The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld #1)(62)

The third and final time, about eleven months ago, she was poisoned. Luck had been on her side. She'd managed to throw up most of it. Ah, sweet memories. To this day she still didn't know why, didn't know which secret she'd divined that someone had been willing to kill to keep.

McIntosh did everything in his power to protect her. But sometimes that wasn't enough, so she'd learned to rely only on herself and trust no one - which made her sudden eagerness to depend on Maddox all the more confusing.

"Aeron, uh, was bad-mouthing you, too," Danika said, breaking into her thoughts.

Ashlyn blinked in surprise. "Me? Why?"

"Said you were bait, whatever that means."

Her shoulders slumped as she said, "Maddox calls me bait, too. I still don't know what that is." How could she refute something she didn't comprehend? Unless... wait. If she was right about hunters stalking immortals, that had to mean bait was the lure. Dangle it in front of an immortal and a hunter could ensnare him in a trap.

Why that...that...*! She'd come here for help, not to draw him out of his lair so that he could be slain. "Idiot!" she fumed.

"Don't call me names," Danika snapped.

"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about me." She'd let Maddox kiss her, had let him put his fingers and tongue inside of her, had even been desperate for more. And all the while he'd thought her capable of such a vile, duplicitous act. He probably thought she was easy, too - hence his surprise when he'd discovered she was still a virgin.

Tears of shame stung her eyes.

"They tricked you, huh?" Danika asked gently.

She nodded. Had Maddox wanted her, even a little, or had he simply wanted to seduce her for information about her obviously nefarious plan? She suspected the latter, and it hurt. Cut deep. How many times had he accused her or questioned her with suspicion in his eyes?

No wonder he'd so easily resisted her bumbling attempt to talk him into finishing what they'd started. No wonder he'd dumped her here. Idiot! she thought again. Yes, that's what she was. Her only excuse was that she didn't have a lot of hands-on experience with men. And this is why! They were bastards. Users and seducers.

"Tell me about the voice you're hearing," she said to Danika. Anything to get her mind off Maddox - before she burst into sobs of disappointment and resentment.

Danika's expression iced over. "I haven't mentioned any voice to you. They've been watching us, haven't they? Is there a camera hidden in here or something?"

"I don't know." Ashlyn raised her knees and propped her chin in the dent between them. "Maybe there's a camera, maybe there isn't. Given how confused they were by Tylenol, I'm not sure any of them would know how to operate one. In any case, that's not how I learned about the voice."

Did Danika have an ability similar to Ashlyn's? Ashlyn had never met another like herself, but she was learning to expect the unexpected here. "Tell me the rest. Please. We're in this together. We can help each other."

"There's nothing to tell." Danika stalked through the room, feeling the walls. "I'm going crazy. There, is that what you wanted me to admit? Some guy started talking in my head this morning. We've had some real stimulating conversations."

One voice. A man's. Not many voices, male and female. Not Ashlyn's ability, after all. "Tell me," she urged again. Her stomach chose that moment to rumble, a booming concerto in the uncomfortable silence that followed. "What has he said to you?"

With a scowl, Danika plucked a piece of cheese from the platter perched on the vanity. She tossed it at Ashlyn before commanding her family to help search for cameras. Just in case. "He asked for the 411 on our captors."

"Like?"

"Like their daily routine, what weapons they have and what security system the fortress has." She laughed, but there was no humor to the sound. "I think it's my mind's crazy way of coping with what's happened."

Ashlyn didn't think so. Those questions were too invasive, too specific, the kind of information a soldier would want to gather on his enemy.

So... if it wasn't Danika who wanted data on the men, who was it? And who had the power to ask without benefit of a body?

"I'm sick of this shit," Paris grumbled. "Just once today, I'd like to stay in town and relax after screwing, rather than rushing back here. Hello, I can't flash like Lucien." He plopped in front of the TV screen and turned on his favorite Xbox game. Naked mud wrestling. His color was high and the strain had vanished from his features. "What's the meeting about this time? And FYI, I didn't see any Hunters."

"That's because all you see are potential bedmates," Aeron replied.

"And there's a downside to that?" Paris asked, unperturbed.

"Stop arguing," Lucien said. "We've got some business to take care of, and I don't think anyone's going to like what they hear."

Maddox leaned back on the couch and scrubbed a hand down his face. Violence pounded through him, hot and dark. Hotter than usual. Darker than usual. Barely caged. It didn't like being away from Ashlyn. The woman who had tried to lure him to bed. The woman he'd turned away. What kind of idiot turned away a woman such as her?

She'd wanted him, for gods' sake.