Dark Lord (15 page)

His heavy weight was lifted from her body by several eunuchs and
Briella
pulled her
clothing
down to cover herself.

“It is a good thing we got to you in time,” Valencia said with false sweetness.
“You were nearly violated.
How dreadful, to have to endure the press of a male body against your own.
Only whores are used in such a manner.
I shudder at the thought of what those poor unfortunate souls endure, to be taken in all sorts of vile ways to appease the unnatural appetites of the lusty male animal.”

Briella
pulled herself upright on shaky legs.
She didn’t know why she was trembling.
“Yes, I thank you, dear Aunt.”

Samantha came trotting by with a gleeful expression on her lips.
“While you were being molested by that uncouth lord, I was being serviced by royalty!
Might I say that the Queen’s grandson has the most marvelous
feel.
He was so responsive and so eager to please me.
I was pleasantly surprised, since I had heard that Lord Langley was impotent.
I am happy to say that he is not.”

Chapter 8:
Addiction

Devereux woke the next morning
with no memory of the night following the carnival.
The other lords had told him what he had done and he had been appalled by his behavior.
Julian wasn’t too happy with him, since he was being blamed for the near rape of
Briella
.
He had no memory of assaulting
Briella
, but he had been told that he had thrown her on the sofa and had been so intent on having his way with her that
the Lady Valerie had injected him with a sedative.
He groaned and rolled over in bed, trying to get comfortable.
He still possessed a raging erection that he could not rid himself of.
He hadn’t known what to say to the lords when they had confronted him with their reports of his behavior.
His confusion about the events led them to think he had been under the influence of drink or drug, so they had forgiven him and urged him to “seek help” for his addictions.
He obviously
needed help.
He needed to get himself under control because it terrified him that he could harm another while having no conscious awareness of it.
He was certain that
Briella
would never forgive him.
She would triple her efforts to remove him from the harem and he would have no choice but to silence her.
If not by his hand, it would be by his uncles, who were already concerned about some of the rumors flying about the harem.
Apparently, there was talk of his being a hybrid.
He had thought that
Briella
had agreed to never mention such a thing, but he supposed the events of last night had loosened her tongue.
It was too bad that they were destined to be enemies.

He eventually rolled out of bed and forced himself to dress.
He planned to meet with Sebastian without delay.
There might be some talk about his leaving without an escort, but he didn’t wish to bother with getting his excursion approved by official channels.
Nefertiti would not approve of his
travel plans, as he intended to visit the home of her rival and enemy.

When he arrived at Pembroke, the eunuch house servants directed him to the dungeon of all places.
He wondered why Sebastian was in the dungeon.
He entered the dark area and spied a light in the distance.
He walked deeper into the dungeon until he reached the prison cell that housed
Helsina
.
He was taken aback by t
he sight that greeted him.
The hybrid female was shackled to a post in her cell.
She was naked and muzzled
.
She stood upright and Sebastian was at her back, plunging into her from behind.
The female moaned and keened as if she enjoyed such treatment, but he was still stunned to see his friend ravishing a hostage.
He had never
before
abused a female in his care.

Sebastian caught
Dev’s
gaze and gestured for him to come forward, although he made no move to stop
plowing the woman.
“It’s not what it looks like.
If she
doesn’t have sex, she will die.
We should be done shortly.
She requires a dose every twelve hours.”

It sounded like a load of bullshit to
Dev
, but he nodded and took a seat in the next room to give them some privacy.

Sebastian returned a few minutes later.
“I didn’t mean for you to witness that little display, but it couldn’t be helped.
If she doesn’t get her dose, she gets very ill.
The hybrids that were doing research experiments on her forced her to bite humans to establish a mating bond, but they never let her consummate the union.
They left her in that unsatisfied state until she sickened and begged for their touch.
When the human
s
she had bitten died, they repeated the process.
Helsina
says that she may eventually recover, but for now, the doses help her stay alive.”

“Why must she be dosed?”

“It has something to do with a mating bond that isn’t consummated.
It can lead to insanity and death, which is why a hybrid should never bite another unless the mating will be consummated.”

He had royally screwed up by biting
Briella
.
He had initiated a mating bond that would never be consummated, which explained why he was losing it.
“Why was she muzzled?”

“To prevent her from biting me.
I will not risk that and I cannot trust her.
She is the enemy.”

“So why bother keeping her alive?”

“She’s w
orth nothing as a dead hostage.”

He talked with Sebastian and explained the recent events and he felt uncomfortable at the look of concern on his friend’s face.
“I’m losing control and I don’t know how to gain it back.”

“I’ll take you to see
Helsina
.
She is sure to know what to do
.”

He followed Sebastian into
Helsina’s
cell.
She was still shackled to the post, but she was covered by a robe and her muzzle had been removed.

Helsina
stood and analyzed Devereux.
“Hybrid.
I’ve heard talk of you.”

“From where?”

“The Donovan
K
ing.
He took an interest in you for some reason, but none of us know why.
What brings you to see me?”

He told her of his problems and she listened attentively.
He didn’t know if they could trust her, but she was their best source of knowledge.
“How do I get control of this?”

Helsina
studied him silently for a minute before speaking.
“
You bit a female and didn’t consummate the union, right?”

“Yes,” he admitted.

“You either need to consummate the union or stay away from the female.
The cravings are worse if you are near her.
In time, it will fade and her mark will disappear.
You just have to live through the torment of the withdrawal period.”

“Withdrawal period?”

“Yes, the mating bond acts like a drug.
If you feed the bond, the addiction strengthens.
If you abstain, you’ll suffer withdrawal effects that could actually kill you.
You’ll probably go insane, at least temporarily.
With any luck, you’ll experience a complete recovery.”

How the hell had he managed to get himself into such a fix?
He didn’t want to be addicted to
Briella
.
“What happens if you feed the bond?”

“
The bond grows stronger and you’ll be a slave to the bond until the female is impregnated.
You will be consumed with the mating act, which may sound fantastic,
but trust me, it is not.
The mating bond will dissolve on its own once there is young growing in her belly.
For that reason, it is not wise to initiate a bond unless the female is near her fertile time.
However, it does make sense to initiate one earlier when competition for mates is fierce.”

He listened as
Helsina
gave him some general
advice
on developing his abilities.
When he got up to leave, he took a gold coin out of his cloak pocket.
“This is for your services.”

Helsina
accepted the coin with a smile.
“I expect to have a nice pile of coin
set aside
before
I am set free.”

He thought about what he had learned on his way back to Avenal.
He had to stay away from
Briella
and let the bond fade.
Hopefully, he could manage the withdrawal effects without losing his mind.

Chapter 9:
Criminal Acts

Briella’s
life was a total
disaster.
She was about to be forced into an unwanted union with a male she despised.
The male she desired was not even human and she did not have the sense to stay away from him.
Her best friend was locked in a tower and unable to talk to her, and Nefertiti and the other ladies continued to twitter about
Briella’s
near ravishment.
They were getting on her last nerve.

She
walked to the library and pulled out an interesting book to read.
She had to distract herself from her hellish future and the book titled
The Destruction of Mankind Perpetrated by Fiendish
Alien
Hybrid Races
would accomplish this.
She felt suffocated in the mansion and she did not want to be confronted with any of her family or Markus.