Unforgiven (The Forbidden Bond 2) (16 page)

“If either one of you move, I will blow a hole through your chest. No heart, no life, boys. Do you understand?” A husky female voice calmly asked from the doorway.

They both nodded understanding. She collected their guns. “You got your gun ready, B? Don’t hesitate to shoot his ass. He came into your room with a gun.”

B? Her room?

“Sparky, it’s me. This is my friend, Nate. Remember I told you about him?” Derek needed to look up. He needed to see her face but wouldn’t move until he was sure Brandi felt safe.

“You told her about me? Are you trying to get me killed? Shit, Derek!” Nate complained.

“Let them up, Karrie.” Brandi backed up slowly while still holding her gun on Derek to turn on the bedside table lamp.

“You can take the one that seems to know you,
Sparky
, but this bastard has too many hidden weapons for my peace of mind.” Karrie instructed Nate to roll over slowly with his fingers laced behind his head. He did her bidding and she promptly straddled his chest, putting the barrel of her gun directly against his forehead. Brandi rushed to shut the bedroom door.

“Derek?” Nate said.

“Yeah man. I’m sorry about this.”

“I think I’m in love.” Nate smiled up at Karrie, “Do you think this is an odd way to meet your mate? Damn man. This one is really hot. I really think she would kill me, too. Is it sick that that turns me on?”

Karrie tried unsuccessfully not to smile at Nate’s antics. Nate gave her a wide smile in return. “Baby, if you don’t have a man, you do now. And if you do, well, I hope you’re not too attached to the bastard.”

“Please let him up,” Brandi said before turning her attention to Derek.

“Derek, huh? May I point out that you never told me your name? What are you doing here?” Brandi was pacing a hole in the floor. Derek stopped her by wrapping her up in a tight embrace. For the first time since he heard the news about the failed mission, Derek felt as if he could breathe.

“I heard about the attempt on your brother. I knew you had been transported to the Enclave. It scared the shit out of me. I had to see you. I needed to touch you,” he confessed quietly against her ear. Brandi wrapped her arms around his neck, allowing him to bury his face in her hair.

“God, you smell so damn good, Sparky. I haven’t been able to think of anything but you since that night at Candy’s place,” heconfessed.

“I’m fine. I wasn’t anywhere near the action until it was over,” she soothed while stroking the hair at the nape of his neck.

“I’d like to know how you knew I was at the Enclave though?” she asked.

“Yeah. I’d like to know the answer to that question as well,” Karrie piped in,but Derek gave no response to either woman.

“How did you girls know we were coming?” Nate had to know how these girls had gotten the drop on them.

“I’m going to be staying with Brandi for a while. The security around here sucks. I snuck in myself, just to prove a point to her,” Karrie explained.

“The guards have been doing very regular rounds for the past twelve hours. I knew something was coming when the warriors missed the last round. We just sat back and waited for you to creep into our web.”

A noise from the hall alerted Karrie and Nate. They both started giving hand signals to their friends to communicate an approaching threat. Brandi waved them all into the bathroom, but Derek refused to go. He scooped up his gun and stood behind the door waiting. It was just a warrior resuming his rounds. Derek and Nate hadn’t been there long enough for that to have happened unless his contact on the Estate was having trouble. He stood with Brandi at his back and listened to the warrior pass Brandi’s door and continues down the hall without stopping. He would circle back around and then they would have fifteen minutes before the next rounds.

“Let’s get out of here. We have fifteen minutes,” Derek whispered against her ear and hoped she would agree to leave with him. The uniquely warm feminine scent of her crept into his brain, causing his pants to feel way too tight.

To his relief, Brandi nodded and went to free Nate and Karrie from their hiding place in the bathroom, but she stopped and gave him a stern look before opening the door.

“I’m going with you, but I will expect some solid answers to all my questions. If you aren’t willing to talk you should just leave now. Leave now and don’t ever come back. I deserve the same trust I am giving to you.”

