Tales of the Forbidden (2 page)

* * * *

“Now that’s a girl who’s going to give some guy a run for his money.” Devon Noved stood on the sidewalk, watching the commotion as the girl who’d collided with him was taken away, wondering about her. She had been running from the Compound, and she didn’t appear to be the usual kind of girl they placed in the Compound for marriage, either.

Fingers snapped in his face. He looked up when his friend said, “Hello, Earth to Devon.” He blinked a few times before turning his head to look at Dane Knight.

“What?” Devon snapped.

“We can’t touch that one.” Dane smiled. “She obviously belongs to the Compound.”

Devon kept staring at Dane. At twenty-three, one year younger than Devon, Dane was the characteristic “pretty boy”.

They both stood at six foot even, but where Devon’s eyes were dark brown, Dane’s were transparent blue and his golden hair and boyish charm usually got him anything or anyone he wanted.

Both worked out together at least three times a week, keeping their bodies tight.

Normally there were four of them; the four playboys of Treece. Today, Blaine Cedric and Darius Alistair were missing.

They all dated, or more like went out with anyone who was willing to spend a night in their beds. Rumors even started that they liked to share one girl between all four of them. That one was not true.

They had one rule they all followed to the letter: Never bed virgins. When you did that a lot of commitment issues came into the picture, and they didn’t want or have the time to deal with 13

such things. Upper class saved the good girls for the Compound, so they all went for the lower class or to the brothel house fifty miles east of the border.

They had all enjoyed themselves immensely for years, and then it all came to a crashing halt. Blaine got shipped off by his father, as did Darius, leaving Devon and Dane alone. Devon’s father, as well as Dane’s grandmother, both thought that with two of them gone, they would tame down some.

They were wrong.

Devon and Dane kept partying, enjoying themselves, and wishing it would never end.

The moment when
she
crashed into Devon was a whole new beginning for Devon. Because the playboy life just ended.

“I want to find out who she is,” Devon stated. “Right now.”

“She’s trouble with a capital T,” Dane said. “Didn’t you see that, or better yet, feel it when she knocked us over?”

“Oh, I felt her.” A slow smile spread across Devon’s face. “I definitely felt her…and liked what was there to feel.”

“Oh, no you’re not.” Dane shook his head. “You can’t dump me like this.”

Devon put his arm over Dane’s shoulders. He smiled as he turned to his best friend and started walking again. “Don’t think of it like dumping you. Think of it as time for us to grow up, or me anyway.”

“Devon, she’s trouble.”

“I like trouble,” he reminded his friend.

“You
are
trouble.”

“And I want her, Dane. So get that pretty ass of yours in gear and help me find out everything there is to know about her, including whether she’s going to be at the celebration tomorrow.”

“You’re nuts.”

Devon nodded a big smile across his face. “You know it.

Help me and I’ll owe you big time.”

Dane groaned, rolled his eyes, and sighed, “Fine. Give me an hour and meet me at the restaurant. I’ll get you what you need but, boy, you’re really going to owe me big.”

* * * *

An hour and a half later, Devon sat waiting for Dane, impatiently thumping his fingers on the table and wondering if he 14

was going nuts. He couldn’t get the girl off his mind, just like his body still tingled from the first contact between them. Yeah, she knocked him over trying to get away, but what she didn’t know was that she knocked him over in other ways too. Devon didn’t believe in love at first sight, but he quickly began to change his opinion on that one.

“Do you know how many favors it’s taken me to get this information?” Dane walked up to Devon in Olafini’s, their favorite Italian restaurant. “This one is beyond the normal favor also, which means you owe me huge.”

“Where the hell you been?” Devon snapped. “I’ve been waiting almost two hours for your sorry ass.”

“Touchy.” Dane touched his chest, acted hurt as he slowly sat in the chair. “And to think of all the trouble I went through to get you this information.”

Dane picked up the wine bottle, which sat chilling in ice, and poured himself a glass. Devon sat back in his chair, watching as Dane took a big drink. It was damn hard to stay patient when inside he screamed to know what it was that Dane knew. He was definitely more than ready to go up to the Compound and claim the girl for himself. He just knew she would be the one for him. A perfect match.

“Didn’t you order me anything?” Dane asked, giving Devon a pathetic look.

