In the Beginning... (28 page)

Cormac still held. “Only thing is, I can’t
kill the author. He’s my new brother-in-law.” Cormac read the words
written on the cheap copy paper. “Dardaptoan bastards. You took my
family from me. Now I have yours. You want them back, meet me
tomorrow at noon. Bring my sisters and my cousins, then we’ll talk
trade. Maybe.” It was followed by an address and a scrawled
signature.

Rand Taniss.

A damned fucking Taniss had his sister and
niece, again. Cormac suppressed a roar of rage. They must be
terrified.

And the bastard had had them
for three days. Three long days when he could have done
anything
to
them.

What is it? What’s
wrong?
His woman’s voice sounded inside his
head, soft and sleepy still. Beautiful. A beautiful damned
Taniss.

What’s wrong?
I’ll tell you what’s wrong! Your damned family has
kidnapped mine!

Really? How do you
know?
The bedroom door opened and she stood
outlined in the door, wearing nothing but a
vestis
that reached her
knees.

This note.
Cormac threw the paper toward her, reminding
himself that she
was not to blame for her
family’s actions. Had never been. But was this Rand one who’d
helped the old bastard hurt so many of the Dardaptoan
people?

She read the note quickly,
her eyes widening. She smiled.
I knew Rand
would find out what happened to us eventually!

Dammit! He’s got my sister!
What if she’s terrified? What if he’s hurt her?
Cormac wrapped one hand around her skinny arm and yanked her
closer, probably more roughly than he should have. She sank to the
couch and looked up at him and Aodhan.

Rand will not hurt either of
them. He’s very protective of women. He won’t even scare them, I
don’t think. The only woman he ever even fights with is Mal.
They’re twins, you know?
Rathan
might scare them, at first.
He’s
even worse than Rand. And he’s
not even blood related.

She didn’t seem upset, or even surprised that
her cousin was behind the kidnapping.

I’ll kill them both!

Her green eyes widened, and
she stood back up quickly.
No you will
not!

They kidnapped my family!

And
you
kidnapped theirs! When does it
stop? Will you reciprocate? Get your damned vengeance? Go after
Rand’s youngest sister? After Em’s? Mine? Is someone out searching
my sister’s dorm right now? What?
She
slapped the note against his chest, then shoved him with both
hands. He didn’t budge even a bit. How could he? He barely felt her
attack.
When is it going to end? How many
more lives will you all ruin before it stops? Enough! Let go of
me!

Cormac dropped his arms from
where he’d slipped them around her waist unconsciously.
Jocelyn…

Just go! That’s the address
of our vacation home. But if you want to get your sister back,
you’ll need a bargaining chip. Or two. Definitely take Mal and Em.
They’ll tell Rand what you want him to hear. And Rand will listen
to
them.

You don’t want me to take you?

No. If I go I can’t
guarantee I won’t try to stay with my family. And I have things I
need to do here.
She looked away from him,
the turmoil she felt clear on her beautiful face.
Just go. And vampire man? If you hurt even one
more member of my family—even Emily's cat—I will find a way to use
all this medical knowledge I’m gaining to rip your throat out.
Through your nose! You got me?

Her eyes blazed green fire when she looked
back at him.

It might be fun to let you try.

Cormac kept his body
language deliberately loose and relaxed. Nonchalant, though he was
the exact opposite. He was not leaving this meeting without his
sister and niece. And without doing some serious damage to the
bastards who’d had the affront to steal them from him in the first
place. That he’d taken their
women first
mattered little to him.

The chopper ride was far too
long for him. He wanted his family back now
.
Wanted Kindara away from these
Taniss bastards where she would be safe from them and the memory of
them forever.

The Taniss vacation home was more of a
compound. High fences, complete with electric barbed wire,
encircled the entire property. Like something within needed hidden,
protected. And it was a huge property; that was abundantly clear
from the air. How had he and Aodhan—responsible for tracking the
Taniss family throughout the past few years—missed this property so
close to Dardano? And why was it so close to Dardano in the first
place?

The chopper lighted on a
landing pad, followed by the others that had accompanied them.
The
Dahr
never
traveled in the same chopper as Cormac or Aodhan. It was a safety
precaution to protect them all. Six choppers, three filled with
guards and the healer Barlaam, in all. Probably overkill, but
Cormac understood what Rydere was thinking.

Rydere’s
Rajni
and Aodhan’s had also made this
journey, and all of the males were willing to do whatever had to be
done to protect them. And a strong showing would tell this Rand
bastard where he now stood in the grander scheme of
things.

The only reason they made this journey at all
was to retrieve Kindara and Jierra. If the rest of the Taniss’s
couldn’t deal with that, well, that was their problems.

Cormac was one of the first ones out of the
chopper. The helipad was in easy walking distance of the manor
house—the large opulent structure couldn’t be called anything
less—and he could see a small group of people standing on the
wraparound porch.

A familiar blonde head stood at the center.
Thank the goddess. She was all right. But where was Jierra?

She saw him, too, and darted around the two
men flanking her to run to him. Within seconds his arms were filled
with his sister. She hadn’t clung to him like that since the death
of her mate twenty-eight years ago.

Had
these Taniss bastards hurt her?

“Kinney?” He brushed her mind quickly, though
he knew his sister could feel him when he did that. Knew that she
hated when he intruded. But he needed to know the truth. “Did they
hurt you?”

She was long in answering, and her mind was
deliberately blocked to him. “No. We will live.”

“Do I needst kill anyone?”
He meant it, too. His female would get over it; if they had hurt
his sister or her daughter, he would
easily
dispatch them.

“No. I just want to get back home.”

“As soon as we can, we will leave. But I
believe we are about to witness a family reunion.”