She glared at him and dared him to argue with her conditions. Derek knew he could be making the biggest mistake of his life, but he had to take the chance. He needed just a little more time with the woman that haunted all of his waking and sleeping hours. He finally nodded in agreement.

Brandi opened the bathroom door and stood in stunned silence for a moment. Derek leaned around the door see what held her unwavering attention. In the few moments that Derek and Brandi had been listen for danger from the hallway and talking, Nate had talked Karrie straight out of her panties. Only a night light lit the bathroom. The counter was covered with weapons of various types from guns to knives and even what Derek suspected was a garrote. He couldn’t help wondering who that belonged to.

Nate had Karrie nude from the waist down and was pressing her against the opposite wall. Karrie’s long legs were wrapped around Nate’s waist. Her head was thrown back in ecstasy. Nate was whispering soft words of praise against Karrie’s neck while he thrust into her body.  Derek thanked God that Nate had managed to keep his pants on, only lowering them enough to work himself free. Derek did not want to have the image of his friend’s bare ass seared into his memory. The couple didn’t seem to notice they had an audience. Brandi quietly shut the door.

“We may have to wait until after the next round passes before we leave.”

A moan of pure pleasure escaped the bathroom, causing Brandi’s cheeks to heat beautifully with color.

“Or maybe the one after that,” Derek chuckled.

NINE

It was a really bad idea and Brandi knew it. She should have called for security the moment the two men came crashing into her bedroom, but she just couldn’t. He, apparently his name was Derek, had spared her life months ago and had saved her from a forced bonding more recently. He had protected her until she was able to protect herself. There was something different about her dark intruder and Brandi needed to get to the bottom of her obsession with him, once and for all.

Derek had become a distracting shadow that cast its shade over everything in her life. She thought about him constantly and worried for his safety. She knew he worked for the Rogue and she needed to know why. How could a man capable of saving lives, a man capable of risking his life to sneak into her family home just to see if she was safe, be capable of doing the things the Rogue would expect of him? And how could she be so attracted to him after what she and her family had suffered at the hands of the Rogue? The fear in her said, yes, he was capable of really bad things. He had helped to kidnap Dani, after all. Brandi stuffed that thought down. Freaking out wouldn’t help her now. If nothing else, she could prove to herself that he was an evil minion of the Rogue and put him out of her mind. She may even be able to gather some valuable information for the Wrath.

They bobbed and weaved through the corridors and the servant stairway of her home and exiting through a rear delivery door. Brandi followed Derek across the wide expanse of moonlit lawn behind the house. He led Brandi to a wooded area of the Vaughn estate where she had spent many long days romping around as a child. It amazed her that Derek knew exactly where he was going, as if he had been there many times before. They entered the woods with Karrie and Derek’s friend, Nate, bringing up the rear. Nate held Karrie’s hand tightly grasped in his own while he practically dragged her behind him. Karrie was whispering something to the mulish, angry man but, he ignored her.

Brandi had the feeling Nate was serious about the mating business he had been spouting back in her room, in spite of his joking demeanor. Nate stopped and whistled like a bird to get Derek’s attention. A few hand signals passed between the men. Karrie watched the exchange and began shaking her head in denial. Brandi had no idea what they were saying but it was obvious Karrie did and she was not in agreement with the plan they were devising. When Nate turned to stride away, dragging Karrie in his wake, she struggled to free herself. Brandi enjoyed watching Karrie’s performance only because she knew Karrie could easily free herself if she really wanted to be free. Karrie was a warrior, trained the same as any other guy at the Enclave, thanks to her father and brothers. After a few staggering steps Nate halted his forward motion to turn and sweep Karrie’s wriggling body up into his arms.

He said nothing, his hazel green eyes sparkedwith determination and possession. His mouth was a stern line surrounded by a well-trimmed goatee when he lowered his head to claim her mouth. Karrie sagged in Nate’s hold and returned the kiss. When he finally lifted his head, Karrie sighed and followed obediently without being dragged. She turned back to give Brandi a look of apology for leaving her. It was the damnedest thing. It seemed as though the stern, demanding woman had met her match and she knew it. Derek and Brandi both smiled, watching the other couple disappear into the darkness.

