Amalgamate

Chapter 49

Rowan appeared on Cuan's front lawn, wiped the blood from her nose and headed straight down the cobblestone walkway that lead to the door. And there he was. Cuan stood tall in the frame of the open door, blocking out much of the light from inside with his statuesque form.

"You look..." he paused taking in her new look, "a little different Rowan. Lore world is a tough cross to bare. Is it not?"

Damn his sultry bedroom eyes and collected demeanor! She hated that she was still attracted to him, "Get bent demon. Where is he?" After having almost killed her and then allowing her parents to eavesdrop on their conversation she had no patience for this man. No matter how much she enjoyed kissing him! Simply put, he was an asshole, but a damn good looking one.

"Underground dungeon, steel cage, cuffs...he's pretty much in the worst place you could imagine."

"I think I can imagine worse." Her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, Rowan, that hurts." He smiled at her.

"Just take me to him." Rowan didn't care for his sarcasm and she certainly didn't feel like engaging in a verbal dance with Cuan right now.

"You ready then?" He watched her closely trying to get a read on her, but she'd been working on her poker face, because he got nothin' from her. He'd heard through the lore grapevine that she'd been with Declan, and that'd harden anybody. Fucker could be a cruel, inhumane bastard.

She nodded but said nothing keeping her eyes on him. She'd learned her lesson: listen closely, observe carefully, and trust no one.

"How close do you have to be to read his mind?" Cuan had no idea how it worked for her, but he knew a few things about mind reading. The powerful ones could reportedly pilfer through a mind from miles away, but he'd never met anyone who could. Understanding her abilities would help him understand her powers, and how they could be of use to their side.

"Look, I'm running twenty questions today. Got it?" She walked passed him into the house, never even turning to look at him. He wasn't the big kid on the block anymore. She'd fucked a man who was far more dangerous than Cuan, and he was coming for her like a runaway train, so she had bigger issues than him tonight. She continued forward, walking swiftly. Time was of the essence.

"Just wondering if you needed to be in his cell. Bad day, huh?" Cuan noticed it right away. Her voice and intonation were severe, to the point, and quite frankly she was being pointedly snarky. "In here..." he pointed to a door at the end of the hall.

When he pushed the door open, she saw a narrow, winding staircase that descended into a dark abyss. "The pit of despair." She actually laughed as she said it. She couldn't help it. The staircase reminded her of that movie, 'The Princess Bride', when they'd hauled Wesley into the pit of despair, chained him to a torture table and proceeded to suck years away from his life.

"What?" Cuan heard her, but had no idea what she was talking about or what the hell could possibly be funny about this place.

"Not a comedy lover, huh?" That explained a lot really. Rowan found her petulant mood worsening as she continued downward. She was claustrophobic. Being underground was absolutely torturous for her both mentally and physically.

When she sensed him, she knew exactly how dangerous he was. She'd decided Declan was the most powerful man she'd ever met and probably would meet, so he was the "ten" on her new BAM scale (bad ass men). She started comparing how everyone's power felt to her on a one to ten scale. If Declan was a ten, Munroe was about an eight.

He was already gauging himself for the interrogation which meant he sensed her, too. Little did he know that it didn't matter what he did, she wanted information, and she didn't need his cooperation to get it. All she had to do was invoke the right emotion to trigger the memories, which would create a picture in his mind for her to see.