Page 100 of Lifebound

“Hmm.” The man wrapped his fingers around his chin, eyes on Rune. “How much of you did it seal, then?

“We don’t want trouble,” Rune said, again, perfectly calmly.

Me? I was just trying to get my hands to stop shaking because they were being held together by a chain with tiny lightning bolts that could potentially burn me if I touched them.

“But you found it anyway,” the incubus said, and then his eyes moved to me.

I swear my entire body stopped shaking just like that, and my stomach was twisting and turning. The way he looked at me with those strange eyes the color of whiskey would have made me blush had I not been as terrified as I was turned on.

“And what about you? Why hide that face? You sure as fuck ain’t ugly.” He leaned in and pushed down my hood, and I hadn’t even noticed I’d had it on still. I couldn’t move but at least when he came closer, I saw so much more of his eyes. I saw the colors in them, the pupils, and theraw malicethat my instincts detected. It didn’t make all that arousal fade away, but at least I leaned back a little.

“Look at that. Such pretty eyes,” he said. “What are you?”

The word slipped from me: “Fomorian.”

He grinned. “And you, too, were transported here by an imp?”

Animp.I’d had no idea that’s what that tall guy was. More than that—I had no clue that an imp couldtransportanything to anywhere—fucking hell, what had I done?!

“Yes. We were both transported,” I choked.

“But the nearest Cloakwood town is still far away—the imp couldn’t have seen the Enclave, could he?” This from the girl with the dark hair, who had a finger between her teeth as she spoke and looked at Rune.

The fire that ignited in me at that beautiful face…

“He climbed a tree,” Rune said through gritted teeth. “He climbed a tree before he transported us. If you let us go?—”

Their laughter cut him off.

“Oh, you must have pissed someone off really badly!” said one of the other incubi.

The memory of that imp’s face was in my mind. God, if I could just get these chains off and run back to him right now, I would knock his fucking teeth out for real.

Tears pricked the back of my eyes. Regret made a mess out of my insides, not because of me, but because I’d dragged Rune into this. Because he was a damn fool and hadhugged mewhen he could have just let me go.

“We’re going to have our fun with these two.” The tattooed man stood up. “Let’s take them back to Lorei.”

The next moment, two of them grabbed me by the arms.

An incubus put me over his shoulder and his ass was right in front of my face, but I couldn’t even scream. And the chains did sting a little when they touched my skin, so I didn’t dare even try to break my hands free.

My eyes squeezed shut and I cursed myself in my head for not standing there by those trees with my bird to wait for Rune. I could have avoided all of this. I could have spared him this fucking madness. I should have just kept my fucking mouth shut.

Typical Nilah.

How typical of me to doom anyone who got close to me with my bullshit. Anyone at all.

Now look at us.

Angry tears spilled out of my eyes, and I could only see Rune’s feet as he walked with two others beside him somewhere in front of the guy carrying me. I apologized to him a thousand times in my mind, hoping somehow he’d hear it.

Then, I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, and I got my shit together.

twenty-eight

They put us on a horse.They didn’t let us sit, but put us over the saddle on our stomachs, and Rune was big, so his arm and half his torso was basically over mine. His face was right there next to mine, too.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I whispered as soon as the horse started walking, and the others were talking among one another, joking, playing, but I didn’t even hear them. All I cared about was Rune.

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