Page 30 of The Brute and the Blade

It's now or never, Lily, I tell myself grimly, my fingers white-knuckled on the hilt of my sword. Now...or he wins. The bastard wins, and your people pay the price.

Sucking in a shaky breath, I ease around the corner, every muscle tense, every nerve thrumming with the expectation of discovery. But the gates loom before me, silent and still, unguarded in the thin, grey light of pre-dawn.

Too easy, a voice whispers in the back of my mind. This is too easy, Lily. He'd never leave the way unguarded, not with you inside, not with so much at stake...

But I shove the thought down, lock it away with all the other doubts that would root me here, in this place of shadow and savage, aching want. I can't afford to hesitate, to second-guess. Not now.

And so, with a last, shuddering breath, I break from the shadows and dart for the gates, for the narrow gap between iron and stone that spells freedom.

My boots slap against the flagstones, too loud, too reckless, but I don't care. I'm flying now, my blood singing, my heart a wild, battering thing against my ribs as the gates loom closer, closer...

And then I'm through, bursting out into the chill, misty air of dawn, the scent of pine and loam and life filling my lungs. I want to laugh, to cry, to scream my triumph to the uncaring skies...

But I don't. I can't. Because even as I stumble to a halt, even as I turn to look back at the looming bulk of the stronghold, the place that has been my prison, my torment...

I feel it. A tug, a pull, like a hook sunk deep in my chest, a chain winding tight around my heart. A tether, binding me to the stone, to the shadows...

To him.

Grok. My captor, my king...my mate.

No, I think desperately, even as something in me cries out, reaches back. No, I won't, I can't...

But it's too late. Too late, as I stand there torn between duty and desire, between the world I've always known...and the one I've just begun to glimpse, to crave, in the circle of a monster's arms.

Run, my mind screams, cold and commanding. Run, you fool, before he catches you, before he takes you, and you're lost forever...

But my heart, my treacherous, traitorous heart...

It whispers a different plea, a broken, yearning prayer that echoes in my blood, my bones, the secret, shadowed places inside me.

Stay, it murmurs, a siren's song, a lover's call. Stay with him, with the one, the mate, and damn the rest, damn all the rest that would keep you from his side...

I take a shuddering breath, squaring my shoulders, my spine. I look out over the misty treetops, to the horizon stained with the first blush of dawn.

I'm coming, I vow silently, to the rising sun, to the faces that fill my heart, my memory. I'm coming to warn you, to save you...

No matter the cost. To you...or to me.

And with that oath ringing in my soul, I turn my face to the east, to home...and I begin to run once more. Fleeing the stronghold, the past...

And the warlord who holds my fate, my future, in his bloodstained hands.

Grok, my heart whispers, a broken, wistful keen. My king, my captor...my mate.

Forgive me.

Forget me.

For I will never, never...forget you.

12

Grok

I wake slowly, every muscle heavy and sated from a night of passion, of claiming Lily. My mate, my queen, the fiery little human who's turned my world upside down. But when I reach for her, I find only cold, empty furs.

"Lily?" I call, unease gripping me.

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