Deceptive Lord (Lords of Bondage) (35 page)

Bran laughed.
“Did you actually think I would let you mate with this worthless human?
No, you will not consummate the union.”

Kambria
grunted as her body made contact with the hard floor.
She lifted herself to a sitting position and tried to keep her voice calm.
“We have to consummate it or we’ll both die.”

“That is the interesting question that researchers ask themselves every night.
How long does it take for one to die of an unconsummated mating bond?
How many days does it take to contract the mating bond fever?
Why is it that some contract the fever and others do not?
And another important question concerns the treatment of such illnesses.
You, my dear, will help us answer some of these important questions.
We will observe you and document your urges as well as signs of illness.
We will determine
the average number of days it takes before one succumbs to death.”

“You will kill me so soon?”

“No, we will keep you alive as long as we can.
These human lab rats are expendable.
We will see how long one lasts after being bitten.
Belenos and I will publish our results in one of the leading journals of scientific research.
They will be fighting over each
other to be the one to carry our papers.
We will be famous.
People think we are dumb because we are from the warrior class, but we are smarter than the druids.
Our research will prove it to the world.”

There would be no way of reasoning with this monster.
“You are insane.”

“You will be our assistant and research subject.
It will be a hard road ahead for you.
If you prove your worth to us, we may give you proper recognition for your hard work.
Your name may be listed as a contributor in the journal.
If you give us too much trouble, we’ll kill you when we are done with you.”

She shouldn’t have bitten that male on the cot, because now he would die a slow death because of her.
A blast of the laser gun would have ended his suffering in seconds.
She didn’t know how she would extricate herself from this horrifying situation.
“You are an evil son of a bitch.”

***

Drest was in a panic.
Connal had transported to Dalmar
to share
the
terrible news.
Drest’s home had been attacked.
The guards were dead and Eden and Kambria were missing.
Apparently, Kambria had managed to send a message to Connal about the assault.
Bran and Belenos were involved.
Connal transported to Bran’s home to search for the females and Drest transported to the manor of Belenos.
Drest encountered Marta, the mate of Belenos, soon after arriving.
Marta was irate and angry, s
creaming about a Flourdan slave who had threatened her.
He deducted that she referred to Eden.
“Where is she?”

Marta refused to tell him anything concrete.
He applied a bit of mental and physical persuasion to her
person,
then
she became more forthcoming.
“I left her in the woods.
I’m not sure if I can find her again.
I want that bitch dead for what she did to me.
She had the nerve to threaten me with a gun.
A slave cannot do such a thing to a freewoman, especially to one who is the mate of the
King
’s own brother.
I want her head on a silver platter.”

“Marta,
have you discussed this matter with anyone yet?”

Marta shook her head.

“Marta,
I need you to come with me.”
Drest took her by the arm and transported her to Dalmar.
He couldn’t afford for this woman to make trouble for Eden.
He led her to
the McRaven.
“Wipe all memories of the last 24 hours.”

Marta stared at them both in shock.
“Where am I?”

“You’
re in Dalmatia at the druid fortress of Dalmar.
Try not to cause too much trouble; the Dalmatians do not care much for the Donovan clan.”
He turned toward Trentius McRaven.
“You can keep the woman, if you wish.”

Drest transported to Ravenwood’s druid fortress to ask for aid.
Ninian and Ciaran helped him search the wooded areas, as they were excellent trackers.
Ciaran had a general idea of the location thanks to
a special
hybrid ability.
A couple of harrowing hours later, he fo
und Eden
stumbling about in the woods.
She couldn’t see him in the darkness, but she responded to his voice.
He ran to her and held her in his arms.

“I killed Belenos.
I shot him with this laser gun.
How much trouble am I in?”

He laughed, humored that she would worry about that.
“I’m glad he’s dead.
Let’s get you home.”

“Bran took Kambria.
We have to find her.”

“We will find her.”
Drest transported them to the lodge.
He was glad she couldn’t see the outside, as dead guards littered the grounds.
He waited while Ninian and Ciaran arrived.
“Eden shot Belenos.
We need to neutralize the situation.
Marta’s
been dealt with already, but I want to make sure no one at that manor remembers that Eden was there.
I cannot risk anyone charging her with murder.
That bastard deserved what he got.”

“I’ll handle it,” Ciaran said before transporting from the lodge.

Eden told Ninian what had happened to them.
“Bran took Kambria.”

A few minutes later, Connal arrived.
He gave Eden a hug.
“I
’m glad you are alright.
I
went to Bran’s manor and he wasn’t there.
I saw no signs of Kambria.
”

“Bran
said
something about a research lab,
”
Eden said.

“I don’t know of a research lab, but we’ll find it.” Connal discussed the situation with Ninian and eventually, they all left to search for Kambria.

