Darkest Flame (19 page)

“You can no’ tell her you were helping us. You know what they’ll do to you,” he warned.

She shrugged and let her gaze wander his naked form. “She already knows I helped the Kings, handsome. I haven’t been reprimanded yet.” She winked, her smile shaky, and then disappeared.

Rhys opened his mental link with the other Kings. “
Kellan and Denae have been taken by the Dark. I killed the group of MI5 agents here, but it wasna enough.
”

“
We’re on the way,
” Con replied.

In dragon form, Con and the others could be there in half an hour. It was half an hour too long as far as Rhys was concerned.

“Rhi!” He yelled for the Fae. “Rhi! Rhhhiiiii!!”

“What?” she snapped when she appeared before him. “I was just about to go before my queen when your shouting deafened me.”

He grinned, beyond happy that she had returned. “Ah, so you can still hear us if we call for you.”

She stilled and glared at him with glittering silver eyes. “Don’t push me, handsome.”

“That link was supposed to be severed between us after the Fae Wars.”

Rhi shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. “If this was just a test, I need to go.”

“Wait,” he hastily said before she could disappear. “Take me to the Dark Ones.”

“Are you insane?” she asked, her eyes wide. Then she shook her head. “Never mind. I know you are. Don’t be stupid, Rhys. I can’t take you there. Bad things happen to you Dragon Kings when you step through a Fae doorway. It’s why none of you do it.”

“So you doona know where they are?”

“Of course I do. All Fae know where the Dark are.”

“Which is?” he prompted.

She sighed and dropped her arms, her frustration palpable. “You know where.”

“I know all Fae have an affinity for Ireland, but
where,
Rhi? I’m no’ leaving Kellan or Denae to those monsters.”

“You’ll never get in,” she said shakily. “They’ll know you’re there before you find Kellan.”

Rhys took a menacing step toward her, letting her see the stark anger he had hidden until that point. “I’ve got magic of my own. Or have you forgotten?”

“How could I?” she asked tightly. Then she sighed, her shoulders slumping. “You might be able to fight the Dark, but you against an army of the Dark? You’d be chained next to Kellan in an instant.”

“At least he wouldna be alone.”

“He won’t be. I’d already decided to go in after them.”

Rhys blinked, completely taken aback. “Why? It’s a Dragon King and a human.”

“I owe a favor I never repaid.”

His eyes widened as he realized what she was talking about, but before he could mention it, she was gone again. Once more leaving Rhys to stare at the empty lodge, a reminder of how he failed to protect his friend and the mortal.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Denae’s head felt heavy and foggy, as if she was reliving that New Year’s Eve during her freshman year in college when she got roaring drunk. That one episode had been enough to ensure she never drank that heavily again.

What had happened?

She put her hands on either side of her head to try and stop the pounding. It wasn’t until she rolled onto her back and her shirts began to get wet that she snapped open her eyes.

It was dark, only one small light reflecting off the wet bricks and stones, giving the entire place an eerie, sinister feel.

The place wasn’t recognizable, and Denae began to grow fearful the longer she went without remembering. The last thing she could recall was Kellan pushing her against the wall and kissing her.

Kellan
.

Just one thought of him, and their night together came back in Technicolor. Her body flushed, her breathing quickened as she remembered every touch, every kiss, every caress.

She pushed past their lovemaking to dredge up what had happened next. Denae’s hands fell from her head as it all came back to her—waking to the silence, hurrying to dress, and then the Dark.

Denae sat up and squinted through the darkness. There was a shape lying on the floor on the opposite side of the room from her. It was unmoving, a black splotch of something that she couldn’t quite make out.

But she could hear breathing.

Blinking through the inkiness, she put her hands on the ground and felt the cool, wet stones beneath. She started crawling toward the shape when a howling rent the space around her.

Denae jerked to a stop and lifted her head to try and see. She couldn’t even make out where the small shard of light bouncing off the wall was coming from, much less discern what that howling was.

