Chapter 1

Pain. Throbbing, dizzying, devastating pain. It pounded through her temples like hordes of demons were riding their flaming beasts through her head. She just wanted it to stop. Gods please! Her mouth was so dry and her lips were chapped, cracking and bleeding. Her heart was thudding as hard as her head. It hurt so badly she couldn't think of anything else.

It was all she could do not to lay back down in the blood-tinged, brackish water that surrounded her and let sleep take her. But she wasn't someone who would give up like that. She wouldn't just lay here and die. She couldn't. She would be missed. She had to have someone who would wonder what happened to her. A woman, her face was sweetly curved, her eyes a bright springtime blue that sparkled when she laughed. She could feel the love that was in those beautiful blue eyes as they looked at her.

Closing her eyes she saw another set of eyes, different, more serious. Those eyes were possessive, as if he owned her, body and soul. She could see the stubborn jut of his jaw and the thick lashes that she'd teased him about before ... Before ... She gritted her teeth at the pain stabbing through her head every time she tried to see his face, to clear up the mystery of who he was. It was right there, hanging just beyond her reach. Always just beyond her fingertips.

Her stomach lurched and she fought to keep it from leaping into her throat, scalding her with bitter acid. Once more, she reached out in the pitch black space around her. Her hand grasped buttery, smooth leather and a satiny material that was just as saturated with the accursed water as she was, as the clothes she wore upon her person were.

The wood was smooth, no footholds to help her to get to the dim light she could see above her. It was so achingly close, teasing her with its freedom.

She'd screamed herself hoarse, fought to climb the wood until she'd split two of her fingernails to the quick. Sitting back down on a small ledge she had found that was just above the water and just large enough for her to balance upon. She clutched her throbbing, bleeding hand against her breast. She felt so hopeless, so devastated. Even the slight heat of her blood couldn't penetrate the chill that was bone deep and stealing away her life.

Her legs were still submerged in the frigid water and so cold she couldn't really feel them anymore. Did anyone even know she was down here? Did anyone even care? She leaned back on the wood that was behind her and reached up to gently assess the wound on the side of her head. Her hands came back wet, not surprising since she was soaked in the frigid water, but this fluid was thicker and looked black when she brought it closer to her face.

Then there was that scent. That awful, metallic, sweet scent. The cloying scent of blood.

It was the blood from a gash in the side of her head. It was where all that sickening dizziness and pain was the worse. She rinsed her hand in the clear, cold water surrounding her and then pressed it against the gash and the bump that was quickly rising below her skin. She was so tired, so, so very tired, though the shivering wasn't hurting her anymore. Her eyes closed and she felt a sense of helplessness. She knew the cold water and wet clothes would sap her strength, finally killing her when she could no longer force herself awake. But she could rest her eyes for a minute. Just a minute to gather strength before trying to escape once more.

She wanted to whisper a silent good-bye to her family, her loved ones, but she couldn't think of anything but the pain. A whimper came from her throat and she brought her knees up, wrapping her arms around them and laid her face against her knees. She started to drift as the shivering began to fade from her memory. Darkness beckoned.

Bryce shook his head. "Dec is there even a serious bone anywhere in your body? I swear, the ladies all think you hung the moon and would give it to them, along with mama's jewels if they could keep your head turned long enough."

The four brothers were a handsome lot, all with dark hair and light eyes, the oldest possessed of a charm that befitted his station in life. He was dominant and took his responsibility seriously, sometimes too seriously.

"Tis true. I think he needs to write down their names upon a scroll to remember who he is to be with. Who was it last eve, baby brother?" The second oldest was almost a carbon copy of the first though slightly leaner and more wiry of muscle. He sat upon his mount, a leg cocked over the saddle horn as they mocked and joked, perched with an unconscious beauty all of his own.

Declan shrugged even as a pink flush stained his cheeks. "You both exaggerate my prowess with the fairer sex." Declan, the youngest, often found that being with his brothers was a trial. A more somber and serious fellow, he found respite in his books and classes with his tutors than being at any of the balls, fetes and soirees.

And, though he'd never tell his brothers, more of the ladies that they thought were interested in him, wished to speak of the Alpha and what he might like as a mate.

"Nice try," Blaise chuckled. "But we do know you better than that. They take even one tiny glance upon your boyish good looks and want to mother you." He glanced up at Bryce. "Do you think they even suckle him?"

Bryce laughed, a deep rich sound that was masculine and commanding. "Perhaps our next time at court we should ask."

"Uh ... No. Could you hear what the Alphas would say if that got back to them?" Declan's eyes changed from their gorgeous amber to almost black and his voice became thicker, deeper. "Please, don't do that to me."

All three of his brothers laughed. "Dec, don't you know by now when these two are trying to harass you? The more you fuss at them, the worse they're going to get." Micah, Declan's twin, gave his two older brothers a sour look. "They're just jealous that you talked Lady Selene into giving you a dance and she took your calling card when they had no such luck."

Declan sank back into his saddle and took a deep breath. He grinned the cocky, arrogant grin that his brothers thought that all the ladies loved.

"Yes, how did you manage that, brother?" Blaise cocked his dark head to the side. "I've seen half the men at court including myself be brought down by that lovely angel. I think she even turned her nose up at Bryce..." He tapped his chin as if in deep thought. "Isn't that true, Bryce? Did she cut the next Alpha off at the balls?"

But Bryce was no longer listening. He rode his gray stallion over deep muddy coach tracks that had swerved toward a wide runoff ditch. "Over here!" he called to his brothers. "Hullo the coach."

When there was no answer, he swung down from his saddle and strode to the side of the ditch, not caring about what the mud and muck were doing to his impeccably shined riding boots. "Hello? Is anyone in there?" He tossed his reins to Micah and tried once more. "Do you need help?"