Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel (#1) by Brandi Salazar Page B

abridged ve r sion?”
    Al astair pinned him with his hawk –like gaze. “I’m a busy man, Erias. My virgin ears don’t need to hear about your sordid tales of debauchery. Make it short and sweet.”
    Erias returned a shit-eating grin at Alastair’s off- handed approach at humor. “She is an explorer and I was charged with keeping her off the mountain. She’s a bit harder to handle than I expected and when I brought her here she got a little irate. Apparently, females don’t like it too much when you threaten their freedom. So, when she tried to escape, I shocked her. I guess I added a little more umpf to it than I needed to.” Looking across the bed, Erias met his gaze and gave him a sheepish smile.
    “Well...” Alastair drew in a heavy breath before r e turning to his feet. Placing his hands on his hips, he na r rowed his eyes thoughtfully on the female. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
    Erias passed him a petulant frown. “Surprise me.”
    “Okay, good news is, she’ll live.”
    “What's the bad news?”
    “I think you pretty much fried every cell in her body.” Turning his obsidian eyes to him, their gazes locked. “Does anyone else know she is here with you?”
    He didn’t know where he was going with this line of questioning, but he answered honestly. “No, I just stu m bled upon her outside my room a bit ago.”
    “So no one would be able to pin anything on you should she…disappear?”
    “No,” Erias said, dragging the word out to show his growing suspicion. He didn’t like where this was headed. He hazarded a glance down at her sleeping form and felt a slight pang in his chest at the thought of having caused her harm and even more, what harm may be still to come.
    Alastair watched Erias closely. It was obvious from the moment he entered the room that the man was teetering on the edge. Like a love sick puppy, he raked the female with a fiery gaze that held both his guilt and adoration, though he was trying desperately to deny it to even himself.
    Knowing what it was like to live in this world as a bound slave to the hellion Persephone; he was well versed on her possessive streak when it came to her men having a taste for another woman.
    It just wasn’t worth giving your heart to someone only to watch it be ripped from their chest, stomped into the ground, set on fire, and fed to the daemons. He had watched too many good men, too many of his friends, go down like that over the centuries, and he hated to watch any more of them fall to that fate.
    He would do anything in his realm of power to keep them from making the same mistakes he had if he could . Free will was a bitch.
    His expression turned grave. “I’m telling you now , Erias, this is no game. I can see in your eyes where this is going, and take it from me, it’s nowhere good.”
    Hearing the note of agitation in his voice, Erias crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes on him. “And what is it that you suggest I do?”
    “Kill her and be done with it,” he said simply, col d ly. “If she is the one who leads this foolish crusade, then remove her from the equation and watch as the others fall like dominoes behind her.”
    Not liking the idea, but knowing there w asn’t much he could do about it, Erias led Alistair to the small round table in the corner, the pungent aroma of char broiled meat still hanging heavily in the air.   
    With a regretful sigh, he slipped into the chair o p posite him. “What do you propose?”
    Glad he had come to his senses; Alastair grinned savagely. “I thought you’d never ask.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 11
     
    Cheyenne woke up with a vicious headache. Rolling onto her side, she pulled the thick embroidered Afghan up and tucked it under her chin. Never had she felt so sick in her entire life. Every inch of her body pulsed with pain, even her eyes. Groaning, she eked open her lids and peered into the