The sound came again, fainter. It made her shiver. She loved scary movies, but after this little trek, she was going to have to reevaluate her choice of cinema if she ever wanted to sleep again.

Denae started crawling once more. She ignored the wetness seeping into her clothes and skin. The need to find Kellan was pressing and twofold—because she wanted to make sure he was all right, and because she didn’t want to be alone against creatures she knew nothing about.

She crawled only a little farther before she realized the shape was a person. Denae moved faster, praying it was Kellan, or at least someone who could help her.

Where are you, Kellan?

Wasn’t he supposed to protect her? Did he get taken with her? Or did the Dark Fae just grab her? Would Kellan come for her? Or was she just another human to him?

The questions beat at her like insistent waves pounding at her self-confidence. With each question, more strongly she felt as if she would never leave wherever she was.

Denae reached the person who was lying on their side facing away from her. The darkness prevented her from making out any features of the form. She poked the arm, but nothing. That one touch had granted her one thing—it was a man.

Hope filled her. It also gave her the courage to peer over the arm at the face. Gently, she moved aside the long hair covering the man’s face and saw enough by the dim light to know it was Kellan.

She rested her head on his shoulder and bit her lip to keep from crying. Denae hadn’t comprehended just how scared she was until that moment; keeping it behind a mental wall so she could stay calm and cool under such pressure.

If she didn’t have the training from MI5, she was sure she would be huddled in a corner crying.

That helpless, vulnerable, powerless feeling that assaulted her reminded her too much of when she’d tried in vain to reach her sister before Renee went beneath the waves, never to resurface.

She couldn’t go through something like that again. A person could only take so much before they cracked. And she was nearing that precipice.

“Kellan,” she whispered. She wanted to talk to him before anyone came, because she knew someone was going to come for them.

The Dark hadn’t followed them across Scotland only to leave them alone.

“Kellan, please,” she pleaded as she shook him.

Denae glanced around, wondering where the door was. She didn’t know if she was aboveground, belowground, or what. All she knew was that she could barely see, she was cold and wet, and scared out of her wits.

Regardless of the training she’d received, nothing prepared her for being captured by the Dark Fae.

The sound of rusty hinges popping open filled the unnerving silence. She couldn’t see anyone else, but Denae instinctively knew that someone was in the room with her.

She didn’t have to guess who it was—a Dark. Her fingers tightened on Kellan’s arm, silently begging him to wake and help her face whatever was coming.

Suddenly, Kellan’s body jerked and he was instantly on his feet. Denae heard the sound of chains rattling and caught the glint of light off a link.

So they had chained Kellan. Why him and not her? As if she needed to ask that question. He was a Dragon King. She was nothing more than a feeble mortal.

She had to get his attention and let him know they weren’t alone.

*   *   *

Kellan couldn’t contain his ferocity, his wrath. The Dark had dared to come after him again. And they took Denae—someone under his protection, someone he … cared … for.

He felt something against his leg, and without looking, he instinctively knocked it away.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a body go flying. Only after he heard the soft grunt that sounded like Denae did he look.

The darkness was no match for the eyes of a Dragon King, no matter what form he was in. Kellan’s ire grew—this time at himself—when he recognized Denae.

She touched her jaw where he had knocked her away and looked at him. He wanted to tell her it would be all right, but he couldn’t. Not when the Dark Ones were watching.

Kellan hadn’t meant to hit her, but in the end, it may be to her benefit. If they didn’t believe she had any meaning to him, they wouldn’t use her against him.

That didn’t mean she was safe from the vile ways of the Dark. The only way to free them both was for Kellan to shift into dragon form and fly them both to Dreagan.

It only took a thought for him to shift, but nothing happened. Kellan turned and heard the chain. He stilled, every fiber of his being refusing to believe what he knew was true.

Kellan tested his left arm again, but there was no denying the cut of the manacle into his wrist or the weight and sound of the chains. They were using their magic to prevent him from shifting.

