Page 63 of Ravenous
“Moonrise is in an hour. It’s time. Youknowit’s time.”
Thane exhaled. “Everything prepared?”
Lowell nodded, sobering. “No’ that you’ve been around to notice, but aye, we’re set up on the Mount. Look, tonight will be brutal, but mayhap something will shift before next month.”
“How goes it with Ditch’s assistant?”
“I’ve seen her nightly.” Lowell’s voice thrummed with some unknown excitement. “But she does no’ have sway with the new high priestess. I get the feeling no one does.”
“Have you tupped Meera?” Thane asked.
Lowell shook his head. “Just talking and necking.” Judging by his enlarged pupils and accelerated heartbeat, he enjoyed one or both of those activities very much.
“Ditch and I have been writing each other.”
“I know.” At Thane’s look, Lowell said, “There’s little I doona know in this castle. I’d hoped those letters might soften her a touch.”
“I don’t believe Ditch doessoft. I think she suspects she’s mine but only toys with me. Have you found out what her other powers are? Akelarre would no’ have sent a witch here with no battle magic.”
“Nay, I’ve no’ been able to. And I doona suggest you ask her. Apparently, it’s bad form for us to query a witch about her power. But I got the impression she’s definitely qualified for her job—”
A howl sounded from the dungeon.
Lowell bit out a curse. “I dinna tell you, but Straegan tried to break free again. Dented the bermetal bars.”
Thane froze. “The same Berserker steel as my cage?” If Straegan had nearly escaped with no mate to lure him, could Thane tonight?
“Aye. But you’ll keep control with the Mount’s magic. The cage is just another redundancy. In fact, I’ve ordered your sentries to Straegan instead. If he kills again…”
His byname among the pack was Mauler. Straegan the Mauler.
His victim hadn’t gone easily.
Thane’s beast snarled inside him. “He’ll go straight for Ditch.” Stealing her life was the surest way to seize control of the pack.
Lowell nodded. “He would have heard all the whispers in this castle. He’d know she’s the key to taking you down.”
Thane considered informing Ditch she was his mate, but she was sworn to subjugate his people; he’d rather not hand her this decisive advantage. Still, he would do everything in his power to protect her.
He held Lowell’s gaze. “Every guard on him. If he tries the bars again, take him down. Royal or not, spare him nothing.”
Lowell’s voice was iron. “She’s my queen by fate. I’ll guard her with my life.”
“Good. Because I canna tonight.” Thane trusted no one like Lowell. “Let’s get this over with.” Before heading down to the bailey, Thane gave Lowell one last look.Doona let me down…
By dusk, Timofee had traced him to the base of the Mount, then left him behind with a sympathetic expression.
At the summit, the cage gleamed, waiting. Thane squared his shoulders and approached the enclosure. His beast must have figured out the plan because it thrashed inside. The magic of the Mount kept it quelled. Somewhat.
He stepped inside and let the lock click shut behind him, beginning his twelve hours of torture. He sank down to the bottom of the cage, leaning back against the bars.
Is this my future? Every month to return here?
All these years of fantasizing about matehood, and he’d been denied his female when he needed her most. The rising globe already heated his blood. His claws dug into his palms as he tried to quash fantasies of what he’d do to her beneath the moon…
He was hard as stone when a voice drifted up the slope—wicked, unmistakable. “Fee-fi-fo-fum,” Ditch sang. “I smell the blood of my pen pal.”
He shot to his feet, body coiled tight. How had she guessed where he’d be? She must know her connection to him and put together where he’d be forced to spend this night.
