In the Beginning... (46 page)

Rajnis. If we act quickly maybe we can cut
the bastards off somehow.”

Mallory waited for him. She hadn’t intended
to, but worry for Jierra and her mother had her unable to sleep.
Who had taken them? Other Dardaptoans? Those wolf creatures like
those that attacked Josey? Something else? Just how dangerous was
living amongst these people? Were kidnappings the norm? Was that
why no one had bothered to bat an eye when Aodhan and Theo had
brought her and Mickey into the hotel?

Exhaustion radiated from him. And defeat.
They hadn’t found them, then. Mallory pushed the covers back and
sat up. He jerked, startled. “I didn’t know you were still
awake.”

“I was worried. Anything?”

“Two sets of footprints, obviously male. The
abandoned car. We think they took them in opposite directions.”

“I’m sorry. I was hoping…do you think you
will find them?”

“I don’t know. We’ve had healers kidnapped
before and never return. Theo’s aunt disappeared a week after his
mother died. We think Lupoiux took her. That was over fifty years
ago. No signs of her.”

“You don’t think my Grandfather has anything
to do with this, do you?” Mallory hadn’t wanted to ask the
question, but the thought had plagued her for hours. What if her
Grandfather had taken Kindara and Jierra? What would that mean for
all of them now?

“I hope to three hells not.
I don’t think Kindara could handle it.” He pulled his
vestis
over his head and
tossed it toward the bathroom. His
pardus
followed. Mal forced herself to
not look down. His body was large and toned and strong. He was
really a beautiful man, almost perfectly formed. She wanted to
touch him, to run her fingers along his shoulder blades and down
the muscles of his chest. Every part of him was designed for speed
or strength. Beautiful. “I have men searching the hills. If they
are still nearby, we’ll find them. I’m going to rest for a few
hours, then I’m joining the teams. I only came back to speak
with

Theo. To see if he could get any
vision.”

Mallory still wasn’t sure she believed in
precognition, but Mickey seemed to believe in Theo’s abilities.
“And did he?”

“Only that there is clear
danger to both Kindara and her daughter, but the danger is not from
the same sources.” He sank onto the bed beside her, then stretched
out beneath the blankets. Mallory scooted over quickly.
She knew she touched him while they slept side by
side, but it was different when they were in bed and awake. “Cormac
is furious, of course. And terrified. They are the closest family
he has, and he will stop at nothing to find them. I just hope we
find them quickly before any more traumas can be inflected upon
them. They have suffered so horribly.”

“What do you mean?’

He hesitated. “Forget I said anything. It is
unimportant. All that matters is finding them quickly.”

“Why do you not want to tell me?”

His sigh startled her. He flipped on his
side to face her, then laced a hand through the hair that hung
loose to her shoulders. “Kindara was held captive by your
grandfather, kitten. And Jierra was born in his laboratory. It has
left scars upon both of them. If they are his victims again, I am
not certain that Kindara will be able to survive again. She still
bears the scars from his torture.”

Mallory swallowed the bile that rose at his
words. He was quiet and sincere and she knew he meant it. Her
grandfather had done what he was accused of, and these Dardaptoan
people were still dealing with the consequences of the old
bastard’s actions. “Why don’t you just find him and kill him?”

Aodhan’s eyes widened. “You can say that so
easily?”

“Yes. He’s a monster; my entire family knows
it. When…when I was attacked, he told me it was my fault for being
there in the first place. The man who did it was angry at my
grandfather for firing him.”

Aodhan’s curse was harsh, but his hands
gentle when he pulled her against him. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I took
you, hurt you, scared you. All of it. I shouldn’t have done it. I
know I shouldn’t have. But…I can’t regret it. I can’t regret
finding you. I know it’s weak of me, but I cannot help it. You were
meant for me, and the Goddess in her infinite wisdom knew it at the
moment of my birth. How can I deny what a Goddess did?”

Mallory dropped her head to his chest. “I
don’t know. Do I believe you think this is real? Yes. But…”

“But?”

“I’m scared! This is too damned much!”

“I’m tired of you saying that! You are not a
coward!” His hands tightened on her arms and he shook her slightly.
“Just what exactly are you afraid of? Me? Haven’t I proven to you
that I will never hurt you? My people? They will respect you
because of who you are to me, first, and later because of who you
are to them! So what then? The choices are yours, Mallory. You hold
both of our futures in your hands. I suggest you open your eyes and
make a decision soon.”

Just like
that
? He expected her to make a life
decision just like that? Mallory was still stewing over the jerk’s
ultimatum two days later. They’d spoken to each other very little
since he’d flopped over and ignored her for the rest of the
night.

It had felt different,
having him turn away from her. She’d missed his warmth. And his
arms around her. He hadn’t touched her since. He had barely spoken
to her. She tried to tell herself it was because he was busy
heading the search for Kindara and her daughter. But she knew the
truth
he was hurting.

Because of her.

What was she supposed to do about that? Did
she even want to do anything about it?

Dammit, she sucked at relationships! Even
before the attack when she was twenty-one she’d struggled to
understand the whole guy-girl dichotomy. Add in that the guy in
this relationship was responsible for one of the biggest changes in
her life and was it any wonder she was so damned confused?

She kicked at a loose stone in the center of
the decorative path leading around the front of the resort, cursing
it the way she wanted to light into him. She hated this, hated
being completely out of control of her life. She kicked another
stone, then another, wanting nothing more than to release all of
her pent up frustration. What in the hell was she supposed to
do?

Give in placidly and accept this new
everything he’d surrounded her with? Go along with it because her
sister and her cousins apparently didn’t have the sexual hang-ups
she did?