No Dark Fae, no matter how powerful their magic, could kill a Dragon King. So what did they want him for? To use as a sexual toy? The female Dark Ones would soon learn he wouldn’t fall for their unquenchable sexual appetites.

He wouldn’t have before, but he certainly couldn’t now after a night in Denae’s arms. Kellan fought not to look at her. He knew he had hurt her when he hit her, and he hated himself for it.

The sound of water dripping from the old bricks and stones was incessant and irritating. He didn’t need to ask where they were, he knew the Dark had brought them to Ireland.

It was just across the Irish Sea from Scotland, but it could be in another realm for all the good that did them. Every King knew the Fae had numerous doorways to their realm in Ireland, but none of the Kings had ever found one.

That wasn’t true. There had been one King, one who had dared the wrath of both the Fae and his own brethren when he followed Rhi.

But there wasn’t time to think on that now. Kellan needed to concentrate on keeping the Dark Ones focused on him and away from Denae. Because once they turned to her, there wasn’t anything he could do as long as he was chained.

He noticed the small fissure of light coming from somewhere and bouncing against a wall weeping with water. There was a way out. The Fae always had a way out. Kellan just needed to figure out where that was, break free of the damn magical chains, and get Denae away before they got ahold of her.

All too clearly he remembered the Fae Wars when the Kings and Fae had waged war on Earth to see who would claim it. Hundreds of thousands of humans had been left as shells—alive but with no soul—by the time the Dark had been forced to leave.

The thought of Denae being one of those shells, the light gone from her whisky-colored eyes, her wit, her smile … her passion, sent him into a mindless rage.

With thousands of millennia of practice, Kellan reined in his fury and turned to where the Dark Fae stood watching. He glared at the three males.

All his intentions went out the door as soon as one of them focused on Denae. Kellan might be chained, but he still had magic. They didn’t know that, of course. He could use it now or wait until he had an advantage. The smart move would be to wait, but then again, he didn’t like the way one big male was staring at Denae.

“Kellan?”

It was Denae’s voice—and the slight thread of fear he heard in it—that stopped him from doing something rash. He turned his head slightly to her, but never took his gaze off the males.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Ireland.”

She sighed forlornly. “Ireland? How did we get here?”

“They used magic.”

“Of course they did.”

He bit back a smile at her sarcasm. Denae would keep her wits about her and remain calm. She wasn’t the fainting sort. And was he ever thankful for that.

“Why did they put us in here together?”

He asked himself that same question, and he didn’t like the answer. Neither would she when she learned she would be used by them to get him to answer whatever questions the Dark had, which is why he decided to keep it to himself for the time being. “They could have many reasons.”

“I see.” She shifted slightly. “Why are you chained?”

“They’ve used their magic to prevent me from shifting.”

There was a long pause, and then she said, “What do I do?”

“Doona trust anything you see or hear from now on.” Kellan knew the Dark Ones would find her greatest fear and use it against her in any way they could.

“So I shouldn’t trust that I’m talking to you right now?”

“That’s right. I’m just a figment of your imagination, created by the ugly fuckers who took us.”

At his words, one of the Dark Fae bared his teeth and took a menacing step toward him. Kellan had gotten a reaction, just as he figured he would.

If it was just him that had been taken, Kellan would have eventually worked out their weaknesses and gotten free, but he didn’t have forever, not as long as Denae was with him. He’d made a vow to her, and he didn’t intend to break it.

“They are pretty ugly. And you say that men and women fall for the creatures?” Denae asked, conversing as if they were chatting over tea. “Those people must have low expectations.”

Kellan barely choked back his laugh. He didn’t imagine there was ever a human who had turned away a Fae—either Light or Dark.

She was trying to help him, but all her comment had done was turn all three males’ focus on her.

At the rate she was going, Denae’s soul wouldn’t last the next few hours.

“Enough!” Kellan bellowed. “Show yourselves. Now.”

At once, a bluish glow filled the chamber, allowing him to see where the shadows fell, and allowing Denae time to see just where she was being kept.