Male hands settled on his sister’s shoulders
and pulled. Cormac let her go simply to prevent her from being
harmed. His instincts roused when he saw the demon standing there.
A damned demon mixed in with the Tanisses?

Demons had distinct smells
to a
Predatoi
of
Cormac’s training and experience. This one was clearly a purebred
Incubus. He was regal, and easily as big as Cormac. Far older.
Dangerous.

He would prove to be a big challenge,
probably the oldest demon Cormac had ever fought.

Why was there a demon with the Taniss
family?

They were evil, conscienceless beasts fit
only for killing. They originated in the realm of Relaklonos, and
some were rumored to be as powerful as the gods and goddesses of
this world. And this looked to be one of the older ones.

Another male stepped up beside the demon, and
Cormac knew immediately this was the cousin Rand. He looked much
like his twin sister, whom he was embracing. He was tall for a
human—probably only three or four inches shorter than Cormac’s own
six feet eight inches. And lean.

And Lupoiux.

The damned cousin Josey was
so certain would save her and her cousins was a damned fucking dog.
How in blue hells had that
been
missed?

“Inside.” The wolf ordered everyone with a
sweeping hand.

Cormac fought the urge to simply rip the wolf
to shreds. And then the demon who still had hands on Kindara. An
incubus. Touching his sister.

Had the bastard raped her? Fed from her? Was
that why she looked and acted so different? He jerked her away from
the demon, hissing the characteristic Dardaptoan warning sound when
the demon tugged on her other hand.

“I’m not a damned rope. Let go, demon.”
Kindara’s words were fiery and fierce. Hotter than Cormac had heard
from his sister in twenty-eight years. Just what had happened
between her and this demon?

Was this the Rathan that
Jocelyn had said was the sexiest man alive? The man who
preferred
blonde women?
Had he acted on that preference with Jocelyn? Or with his sister?
Dear goddess, what if he’d fed from
both
Jocelyn and Kindara?

The problem of the demon would be solved by
killing him at the first possible opportunity. He would explain it
to Jocelyn by telling her how dangerous demons were, and how she
had probably been victimized by this one for many years without
even knowing it. Conscienceless bastards, all of them.

He’d reserve judgment on the Lupoiux dog
until later. He was too curious as to how a Lupoiux could be mixed
in with the Taniss family and no one realize it. “Wolf. I suggest
you produce my niece before I rip you to shreds.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Cormac kept his eyes on his
sister and the damned demon as they started up the steps into the
house. Something told him the demon had
fed
from his sister. Yet he couldn’t determine how Kindara felt about
that fact.

A squeal had him jerking his attention to a
secondary door near the end of the porch. A young blonde woman ran
down the steps and passed Cormac.

Except for wild curls that almost reached her
waist, she was a carbon copy of his Jocelyn. Only younger.

Kindara watched the girl also, an indulgent
look on her face. “That’s Jade, Josey’s baby sister. She’s one of
the strangest human girls I’ve ever met. But she’s very sweet. And
they are very indulgent with her. She’s already told them no more
kidnapping women. So I think you can skip that part.”

“I see. She looks much like her sister.” He
did the math in his head. The girl was a full-grown woman with
curves to prove it. But she could only be around twenty or
twenty-one.

“Cormac—she’s the one who found the mess you
made of Josey’s home. Who first realized her sister and cousins
were gone. It really hurt her and I don’t think she’s dealt with it
well.”

“What are you saying?”

“Don’t do anything to scare her. She and
Josey are exceptionally close, and she’ll probably be in your life
a lot. It will make it easier on Josey if you don’t frighten her
baby sister.”

Make it easier on Josey.
Cormac took a deep breath as that thought sunk in to his head. It
should
all
be about
making it easier on his female, shouldn’t it?

“I’ll treat her sister as I treat our Jierra.
How is she?”

“Frightened. Very much so.” The demon stayed
at his sister’s side, but she hardly seemed aware of him.
“Cormac—she saw the attack on Josey. I didn’t tell you because I
didn’t want you to worry.”

“She did? How?”

“She was on her balcony with the puppy you’d
given her. The Lupoiux attacked Josey and Jierra tried to go back
and get help. But someone had locked Jierra’s door.

From the inside. She couldn’t get back in and
had to watch. And not help.”

“Did you tell anyone of the locked door?”

“Aodhan knows. He’s looking into it.” Kindara
kept her voice low, though Cormac knew the damned demon heard her
words. “Between the attack and then being kidnapped by a Lupoiux
who was also a Taniss, Ji is extremely frightened. I want to get
her home as soon as possible.”

“We will. I promise you. And I will make sure
she is never harmed again.”

Another promise he would keep no matter what
the cost.

Inside the home Aodhan’s
mate and the girl Jade immediately went into the kitchen area.
Cormac reluctantly let go of his sister and watched as she and
the
Dhan
settled
onto a low-slung couch and began discussing medical care and
Kinney’s research. Jierra was there, quiet in a corner chair.
Cormac hugged her, held her close and whispered his promise to see
she never was hurt again in her ear. She clung to him until her
mother pulled her away.

Cormac followed
Dahr
Rydere, Aodhan,
Barlaam, and the wolf and demon into a dining room. They had much
to discuss. Including the whereabouts of Jocelyn’s
grandfather.

The discussion circled for nearly an hour
before the doors opened and Rydere's and Aodhan’s mates stormed
into the room. Kindara was with them. Cormac had no difficulty
reading the determination on three beautiful feminine faces.

Twenty minutes later, the issues were
resolved, but Cormac was far from happy with the methods. Kindara
had cemented the Dardaptoans claim on Leo Taniss by showing the
man’s grandson exactly what he had done to her.