"It was a mistake," she murmured.
A grin broke out across Sabelle's face. "Not at all. A mating between you two would be brilliant. I've long worried Duke was too disconnected from everyone, everything. He's never shown a preference for one female over another. Until you."
Felicia's heart stopped. Shock and Lucan--and now Sabelle--all seemed to think she belonged with Hurstgrove. Was his urge to protect her rooted in more than merely keeping Mathias from gaining the upper hand against magickind? Had his kiss been more than his playboy tendencies coming out to play or his need for a snack?
"Anything romantic between us is impossible."
"Is it? You need protection. And Duke would give his life for you."
He would; Felicia knew that. Already he'd risked much to keep her alive: his family, a scandal, and now his magical bachelorhood. "That makes no sense. He barely knows me."
Sabelle sent her a long look. "If he kissed you, he knows more than you think."
Duke tried to focus on the conversation around him, but he could only think of Felicia.
In twenty-four hours, she'd been threatened by Mathias, abducted from her wedding, kissed soundly by her fiance's brother, introduced to magickind, then told to mate with a wizard she barely knew. It was more than anyone should have to deal with so quickly; enough to shake even the hardiest of souls. Yet she'd taken it all in stride, proving again she was a strong, amazing woman.
He wished he could say he'd handled the situation as well. In those same few hours, he'd pried her from the man she loved and kissed her soundly ... mostly against her will. Shock's suggestion that she could hide by mating had secretly thrilled him. The need to Call to her coursed through him, crowding out all else. Even now, his hands shook as he suppressed the urge to take Felicia to his bed and make love to her until she admitted that she wanted him even half as much as he craved her.
But that could never happen.
Duke raked a hand through his hair. If he gave in to his urge to claim Felicia, Mason would hate him forever. He recalled sunny days of riding bikes with his brother, the two of them watching cartoons and sharing pranks. The thought of his younger brother hating him for the rest of his days chafed. If he took Felicia as his own, his mother might never speak to him again. He'd loathe his own disloyalty. But his only other choice was to reject the woman intended to be his mate. Which would leave her unprotected. Eventually, she'd marry Mason, and Duke would have nothing left but centuries of loneliness. Fucking no-win situation.
"Are you listening to me?" Bram snapped.
Duke blinked, looked over at the Doomsday Brethren's leader, and grimaced.
"Sorry."
"Once Felicia is mated, rescuing Tynan must be our first priority." Bram's booming voice jarred Duke from his thoughts. "Marrok, what strategy did you and the others devise for extracting Tynan from Mathias?"
As Marrok outlined his plan to lure Mathias out of hiding using the Doomsday Diary as bait, Duke's thoughts strayed again to Felicia.
Once they'd spoken their vows, how would he ever keep his hands off her? He'd spent less than two days with her, and already she burned in his blood like a fever.
"Fine," Bram said. "That's the best plan we have for now, though there are a lot of holes."
"Aye," Marrok concurred. "Until we find the lout's location, we must leave more to chance than I like. Methinks we will reconsider much once we know in which hole he hides."
Bram nodded, then sighed. "We need a plan to contain Mathias. Since the Council finally gave us--and no one else--license to kill the bastard, we'd best keep trying."
"It's as if Mathias knows all our plans, even those we don't share with Shock," Ice pointed out. "Because he's the Council elder, that fucker Carlisle Blackbourne insists on hearing the Doomsday Brethren's every move. He's been known to associate with Mathias in the past ..."
"Indeed," Caden drawled. "I don't believe for a moment that Blackbourne repudiated him. I have no doubt our corrupt Council leader and Mathias are still as thick as thieves."
All this talking did nothing to keep Felicia safe. Duke spit out a nasty curse, and every stare in the room turned to him in surprise.
"Wish to share something now that you're back with us?" Bram glared at him impatiently.
"Blackbourne is a reptile. No one questions that. Why are we discussing it? Let's solidify a plan to kill Mathias. Now. I grow tired of him terrorizing magickind and threatening all we hold dear."
"If you have the solution to our problem, do tell," Bram spat.
Duke didn't give a shit about his mood. "If we're going to lure him out, why not make it to his doom?"
"Perfect. Any ideas on how we can actually kill a wizard who's already risen from the grave? I doubt traditional means will do it."
As much as Duke hated it, Bram made a good point. This conversation wasn't new to the Doomsday Brethren. Truth was, since Mathias had obviously employed some frighteningly dark magic to cheat death, they didn't know exactly how to vanquish him.
That fact had never disturbed Duke half as much as it did right now.
"We haven't yet tried skewering him on a sword covered in Ice's blood." He referenced Ice's fight with Mathias for a Council seat a few weeks prior. "If Ice is incorruptible, then his blood should be poison to Mathias and--"
"And if we can make Mathias stand still whilst we stab him with such a sword, we will. But that isn't really your problem with this discussion. You're worried about Felicia."
Duke raked a hand through his hair. He wasn't behaving like a warrior, and Bram had called him on it. They were supposed to be working toward a common goal, and suddenly, he'd developed his own agenda. "Sorry."
Bram eyed him carefully. "You sense that Felicia is your mate, yes?"
God, why didn't Bram simply ask him to give himself a lobotomy. That would be no harder than admitting he needed his brother's fiancee more than he needed to see his next sunrise. He'd become so bloody transparent.
Feeling the weight of all those gazes, he closed his eyes. "It's irrelevant."
"Clearly not. I understand that being near Felicia and not claiming her, especially when she's in so much danger, is difficult. But your misery will end soon."
No, making Felicia his while knowing that, in her heart, she belonged to Mason, would increase his misery a hundredfold. Somehow, Bram had failed to grasp the situation, or chose not to.
"It will destroy my family."
Bram sent him an apologetic shrug. "Nothing about this war has been easy for any of us."
They'd all made sacrifices. And would continue to.
Lucan sighed. "What time do we leave tonight?"
"Midnight, perhaps. That depends on when our 'information' about the diary's new location reaches Mathias. I've put in a summons for a few wizards who might pass along the word. Should have asked Shock whilst he was here. Now he's not answering."