Page 66 of Seized to Sacrifice
‘Of course,’ he said, looking more curiously at her now that she hadn’t run off screaming, she supposed.
His eyes narrowed after a moment. ‘Thorne can’t, but you know that, don’t you? I wonder how, when word is that Thorne hasn’t shifted for over three centuries.’
She shrugged. ‘Why is it different for you?’ she asked instead of answering his question.
He didn’t say anything at first, as if he was trying to get her measure.
‘My creature and I are like brothers in the same body,’ he said finally. ‘I can hear him speaking to me and he can hear me. We share one mind, our thoughts and memories. Thorne and the Beast do not.’
‘But wh—’
‘I might hate the cunt,’ he interrupted her, ‘but it isn’t my place to tell you his business. Pray you never meet the Beast though. He’d rip your pretty body to shreds and then piss on whatever was left of you.’
Elle’s brow furrowed. The Beast had been kinder to her than Thorne had been since the beginning.
‘Shifters don’t usually have clothes on when they shift back into men,’ she said, gesturing to his clothes.
He grinned and tapped a tiny, bronze talisman around his neck. She recognized the pattern. Thorne wore something like it.
‘An expensive conjure.’
For the first time, Kade seemed to notice her throat.
‘Did Thorne do that?’ he asked.
She shook her head, and he rolled his eyes.
‘A word of advice,’ he said. ‘Don't protect that whoreson. Get as far away from him as you can. It’s only a matter of time before the Beast breaks free and we have to help Rye and Nyx lock him up for another three hundred years.’
His eyes went black, and he snapped his human jaws at her. With a dark laugh, he strolled down the hallway and leaving her to think on his words.
* * *
Nyx
After a while,Nyx found his interest in swapping tales of the past waning, and he ached to find Elle. He wanted to take her down to the hot pool that he remembered from past visits. She’d love it.
He made his apologies and left the others, surprising Elle at the door as she was about to enter the hall herself. He smiled at her and then frowned as he noticed a dark mark on her throat.
‘Who did that?’ he snarled, silently vowing that if any of the men of this keep had touched his female, he would kill them all.
‘It happened upstairs,’ she whispered, ‘but I couldn't see what it was.’
‘You couldn't see …’ he said faintly, his entire body tensing as he remembered the feeling at the keep.
How had they been found so soon? Were they being watched? The message Thorne had sent couldn’t already have been received, could it? He made himself relax, seeing the worry in her eyes.
‘Come,’ he said. ‘Stay with me. I'll make sure you’re safe.’
He brought her to the stairs that led down to the cellars, and she pulled against him. ‘No,’ she said in a small voice, ‘not more dungeons.’
He turned, his brow furrowing. ‘Never,’ he said, picking her up and nuzzling against her neck.
‘You'll like this,’ he murmured. ‘I promise. Stay close to me. I'll keep you warm. I'll be your beacon in the dark.’
She nodded, though still looked down the steps in trepidation. He should have known she wouldn't like the journey through the cellars, he thought, striding down quickly, trying to get to the end as fast as possible.
He reached a thick, oak door and opened it, revealing a room built from a natural cavern. In the center of the chamber was a steaming hot spring.
