The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld #2)(80)

She stomped away, opened the barred door and slammed it shut behind her, locking him inside. Alone.

To grow weaker. Fuck.

MADDOX CARRIED A TRAY of food to the dungeon. He hated that Aeron had to be locked away like this, but like the other warriors, he had no alternate solution. Aeron had once been the strongest-willed among them. Fierce but loyal, by turns as rigorously controlled as Lucien and as volatile as Maddox used to be.

Maddox chuckled, remembering. They'd enjoyed sparring, he and Aeron, and had spent many hours honing their skills together. When Maddox lost control of his demon, it had been Aeron who helped bring him down. Now Aeron was merely a shell of his former self. Wild, savage, hate-filled.

If Aeron were set free, he would kill four innocent women, just as the gods had commanded. And if he killed those women, he would never recover from this bloodlust. From the beginning, Aeron had known that taking innocent lives would push him over the brink.

Maddox knew how that felt.

He had killed Pandora seconds after the demon of Violence entered his body. And he had spent untold centuries paying for it, killed every night the very way he had killed her - stabbed in the stomach six hellish times. Only, unlike poor Pandora, he always awakened the next morning knowing he had to die again.

But Ashlyn had saved him in more ways than one, giving him a reason to finally live. Now his precious woman carried his child.

As always, the thought caused his heart to swell and faint sickness to churn inside his stomach. What kind of father would he be? Already he loved the baby, knew he would protect it even if he were killed and had to fight his way from hell to do so.

He wanted the same sense of family for Aeron. Love, absolution. Freedom. Yet, the man truly was consumed by bloodlust. He couldn't be trusted around the warriors, his friends and brothers, much less a human female. So how he would find a woman to tame him, Maddox didn't know.

His head canted to the side as he descended the steps to the dungeon. There was no rattle of claws against the bars. For the first time in weeks, no curses echoed off the walls. It was eerily quiet. He set the tray on the floor and rushed forward.

When he reached Aeron's cell, Maddox experienced a wave of undiluted fear. The gaping bars had been pried apart.

Aeron was gone.

ACTING AS GUARD, REYES PACED the moss-laden perimeter of the too-quiet, sinister-looking Roman temple as his friends searched for clues about the Unspoken Ones. Since Lucien and the others knew where to begin looking for the artifacts, Sabin's crew was now hunting for information about the Titans. Their weaknesses. Their enemies.

Though the temple had been buried beneath the sea, blood still stained the remaining walls - walls composed of human bones. So far, the warriors had found nothing. Not even cutting themselves and dripping fresh blood onto the altar had worked. Reyes wondered for the hundredth time just what had occurred in this temple during its golden age. Sometimes he would swear he heard screams whistling on the breeze.

Lucien had appeared a short while ago, looking more relaxed and sated than Reyes had ever seen him. He'd even looked happy. What had brought on the change? Reyes was jealous, whatever it was. Jealous and glad for him. Yet even Lucien's sickeningly happy blood hadn't produced results. There had been no vision, no clue. And Reyes was tired of all this futility, of the helplessness and failure.

This morning, news of the temples had blasted from television stations all over the world. He wasn't sure why they were no longer hidden. He only knew humans would be arriving soon - Hunters, tourists, treasure-seekers and researchers alike. Time was more precious than ever.

"Damn this," Reyes growled. He needed pain, he decided, or he'd shatter and kill someone. A mortal, a warrior. Didn't matter. "I'll be nearby," he told Sabin as he stalked past him. "Shout if you need me."

Sabin didn't try to stop him. By now, he knew better.

Reyes had a dagger unsheathed by the time he reached the temple's surrounding forest. He leaned against the nearest tree, one with red leaves that made the branches look like they were bleeding, and began carving X's in his arm. With the sharp slices and release of blood, real blood, some of his anger drained.

If Danika could see you now...

He snorted. She already hated him. To see him like this would hardly deepen an emotion that was already boundless.

In his pocket, his cell phone buzzed and he uttered a frustrated sigh. Sabin had supplied him with it a few weeks ago. Reyes wasn't sure he liked it - sometimes a man needed to be free of everything, even contact with others - but he'd kept it. Just in case something happened.

With a growl, he dug it out and flipped it open. "What?"

"Aeron has escaped," Maddox said without preamble.

Everything inside of Reyes screamed in denial. In protest. In rage and more of that damned helplessness. He'd known this day would come. He just hadn't expected it to come this soon. Should have swallowed your love for him and chained him. "How long?"

"Last time I saw him was twelve hours ago."

As Wrath, Aeron would be able to find Danika no matter where she was hiding. He would sniff her out and use his wings to reach her quickly. "I'll find him," Reyes said.

Before he could disconnect, Maddox added, "Torin had me place some kind of tracking dye in Aeron's meals, just in case. He'll e-mail the coordinates you need to your phone. I called you first, wanted you to know because...you know. Just bring our friend back. Alive."