A Forbidden Taking (20 page)

“Creature will have you. He will. And
when Master is done Creature will have you more.” He extended his claws and
moved closer. “And if Creature does not, then no one will.”

He lunged at her, his claw barely
missing her throat. His laughter rang out and Megan felt chills race along her
spine. He was playing with her. He was actually playing with her. Megan felt
her anger surge and her body react to it. Before she could retaliate and lunge
at him too, she felt a presence in her mind.

“He is strong but stupid. He is
more but he is less. Think. Do not allow him to beat you at his own game.”

“Michael?”
Love washed over
her, through her mind and her heart. His warmth touched her in ways that she’d
never felt with anyone else. Not even with Beau. This love was different and
she was strengthened by it.

Taking a deep breath she stood
still. Her sudden stop seemed to confuse the beast. He stood still as well and
watched her. Megan held out her hands, palms up and fingers wide. Her blade had
been left in the ground, the point in the soft grasses. When her energy began
to build she felt the blade hum even from where it was.

The creature growled and then
started for her. Megan closed her eyes. Her body’s energy began building and
building; power washed over her and through her. When she opened her eyes again
the beast was mere inches from her, his blades outstretched and sinking into
her flesh. When his mouth opened, his breath on her neck, she felt the sword pommel
fit into her hand, heard the sound of steel hitting flesh just as the beast
closed his mouth around her neck.

~~~

Beau watched the beast attack his
mate. He couldn’t move to help her because of his wounds, couldn’t take a
breath for his terror. When the tip of the blade came through the beast’s back
then nearly a foot of it followed Beau tried to stand, his broken legs nearly
healed but still weak. As he stumbled forward Megan took a step back, then another.
The beast stood where he was.

Just as Beau stood up, the beast
staggered back, his hand on his chest where the sword still embedded in him
quivered from the impact. When he dropped to his knees he looked up at Megan
and smiled.

“You cannot kill Creature. Creature
is strong. Creature is big.” His breath swished from his mouth. “You think to
kill Creature when you can’t. I am Creature.”

Blood spat from his mouth. A long
stream of it dripped from his jaws; the blood on his chest slowed as Beau
watched. The beast fell forward onto his bracing hand and laughed out loud. He
held himself up as he pulled the blade free. When it was out he dropped it on
the ground and fell to his side then rolled to his back.

Then something started to change. He
seemed to move. His body shifted and reshaped; his face aligned and became
smooth. He appeared to shrink and remold himself. Soon, sooner than Beau would
have believed, a man lay in his place, the man who was Creature. Michael had
come through.

Michael turned his head and looked
at them. Megan stepped forward, but Beau grabbed her before she could throw
herself onto the man. He didn’t trust that the beast wouldn’t return, that he
hadn’t let Michael come through so that he could lure Megan to him.

“You are right to be wary.” Michael’s
voice was soft. It held pain and wonder. “I cannot hold him for long. You
know…you must do it, my child.”

“I can’t. You can’t ask me to.
Please. You have to fight him, please.” Beau could feel her tears and her pain.
He pulled her body to his and held her.

“I cannot. When he returns, I will
no longer…there will no longer be me. He will win. Even now…he is regenerating…
You look…my sister…you have the look of her. She would be so very proud of you.”
His coughing was getting stronger the blood all but stopped flowing from the
wound in his chest. “You must do this for me. Give me peace.”

Megan fought against his hold and
for a second Beau wanted to let her go, but Michael’s body rippled and shifted.
It was slight, but enough to show that the beast was returning.

“Your name. I would have it before
he kills all that I am.” Michael’s request sounded sorrowful and full of
regret.

Megan turned to look at him. Beau
wanted to tell her no, to tell her that he was dangerous with that information,
but he could see her determination and knew that she had made a decision, the decision
to do as Michael had asked. Beau nodded once.

“Megan Allison
Desjardin. I love you. I will do as you asked.”

Beau
pulled Megan back as Michael closed his eyes. The smile on his face was serene
and sad at the same time. Beau wanted Megan to remember the man this way, but
the beast was returning. His shift was nearly complete when she leaned over and
picked up the blade again.

“Creature
is power. See? He returns. Creature cannot be killed, not by a female, not by
his plaything.”

While
the beast was still forming he got to his knees. Megan gripped the sword and
held it point down as the beast looked at her. Beau stepped back. He knew she
could do this and she would. He had never been prouder of anyone in his life.

“You
fucked with the wrong girl, buddy. Megan is strong. Megan is powerful. And this
female is going to kill your ass.”

Megan
turned away, her back to the beast and her face set. She winked at him, blew
him a kiss, and lifted the blade as she turned. Her body arching, the blade
raising, she twisted around coming full circle. When she faced Beau again he
started forward and stopped when she lifted her hand to him.

Turning
back to the still kneeling beast she gripped the handle again, lifting it
upward until it was in front of her face, the point to the sky, the pommel at
her chin. Beau looked to the beast. She had missed.

~Chapter 23~

Megan
looked at the beast as she held the blade aloft. As Beau moved behind her he
gripped the blade and she laced his fingers with her own. When he pulled the
sword, tried to take it from her, she stilled him.

“Wait.”

The
blood trailing down the body of the blade was at her level now; she could see
it as it made its way from the top. When it was at the same level of her mouth
she reached out and licked the stream off, taking it into her mouth and feeling
the power of it surge through her. She knew the exact moment that Beau felt it
as well; his fingers with hers on the pommel gave to him what she was.

She
watched the beast now. None of them moved, not the beast, not Beau, nor
herself. When a seam of blood appeared on the beast’s throat she knew that her
blade had rang true. As the seam grew wider more blood poured out until the
