Unforgiven (The Forbidden Bond 2) (25 page)

Sam shook her head, “Don’t even get me started on Mom. She is so self-absorbed. She’s so focused on the
shame
Dad has brought on the family and her, especially as his mate -
Oh, woe is me
- that she hasn’t even noticed anything is wrong with JR.” Sam imitated their mother perfectly. It was actually kind of creepy.

Okay. This was all bad news but something else was happening here. Nothing and I mean nothing she said explained Sam’s appearance. Not that anything was wrong with how Sam looked. To the contrary, as always Sam was beautiful but she had the look of your average fresh-faced college student. If there was anything Sam never wanted to be it was average.

Brandi took the chance of getting her eyes scratched out, stepping close to her twin and wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. Sam was a bit shocked and her face showed it.

“What’s going on with you, Sam? You alright?”

“I… It’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m just going through some changes.” Sam wriggled out of the embrace and looked down at Brandi, scowl once again in place.

“I’m not good at dealing with emotional bullshit, so you need to get your ass home and help me out. I am not the best person to be counseling a preteen male. If our parents are going to be slackers, we have to step in and look after our brother.”

It was amazing. Sam had never shown anything more than mild interest in JR when he was a baby and as he grew into a rambunctious child, Sam treated like an annoyance she was forced to bear because selling children was illegal.

“I’ll be home later,” Brandi promised.

“Don’t make me hunt you down again,” Sam growled and walked away.

As Brandi hopped into her car she wondered exactly how Sam had “hunted her down.”

Needing some time to herself before heading home to help Sam, she decided to drive out to a piece of property owned by her father outside of town. It was partially wooded and very private. It was the spot she always met with Doc Stevens to work on controlling her fire. Maybe if she let it fly for a while it would help clear her head.

****

Fear that Griffin or Reilly had found her made Tessa jumped when the rap came at the door to her suite. After the altercation at Reilly’s house she had packed her things and left after making a last minute call. The men were both bloody and snarling like wild animals with black-eyes and fangs by the time they tired of beating each other. Griffin’s presence in her mind and Reilly’s proclamation of love were too much. She had to get away.

She crept toward the door and peeked through the peep hole to see the top of her friend’s head.

“It’s only me. They haven’t tracked you down, yet,” Debbie Deidrick teased.

Tessa threw open the door and embraced her partner in crime, being careful not to wake the dark haired baby girl sleeping with her cheek resting on her mother’s shoulder.

“Come in. Take a load off for goodness sake.” She ushered mother and child to a comfortable chair.

“I have to tell you, when I said I needed a place to hide I didn’t expect to find myself in a luxury suite. You may have gone a bit overboard,” Tessa chided.

“Don’t be silly. Nothing but the best is good enough for my family. If it’s the cost you’re worried about, don’t be. Seriously, Mason takes care of everything for our family and gets perturbed if I use my money to buy things for myself. When we bonded, I came with a sizable dowry that Mason refused to accept because he was wealthy in his own right. So all that money is mine to do with what I please. It has been sitting in a bank earning interest for twenty-five years. Mason will never know it’s missing so no one will be able to track you through me. They may suspect that I know where you are but they won’t be able to prove it.”

“No offense intended Debbie, but I never will understand the way you people barter your children for position and power. A dowry? That’s some old world shit right there.”

Debbie just shrugged.

“It’s just how things are. When it’s all you’ve ever known, you don’t expect anything different. The old ways are falling to the wayside now. I will regret trying to hold Chase to the bonding agreement we made with the Vaughns to the end of my days. He had true love without the aid of a bond and we tried to deny him that gift.” Debbie sniffed. Tessa went to hug her again.

“It all worked out. Please stop beating yourself up about it, Deb.” Tessa took the seat across from her.

“I asked to come over for a reason. We have to talk and doing it over the phone would have been wrong. I need you to look into my eyes and see the truth,” she confessed.

“Oh man. This can’t be good. Let me put the baby down so I can get comfortable.” Debbie shuffled into the bedroom.

Tessa looked out over the city outside of her patio door and breathed deeply to dispel her fear. Some things just had to be done. She reminded herself that fear did not equal cowardice. Bravery means doing what needs to be done even when you’re afraid.

Debbie returned and settled in to listen to Tessa’s tale. Debbie sat slack-jawed when Tessa was finished. There was nothing she could say, but Tessa saw belief and acceptance in Debbie’s tear filled, hazel-green eyes.

“Mason is going to kill me,” Debbie sighed.

“Will he know you’re keeping a secret? I really hate asking you to do this but, I don’t trust anyone else. It won’t be forever. When the time comes you will need to tell him everything.”

“That is why I’m not freaking out about that part of it. He’ll know I’m up to something but he won’t know what. Neither of us is telepathic. Our bond helps us feel each other’s emotions and sometimes pain, but we can’t read each other’s minds.” She smiled at the thought of her mate.

“Does that mean you’ll help me?” