Page 75 of Master Wolf
For a moment, there was pure silence, then Lindsay said, with precise satisfaction, “Never.”
And then all hell broke loose.
Duncan roared with fury, and just as Drew leapt forward to push the door open, something heavy smashed against it, blocking it.
As Drew frantically pushed at the invisible obstacle, he could hear Duncan shouting.
“Youwillkneel!” This was followed by the unmistakable sound of a blow and a grunt of pain from Lindsay.
“Youwillobey!” Another blow followed, then another grunt.
“You. Are.Mine!” Each word was punctuated by another blow until Lindsay was whimpering.
Drew felt his wolf begin to rise.
He had managed to work the door open enough to peer around and see the obstacle—a huge wardrobe that Duncan had upended in his rage and that had become wedged against the wall. With one last violent shove, Drew managed to shift it, and squeeze through the gap into the chamber.
The picture that greeted him made his blood freeze.
Lindsay was on his hands and knees, a fragile form in his crimson satin dressing gown. A livid bruise was already coming up over his eye and blood was trickling from his nose.
Lindsay stared at him, horrified. “Drew,” he breathed.
Duncan, standing over him like an executioner, glanced over his shoulder. His eyes widened with surprise, then gleamed with amusement.
“Why, it’s your pup, cur! This is famous, is it not?”
Lindsay did not so much as glance at him, his gaze fixed on Drew. “You should not have come,” he whispered as though Duncan had not spoken. His dark eyes seemed huge in his thin, pale face.
Drew met his gaze, heart pounding. “How could I stay away?”
Lindsay closed his eyes, his face a mask of despair. He whispered, “You always have before.”
“Lindsay—”
“Please go,” he begged desperately, and when Drew shook his head, made one last futile attempt at compulsion, saying harshly. “Go. I—I command thee.”
Despite everything, Drew couldn’t help the watery smile those words provoked. “Never,” he whispered, echoing Lindsay himself.
Their gazes held, and though Lindsay’s was despairing and Drew’s steady, they shared a single moment of perfect understanding.
I am here, with you, to the end.
Duncan’s raucous laugh broke through the fragile silence. “So, it’s true then,” he said, almost wonderingly. “The Wolfsbane really has killed your wolf—you can no more command this pup than I can command you!” Turning, he studied the dressing table behind him, with its bottles and jars and paraphernalia, then glanced back at Lindsay, assessing. “Which one is it?”
Lifting his hand, he hovered it a few inches over the tops of the various receptacles, palm facing downwards. Slowly he began to move it, watching Lindsay, who watched him back with a tense, unhappy expression. Stilling over a metal canister, he canted his head to the side a little, his eyes narrowing, reading.
“No?” He moved again, this time halting over the blue bottle and holding his hand there. “This one then, cur? Come—tell me.”
“My wolf is gone,” Lindsay bit out. “I do not obey thee anymore.”
Duncan laughed softly. “Lapsing back to the old tongue? You must be overwrought.” Grinning, he added silkily, “You may not obey me anymore, cur, but I spent half a century watching you react to a thousand different sensations. I think I know you alittleby now.” He tapped the blue bottle. “It’s this one, isn’t it?”
What had Duncan seen in Lindsay’s eyes that had betrayed that truth to him?
Drew clambered up onto the side of the fallen wardrobe lying between him and the other two men. He paused there briefly before leaping lightly to the floor, drawing Duncan’s attention. For the first time, he was aware of—and felt the disadvantage of—his nakedness, but he hid it behind a blank expression.
“You don’t know Lindsay at all,” he said evenly. “Not anything that really matters.”