Munro (Immortals After Dark #18) by Kresley Cole

            Kereny’s brows drew together. “I’m sorry. As his twin, you must feel his pain keenly.”

            “Aye.” Keeping Will afloat meant Munro was sinking himself. He simply hid it better. “Will’s recent torture dredged up every ounce of trauma from his past, and he grew more determined to end his life.”

            But suicide for an immortal was difficult to carry out alone. Unfortunately, Will knew of a way. He’d booked a one-way ticket to Hungary, home of the Fyre Dragán, a pit of unnatural flames hot enough to kill even a Lorean—a.k.a. Where Immortals Go to Die.

            “What happened then?” Kereny asked.

            “He met his mate, Chloe. The two of them appeared to be perfect for each other, except for her mortality. Yet then her true nature emerged. She’s actually a cambion—half mortal/half succubus. Will dinna do well with that fact, even when I reminded him that at least she’s undying now.”

            “She feeds through . . . sex?”

            “With Will alone.” His brother would never allow anything else.

            “Despite his history, you would rather Will be mated to a succubus than to a mortal?”

            “In a heartbeat. I canna say this enough: humans have no place in our world.” He’d learned that lesson harshly. Da, how did this happen? How?

            A mortal in the Lore was on borrowed time. Hell, Munro himself was at once a protector for Kereny—and a threat to her.

            The full moon neared, and his feelings for her were deepening so quickly that he already confused up with down, his fascination with her growing darker. His beast was no better, demanding its own access to her. How much longer could Munro keep the creature leashed?

            An out-of-control werewolf . . . around a mortal he was becoming obsessed with . . .

            Gods help us both.





THIRTY-FOUR





            As the wolf stared into the fire, the urge to comfort him was nearly undeniable. Ren couldn’t believe that he’d lost his parents when he was thirteen, the same age she had hers.

            As he’d spoken about his family, he’d been vulnerable, seeming all too, well, human. Over the course of this endless night, Munro MacRieve had shown her many facets to his personality.

            The wounded wolf who’d escaped torture. The brutal warrior fighting his kind in the rain. The immortal lover with his divine kisses.

            He intrigued her; after a few shots of whiskey, infatuation was setting in. But as long as she believed going home was a possibility, and as long as the wolf ignored her wish to remain human, she couldn’t allow her feelings for him to deepen.

            She gazed at his strong profile in the firelight. Easier said. When Munro had remarked that he’d felt incomplete, she’d barely concealed her reaction. What if she’d been yearning for him?

            He turned to face her. “I dinna want to burden you with such a tale. But you would learn of it eventually.”

            “You asked Ormlo for another means to power the gateway. You were going to use it for your parents, weren’t you?”

            He nodded. “I went to Quondam partly to investigate rumors of their gateway and see if I could retrieve my family. Now I’ll use the ring.”

            She stiffened. “Would I be your first or second wish?”

            “My first. O’ course.”

            With a roll of her eyes, she said, “I think you’ve forgotten that my plans for Dorada’s ring don’t coincide with yours.”

            “What would you do with it if you had it right now?”

            “I would wish to return to my life with all my loved ones and for my parents to have survived.”

            His eyes flickered gold to blue and back. “I’m no’ in any existence that you envision,” he said in a toneless voice.

            “You can’t be. Even if I didn’t have commitments, the two of us could never be together. You said it yourself: humans don’t belong in your world. Whether you like it or not, that’s my species. And I intend for it to stay that way.”