A Forbidden Taking (5 page)

“Tell me why you
came here and I’ll think about letting you go. You are in my realm, young lady,
and I run the show, not you.”

She must have
looked confused because he cocked a brow at her. “I’m the master, Aaron MacManus.
You are in my realm and, being so, I am your master. You must obey me above—”

“I obey no one,
least of all a self-proclaimed master.” There was enough scorn in that last
word to tell him what she thought of him.

The man behind
her, Kyle, laughed, but a quick look from the man in front of her had him
turning it into a cough. The woman had no such problems and kept her laughter
going until Aaron cleared his throat.

“Oh, Aaron, you
know as well as I do that you are as impressed as we are. Not many would stand
up to someone of your power or badassness. Let the girl speak and we’ll get to
the bottom of this. Come on, Miss…”

Megan looked at
the woman and realized she was powerful. Not like Aaron, but no less powerful. Megan
turned with the woman, but kept an eye on the Master Dingdong or whatever he
said he was.

“Megan, Megan
Reed. I came…I need a job. But I can only work nights, no daylight at all.
I’m…I have a problem with the sun.”

Megan didn’t know
what others knew about her. She could tell when someone was different, most of
the time she could even tell if they were vampires or werewolves, but nothing
much more than that. Some had a certain scent about them, but it wasn’t
anything she knew to associate with any one type of paranormal.

“Yes, so does my
mate. I’m Madison Dixon, by the way. Come on, let’s get you something to eat
then we’ll talk. You need a job, you say? What can you do?”

“Tend bar, but I
don’t eat. I don’t…I’m not hungry.” Not for food at any rate, she thought. “If
you could tell me whether or not you have an opening I can be on my way.”

Megan walked with the woman. It
occurred to her that she seemed to have little to no choice in the matter. Before
she knew it she was in an office and the door was closed behind them. They were
seated on the big couch and Megan had a glass of blood when Miss Dixion started
to talk.

“I’ve not seen you here before. Tell
me about yourself. How did you hear about Blood Moon?”

Megan looked in the glass in her
hand and shuddered. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the woman who gave it to
her—she didn’t actually—but it was the fact that she had to drink it to
survive. Miss Dixon cleared her throat and had Megan looking up at her.

“I can’t offer you my vein. We
have people who donate themselves. I’m sorry if you don’t like your dinner this
way, but I want to talk to you before I let you go on the patrons of the bar.”

Miss Dixon knew what she was. Megan
didn’t know why that didn’t surprise her, but it did a little bit. She looked
around the office again and realized that she couldn’t…shouldn’t be here.

“I understand. You don’t know me
any more than I know you. Yet you expect me to trust you with a glass of this.”
Megan set the glass on the table in front of her. “I’ll get what I have to
later. And not here.” She stood.

Maddie didn’t move. “I can make
you tell me, but I’d rather not. I can make you drink that, but again, I’d
rather not. Sit down, Megan Reed. We are in the middle of an interview and it’s
considered bad form to leave before I offer you a job.”

There was just enough push in her
voice to make Megan sit. She’d read about it, compulsion, the smut books had
called it. Megan wondered if she could possibly do it as well and fought
against the hold and stood again. She wasn’t sure which of them was more
surprised. “I’m not your slave either. I’m leaving and I’d like to do so
without having to hurt you. It’s been very nice to meet you, but I have things—”

