"Run," Dean Lachlan rasped again. "Please, get a...way,"

He sounded so weak, almost like he was dying. The notion caused my heart to lurch down to my stomach.

I couldn't leave him, not like this.

Crouching down, I made to unfastened his ankles from the bottom of the X he was secured to; my hands trembling violently as I fought to undo each tight leather cuff. I choked back a sob when I saw the flesh that was beneath the cuffs; it was raw, bloody, some of the hide ground off; it reminded me of a grotesque friction burn.

I prayed for strength to get him out of here as I stood up right, hoped with everything in me that he would live. Then I noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt. His alabaster skin was covered in a sheen of sweat, his arms stretched up and out on either side, with a single gash down each forearm.

I gasped, horror stricken. How was he still alive?

"Who did this to you?" I whispered the question aloud as I thought it, so I wasn't expecting the response that followed.

"The same monsters that did this to me,"

I jumped at the voice, and turned to see a form slumped over on the floor.

"Nero?" I felt sick. Not him, too.

Cautiously, I came over to him, reaching out, when he lunged forth.

I fell back on my butt, my palms scathing painfully against the rough stone floor. Then I looked up to see Nero snapping and growling, his arms stretched back behind him with thick chains bolted into the wall.

He was just as pale as the Dean; his lavender hair was damp and clung to his forehead and ears. He was shirtless, too, but I couldn't see any wounds on him.

"You should see the look on your face." Nero was panting, eyes wide and fierce. Then, he started laughing. It was maniacal, bone chilling, echoing off every surface in the room. "My God. That look, that terror, makes me so fucking hard."

I got up to sit on my knees, dizzy, hysteria bubbling with each frantic heartbeat. "Nero, what's wrong with you? What happened?"

"Come closer," he paused to swallow audibly. "Let me show you."

"Audrey!"

I was snatched up by a blur and taken to the middle of the room.

Nero growled in frustration on the other side, his chains rattling and clanking harshly. "Damnit, Duke! Give her back!"

Duke's here?

I gazed up to see that Duke was not only in the cave, but he was holding me close, protectively.

"I found her!" He shouted, before cupping my cheek with a cool hand and whispering, "are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

I shook my head, tears spilling unbidden.

Duke's face softened as he pulled me flush against him, gently stroking my hair. "Shh, I'm here now. It's alright, you're safe."

And strangely enough, I did feel safe at that moment. Wrapped in his arms, breathing in his fresh linen scent, everything else just disappeared.

"Thank God,"

I didn't have to look up to know that was Aiden's voice.

"How the hell did she get in here?"

Lucius asked, his footfalls halting.

"You tell me," Duke said, the muscles in his chest pressing against my cheek. "You were the one who was supposed to have the entrance warded."

"It was warded." Lucius snapped back. "No human should have been able to come in."

"Guess that proves it, then," Aiden said with a sigh. "She isn't human."