“Are you going to tell me what you know? Or am I going to have to make a big scene in here and whip your ass.”

Dane sighed. “No lunch then? I’m hungry,” he whined piteously. Devon kicked him under the table. “Ouch! Okay. Fine.

Her name is Kera Zoe. She just got sold to the Compound today.

She’s twenty-one and her father sold her before he bailed out of town.”

“Nice,” Devon said.

“Yeah, well, furthermore, because she’s not from the upper class, at her age she only has the one chance, tomorrow. If there’s no match she’ll be the property of the Compound, and then you can fuck her out of your senses.” Another kick. “Ouch!”

Dane rubbed at his abused shin and glared at Devon. “What the hell was that for?”

“I’m not going to fuck her out of my mind.” Devon sat 15

forward, his eyes on Dane. “I’m going to go to the Compound tonight and I’m going to marry her.”

Having already taken a sip of wine, Dane spit out his drink in Devon’s face. “Are you out of your mind?” Devon picked up the napkin and wiped his face. “Did she hurt you some way I don’t know about when she knocked you on your ass? She’s trouble Devon, don’t you see that?”

“She’s what I want.” Devon sighed.

“This isn’t one of our games, man, you go in there and you come out with someone forever. End of story.”

“I know.”

“You’re crazy, man.”

“Maybe.” Devon picked up his own glass of wine took a sip and grinned. “But you want to know one thing that I discovered today?”

Dane shrugged.

“Since I touched her I feel more alive than I have in months, hell, maybe even years. I want her and only her. And I’m going to get her Dane, even if I have to marry her.”

16

Kera woke slowly, the sun shining in her face, an intense pounding in her head, and a very dry mouth. She felt drugged. In fact, Kera knew she’d been drugged, and the anger that coursed through her helped to push it out of her system so she could wake up and deal with what was to come. She should’ve known they’d put something in her food, if one could consider the shit they served her food. As punishment for running she got the lucky deal of having oatmeal for her three meals. Only intense hunger by dinner time made her eat the shit and this was the result from it. Drugged!

Celebration day. Something she wasn’t looking forward to.

Kera turned on her side in the bed and groaned. Her breakfast rested on a tray, sitting on the nightstand waiting for her. Fresh bowl of oatmeal. Ugh!

Instead of getting out of the bed, she rolled back over and closed her eyes with the intent of going right back to sleep.

Thanks to the damn drug she just didn’t have the energy to get out of bed.

The lock on the door turned. Rough hands pulled her from the bed to stand before the Mistress. Nothing was said. The woman only looked Kera up and down then turned and walked out. Kera made to follow.

With whatever drug was in her body, Kera found it difficult to walk. She couldn’t even focus her eyes on where she was being taken—down one hall, around a corner, and to yet another hall before they stopped in front of a door that was opened for them by two guards. Kera was handed off to a group of girls who helped her inside and onto a massage table with towels on top.

Her clothes removed, her body and hair washed. The Mistress stood off to the side, watching everything being done to 17

Kera. Unfortunately, Kera was still too drugged to resist and fight.

Her legs parted, she was washed inside and out, and then the un-expected happened to her. Her pussy was shaved bare as were her legs and underarms before helped into a warm bubble bath. The water helped to clear her head some, and then her small lunch came, helping to settle her stomach also. This time a sandwich, milk and apple. She ate quickly.

Dressed in nothing but a short cotton robe, Kera left the room with the two guards who seemed to be waiting for her out in the hall. Once more, the Mistress led the way into another room where Kera sat down in a chair for her hair to be fixed.

It was dried and brushed, then curled and pulled back at the sides away from her face. A light coat of makeup went around her eyes only. The whole process took about an hour; however the real shocker came last.

The outfit.

A white string bikini handed to her and a glare from the Mistress told Kera she’d had enough. Fighting right now wasn’t going to accomplish anything due to her still being tired thanks to the damn drug, but she really needed to buy extra time.

Yanking the damn bathing suit from the Mistress’s hands, Kera turned and started to go into a changing room to dress, but a disapproving sound from her captor stopped her.

Well fine! She’d just change in front of her.