****

Derek placed his hand on the small of Brandi’s back to swiftly lead her toward the edge of her family’s property. He had a vehicle waiting a few blocks away from the supposedly secure perimeter wall. It was dark and quiet with stray beams of moonlight filtering down through the trees. When they passed through a clearing, Derek took the time to look down at his willing captive. The tension in her body was palpable and he knew Brandi had every reason to fear him. She had no reason to trust him, for all she knew he was leading her to her death, but she followed him into the night and away from the safety of her family anyway. She trusted him and wanted to hear his side of the story before summarily passing judgment on the life he lived. Not that anything he said to her would matter once she realized that he would never leave the Master’s service as long as his mother was a prisoner.

Brandi looked up at him and the midnight-blue of her eyes reflected the light from the moon that seemed more like a disco ball hanging low in the sky. She was breathtaking. His arms ached to hold her close and feel the warmth of her acceptance.

This was a Brandi he had never had the pleasure of seeing before. Gone were the designer clothes and stiletto heels. Brandi was garbed in an outfit that seemed to fit her more naturally than all the flash she usually wore. She wore a simple pair of jeans, a snug t-shirt that bore the logo of the local college football team and a pair of classic black Vans that made her look at home in her skin. He couldn’t help it; Derek stopped and wrapped his arms around her lush, petite body. He had been dreaming of holding her ever since the night he spent watching over her in Candy’s spare bedroom.

After only a moment’s hesitation, Brandi returned the embrace, going up on tiptoes to tuck her face into the hollow of his throat. Dear God, he wanted this woman. He wanted to taste her, claim her, protect her, but more than that he wanted to be the type of man she would allow to do those things and proudly claim him as her man as well.

“I think this is a bad idea.” Brandi whispered lifting her head, “I’m going back to the house. I can’t… I don’t want to be with you, Derek. I can’t trust you.” Brandi tried to look away but he held her chin in his hand, forcing her to look him in the eye when she lied to him.

“Don’t lie to me, Sparky. I know you feel the pull, the same way I feel it.” Derek smiled weakly. Brandi blushed.

He knew he should let her go, but for just a moment Brandi was in his arms and that had been all he wanted since the first time their eyes locked on each other so many months ago. This may be new for her but he had been tracking her every move and doing everything in his power to protect her from the Master and his machinations ever since he was released from the dungeon after he and Darren had failed to capture Danielle. Unable to stop himself from brushing his lips against hers lightly, barely a whisper of contact before placing one of her hands on his shoulder and taking the other hand in his own to led her in the first strands of a waltz only he could hear. Derek loved to dance. His mother taught him that any man worth his salt could woo a woman on the dance floor. But that was a long time ago.

“There isn’t any music,” Brandi whispered with a sheepish smile.

Brandi was also an accomplished dancer. He had watched her dance at several formal functions. She was trying not to enjoy the dance and failing. He spun her in a turn at the end of the clearing and pulled her a little closer to his chest for the return trip.

Derek looked into her exquisite, upturned face and the slow shift in his chest that had been occurring every time he saw Brandi finally snapped. She made him want more and she made him dream of the impossible. He had to acknowledge the feel he was experiencing for the first time in his life. He was falling for Brandi. It was time she recognized her attraction to him also.

He knew all about her surfer boyfriend and all of the Wrath guard’s heroics but he also knew Brandi was curious about him too. It was odd that when her
hero
accompanied her to the various balls and charity functions he acted like more of a bodyguard. He never dance with her or making the social rounds. In his opinion if Malibu Ken was doing his job, Brandi wouldn’t be thinking about other guys. She wouldn’t have followed him blindly into the unknown. Yes, she was very curious and Derek would use that curiosity to keep her with him for as long as possible.

“There is music if you listen,” he finally replied. “Do you hear the wind rustling the leaves in the trees, the branches swaying to the beat of the night? I hear the flapping of wings, an owl singing us a song and the distant hum of passing cars. Can’t you hear my heart thudding, trying to catch up with yours?”