beast reached up and touched his neck. When he raised his eyes to them he
looked stunned.

Megan
watched as the beast struggled for speech, his mouth opened but he couldn’t form
any words. Blood spilled from his lips as his tongue worked. Then his body went
limp and dropped to the ground, crumpling into a heap. For several seconds his
head was suspended there, seemingly floating in the air, and then it too
dropped and rolled toward them. Megan stopped it with the toe of her shoe. The blank
eyes stared back at her.

“Creature
is no more. Creature is dead,” she told it in a soft voice.

Before
she could turn and be gathered in his arms Beau stiffened. Megan leaned back
into his chest as the first wave washed over her. She knew that Beau was
feeling it too. His body bowed with hers, his arms tight around her.

As
the energy from the body in front of them left the creature it gathered at the
tip of the blade still pointed skyward. As she lifted her head toward it the
blue flame of it raced down the blood and slammed into her and, through her,
into Beau. She cried out, and from what seemed like a great distance, she heard
Beau do the same. It was over in seconds, she knew, but it felt like an
eternity. Her last thought before she dropped to the ground was that they were
going to be crispy critters if no one found them before daylight.

When
she woke she was in a bed, the same she had been in before with Beau. Rising up,
she saw him in a chair next to her. He was watching her, his face pale and
taut.

“Are
you awake this time? Or are you only looking at me? I’d like to see you again,
mon
amour
.”

She
studied him then smiled when she realized that they were both alive. “I’m
awake. Are you alright?”

Instead
of answering her he stood up. When he crawled into the bed with her and pulled
her close she realized that they were both naked and she felt as though she was
safe. He held her so tight it was almost painful, but she wouldn’t have it
another way.

“You
have been sleeping round the clock for three days. They told me that you had
been through an ordeal that I need only wait, but I didn’t believe them. You
are…you are my heart, my life. Please, the next time that you plan to rest for
so long, don’t. I cannot stand it.”

She laid
her hand over his heart and felt it beat beneath her palm. “I’ll remember that
in case I have to kill a powerful beast again. In fact, next time, you can kill
it and I’ll wait for you. I’m probably better at waiting anyway.”

He
growled at her and she laughed. She wasn’t sure she could have been any more
patient than he had. Probably less so. He held her for a little while longer before
he pulled back and looked down at her.

“Dr. Reilly
said that the beast cut you deeply. I didn’t know he’d hurt you until then. He
said that you had lost a great deal of blood, or so he had thought, but he said
that you didn’t show the signs that would indicate that you had. I thought it
was the power that we received, but I didn’t say that to him.”

Megan
remembered the blood on the blade and that she had licked it off. She wasn’t
sure what had made her do that, but she’d known that she needed to. Then when
the blue flame raced down it to her she knew that it was because of it that she
was able to survive whatever had happened when the beast’s and Michael’s power
came to her. She rolled over and sat up on Beau.

“You
weren’t hurt, were you? From the power, I mean. It didn’t hurt you?” She
searched his face, his arms, and chest. “He said that he harmed you. I know you
were hurt, but how?”

“My
legs, he broke them. But they healed quickly because of what we are.” He pulled
her to his chest. “
Mon amour
, we will need to find the vampire who held
the beast. Michael told us that he is creating more of the serum to make more
of the beast.”

Megan
shuddered. The beast, or Creature as he’d called himself. More of him out there
would be a danger not only to others, but to humans as well. Looking up at Beau
she thought about the fight ahead. “I don’t want you hurt. I…I love you, Beau. I
don’t think I could bear it if anything happened to you.” She kissed his chest
over his heart. “I know that we will spend an eternity together and I want to
get a start on that as soon as possible and just hide here.”

He
kissed her and she snuggled closer. If only it were that easy. They did have to
go after Samuel Rome and soon. He would know by now that his beast was dead.
Megan wondered if he knew who killed him as well. Probably. He would be after
them soon if they didn’t go to him and Megan didn’t want the fight brought
here. She sat up and looked down at Beau.

“We
need to go. Soon. I don’t know how long it will take him to get here, but he
already has a three day head start.” She started to rise, but stopped when Beau
pulled her back.

“I
wish to make love with you,
mon amour
. Now, before we leave this room.” He
pulled her over his body and sat up. “I would savor you this night, feed from
you and you me. I need you, Megan Desjardin.”

She
couldn’t speak. Her heart filled with love for him and she couldn’t speak over
the lump in her throat. Leaning in she kissed him; gently and softly, a brush
across his mouth.

When
he rolled her over and settled between her legs she wrapped her legs around his
hips and her arms around his shoulders. Beau took her hands down, put them
above her head, and held them there by lacing his fingers between hers. He
looked into her eyes as he moved his body down hers then up again.

“You
are wet,
oui
? I can smell your
essences.” His cock nudged at her entrance and she felt an answering rush of
heat. “You heat pulls at me, begging me to enter you. Are you ready for me?”

She
surged up to meet his cock. He slipped into her and then out again when he
pulled back. She tried to move up to bring him into her again, but he pulled
back.

“
Non
,
I will savor you. We will go slowly this time. You are always in such a rush.”
He nipped at her chin and she surged up again.

She
ached for him, all of him, and lifted her head enough to lick his throat. He
rocked into her when she lay back.

“Please,
Beau. I beg of you, please.”

He
slid into her again, then out again. It wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. Wrapping
her legs around him again, she pulled him to her when he rocked into her again
and felt him fill her. His groan rumbled along her chest from his. When he
continued to rock deep she met his downward thrust with her own upward one. Soon
they had a rhythm, slow and soft, in and out. Her body was building up; she
could feel her climax coming onto her. But she wanted to feel him come first.