She’d caught her sister in a hot kiss with
Theo that morning. Her sister’s hands had been in the man’s pants
and his hands had been just as busy. Her sister, who’d never been
with a man before, had been pawing at Theo like she was
starving.

It hadn’t looked much different from what
she’d seen Emily doing with Rydere.

Even Josey had softened toward Cormac,
becoming almost protective of him since his sister’s disappearance.
No, only Mallory was the hold-out on accepting this otherness he’d
forced on her.

The odd one out, again.

She dropped to a bench just outside the
portico, her thoughts more on the man then the people around her.
She was getting accustomed to the guards who stood watching her
every move. They weren’t much different than the security officers
her brother and uncle insisted surround the Taniss family. She was
even getting used to the stares of the other Dardaptoans when she
passed.

She knew why. They all knew she was a
Taniss, and Taniss was synonymous with evil.

Grandfather was evil; she knew that. Had
known it for years, so why did the perfidy of his actions still
surprise her?

Because it went against all of the
principals her parents had instilled in her. Hurting others was
wrong. Period. Yet Grandfather had hurt so many. His actions had
led to her being raped. His actions had led to her being kidnapped.
When would she stop paying for the things her grandfather had
done?

She hated this. Hated being forced into
anything, and with Mickey and Emily wanting to stay in Dardanos,
that was exactly how she felt. Helpless and defeated.

She straightened.

She was neither of those things, and it was
time she stopped acting like it.

The choice was hers
her family would not force her to stay here after
the lab was built; all she had to do was tell the rest of the
family that she wanted out, and nothing would stop them from seeing
she got what she needed. And he had told her that the decision was
hers. She just had to decide what it was she actually
wanted.

So what were her options? She could stay
long enough to get the lab running, which with the way the Taniss
family moved, would be around nine months to a year. She could stay
and run the lab indefinitely, surrounded by Dardaptoans, who would
constantly remind her of Aodhan and the changes he’d forced upon
her. Or she could somehow go home, surround herself with the rest
of her family and attempt to rebuild her life. Without having much
contact with Emily or Mickey through the years.

That last option was not one she could ever
consider. Her sister and cousin were her best friends. She loved
them so much she’d be willing to stay with the Devil himself if
that was what it took to keep the relationships she had.

So she was staying. At least for a little
while. Mallory closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of
mountain air that surrounded the city and resort. She would stay
and get the lab running, keep an eye on her sister and cousins,
then when the time came, she’d return to the rest of her family.
Maybe by then, she’ll have gotten a handle on what being Dardaptoan
meant.

The only uncertainty that remained in her
mind was how she would deal with Aodhan.

What did she want from him over the next few
months?

They couldn’t continue sharing a suite, a
bed. More. Was she also going to be cursed with always needing to
feed from him? She thought she’d needed to since yesterday morning,
but he’d been so scarce that it hadn’t been an option for her. Was
he doing it deliberately? Keeping from her so that she would need
him more?

The note that had been
delivered to his suite would really screw up his plans for
his
Rajni
. But what
other option did they have? He turned toward Cormac, deliberately
ignoring the other man’s
Rajni
. “We have no other options at
this point. We cannot kill the bastard, much as I am sure it is
wished. Not now.

And especially not by my
hand. I am already having difficulties with my
Rajni
.”
“No.
Don’t suppose you can.”

Cormac was only half
listening to him, and Aodhan suspected the little deaf
Rajni
was giving his
mind-reading friend all kinds of hell inside their private
communication path. What would it be like to speak with your
Rajni
so
intimately?

“She says take your
Rajni
and Rydere’s. Says
he’ll listen to them. Especially yours.”

“Well, hells. I don’t exactly like the idea
of her returning to her family for any reason. Chances are good
she’ll try to stay.” And how could he stop her?

“She still reticent?”

“With good reason.” Aodhan ran through
possible strategies. “What do we know about this bastard?”

Cormac frowned when his
female smacked him with the note from her cousin, then pushed him.
Spirited, these Taniss females. “Oldest grandson, son of Mitchell
Taniss. Head of Security for all of the Taniss Industries holdings.
Holds an MBA in Business, I think. Other than that, not much. He
stays out of the limelight as much as possible, but is in every
photograph we’ve gotten of your
Rajni
and Rydere’s. From what I
understand, he sticks pretty close to them.”

So this bastard was pretty close to Mallory.
Exactly what Aodhan had expected.

He’d need to reevaluate his strategy where
his female was concerned. Rather than being gentle and kind, maybe
he should just tell her the way things were going to be between
them? Inform her that she was his and was staying right there
beside him forever?

As he left Cormac’s suite and returned to
his own he played that idea over in his mind. He had to discard it.
He couldn’t force anything on her, ever again. He just
couldn’t.

She was pacing around the suite when he
entered, dressed in nothing but a large human t-shirt and short
shorts. The shorts rested on her thighs and teased him with what
lay beneath. “What’s happened?”

He handed her the note. “We’ve found them.
In a manner of speaking.”

She read the note aloud. “‘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. Rand Taniss.’ Oh, no he didn’t! I’ll kill him,
myself!”

That was not the reaction he was expecting.
“Excuse me? I thought you’d be thrilled. This could be your way
home and all.”

“Don’t be stupid! Rand knows better than
this.”

“So do you think Kindara and her daughter
are safe?”

“Of course they are. Rand wouldn’t actually
hurt them. He’s very protective of women in general. Always has
been overprotective of Mickey, Cass, Becca, Jade, and Josey,
especially. Me and Em, to some extent. I think it has something to
do with our mother and Em’s mother both dying and our fathers being
so busy. Rand took it upon himself to keep us safe. Especially
after we turned ten.”