“Shouldn’t we be looking for her too?” Eden asked.

“No.
You’re staying here.
They’ll find her.
Right now, I just need to know that you are safe.”
He held her in his arms and squeezed her.
“I was afraid that I had lost you.
When I was told that Bran and Belenos had taken you, I nearly lost my mind.
I didn’t want to live without you.
I don’t think I could live without you.”

“I’m alright.”

He took her mouth in a kiss,
then
moved toward her throat.
“If you had
still been marked, I would have been able to find you more quickly.
I shouldn’t have waited so long to mark you again.”
He didn’t ask permission this time; he just sank his fangs into her.

She looked at him in surprise.
“You had good reason to wait.
You said that the bond would complicate things and make it impossible to know our true feelings.”

“I know enough.
I know I love you and I don’t want to see you wearing this blasted collar.”

“Yeah, I hate this thing.
Take it off.”

He removed the collar and tossed it on the floor.
“I see the brand is forming again.
Strange rule we have,
that something like that can set you free.”

She touched the mark on her skin.
“No, I’ll never be free of you.
I don’t mind.
I
worked too hard to have you to ever give you up.
I do love you.
They can call me a traitor all they want in Avenal.
But, I would ask that you not attack my people.
They are still my people.”

“I will not attack them, but I cannot speak for all of the Asstrumnian armies.
I will do what I can for your people, but I will not help the
Countess
of Avenal.
She can die a grisly death and I will do nothing to stop it.”

“She is my least favorite sister.
I do not expect leniency for her.
She
did murder some of her concubines.
I suppose that makes her a monster.”

“She is a monster.
Let us not talk about her.
I wish to focus on you.”

“I want to help find Kambria.
I want to help search for Brennus as well.
Don’t think
that
I cannot help you
.
I am fluent in many languages
.
I’m sure there is something I can
do to help.”

“I’d appreciate the help.
But right now, I need help with something else.
I need to be with you.”

“I need you too, but how can we think of that when Kambria is missing?”

“She’ll be found.
You are my first priority.”
He looked at her bloodied palms.
“You need a healer.”

“It’s not so bad that I need a healer.
I’ve got a few cuts and scrapes.
But I am dirty and quite exhausted.”
She started to pull the leaves from her hair.
“I wish I could crawl in bed and sleep for days, but I cannot get in bed like this.”

He grabbed her and transported them to the garden bath.
“Let us get you clean, then.
Tomorrow, we need to secure the lodge again.
Belenos is dead, but Bran is still out there.”

She looked at him with fear in her eyes.
“He will know what I’ve done to his brother.”

“No, he cannot know what you did.
I got rid of all the witnesses.”

“But Belenos said he was going to check in with Bran.
He meant to
share me with him,
then
they said they would send me to a brothel.”

“I will kill Bran myself.
Brothels are illegal in Asstrumnia.”
He helped her out of her torn tunic and washed her with soap.
She was clearly too exhausted to do it herself.
He cursed as he felt himself growing hard.
It was the effect of the mating bond.
He didn’t want to pressure her to do anything when she was that tired.

“Bran will know something is up when Belenos doesn’t show himself.
He’ll know we did something to Belenos when he finds out I’m with you.
He’ll be so angry.
He could hurt Kambria.”

“Yes, but it could be days or weeks before he suspects anything.
Ciaran will make sure everyone at the manor remembers an entirely different sequence of events.
You were never there.
Belenos
was there only briefly before embarking on a sudden trip to Irelandia.”

“Irelandia?
Do you think people will buy that?”

“I’m uncertain which cover story he will use, but it’ll be a good one.”

“What about Marta?”

“I took Marta for a permanent memory wipe.
I left her in Dalmatia and it is doubtful we’ll see her again.”

“Good.
That woman knows what her mate has been doing and she didn’t do a thing to stop him.
I just remembered
,
I put Belenos’s ashes in
an urn.
Ciaran will need to take care of that for me.”

“I’ll tell him tomorrow.
There is no rush.
No one will report the male missing for days or weeks.”

“Good.
I’m glad you’re covering my tracks.
This murder business is tiresome.
Although it was technically self-defense.”

“You’re shaking again.
Don’t feel guilty for shooting that bastard.”

“I don’t feel guilty, but I don’t feel right about it.
I guess I’m not a killer.
I was always terrible at war and politics.”

“I’m glad you’re not like that.”

She turned in his arms.
“I know I said I was tired, but I guess this mating bond is heating me up.
I want
you.
Fast and furious would work for me right now.”

“Fast and furious goes hand in hand with the mating bond.
We’ll have to actually retrain ourselves to slow down again.
I’m sure we’ll manage.”