Speaking of stooping to the arsehole’s level… “What do you mean by Anka being sexually submissive to Shock?”

Caden slanted him an impatient glance. “C’mon. You’ve been around a lot longer than I have. Certainly you’ve heard of these things.”

“Of course. But I can’t picture it. I know almost nothing about it. I…I’d hoped that you meant something else.” God, he could use that drink now. “For fuck’s sake, I don’t understand why she would want that prick to give her pain. And how would you know about this?”

His brother had the good grace to flush and pretend interest in the wall. “When I lived in Dallas and worked for the paper, I was called out to photograph a murder near a kink club. The guy who owned it was a witness, and we started talking about the crime. Then eventually about other things. I went a time or two until Sabelle brought me here to help you. I was…interested.” He grinned. “There’s something really nice about seeing your red handprint on your mate’s pristine white bum.”

Having never tried such a thing, Lucan had no idea. Sex had been for fun and energy before he met Anka. After her, every other female on the planet had ceased to exist. Lately, it had been a chore necessary to stay alive. Surrogates helped, being either as professional or as romantic as the client wished. He’d tried both approaches. They both made him feel like a sorry shitbag afterward. Like a wizard in his prime whose mate was fucking someone else.

He was ready to do whatever it took to change that.

“I think I need to hear more.”

Caden’s eyes nearly popped with surprise. “You’re sure?”

Lucan sighed. “I can either lose Anka forever to the prick able to give her what she says she needs or I can try to be that man. I love her still. I want to love her always. I may not understand this, but I’d rather be the bastard leaving a handprint on her bum.”

His brother nodded as if impressed. “That’s how I’d look at it, too. I wasn’t sure if you were ready to be that logical.”

“I don’t think I have a choice. Being near her today…” He sucked in a breath, trying to calm himself. Even thoughts of being close to Anka made him hard, almost rabid to have her under him, his cock buried deep inside her, making her his again. “I haven’t felt that alive in three months. I’m not letting her slip away again. How do I learn what I need to know?”

Caden retrieved his mobile phone from his pocket, punched a few buttons, then tucked it away again. A second later, Lucan’s beeped with a text. He fished out the device and stared at the phone number, the country code for America first.

“His name is Mitchell Thorpe. He runs a club named Dominion in Dallas. The smartest, most patient bastard in the world when it comes to BDSM education. When you talk to him, tell him I’m interested in resuming when I can.” He grinned.

Lucan saved the number with a grim expression. Everything was happening so fast, and today had been a complete clusterfuck from start to finish. This morning, he’d all but dry-humped Anka like a dog in heat until he’d smelled Shock all over her and seen the marks he’d left behind. Then Lucan had just been an angry bastard. Tynan’s funeral had completed the buzzkill. And now he needed to talk to this kink master. He shook his head tiredly.

“What time is it there?”

“Dallas is six hours behind us.” Caden glanced at his watch. “So…it’s about noon. Thorpe should be in.”

Indeed. “Thank you. Now go spend time with your mate. I’ve got a phone call to make.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Anka watched Sabelle pace the floor of Bram’s office, staring at the witch she’d once considered her closest friend. They’d barely spoken in three months. She’d missed her friend’s mating to Isdernus Rykard. Sabelle choosing Ice certainly would have been a surprise to all of magickind, who regarded Sabelle somewhat like their princess because of the prominence of her bloodline. Those same people would have considered her mate far beneath her, somewhere between a madman and a punch line. But the more Anka watched her friend with Ice, the more she knew Sabelle had made the right choice for her.

“Your brother will be fine,” Anka said quietly to the other witch.

Ice pressed a cup of tea into Sabelle’s hands. “She’s right, love. It’s a meeting, not a battle.”

Sabelle toyed with one of her long, blond curls and frowned. “I get the feeling it’s both. But I’m glad you didn’t go.”

Sabelle smiled at Ice, and his answering look of devotion stabbed Anka like a knife to the heart. Lucan had once looked at her like that. Now that she’d told him about the way she begged Shock to take control of their sex and give her pain, he’d never look at her that way again. That was why she’d confessed. He couldn’t go on pining for what would never be. But it hurt so badly to know he would feel something between contempt and loathing for her for the rest of their centuries.

“I was better off not going,” Ice said. “Apparently, my underdeveloped ability to keep my mouth shut when my overdeveloped bullshit meter goes off is a liability in politics.”

Sabelle grinned absently while staring at Anka. Bloody hell, she’d forgotten to mask her thoughts.

“Exactly,” Sabelle seemed to say to both of them. “Can you excuse us, Ice?”

Ice glanced between the two of them, green eyes narrowed. “Girl talk, is it? I’m definitely not staying for that, especially if you’re going to talk about Lucan MacTavish. Wanker.”

Anka blinked, stunned, as Ice turned away and left the office, shoulders barely squeezing through the doorway. Despite his huge boots and his even larger frame, he barely made a sound as he trekked across the tile and disappeared up the stairs.

“Why does Ice dislike Lucan?” Anka asked.

“What do you mean you told Lucan that you beg Shock to take control and give you pain?”

Damn Sabelle for reading her thoughts. Anka wanted to tell the other witch that she didn’t have the energy to explain twice in one day, and that it was deeply personal. Would magickind’s sweet princess even understand? Under all that, the truth embarrassed her. Not that Sabelle hadn’t just read every one of her thoughts. “I asked you first.”

Anka sighed. Yes, that sounded very mature.