Kera opened the robe and let it drop to the floor. As quickly as she could, she dressed in the skimpy thing, tying the strings of the bottoms around her hips and then tying the barely-there top around her neck and torso.

With a snap of her fingers, the Mistress summoned the guards to come back in, take hold of her arms, and drag her from the room. This time she didn’t go back to the bedroom but down the stairs to the first floor.

With each step she took, Kera felt her adrenaline boiling up.

She didn’t want to be here. She needed to figure out a way to get out before something bad happened. She didn’t think she had to worry too much about being picked or kissed. Most of the guys around this damn town that came to the Compound wanted a woman from their class. Kera was poor. That meant she didn’t 18

have much of a chance. So all she really needed to worry about was getting out of the Compound and disappearing.

The Mistress unlocked and opened a door to yet another room. Damned if this place wasn’t full of rooms. One could get lost just looking for the right one.

This room was very different than the others she had seen.

This one only had a small leather loveseat pushed up against the wall, situated directly under the only bar-covered window.

She walked over to the love seat and crawled onto it. Sitting on her knees, she looked out the window. The party was set to start at noon, that much she had heard as she took her bath. It would last all day—or as long as the male clients wanted it to.

From the stories she’d heard during the past few years about the celebration, most of the men who found the “perfect one” tended to go back to their rooms almost immediately. They didn’t waste time in consummating the marriage, consensual or not.

Furthermore, the couple was locked in their room. If a man received a very reluctant bride, she couldn’t run away from him.

Only the next morning were the doors opened and the couple allowed to leave.

As for Kera, she just didn’t know what would be worse, servant to the Compound or servant to a very unwanted husband.

She watched as the cars lined up, quicker than what she would’ve liked to see. At least fifty cars, one after another, turned into the drive and let out a passenger right at the front door. She noticed every man who stepped out of a car wore a smile on his face. To her, it seemed each one seemed very eager to get inside and see the meat which was about to be presented to the market.

Sickening!

Kera was about to turn away from the window, but her gaze ended up landing on the last car to pull up. It stopped right at the door, and a servant came out to open the back door.

A chill raced down her spine as she recognized the man who stepped out. The one she knocked over yesterday.
What the hell
is he doing here?

He was big. Very big! Huge, it seemed.
Now why didn’t I
notice that before?

19

His shoulders were so broad and his arms so thick and muscular. Kera flushed in arousal. She couldn’t see very much of him from this angle, but she saw enough to start praying he wouldn’t be interested in her. Because she couldn’t quite convince herself
she
wasn’t interested in
him
.

Like the rest, he disappeared inside, and the gates closed.

The click of the lock broke the spell, and Kera turned on the loveseat quickly, falling back on her ass. The Mistress once more came into the room, followed by the same two guards who seemed to always follow Kera’s every move.

One guard wrapped his arms tightly around Kera, pinning her arms to her sides and jerked her to her feet. The other took hold of her chin and forced her mouth open. The Mistress came closer, and then Kera saw her holding a small cup of something in her hand.

Kera’s head forced back, the liquid poured down her throat.

Thanks to the one holding her chin and nose, she had no choice but to swallow.

“It’s time,” the Mistress said.

She was taken from the room in the usual fashion, restrained and dragged. This time, instead of going back upstairs they headed to the front of the Compound, passed the grand stairs and toward the back. Other girls stood waiting for their chance to go out. With a nod from the Mistress, a set of double doors opened and bright sunlight streamed in.

The girls headed outside, and Kera was escorted out with them. Once in the sunshine she was released, the doors closed, and the two guards stood back next to them, blocking her from re-entering. After a quick glance at her surroundings, Kera groaned inwardly. She stood outside in a courtyard with not only a large, half-concrete, half-wooden fence but also one hell of a pool.

The pool had a huge water fountain in the middle of it, in-ground hot tubs at each of the four corners, as well as floaters and rafts bobbing randomly around the fountain. Lounge chairs and sofas were scattered everywhere and servants walked around carrying drinks on trays. Two servants tended to a small buffet of food positioned at the far side of the pool.

Kera had heard that kissing was the way for these men to 20

find their perfect bride. Apparently the drink she’d had forced down her throat matched them up. That meant she not only had to fight off any overly amorous advances but kissing as well.

Simple.
Bullshit
!