Page 74 of Dark Rival

The giants kept on coming through the gatehouse, however, never mind that the men above were pouring hot oil on them and shooting them with flaming arrows. A little heat wouldn’t stop them, Allie thought grimly. But they were human, and enough wounds would eventually kill their bodies.

She glanced up at the ramparts; most of the battle had moved down into the ward. She was pretty sure that wasn’t a good sign. Claire and Malcolm remained above, though, fighting those still trying to scale the castle walls.

Allie turned away. Another man lay unconscious a few feet away from where she knelt. He’d suffered a blow from one of the catapulted rocks and had fallen from the ramparts above. Allie scrambled over to him and began healing him instantly.

“Ailios.”

At the silken, seductive, deathly tone, Allie froze. Slowly she looked up at Moffat.

He smiled at her. He truly had the perfect beauty of a golden angel—but he was the harbinger of death. His eyes gleamed with a demonic lust that was so very sexual Allie’s tension skyrocketed. In that instant, she knew he’d entrance and seduce her before he was through with her—and that he’d take more than pleasure from her. He’d take power, leaving her the victim of a pleasure crime. “Aye,” he murmured.

Allie felt a chill sweep over her—and it was partly sensual.

“You’ll never be able to resist me, Ailios. I’ll wait while you finish healing him.” He chuckled.

In that instant, Allie believed him. His powers of enchantment were terribly strong and she had to somehow keep a shield of white light about herself. Worse, she knew that if he seized her, he’d leap into another time and place with her. He only stood a foot away, towering over her, and that was dangerously close. She had to put more distance between them—but she was so afraid to move now. If she moved, she was certain he’d reach down and grab her. She didn’t even dare look toward Royce.

Sweat ran down her body in streams of fear as she tried to think, on her hands and knees, near the wounded man.

“You don’t wish to finish the healing?” he murmured, his blue eyes hot and bright.

It was hard to think clearly when the lord of so much mayhem and death stood staring down at her, contemplating all the ways he’d use her. There was so much fear her chest hurt. Allie knew she had to move. She erupted, crawling backward as fast as she could.

His pointy shoes followed her.

Before she could leap to her feet, her heels hit the wall. She looked up in horror.

He knelt so they were almost face-to-face, his features perfect. “You’re so much like your mother,” he breathed.

His breath tickled her skin. How did he know her mother? “Fuck off.”

Her inarticulate response clearly amused him. “Don’t you want to see her, Ailios?”

Allie’s heart slammed. “She’s dead.”

“Really? Since when?” His cruelly beautiful smile played.

She could hear herself panting. “I will never heal demons.”

His soft laughter came. “Maybe, maybe not. I have vast powers, beauty, and I believe that in the end, you will serve me well.” His gaze slid to her mouth. It dropped lower, to her breasts and cleavage, daringly revealed in the tiny top.

“I’ll die before healing demons,” she said and she spat at his face. “And you’ll have to rape me to get me in bed.”

He wiped the spittle aside. “I’ll enjoy that even more than seduction. If you wish to scream in sexual pain, it can be arranged.”

Allie knew he meant it. She realized she was shaking as she slowly sat, still on her knees, her back now against the wall. There was no damned place to go.

He reached for her.

But she had been waiting for his move.

In spite of his magnetic pull, she thrust the dagger through his palm.

He growled, eyes widening in surprise, and he hesitated a fraction of a second.

Allie ducked and rolled beneath his outstretched arm.

Her hair leapt into his hand.