Sabelle smiled, but the happiness in her expression abruptly died. “Lucan almost died after Mathias broke your mate bond. His mate mourning was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Even Aunt Millie said it was more severe than she’d ever encountered. If you hadn’t healed him when you did, I don’t think he could have lived much longer. He’d nearly gone feral.”

Her heart caught. Anka wanted to believe Lucan grieved her loss that much because he’d genuinely loved her. But he hadn’t known her, not really. He’d missed the façade, the comfort object. The abrupt nature of their torn bond would have added to his distress.

“No,” Sabelle insisted. “He loved you. He still does.”

Not anymore. Anka folded her hands in her lap. “Go on.”

The witch paused, gathering her thoughts, then shook her head. “You must understand… Mourning to that extent depleted his energy very rapidly. All of the Brethren had trained hard the day you were taken. Their tanks were empty, Lucan’s included. After your disappearance, we tried surrogates, but he was so violent that he scared them all away.”

Her breath hitched, and Anka feared where this was going next. She forced herself to ask, “And?”

Sabelle pressed her lips together. “And…I finally stepped in. Of course, this was before I became mated to Ice. We had no idea where you’d gone or even if you were alive. He was slipping away from us. He’d been reduced to something near an animal, with no rational thought left. Only his sense of smell and taste remained. I washed with your soap and shampoo. I wore your clothes. I did everything I could to make him believe that I was you. Eventually, he accepted me.”

Eventually, Lucan had covered Sabelle with his body, sunk his cock inside her, and taken her with the same passion he would his mate. On the one hand, Anka knew she had her friend to thank for Lucan being alive. Sabelle was the kind of selfless person who would put herself at risk to save another.

On the other hand, she had a vivid image of Lucan and Sabelle entwined in bed, Lucan’s fingers in her hair, his body between her long, spread legs, taking her with force and need until she cried out in ecstasy beneath him and took every bit of his seed inside her womb. God, she was going to vomit.

“It wasn’t like that.” Sabelle reached for Anka’s hand in reassurance.

She pulled away. “Are you going to tell me that you never found pleasure with him?”

The other woman hesitated, looked down. “No.”

“Or that he never found pleasure in you?”

“No.” Sabelle looked at her, desperate to explain and helpless. “But Lucan finding pleasure—and more importantly, energy—was the point. If he hadn’t, I would have failed him.”

And heaven forbid the perfect Sabelle Rion Rykard ever fail at anything.

“He would have died!” the beautiful blonde almost pleaded.

Anka felt immediately small and petty for her thought. It might be wrong of her, given her relationship with Shock and that she continued to live with the wizard and share his bed, but she couldn’t help the feelings of impotent upset and jealousy plaguing her. Then her logic kicked in. Lucan was alive because Sabelle had given of herself to help him. She would be mourning her former mate in a completely different way if her friend hadn’t sacrificed to save him.

“I understand.” Anka dragged in a shaky breath. “I’m sure Ice does, too. He’ll eventually let go of his anger.”

“If that were the extent of the situation, perhaps.” Sabelle rose and paced. “You haven’t been here and so much has happened… You’re aware that several members of the Council were murdered?”

Anka frowned, wondering what that had to do with Ice and Lucan. “Of course. Even if I haven’t been here with you, I haven’t been living under a rock, Belle. I know Clifden O’Shea and Thomas MacKinnett were killed.”

“Carlisle Blackbourne knows Mathias was responsible.”

“And he’s done nothing about it?”

Sabelle shrugged. “Well, I suspect he knows that Mathias had them killed. I can’t prove it. And no, Blackbourne did nothing. In fact, he tried to help Mathias win a seat on the Council.”

The idea of a madman making rules that govern magickind sent fear tearing through her bloodstream. “So Blackbourne is either crooked, afraid of Mathias, or both. Bram and Ice have their work cut out for them.”

“They do, but Ice’s election to the Council was by no means easy.”

“I’m sure not, being Deprived and…whatnot.” Anka didn’t mean it as an insult, and hoped that Sabelle wouldn’t take it that way.

“And being considered a lunatic? Of course I know you’re not insulting Ice, dear. He’s a good man and he earned that spot. Tynan, God rest him, slipped into his grandfather’s seat at the time, so Clifden’s vacancy was no issue. MacKinnett had no heirs, however. Bram and the others plotted to fill the seat with someone who would vote with the Doomsday Brethren and give them more sway over the Council decisions.”

“How did Ice get elected? The Council hasn’t seated any member of the Deprived in forever. Bram would have had to sponsor him, and I’m sure your brother would have preferred to get behind someone easier to elect. Someone from a good family. Someone he knows well and can trust. Someone the Council would look favorably upon. Why not Lucan? Because his uncle already sits on the Council?”

“That’s one reason, yes. But for a time, Bram insisted Lucan could still win the others over.”

“So Ice dislikes Lucan because Bram preferred his friend over his sister’s suitor?”

“No.” Sabelle looked decidedly nervous now, hovering near the arm of the sofa, wringing her hands. “Bram insisted that the best way to get Lucan on the Council was to show his good connections and stability.”

“Everything with the Council is about appearances.” Anka rolled her eyes.

“Exactly. Bram insisted that if Lucan became mated to someone of good family who could bolster him, someone whose bloodline was above reproach…”

Everything Anka wasn’t. Someone like… “You?”

Anka choked the question out. But as soon as it left her lips, she knew the answer. Sabelle mating with Lucan would have made him not only an obvious contender for a Council seat, but virtually unbeatable, despite the fact that his uncle occupied another seat.

The pretty witch nodded. “Lucan and I stood ready to speak the words. But I came to him fresh from a night in Ice’s bed, tears covering my face. Lucan called it off before the words were spoken.”