A Hunger Like No Other

'I do?' He frowned. 'As in marriage? This is much more serious than marriage.'

'That's about as serious—'

'Marriages can end.'

Her lips parted. 'Well, that certainly puts it into perspective. No way out for eternity. Did it ever occur to you that I might like to take one day at a time? I'm young, and this is everything. You're asking me for—no, you're demanding—everything, and I've only known you a week. You may have this cosmic certainty about me, but I don't have the same about you.'

'If I asked you, would that make a difference? Will you stay with me?'

'No, I won't. But I'm not saying we would never see each other again. I'll go home and we'll take things slowly, get to know one another.'

He closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were full of pain. Then his face hardened. 'I canna allow that. You'll remain here until you can answer that question differently.'

'You would separate me from my family?'

He seized her arm, hard. 'You have no idea how ruthless I will be to keep you, Emma. I'd do that and more. I will do whatever it takes.'

'You'll never hold me prisoner here.'

For some reason, that clearly angered him more than the rest. His body tensed and his eyes flickered blue. 'No, I canna. You're free to go. But you doona get a car. You doona get to direct someone here to pick you up. We're a hundred miles from the nearest town, which is inhabited almost solely by the clan, so walking out of here is no' recommended.'

At the door, he turned back. 'I canna keep you a prisoner here. But the sun can.'

22

'Nïx!' Emma cried into the receiver when her aunt picked up the phone.

'Why, Emma, how are you? Enjoying Scotland?' she asked in a distracted voice.

'Just let me talk to Annika.'

'She's indisposed.'

Emma inhaled a deep breath, drumming her nails on the desk in the small office she'd found. 'Nïx, this isn't a game. I don't know when I'll be able to make another call, and it's imperative that I speak with her.'

'Indisposed.'

'What do you mean?' Emma demanded. 'She's either there or she's not.'

'She's negotiating with the wraiths right now.'

Stunned, Emma sank into a cool, leather chair. 'Why would we need them?' The wraiths were a final measure when a coven was in grave danger. Their price to circle the manor, protecting it from outsiders with their ghostly power, was steep.

'We were attacked!' Nïx said delightedly. 'Ivo the Cruel's vampires ambushed the manor and attacked us—not me, actually, because no one woke me for this, understand, and I'm quite put out. And they weren't all vampires exactly. One was a demon vampire. I want to call it a dempire from now on, but just to be contrary, Regin insists on naming it a vemon. Oh, and then Lucia's arrow missed the dempire and I heard she dropped like a rock, screaming, which burst every light in the house. But in the dark this Lykae came to the rescue, prowling inside. Lucia's screams seemed to really put him out. Hmmm… So he stalked in and he and Regin united and fought side by side to slay the vampires. Except Ivo and his dempire escaped. Anyhoo. Vampires, Valkyrie, and Lykae, oh my. Or as Regin calls it—the 'fucking monster mash.' Hilarity ensued.'

Nïx had finally lost it. Dempires? Lucia missing her target? Regin fighting side by side with a 'dog'? Emma gritted her teeth. 'Tell Annika I'm on the phone.'

'Hold on, let me just finish up here.'

Emma heard typing sounds and asked slowly, 'Why are you on the computer?'

'I'm blocking all e-mails from your accounts and any that have the extension 'uk,' like from Scotland. Because I'm clever like that.'

'Nïx, why are you doing this to me?' she cried. 'Why are you stranding me here?'

'You can't possibly want Annika to come get you now.'

'Yes! Yes, I can.'

'So, the leader of our coven is to come after you, when we're under siege, Myst and Daniela are missing, and Lucia is in pain and alarmed by her when-animals-attack admirer? If you can tell me you fear for your life, then maybe, but otherwise you'll just have to take a number.'

'You need me there! Nïx, you won't believe this, but I've got madskills going on. I can fight. I beat up a Lykae female!'

'That's wonderful, sweetling, but I can't talk much longer or this GPS thingy Annika has attached to the phone might actually track your call.'

'Nïx, she needs to know where—'

'You are? Emma, I've known precisely where you are. I'm not insane for nothing.'

'Wait!' She gripped the phone with both hands. 'Do you…do you ever dream others' memories?'

'What do you mean?'

'Have you ever dreamed things that have happened to someone else in the past—events that you couldn't have any knowledge of?'

'From the past? Of course not, sweetling. Now, that's just crazy.'

Lachlain returned to his study, pinching his forehead and favoring his good leg. His injury was killing him, and after the buildup with Emma and its bitterly disappointing ending, weariness washed over him.

Bowe had already returned to the scotch. 'And how'd that go?'

'Poorly. Now she believes I'm a liar. Probably because I lied to her.' He sank into his chair, massaging his leg. 'I should have told her the news after.'

When Bowe raised his eyebrows, he explained, 'I had to convince her earlier that she was no' my mate. Scoffed at the idea to convince her. She was sure to mimic that.'

'You look like hell.'

'I feel it.' Explaining the fire to Bowe earlier had been excruciating. Though Lachlain had said little, merely having to revisit the memories pained him. And that had been before he'd seen his mate get struck in the face and strangled by a fellow Lykae.

'Do you want to hear more bad news?'

'Why the hell no'?'

'My discussion with Cass went poorly as well. She dinna take the news as well as we might have hoped. The idea of no' having you is bad enough, but to be beaten out by a vampire appears to be intolerable for her.'

'I could care less about that—'

'She brings up issues that the elders will. She pointed out that vampire females are usually infertile…'

'We canna have bairns. And I for one am glad of it. Anything else?' He was glad she couldn't have children. Shocking for a man who'd craved a family almost as much as his mate, but there it was.

After twelve hundred years of searching for her, he wasn't about to share her.

Bowe raised his eyebrows. 'Aye. Do you see that red button on the phone there? Means someone's on the line. I just passed Harmann, and Cass would have a cell phone. Looks like your queen's phoning home.'

Lachlain shrugged. 'She canna give them directions to this place. She was unconscious until we got to the gate.'

'They keep her on the phone long enough and she will no' have to. Lachlain, they can track where this phone call is coming from. Satellites above us and such.'

Lachlain exhaled and mentally added 'satellite' to his list of things he didn't bloody understand and would look up later. He'd thought satellites were for television, not for tele- phones.