In the Beginning... (31 page)

I don’t want to lie to
him.
Her eyes were locked on
his.

So don’t.
He stood, lifting her with him. Josey permitted
the embrace for a moment, then slipped her legs down to the
floor.

Emily is pretty determined
to build this lab here.
Josey still wasn’t
sure how she felt about it.
She wants me
and my father to head it. To use a portion of the facilities to
organize a corporate research program. Designed entirely to find
drugs for the Dardaptoan people.

I know. She and the Dahr spoke of it. It is
a worthy pursuit. One I will help you with. But Jocelyn—take note.
I will not be sleeping on the couch again. My place is in the bed
beside my Rajni.

And that is where I will be for the rest of
our life together.

Her father wrapped her in his arms again and
Josey just let him hold her. He represented the security she had
been missing for the last few weeks. With her dad, she knew she
would always be safe. It had always been that way; since as long as
she could remember.

Pity she was an adult now,
and he couldn’t just rush in to fix her problems like he had when
she was a child. He stepped back and looked at her, then
signed.
“Are you happy?”

Josey thought a moment
before signing in return.
“I don’t know. I
am not unhappy.”
How could she tell him the
real truth? That she was more confused now than she had ever
been?

Her father signed another
question.
“Has he hurt you?”

This answer took a bit
longer for her to form.
“Not really. Not
once he decided I was his r-a-j-n-i, that is. Now he is just
smothering.”

Her father looked at her as
he stood just inside the suite he’d been assigned. Josey stared
back. Her hands flew as she signed.
“Daddy?
You already know what a r-a-j-n-i is, don’t you?”

She easily saw the sigh on his lips, the
resignation in the eyes so like her own. He didn’t bother with
signing when he spoke. “Yes. I have. For a while.”

Josey stared at him, before speaking. “You
are one of those things?”

“
L-u-p-o-i-u-x,
yes.”
He spelled the word with strong
movements. Her father was the most fluent in sign of all of her
relatives.
“Sweetheart, I am not like those
who hurt you.

You know that.”

“
They were going to kill me. They were
not going to stop. And you are one of them? How?”

He explained it to her, how he and Rand had
been camping when she was just five, celebrating Rand’s eighth
birthday. Told her how a rogue wolf had gotten into their camp and
bit the both of them before Jason could kill the beast. And he had.
And then later he had become one. He told her how he’d done his
best to protect her and Jade from that world. How he had kept a
close eye on Rand, until his worst fears were realized when Rand
turned sixteen.

It was a lot for her to take
in. Her father hugged her, held her close and Josey just clung to
him. She wouldn’t cry; his presence was a clear sign to her that
the ordeal she’d faced over the last two weeks was over.
He
would see to it that
she got to leave this place if she wanted.

He was another option. Another choice for her
to make. With him there to take her away if she wanted, it was her
choice what she did next.

Josey drew in a deep breath, then spoke
slowly. “I am staying.”

Her father looked at her, brushed a hand
against her hair. His eyes were resigned when he smiled. “I
know.”

His
Rajni
’s mind was quiet, her attention
held close within. Cormac watched her as she moved around the
suite, straightening her ever-growing pile of medical books. She
touched the books a lot, but this time he easily sensed that she
was only partially aware of what she was doing.
Woman, what are you thinking?

Can’t you tell?
Her sarcasm was weak this time.

No.
You are fast building a wall against me. I do not like it.
Come here.

She obeyed and that
surprised him. His Jocelyn
never
did what he ordered. She climbed on the mattress
beside him, folding her legs up beneath her. She rested her chin in
one hand and looked at him.
Well, now
what?

Now what? I don’t understand
what you mean.
Cormac pulled his
vestis
over his head and
flung it toward the laundry bin. His
pardus
followed. Her eyes shut and he
fought a laugh.

He knew she liked looking at
him. He’d caught her taking peeks several times over the last few
weeks. She was already dressed for bed in her own sleeping
garments. Would she protest him sleeping beside her again? He had
meant what he said; his place was beside his
Rajni
, and though he may not act on
the anger he knew existed between them, he would have her close
through the night.
Lie down. Go to
sleep.

Not that easy. Kind of had a
big day today, in case you haven’t noticed!
But once again she obeyed. Her acquiescence had his focus
narrowing on her thoughts further. She pulled the blankets back and
settled onto the pillows. Her eyes stayed on him as he slipped in
beside her.

I know.
But it will get easier to accept these changes. I’ve seen many
changes in my life.

That’s because you’re old as
dirt.
Green eyes blinked at him.
I’m staying. I lied to my father and told him I
belonged here.

You do belong here.
Right
here. With me. Why
must you deny it so?
Cormac might have been
a bastard for it, but he took advantage of her mood and slid his
hands around her waist. Pulled her closer.
You may as well give in to the inevitable.

Maybe I should. Kiss me.

Her hands landed on his shoulders. Her mouth
was within inches of his. Her eyes were clenched shut. A look of
resignation clouded her face.

He would never deny
his
Rajni
his
affection, but…this was not what she wanted. He brushed the softest
of kisses over her lips, then pulled away. He drew her hands off
his shoulders one by one.

Why did you stop? I would have let you!

Exactly. This is not what you want yet.
Sleep, female. Tomorrow you can begin your research anew, with help
from your family. You don’t have to worry tonight.

