to the female’s throat. “Where is she?”
Innocent blue eyes blinked up at him before compressing ever so slightly at the corners. She lifted a hand to the sword, her fingernails grazing the blade. “Is she your female, this Briana?”
“No.” Claiming Briana that way placed an importance on her that would have too much potential to be held against them.
Ignoring the sword, the blonde peered up at him. “Then you’re fair game.” A carnal smile curved her glossy lips as a heady, sensual undercurrent hummed on the air, one that didn’t faze Lucan in the slightest. Enchantress.
He lowered his sword, but didn’t vanish it. “Did you bring me here?” As far as he knew, enchantresses didn’t have that kind of power.
She cocked her head, giving him a thorough once-over that reminded him of livestock being purchased at auction. “If I say yes, will you take off your pants?”
He gave her a hard look.
As if finally taking notice of the sword only inches from her face, her eyes widened in terror. “You’re a wraith.”
“And you’re about to tell me what the fuck is going on.”
She scrambled away from him, sliding off the massive poster bed. “I woke up here.”
“Are there others with you?”
“Like your Briana?” Disdain dripped from her words as though the enchantress had already made up her mind to hate Briana despite her apparent repulsion of him.
With a stiff nod, Lucan surveyed the room furnished similar to his old chambers in Camelot, then headed for the door.
The enchantress tripped after him, careful to keep some distance between them. “So you don’t know where we are either?”
“Not yet.”
She hesitated, then followed him
He blocked the door. “Stay here.” Here where she stood less opportunity of stabbing him in the back.
The Lady of the Lake’s wanton daughters were known to favor bed sport over other pastimes, but that didn’t mean he could dismiss her as a threat entirely. After the trouble at Pendragon’s tonight, he’d had his fill of enchantresses.
The reminder twisted him inside. The look of pain and betrayal on Briana’s face when he’d said he didn’t want to be with her, that he never had…
It wasn’t her fault that she’d been caught up in the lust-fueled magic. He should have chosen his words more carefully or waited for the spell’s effect on her to fully wear off. He shouldn’t have lashed out that way, but a spell or not, he couldn’t let her believe they could ever be together.
And then she’d been snatched away right in front of him.
If Rhiannon was responsible then he had only himself to blame. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the moment he’d dared give into the feelings Briana awakened in him, she’d been attacked and snatched away.
His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword to the point of pain.
“You’re not leaving me here.”
Lucan ignored the enchantress, too intent on finding Briana to worry about whether the other immortal stayed or followed him.
Her steps trailed his at a cautious distance as they descended a never-ending staircase at the end of the hall. He’d purposely allowed the shadows of his phantom form to trail at his feet, guaranteeing she didn’t get too close.
Had he realized how long it would take to reach the bottom, however, he would have locked her in the wardrobe. Either the female didn’t have enough sense to be quiet, considering they’d been abducted, or she assumed talking was of no consequence when she could attempt to seduce their captor into releasing her.
Lucan half hoped a troll had been responsible. Even an enchantress, who wasn’t exactly known for being selective about who she they slept with, would struggle with seducing one of Morgana’s experimental beasts.
“Seva.”
He’d refused to respond to anything the enchantress said, hoping his silence would discourage her endless chatter. So far it hadn’t taken. Sometime during their trek down the staircase, she’d forgotten to be afraid of him. Maybe another flash of his sword would remind her.
They finally reached the bottom of the steps, and he frowned at their modern surroundings, immediately glancing at the staircase behind them that no longer looked the same.
“My name,” she clarified. “It’s Seva.”
Lucan ignored that too. He didn’t know what he was doing here, but it wasn’t to make friends. He’d find Briana and figure out a way to get her back to her brothers.
Seva moved ahead of him, straight into the kitchen. “By the gods, I’m starving. You’d be surprised how hard multiple orgasms can be on the body. I really need to get my energy levels back up.” She opened cupboard doors, then a walk-in fridge. “Jackpot,” she called out. “Are you as hungry as I am?”
He waited for her to think that through.
She finally poked her head out of the fridge, her fingers curling protectively around her throat. “Please tell me you’re not hungry.”
He deliberately let his gaze linger on her neck, then moved on to explore the remaining rooms.
“Oooo, let’s go outside. I think they’re playing games.”
Lucan swung around. “Who?” He joined her in the doorway.
“Them.” Seva walked outside ahead of him, shielding her eyes with her hand. “Do you think she knows that wolf is stalking her?”
He followed her gaze past the pool, to the trees that nearly hid a group of immortals and the wolf creeping up on a brunette with her back turned.
Briana.
Chapter Five
On instinct, Briana twisted around to face the threat, her senses locking down the scent of a wounded wolf—fresh blood and damp fur—unprepared for how close the other gargoyle was.
The impact knocked her backward, the wolf’s front legs like granite battering rams to her chest. Toppling backward, she managed to jam her own legs up, using her feet to throw the wolf clear of her body as she hit the ground.
Using the wolf’s momentum, she carried through on the backward somersault that left her in a crouch, her claws scraping the pavement. A glimpse of familiar, star-shaped white fur on the wolf’s hind leg kept her in place.
“Vaughn?” The cat continued to snarl in the back of her mind, but in annoyance instead of aggression. Her feline half remembered all too well the games of
She hadn’t seen him in at least two hundred years, though. Not since his parents were killed by Morgana during the last rebellion to reclaim Camelot. Arthur’s half-sister had been merciless when it came to punishing those who’d risen up against her. The dozens of gargoyles and human slaves who’d survived the unsuccessful attempt to take back their lost city had been publicly executed.
Vaughn would have died with his parents if they hadn’t begged him to get his younger sister far away from the fight when it was apparent that Morgana’s army might win.
Conscious of Elena and the dragon watching, Briana stood and approached Vaughn. He shifted back to his human form with the same iridescent shimmer that accompanied every gargoyle change. His dark hair hung in stringy pieces across his forehead, not quite hiding his intense cobalt eyes. Dirt and dried blood covered his body, but not enough to mask the scars that marred his skin.
