges with someone else? How much would it hurt?

What a bloody mess
.

Concern softened Sabelle’s perfect face. “What would you
like to know?”

Anything. Everything
. Felicia only knew there was much she didn’t know—and she had no notion which questions were the right ones to ask. “I …”

“I know you didn’t ask for my opinion,” Sabelle rushed on. “And God knows my brother gave you way too much to think about in a day, but if you’re to choose someone to mate with tonight, you should know more about your potential mates.”

“Like the fact Lucan is still in love with Anka, and Tynan apparently has a death wish?”

Relief crept across Sabelle’s face. “Exactly.”

“Not difficult to figure out, really. Lucan seemed unwilling to get involved. And Tynan is irrevocably in love with a memory. And he isn’t here, besides. That limits my choices.”

Easing the door shut behind her, Sabelle crossed the room. “I think that’s best. Romantically speaking, Duke is—”

“Please,” Felicia interrupted Sabelle. She didn’t need to hear the end of that thought. “I don’t want to know about Hurstgrove’s love life.”

His emotional entanglements should receive the same weight as Lucan’s or Tynan’s. But she simply couldn’t bring herself to hear about Duke being deeply involved with another.

“Duke doesn’t have one. A sex life, yes. We all do. In magickind, we must have energy to power our magic or we die. Sex is the most potent, expedient way to get it.”

Felicia’s eyes popped wide. It sounded so crazy, yet Sabelle told the truth. “Sex is like … food?”

“In a manner, yes.”

So all of Hurstgrove’s sexual exploits of tabloid fame … had they merely been the means by which he’d fed his magic? Was sharing sex with someone like sharing a meal to magickind, casual and common? What about their kiss, had that
been for energy? Or something more?

“You’re still confused.” Sabelle looked at her expectantly.

Indeed, Hurstgrove having sex wasn’t optional. He must slake his lust—and build his energy—either with her … or someone else. She must decide which. Either choice was fraught with its own landmines. “Mulling.”

“Duke is an excellent choice of mate for you. He’ll care for you well, in every way.”

“He’s my fiancé’s brother.”

“I’ve only known Duke for a few years, but …” Sabelle hesitated. “Other than the familial relation, what objection do you have to him as a mate?”

The Duke of Hurstgrove made her want. Feel. Yearn for something beyond the comfort, friendship, and security her head knew made a relationship work. The odd connection to him, her craving for him—that could ultimately destroy her if she let him into her heart. Given that sex was food to him, she’d be crazy to think she’d be the only woman he’d ever eat a meal with again, so to speak. Though he should be nothing to her, Felicia didn’t kid herself. His casual snacks would crush her. She’d never had Deirdre’s outspoken nature or fiery strength, and look what cheating had driven her strong-willed sister to.

“Hurstgrove and I …” Felicia winced. “Not a wise notion.” But what other choice could she make?

The witch’s blue eyes dissected her. “I don’t mean to pry, but … did he kiss you?”

Felicia flushed, wondering how Sabelle had guessed.
Kiss
seemed like such an inconsequential word for the scorching, consuming way he’d claimed her mouth and made her ache for what she should never want. Hurstgrove was the sort of man who could easily take a woman’s heart with his stunning looks, practiced seduction, and illusion of caring—then rip it
to shreds when he moved on.

“It was a mistake,” she murmured.

A grin broke out across Sabelle’s face. “Not at all. A mating between you two would be brilliant. I’ve long worried Duke was too disconnected from everyone, everything. He’s never shown a preference for one female over another. Until you.”

Felicia’s heart stopped. Shock and Lucan—and now Sabelle—all seemed to think she belonged with Hurstgrove. Was his urge to protect her rooted in more than merely keeping Mathias from gaining the upper hand against magickind? Had his kiss been more than his playboy tendencies coming out to play or his need for a snack?

“Anything romantic between us is impossible.”

“Is it? You need protection. And Duke would give his life for you.”

He would; Felicia knew that. Already he’d risked much to keep her alive: his family, a scandal, and now his magical bachelorhood. “That makes no sense. He barely knows me.”

Sabelle sent her a long look. “If he kissed you, he knows more than you think.”