Really? He’d made it
abundantly clear that he wanted her. That jerk vampire man thought
he was entitled
to her, yet when she
finally gave in, offered him what he so obviously wanted—and she’d
had no trouble seeing the physiological evidence of his arousal—he
told her no. Closed his eyes and just laid there.

He wouldn’t even help her forget.

Jerk.

Gold eyes opened and his
hand buried in her hair.
I won’t ruin our
first time together. It won’t be because you need escape from the
reality you’ve now found yourself in. Our first time together will
be because you feel we belong together.

So now you have principles?
Bully for you!
Josey flopped over, being
careful of the stitches in her abdomen.
That will never happen!

You sure about that?
His hand traced up her spine, then slipped around
her waist. He curled his body protectively around hers. Surrounded
her. Josey tried to forget how that made her feel.

It was a long time before she slept.

He'd found the damned demon sleeping in the
floor outside his sister's door that morning. He hadn't been able
to resist shoving a boot in the bastard's stomach. Only Kindara
opening the door and rescuing the creature had kept the
confrontation from escalating.

Despite her obvious
irritation with the demon, she felt something for him. She flared
when he was around, her temper, her words. Animation hit her like
he hadn't seen in almost thirty years. What was he, as her brother,
supposed to think about that? He'd spent four hundred years
tracking demons and removing them from the Gaian realm. Demons were
conscienceless, wicked creatures that preyed upon the different
Kinds.
Predatoi
such as Cormac, especially with his amount of training, were
supposed to kill demons the instant they met them.

But this demon was
apparently family
to his female. Just like
the two damned dogs he'd brought back on the helicopter.

Still, that didn't mean the demon could take
Cormac's sister from him. It left a disgusting taste in Cormac's
mouth just knowing his sister had been alone with the damned
incubus for three days.

They had to have had sex. But was it
willing?

If it hadn't been, Cormac would easily kill
the demon and damned the consequences. Jocelyn would just have to
understand.

Josey smiled at Rathan when he and Kindara
entered her office. Cormac's sister was obviously irritated, but
her face wasn't as pale as the last time Josey had seen her. And
Rathan walked close at her side. Possessive.

She'd never seen him with a woman in the ten
years she'd known him, she'd never seen him with a date at all. As
sexy as she'd thought him—and who wouldn't, with his dark eyes and
dark hair and strong body—he'd always been so alone.

Now he was attached to Kindara like glue.

"Hello."
Josey signed to Rathan, but her greeting encompassed
both.
"What are you two doing
here?"

Rathan brushed a kiss
against Josey's cheek, then stepped back so she could see his lips.
He was able to
read
her signs, but he couldn't sign in response very well. He
tried, but had yet to master the complex language involved. Or
maybe as a demon, he simply read her mind? Could he do that? Maybe
he'd read her mind and hid it from her throughout the
years?

The books she'd read on the different realms
and Kinds had said demons were deceptive.

"Kindara wishes to get a few more blood
samples from you and your sister. Your father and cousins. Then she
and I are traveling to my home. She will study the medical system
of my world, trying to determine whether our capabilities can
assist the Dardaptoan people."

Josey nodded. Any knowledge
was a step in the right direction. She signed,
"I understand. I will arrange the tests."

Rathan smiled, his demon-wicked smile able to
warm any woman. Josey was no exception. "She has also asked that
you formally take on her research here while she is away. We do not
know how long we shall be in Relaklonos. But she has several
ongoing experiments in the process, along with a healer named
Barlaam. She has asked for you to work with him."

Josey felt honored. This
woman had been
tortured
at her grandfather's hands, yet now she wanted to share her
life's work with Josey? Kindara must be an incredibly strong person
to have faced what she had. Josey didn’t know if she'd have had the
same strength.

She forced air through her vocal cords. The
words deserved to be spoken. To Kindara. "I would be honored to
oversee her research."

Kindara stared at her for a moment, and Josey
stared back for a long time. Then Kindara surprised her by wrapping
her arms around Josey.

Josey hugged the other woman in return, oddly
touched by the gesture.

Her sister was waiting for
her when Josey entered the hotel lobby. Jade looked better, not as
tired has she had the evening before. Josey hugged her again. Jade
was up to something. Josey had no trouble seeing that. Josey signed
her question quickly.
“Do you still think
Barlaam is the one?”

Jade’s expression turned
sly. Calculating. She looked at Josey as she spoke. “I know I am.
And
he
knows it,
too. But he’s playing hard to get.”

“Jade, please…be careful.”
Josey spoke the words slowly. She rarely spoke to her sister, found
it easier to sign what she meant to the younger woman. Jade was
signing before
she
could talk, and Jade was the first person Josey had signed to
without fear or shyness. Her little sister had never judged her,
and sign was the preferred method of communication between them.
“This life is not something you should rush into at
all.”

“Barlaam is who I am meant to be with. I will
be with him.”

Josey had always envied her little sister her
confidence. And her ability to get what she wanted. Jade was a
master manipulator; this was tempered by a genuinely good heart.
Everyone loved Jade.

Barlaam was a good man; Josey had had no
difficulty seeing that about the man. And he was a dedicated
healer. They’d had several long conversations via notebook over the
last few days, and of the Dardaptoans other than Cormac and Jierra,
Josey could honestly say she liked the brother of the king the
best.

But there was no way in hell she would want a
400-plus-year-old vampire for her sister.