Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
R egret shadows Sabelle’s expression. “His mate mourning is severe. We’re trying. Honestly.”
“I’m not faulting you. I don’t blame you. I don’t even blame your brother. Lucan knew the risks when he joined the Doomsday Brethren.” Though I’m convinced it never occurred to him that Mathias would rip his mate from him. “I’m simply…frustrated. With every passing day, he’s gotten worse.”
Her face softens. “Until he takes energy, he’ll be unable to stabilize.”
I pace, feeling so bloody helpless. “If I’m unable to locate Anka, is there any possible end, other than his death?”
“One day at a time. You’re trying. We all are. Don’t discount Lucan and his will to live. He’s strong. And it’s possible his mate mourning could end tomorrow. He could awaken perfectly fine.”
Or this condition could kill him.
I snort. “Magic would never be so kind.”
“Then give up on him.” She tosses her hands in the air. “But I won’t. Lucan is our friend. His death would crush my brother.”
Sabelle doesn’t wait for my reply before she approaches the bed and raises her hands to Lucan, lingering at one ankle, then the other. Then she makes her way to the top corners of the bed, murmurs a few words, and passes her fingers over each of Lucan’s hands.
Suddenly, the chains binding him loosen.
With a roar, Lucan thrashes about, testing his new limits. His eyes turn wild, feral. The whites are gone, his pupils mere dots in a sea of tumultuous blue.
“What are you doing?” I rush to tighten Lucan’s restraints again.
Sabelle stays me with a raised hand. “Serving him. Let me.”
I wish that didn’t mean what I fear. “Lucan could kill you. He nearly did the others because they weren’t Anka.”
“He smelled the other men on those surrogates. He assumed they were enemies come to kill him, so he attacked. I’m trying a new approach. I’m completely clean. I’ve washed with Anka’s soap and shampoo. I’ll try using my siren lure to persuade him that I’m her.”
“But allowing him so much slack in the chains… Isn’t that dangerous?”
“According to my Aunt Millie, when a wizard is feral, they need to dominate. In this state, Lucan will require any woman he beds to be beneath him. Besides, I hope that having some freedom will signal to him that he’s not under attack and enable him to take me. He’ll derive more energy if he does. It might even be enough to heal him.”
Yes, but… “You’re simply going to let him?—”
“My body is a small thing to give to keep a dear friend alive. If embracing another eases him past his mourning, why would I not help him?”
Her selflessness is a blow to the gut. She’s risking life and limb for my brother. I’m grateful. Yet I’m terrified for her.
“Does Bram know?”
“He would only be a hindrance.”
“What if Lucan attacks you?”
She smiles sadly. “That’s why you’re here.”
I bite back a scream. I want no part of this, but I can’t be a coward in the face of Sabelle’s noble courage. “How can I help?”
“Keep to the farthest corner of the room. If he smells you…”
Sabelle doesn’t have to elaborate. I’ve seen for myself how violent Lucan can be in this state.
“Of course.” I shut the door and lean against it, waiting and watching my brother. I pray I don’t have to use brute force to restrain him.
Then Sabelle shimmies off her robe. She isn’t wearing a stitch. My jaw drops.
The witch isn’t just a pretty face; she has curves stacked everywhere, long legs, a lush backside, a sleek torso with a flat belly. Her breasts are the stuff of wet dreams. Yet I have zero urge to touch her.
Because of the danger…or my inexplicable feelings for Sydney?
After kicking the robe away, Sabelle edges onto the bed and lies beside Lucan. Immediately, he lunges for her, his eyes wide and frenetic yet sightless. He sniffs at her, growls, then rolls her beneath him, flattening her against the mattress under his taut body.
“Sabelle?” I question, grateful in that moment that my brother can’t hear me.
“I’m all right. Stay back.”
“Female,” Lucan purrs as he buries his face in her neck. His lips skim her skin as he pants, his chest rumbling with sounds of approval. Then he roams her body with his nose, taking advantage of the slack in his chains to squeeze her breast before he cups between her legs. “Anka?”
When Lucan pants and bites at her neck, she shudders. Her eyes slide shut. Is she repelled? Aroused? I can’t tell. But watching them is horrifying. Not only that, I’m invading my brother’s privacy. He’d be furious if he was in his right mind. But I can’t abandon Sabelle.
Instead, I stare vigilantly, digging my fingers into the wood as I resist the nearly overwhelming urge to rescue her.
I was against magical mating before, but witnessing this nightmare seals the deal.
Sabelle wraps her arms around him and strokes his shoulders, filtering her gentle fingers through his hair. Like a lover would.
Wait. Is she pretending to be Anka…or does she have feelings for Lucan?
“That’s it,” she whispers. “More.”
Lucan can’t hear, so he doesn’t respond. Sabelle urges him even closer by gliding one palm down my brother’s back while she spreads her legs and arches closer.
With his hands roaming her pale flesh, Lucan tries to claim her mouth. I hold my breath as Sabelle dodges him, offering her neck.
Finally, Lucan gives up, then drops his mouth to her breasts and ravishes them, all but inhaling her nipples, sucking, nipping, biting…
This is fucking uncomfortable to watch.
