The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld #3)(38)

She offered him an exaggerated frown, an expression of dry amusement. "I coughed. I'll live. Keep going."

A man's irritated grumblings echoed off the walls. "I don't want to play Wrists-and-Blood anymore. I told you, stop."

At least Aeron was not screaming.

Reyes turned another corner and barred cages came into view. He stopped abruptly, holding out his arm so that Danika would not pass him. For a split second, her breasts pushed into his forearm, soft and full, and her damp hair slapped at his skin.

He swallowed a curse; she stumbled backward as though she'd been shoved. His entire body suddenly felt engulfed by white-hot flames. Her scent filled his nose, thunderstorms and innocence.

"Stay here." The raspiness of his voice embarrassed him. He didn't mind if others - and even Danika herself - knew he desired her. There was no hiding that fact. What he did mind was anyone knowing the intensity of that desire. The knowledge could be used against him.

"Why can't I go farther?" she asked.

He was pleased to note her voice shook.

"I want to see him first, discover if his mood has changed since I left him." And check to see if his wrists had healed and were no longer in danger of detaching, but Reyes didn't add that part. "If he's relatively calm, you may approach the bars. You will not enter the cell at any time. Understand?"

"Yes."

"You may ask him questions, but do not insult him and incite his...wrath."

"Okay! I get it. Stay back, ask nicely. Just get on with it already."

He didn't. He remained in place. "When you see him, do not be afraid. I will not allow anything bad to happen to you."

"Yeah, and tomorrow I'll count to infinity. Twice. If you don't move this along, I'm going to snap."

Reyes peered over at Lucien, who was watching him with a hard expression. "Stay with her. Please."

At that, Danika growled. He didn't think she was angry that he wanted her guarded and didn't trust her to take care of herself. She truly had reached the breaking point and needed answers.

Lucien nodded.

Reyes pivoted away from them. More than he wanted to take his next breath, he wanted to look at Danika, to reassure her, comfort her. Hold her. But one glance at her, and he would not be able to stop himself from doing all of those things. He would not be able to leave her.

Fisting a blade in one hand and the cell key in the other, he unlocked the door. The hinges creaked as the metal parted. Creaked again as he closed the door. Aeron crouched against the far wall, steeped in shadows. He ceased mumbling the moment he spied Reyes.

Reyes studied his friend, hoping to find signs of the warrior he'd once been, not the monster he'd become. Eyes - still dilated and hungry. Teeth - still sharpened and bared. Still a monster, then, but also a man Reyes loved. The tattoos that covered Aeron from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet were familiar.

Reyes didn't know why Aeron had tattooed himself with colorful depictions of things he probably wished he'd never done: killing, mutilating, destroying. Reyes had never asked, and Aeron had never volunteered the information. Some things were simply too painful to talk about. That he knew very well.

"Leave," Aeron barked.

The command was not slurred or layered with the voice of his demon, and Reyes blinked in surprise. Had the warrior's bloodlust faded, even slightly?

"You are lucid now, I see." A glance at the bound man's wrists, and Reyes saw that they were mostly healed. "You were crazed when Lucien and I appeared in the cave. I'm sorry if I hurt you trying to get you here."

"Free me. I have a job to do."

"Two weeks ago, you were grateful to be restrained. You hated what you'd been ordered to do and begged me to kill you."

"Grateful no longer." Aeron shifted, his legs inching closer to his chest. "Those women need to die."

"The Darkest Pleasure"

No, the bloodlust had not left him. "So they still live? All four?" Tension radiated from Danika and enveloped him. There was distance between them, yes, but still he felt that blistering tension.

Guilt flashed in Aeron's eyes. Guilt - both beautiful and terrible. Beautiful because it meant Aeron was still inside that mind, still fighting. Terrible because it probably meant one - or more - of the women were already dead.

Reyes's skin pulled tight against his bones, and he held back a disappointed groan. He'd desperately yearned for good news. Now, he could only pray there was a survivor. "Aeron. Tell me about the women."

Silence.

"Please," he said, ready to beg if necessary.

Again, silence.

No, not silence, he realized a moment later. In the background, there was a soft but menacing growl.

"Answer him!" Danika shouted.

Aeron stilled, even stopped breathing. His eyes glazed over, glowing with crimson rage that overshadowed any hint of guilt. Then, without warning, he sprang forward. His wings popped from the slits in his back, black gossamer that ripped away the remaining tatters of his shirt and expanded across the entire cell. Their razor-sharp points scratched at the walls.

Reyes held his ground. Aeron wanted to lash out, so he would allow Aeron to lash out at him. Better him than Danika.

The chain around Aeron's neck jerked taut, placing the warrior inches from Reyes's face. So close a sulfur-laced breeze caressed him. He'd been so near hell, he would reek of its scent for days. Reyes almost wished his demon had not remembered how to get there, allowing him to bury Aeron in the first place.