A/N: I thought I'd try something a bit different with this Chapter – rather than being from Feyre's POV (like the rest of the story), this Chapter is third person POV. I'm hoping it adds an extra dimension to the events that are unfolding. After this, the rest of the story will be back to Feyre's POV. Please let me know what you think!

I'm releasing this to celebrate reaching over 2,000 views! My count is currently 2,200+, although I only have 17 reviews. Please review!

Thanks to my Betas – Infernas81 and inuverse.

I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year - all the best for 2018!

Enjoy!

Chapter 10

THIRD PERSON POV

"Elain and I are going to go for a walk," Lucien said to Mor and Azriel.

"Where to?" Mor asked, crossing her arms.

Lucien pointed to his right. "To the copse over there. We'll stay on the edge of it." Mor looked like she wanted to say that it wouldn't be a good idea, and Lucien could see that that was what she was about to say, so he leaned over and whispered, "frankly, I'm fed up of hearing those two constantly arguing and bickering," he gestured to Cassian and Nesta. Mor's expression softened, and she nodded her head, both in understanding, and in agreement to his proposal.

Azriel eyed him suspiciously, and Lucien could feel the Illyrian's gaze bore into him. He knew that Azriel had a soft spot for Elain, but he was determined to win Elain over; after all she was supposed to be his mate.

He walked over to Elain and tentatively touched her arm. "Are you ready to go for our walk?" Elain came out of her internal reverie and nodded, giving him a small smile. Lucien offered his arm, which she accepted, and they meandered in the direction he had pointed out to Mor.

They had been stood at the edge of the copse for about fifteen minutes, not talking, but enjoying each other's closeness when they heard voices approaching. Lucien stiffened, having recognised the voices as belonging to his brothers. He just had time to tell Elain to do everything he told her as he pushed her behind him before they came into view.

"Hello brother," sneered Arian.

"Arian," Lucien responded stiffly.

"What are you doing here?" Eris asked him.

"What's it to you?"

"Come now brother, we saw you and we came to say hello," said Meras, the youngest of the trio.

"You've said hello, now leave," Lucien ordered. The three sons of Autumn laughed at their little brother. Lucien knew that this wasn't going to end well. He reached behind him to grab Elain's hand and winnow them away; unfortunately, the brothers anticipated his actions and reached out and grabbed him as he winnowed. They appeared in a small clearing within the copse, not too far from where they were. Clearly Lucien was unable to winnow all five of them far.

"Tut tut Lucien, why did you try to leave us?" Eris chided.

"Especially when you've not introduced us to your female friend," Arian said, as he tried to get around Lucien to grab at Elain.

A feral snarl came from Lucien as he got ready to defend his Elain, his mate. "Leave her alone!" he ordered them.

Before he had chance to do anything, Eris and Meras had each grabbed one of his arms and Arian grabbed at Elain's hand.

"I hear this isn't just any female, but his mate," Arian said to his brothers as he pulled Elain to his side. She tried to resist, but he pulled her so hard she stumbled, and he took advantage to pull her to his body and put his arms around her.

Lucien tried to get out of their grip, to get to his beloved Elain, but they held him tight as he squirmed, bucked and kicked at them.

"Calm yourself Lucien, we just want to properly meet the female who will become our sister-in-law. We want to welcome her to the family," Arian said with a leering grin. He ran his finger down Elain's face and Lucien was howling and roaring with rage that they dared to touch her.

Tutting at his behaviour towards them, Eris punched Lucien in the nose, and felt great satisfaction as he heard and felt the crack beneath his knuckles. Meras used the opportunity to give Lucien a punch of his own to the face, making contact with his eye socket. Despite being dazed from the blows he'd received Lucien was still fighting to get away from his brothers. He could see Elain trying to get away from Arian, but in her terror she hadn't managed to utter a word, and that made him struggle harder. He was struggling so hard that he didn't see Meras' foot connect with his chest, but he certainly felt the crack and the subsequent pain that came from his ribs and left him winded. He sank down, still trying to pull his arms free, but now he was having difficulty staying in the here-and-now.

A small squeak from Elain seemed to bring Lucien partially back to his senses. "Please leave her alone," he managed to rasp. "Do what you want to me, but let her go. Please." He pleaded.

Eris got down on his knees in front of Lucien, "don't you worry. We're just going to take her for a little walk."

Lucien roared in defiance of this statement, which made his brothers punish him further. They beat him until he couldn't see, think or feel anymore, and before the blackness claimed him he prayed to the Mother that she'd watch over and protect his Elain.

Seeing Lucien unconscious and still being beaten, Elain fought harder. What made her stop was when Meras pulled a knife and tried to remove Lucien's mechanical eye. She managed to whimper a barely audible "no", which bought the attention of all three back to her.

"Let's go for our walk." Eris said to Elain. She shook her head and tried again to pull out of Arian's grasp. Eris gave her an exasperated sigh as he shook his head. Elain didn't see as Meras flipped his knife around and cracked her in the base of the skull with the hilt. The blow didn't knock her out, but it left her dazed and unable to control her limbs. As she began to sink to the floor Arian grabbed her roughly and threw her over his shoulder.

"Throw him by that tree," Arian said, kicking Lucien in the ribs to indicate who he meant.

Eris and Maras dragged Lucien's limp body to the tree, throwing and kicking the debris over him. The four of them then left the clearing.

Elain's wits started coming back to her slowly as she was being carried along. She was so panicked. She knew they were Lucien's brothers, but she didn't know why they would hurt Lucien like they had or take her away from everyone.

As she was being jostled from being carried, she listened to their arguing. As they went along the arguments got louder and more intense.

"NO!" Eris roared, "we're not going to hurt her."

"We won't hurt her…..much," Arian replied.

"I said no," Eris repeated. "We took her to abandon her in the woods, lost, not hurt her."

Elain didn't see the look that passed between Arian and Meras, and clearly neither did Eris, for the next thing Elain knew was Eris shouting in pain. She didn't see as Meras sliced his dagger along the back of Eris' knee, severing his posterior cruciate ligament.

"See you around Eris," Meras laughed, as he and Arian – who was still carrying Elain – left him unable to walk.

They kept walking, Elain not knowing where they were or where they were going. She wanted to talk, to plead with them to let her go. She wanted to say that she wouldn't tell Rhys, Feyre and the others who had taken her; that she had gone for a walk alone and gotten lost, but every time she opened her mouth to talk no sound would come out; her lips unable to form the words she wanted to speak. She was worried about Lucien; she didn't know how badly they'd hurt him – she didn't even know if he was alive.

Fear gripped her; fear for Lucien, fear for herself. What were they planning to do to her that one of them – Eris? – didn't want to participate with? She was so wrapped up in herself that she didn't notice the run-down shack they'd come to.

"Now we're here, let's get to know you a bit better…"

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this from a different perspective. Remember, we'll be back to Feyre's POV from the next Chapter onwards.