“Anka,” my brother breathes against Sabelle’s skin, fisting his hand in her damp hair. “My Anka!”
Lucan’s inner beast begins to come free from its chain. He writhes, thrusting his hips at her. I recoil, but for Sabelle’s safety I can’t turn away. I need this to work. Even so, every instinct tells me to protect her. And watching my brother take from Sabelle without a thought or care utterly guts me.
“Stop,” I demand. “You don’t have to do this.”
Sabelle turns to meet my stare. “I do, but if you can’t stay, I understand.”
Is she mad? “Who will be your safety net?”
“He’s chained. Go on. I’m all right.”
“I won’t leave you to face this alone. We don’t know what he’s truly capable of.”
Her expression is akin to a shrug as she strips away Lucan’s briefs, leaving them both naked.
With an animal growl, my brother covers her greedily, his much bigger body all but swallowing her up. Chains rattling, he grips her hips and lunges for her mouth. Again, she dodges him before he can fuse their lips together.
Still gripping the door frame as I watch this unfolding horror, my fingers turn numb.
“Give me!” Lucan roars.
“That’s enough.” I lunge for the bed again
An imploring glance from Sabelle stops me. “No. He thinks I’m her. That’s all that matters now. I’m so close to?—”
Lucan clutches her face and forces her mouth under his. My heart jumps in my throat, and I curse myself for distracting Sabelle, even for a moment.
My brother overpowers her as he lowers his head to seize her mouth. Sabelle has no choice but to press her lips together, wriggle her body against his, and try to distract him.
But I see her beginning to panic.
Frustration and fear gnaw at my gut. “Will kissing him turn him more feral?”
Sabelle raises her head over Lucan’s shoulder, dodging his questing mouth again. “If he tastes me, he’ll know I’m not Anka.”
Of course. Every wizard knows his mate instinctively by taste. Their kiss, their tears, their cream—whatever he tastes, it carries the flavor of his mate. Lucan will sense it—or rather its absence—in Sabelle.
She tries to distract him even more by spreading her thighs wider and arching her hips in invitation. Lucan lets loose a feral howl that makes my blood run cold. The inhuman sound is full of violence and demand.
A moment later, he clenches her hips with brutal fingers and invades her body in one rough thrust.
Sabelle shrieks.
I can’t take another moment of this. And she shouldn’t have to.
I rip away from the door.
“Stay back!” Sabelle shouts. “If he smells you, he’ll assume we’re attacking him and try to kill me.”
Since her position under Lucan makes her vulnerable, he could rip her to shreds instantly and savagely.
Swallowing bile, I force myself back. “Work free of him. Once you’ve escaped, I’ll help you tighten the chains.”
Lucan nudges her neck with his face, licks his way up her throat, and poises himself to fuck her like a maniac.
Suddenly, he pauses.
“No, we’re almost there…” Sabelle caresses his back and lifts to him in encouragement. “Move with me.”
Lucan thrusts into her again, sinking even deeper. Then he proceeds to plunder her like a jackhammer on stubborn asphalt, pistoning into her in a rough, nonstop rhythm.
Sabelle does her best to absorb his onslaught, but she turns away from him as if she can no longer bear his invasion. Tears spill down her face.
She doesn’t have romantic feelings for Lucan. That fact is all over her face. She’s enduring this terrible scene out of friendship and duty, to help her brother and the cause. But it’s stripping away her dignity and pushing her to the brink.
“Please let me stop this.”
“No,” she sobs. “Don’t. It’s working.”
Bloody hell.
I close my eyes, then force them open again. I’m Sabelle’s safety net. No matter how ugly this is or how angry the destructive forces of magic make me, I can’t leave her vulnerable.
Suddenly, Lucan grabs her chin and squeezes her jaw until she has no choice but to open her mouth.
With a snarl, he plunders her lips and forces his way inside.
Time jerks to a terrifying halt. An icy ocean worth of shock deluges my system.
Oh, god .
This is already ugly. Now, it’s going to get dangerous.
An instant later, my brother lifts his head and lets out a crazed roar.
Right before he wraps his hand around Sabelle’s throat and squeezes like a man possessed.
Without a second thought, I charge toward them. Lucan’s arms flex with muscle and fury as he tries to wring all life from the witch. Her legs flail, and she raises her arms as if she’s trying to summon her magic.
This tragedy can’t compound Anka’s disappearance. I won’t let it. Lucan isn’t Sabelle’s responsibility; he’s mine. I need to man up and find another way to help my brother. I’ll redouble my efforts with Sydney—lie, cheat, steal, seduce—whatever it takes to save him and spare Sabelle from repeating this horror ever again.
With a shout of my own, I hurtle myself onto the bed, lock my forearm around my brother’s neck, and yank back, tugging Lucan off Sabelle.
She gasps, and I’m fucking relieved she’s able to breathe again. I’m grateful when she maneuvers her way out from under him. But it’s short-lived.
Lucan breaks loose from his chains, turns on me with the wild eyes of a madman, and attacks.