The door opened behind her and
Megan turned to see who it was. The first man she recognized as Kyle Dixon; the
second was the man from the other night, the King Dingdong. The third was an
unknown.

~~~

Beau entered the large office
behind Aaron. He’d only come here to meet up with Kyle and they were going to
go fly together. But the man was so besotted with his mate that he had to go
and “let her know so she didn’t worry” before they left. The young woman in the
office with Maddie startled him.

She was beautiful. She was a
classic beauty, long hair, tall and willowy frame. When she turned to glare at
Aaron he grinned until she turned her eyes on him. Beau felt as if someone had
hit him in the gut. Christ, she had the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen.

Pewter, a polished pewter, stared
back at him. When she turned fully he got a full view of the total picture of
the woman. Her hair was long and blond, a white blond like he’d seen small
children have in the summer when they’d spent their days out of doors. Her skin
was a light golden brown that made him think of the beaches in California and
the women who lay in the sun for hours. However, she didn’t look leathery like
they did, but soft and smooth.

Her nose was small and sloped;
brows dark against her skin arched perfectly over those gorgeous eyes and
stared unblinkingly back at him. Her lips looked lush and full, kissable, he
thought. Like she’d spent the entire night being kissed and begged for more. Before
he could finish his assessment of her she started toward him. A slow, sexy gait
that had his cock jerk in response. When she was standing inches from him he
was surprised when he realized she was a vampire, young but like him.

They stared at one another for
several seconds. Then she leaned close and buried her face in his neck and
inhaled deeply. Beau groaned at the feeling of her breath on his skin, the heat
of her body searing against him. When she started to pull away he instinctively
put his arms around her and pulled her back, leaning in to take his own breath
of her. Ocean and sunshine, sand and tanning lotion, bodies sliding over one
another slick with sweat—these scents and sensations tumbled over his body as
he licked her throat, tasting more of her. When she suddenly jerked back it was
all Beau could do not to growl at her.

“I have to…I have to get out of
here. Now, I have to leave now.” Her voice was breathy and soft, but Beau could
hear her and he stepped in front of her to stop her from leaving.

“No.” He looked at Aaron then at
Kyle and knew that they were as aware as he what this female was to him. It
made him step back, but not out of her way.

“Beau, is she…is Megan your mate?”
Kyle looked at Maddie and before he could deny or agree with her question the
woman moved toward the door again.

“I said no,” Beau thundered, and
struggled to calm his voice. “Sit down,
mademoiselle
.
We must talk about what has happened to us.”

“Us?
I don’t think so. The last time someone licked my neck he turned me into a
monster. Not again, never again, thanks. I’ll be going now and I’d appreciate
it if you would just move the hell away from the door.”

Aaron
moved forward and, with a flick of his wrist, a chair was suddenly behind the
female and she was sitting in it. Beau was impressed and a little pissed at the
same time. She was his mate and he would handle her.

“I
would like a word, if you please? I have to explain to the young…what is your
name,
mademoiselle
, so that I can address you properly?”

The
girl simply glared at him. Beau wanted not to be impressed with her, but he
found it hard to resist her stubbornness. He would deal with her obvious
disobedience in a moment. For now he wanted to set down the rules of their
relationship. He looked at Maddie with a raised brow.

“Oh
no, big boy. You’re on your own here. If you get her name, it’ll be from her,
not me. Sara told me your views on you and your mate.” She sat in the big chair
again and looked ready to watch. “Go ahead, ask her—no, sorry—demand it again.”

“I do
not see the humor in this. She is my mate and there needs to be rules.
Merde!
The sooner she learns her place in my life the better things will be for her.”

Aaron
sat too and the female jumped up from her seat immediately. Beau had only a
moment to look at the master before he was defending his body against her
fists. She was a wildcat and while he may have appreciated this in a woman, not
in his mate. He brought her close to his body to subdue her before she was injured.

When
her tiny fist connected with his nose and her foot his balls he tried to be
calm, but the pain was too much and he grabbed her leg as he fell to the floor.
He hung on even as the pain radiated throughout his body. When a pain exploded
in his head his last thought was he’d made a mistake. This could not be his
mate.

~Chapter 6~

Megan
was furious. The nerve of that man thinking he could just treat her like she
was some small child. And rules! She’d show him rules the next time he tried
that crap on her. But his smell, the way it had called to…she wasn’t going to
think of that right now. She had to find another job and find it quick. She
thought longingly of her car.

It
had been her last touch with her human side. The only thing she’d had left that
she could feel beneath her fingers that had been hers. She did have her
letters, the one from the Board of Medicine, but it had done her little good
after she’d figured out the sun thing. She thought back on those first few
weeks and shuddered.

She’d
had no idea how much time had passed when she woke in that cave. It had
actually been only a week, but she felt as if it had been months. Her body had
ached in ways she’d thought she’d had a bad case of the flu. But somehow she
knew that it was much more than that. Fear had her stay in the cave throughout
the night. Fear of Alfred coming back and fear that he wouldn’t. She didn’t
have any idea where she was and sat watching the opening of the cave for hours.

Toward
dawn she realized that she couldn’t sit there any longer and moved toward the
opening just as the sun was rising. Her body felt tired, beyond tired really,
and she thought she’d take a nap first, but wanted to find someone to help her.
Alfred had kidnapped her and she wanted to get back home.

By
the time she was several yards from the opening, she realized that she was
feeling strange; her body and mind felt heavy and she could hardly keep her
eyes open. And she hurt.

At
first she thought it was her imagination. She’d always tanned easily and
couldn’t understand why she felt as if she was burning. Her belly began to
rebel at the heat and her skin blistered. Megan turned back to the cave just as
large blisters formed on her arms. Running now, she made her way back to the
cave just as the pain became nearly unbearable. Screaming from a mixture of
pain and terror Megan made it inside and fell into a deep sleep as soon as she
was in the darkness. She thought at the time that she had died.

She
woke that night hungry and still blistered. Cautiously, she made her way out
into the darkness and moved toward the lights she could see in the distance. Her
belly rumbled and she was hungrier than she’d ever been. But somehow she didn’t
think she wanted a cheeseburger and fries.

The
sounds were so loud that she felt as though she had to cover her ears, and the
scents? She could smell everything from the sweat on someone’s body to the
smell of vomit in the alley. Her head hurt, as did her eyes and belly, and she knew
that she had to find relief soon or go insane. When she came upon the man in
the alley pissing, she moved up behind him so quickly that, at first, she
didn’t know what to do. Then her fangs had dropped.

Pain
shot through her head and mouth, blood poured from her gums, and she felt as if
her mouth was being ripped apart. When she swiped her tongue over her teeth,
she cut herself with the sharp incisors. But the explosion of taste in her
mouth made her leap at the man before her. She was at his neck with her teeth
deep before she even realized what she was doing. Jerking back from him, blood
poured from her bite and she nearly left him, but the doctor in her made her
grab at his wound to try and stop the bleeding. Hunger tore at her until she’d
had no choice in the matter and leaned down and covered it with her mouth.

Rich
and hot, it poured into her mouth. Her hunger was so great that she continued
to drink greedily long after she should have stopped. When she finally lifted
her head, she knew that she’d killed him. Dropping his body from her lap, Megan
jumped up and backed away until her back hit the wall behind her. She’d killed
a man. It didn’t matter that she didn’t mean to, or that she had no idea what
she’d done. He was dead and she was responsible. She made her way back to the
cave and stayed there for four days hoping that she’d either die of starvation
or that someone would come along and kill her. Megan had never been so
depressed in all her life.

~~~

Sara MacManus was sitting in the
living room when Beau came up from the lair. He didn’t know how he’d ended up
in the master’s home, but was grateful that someone had seen to him when he’d
been hurt.

Beau refused to think he’d done
anything wrong or anything that warranted his mate to treat him like she had.
He’d only been looking out for her best interests. He bristled when he thought
about how everyone had seen her bring him low. He would have to have a word
with his female. Just as soon as he found her that was. Beau was nearly across
the room and out when Sara spoke.