Pleasure of a Dark Prince (Immortals After Dark 9)

"You couldn't have bought a backup cuff?" she demanded in a yell. "Had a spare in your bag?"

He bellowed back, "It never crossed my mind that I'd be battling a shape-shifter in the Amazon" - with an angry jab, he pointed out Damiãno's deep bite on his arm - "and then wrestling with him underwater. Or that a giant caiman would drag him down, and he'd be snatching at me to take down with him. I barely got back to you! Maybe you're wishing I dinna?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" No matter how incensed she was at him for putting her in this position, she didn't want him hurt. And fighting with him was changing nothing - their situation wasn't altering. Think... think. This isn't happening tonight.

Fate has a way of getting what she wants, no matter how we try to avoid it.

Ah, gods, unless she could get off this boat, it would be happening.

"Damn it, lass, I will try to be gentle." Garreth reached for her shoulder. "Maybe if we started now, I could get you accustomed. I could make sure you were crazed with needing, too...."

But she flinched from him, clearly furious. Rightly furious with him. I'd promised her that she had nothing to fear. And Lucia had promised that she'd hate him forever if she broke her vows.

"It will no' be like your last time, Lousha."

"What do you know about my last time?"

"Does no' take a genius to realize you had a bad experience."

"Y-you have no idea." She shuddered, her wee ears peeking out from her soaked mane.

"The man hurt you?" Wanting to kill some faceless male, needing to... Keep it together, Garreth.

She nodded. And she hadn't had sex in a millennium because of it.

"I'm not ready, MacRieve. I'm just not. I don't want this." Her eyes were bleak.

Over the last ten days, Garreth hadn't eased her mind about sex. Or changed it. Either because of her vows or because she'd been scarred from the last time, Lucia wasn't ready for this night - couldn't endure a moon-crazed Lykae taking her untried body.

Without mercy.

"Listen, we can fix this."

"H-how? Nothing will stop you. No cage can hold you."

"You can put me out of commission, make it so I canna chase you," he said.

"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?"

Garreth answered, "Shoot me between the eyes."

"I-I can't do that!" Lucia cried.

"Then you'll do to me as my kinsmen did."

"What?"

"They beat me within an inch of my life, then tied me up in a dungeon," MacRieve said. "Broke a leg or two. Worked like a charm those times. We doona have a dungeon, but if you - "

"No, no, you had other women. I found condoms in your bag!"

He frowned. "I bought those for you, so I would no' get a babe on you too soon. Had no' found out your diet, or lack of one, would work just as well."

She was still shaking her head in disbelief.

"Lousha, I have no' been with another since I met you."

At that, the worst of her anger sieved from her, and she whispered, "You had them beat you?" Her heart seemed to twist in her chest. I'm falling for him.

Lucia had thought she'd been in love all those centuries ago with the fair-haired suitor from her dreams. She still remembered so vividly how it'd felt. Nice. Rainbows-and-kittens nice.

What she felt for MacRieve was raw and hurting, and she knew she'd never be the same.

"Dinna want to scare you off," he said, then added in a gruff tone, "Though it bluidy happened anyway."

Falling for you, MacRieve. "I can't... I can't hurt you."

"We doona have a choice."

She was shaking her head when the clouds briefly broke, circling the full moon. Like a spotlight upon them, silvery light shone down. To reveal what he was inside.

His eyes turned fully blue, the image of the beast wavering over him.

"Ah, gods, you're already turning!"

"Then you've got to hurry."

"No, damn it! I'll leave, try to get downriver. Help me put the skiff in the water."

"No' a chance. The caimans - "

"Are heading in the other direction. And they were only interested in the lure."

"And what about the vampire? There was a coffin aboard the Barão. I canna let you do this!"

"Listen to me, Scot. You and I both know that until the moon sets, you're more of a threat to me than a vampire."

"Nay, Lousha. I would never hurt you."

"I'm not asking you about this. I wouldn't be in this position if you'd let me go in the first place. You got us into this mess - now trust me to get myself out of it." Whatever he saw in her expression made him hesitate. "It's only a few hours till sunrise. We'll find each other then."

"Lass, if anything happened to you..."

"You have to let me go, MacRieve."

After long moments, he exhaled a deep breath. "I'm giving you a free rein, then." He hastened to the motor-boat, slashing the lines that secured it to the Contessa. He lifted the skiff as if it were a feather and dumped it in the water. "I'll try to get as far as I can in the other direction."

 37

While he got the little engine started, she grabbed her bow, quiver, and pack, then jumped into the boat.

"You know how to drive this?" he asked, brows drawn with worry.

"I live in bayou country, werewolf."

"You stay in the boat, doona make land." His eyes were growing bluer. "Lousha, go. Now."

"Be careful," she whispered, leaping up and daring a kiss good-bye before she put the boat in gear. The engine sputtered, then dug in.

Glancing over her shoulder, she peered back at MacRieve - who was clenching the railing, looking as though it took everything in him not to follow her. Just before she turned a bend, driving out of his sight, she saw him crush the railing with his grip.

How far could she possibly get before he succumbed to the moon's pull?

With each mile gained, the renewed downpour stymied her retreat, filling the boat with more rainwater. She bailed as she steered, blinking against the stinging drops as she maneuvered around debris in her way.

An hour passed like this, then two... And all the while, she began encountering more and more vegetation. The Victoria water lilies were everywhere, their pads bouncing off the bow of the boat, their lengthy stems trailing behind them. They usually lined the banks. So what were they doing out this far in the middle of the river?

She tried to steer around them but there were so many. Each time she ran over one, she held her breath as the engine sputtered. If enough stems tangled in the propeller, the motor could overheat -