Duke tried to focus on the conversation around him, but he could only think of Felicia.

In twenty-four hours, she’d been threatened by Mathias, abducted from her wedding, kissed soundly by her fiancé’s brother, introduced to magickind, then told to mate with a wizard she barely knew. It was more than anyone should have to deal with so quickly; enough to shake even the hardiest of souls. Yet she’d taken it all in stride, proving again she was a strong, amazing woman.

He wished he could say he’d handled the situation as well. In those same few hours, he’d pried her from the man
she loved and kissed her soundly … mostly against her will. Shock’s suggestion that she could hide by mating had secretly thrilled him. The need to Call to her coursed through him, crowding out all else. Even now, his hands shook as he suppressed the urge to take Felicia to his bed and make love to her until she admitted that she wanted him even half as much as he craved her.

But that could never happen.

Duke raked a hand through his hair. If he gave in to his urge to claim Felicia, Mason would hate him forever. He recalled sunny days of riding bikes with his brother, the two of them watching cartoons and sharing pranks. The thought of his younger brother hating him for the rest of his days chafed. If he took Felicia as his own, his mother might never speak to him again. He’d loathe his own disloyalty. But his only other choice was to reject the woman intended to be his mate. Which would leave her unprotected. Eventually, she’d marry Mason, and Duke would have nothing left but centuries of loneliness. Fucking no-win situation.

“Are you listening to me?” Bram snapped.

Duke blinked, looked over at the Doomsday Brethren’s leader, and grimaced. “Sorry.”

“Once Felicia is mated, rescuing Tynan must be our first priority.” Bram’s booming voice jarred Duke from his thoughts. “Marrok, what strategy did you and the others devise for extracting Tynan from Mathias?”

As Marrok outlined his plan to lure Mathias out of hiding using the Doomsday Diary as bait, Duke’s thoughts strayed again to Felicia.

Once they’d spoken their vows, how would he ever keep his hands off her? He’d spent less than two days with her, and already she burned in his blood like a fever.

“Fine,” Bram said. “That’s the best plan we have for now,
though there are a lot of holes.”

“Aye,” Marrok concurred. “Until we find the lout’s location, we must leave more to chance than I like. Methinks we will reconsider much once we know in which hole he hides.”

Bram nodded, then sighed. “We need a plan to contain Mathias. Since the Council finally gave us—and no one else—license to kill the bastard, we’d best keep trying.”

“It’s as if Mathias knows all our plans, even those we don’t share with Shock,” Ice pointed out. “Because he’s the Council elder, that fucker Carlisle Blackbourne insists on hearing the Doomsday Brethren’s every move. He’s been known to associate with Mathias in the past …”

“Indeed,” Caden drawled. “I don’t believe for a moment that Blackbourne repudiated him. I have no doubt our corrupt Council leader and Mathias are still as thick as thieves.”

All this talking did nothing to keep Felicia safe. Duke spit out a nasty curse, and every stare in the room turned to him in surprise.

“Wish to share something now that you’re back with us?” Bram glared at him impatiently.

“Blackbourne is a reptile. No one questions that. Why are we discussing it? Let’s solidify a plan to kill Mathias. Now. I grow tired of him terrorizing magickind and threatening all we hold dear.”

“If you have the solution to our problem, do tell,” Bram spat.

Duke didn’t give a shit about his mood. “If we’re going to lure him out, why not make it to his doom?”

“Perfect. Any ideas on how we can actually kill a wizard who’s already risen from the grave? I doubt traditional means will do it.”

As much as Duke hated it, Bram made a good point. This conversation wasn’t new to the Doomsday Brethren. Truth
was, since Mathias had obviously employed some frighteningly dark magic to cheat death, they didn’t know exactly how to vanquish him.

That fact had never disturbed Duke half as much as it did right now.

“We haven’t yet tried skewering him on a sword covered in Ice’s blood.” He referenced Ice’s fight with Mathias for a Council seat a few weeks prior. “If Ice is incorruptible, then his blood should be poison to Mathias and—”

“And if we can make Mathias stand still whilst we stab him with such a sword, we will. But that isn’t really your problem with this discussion. You’re worried about Felicia.”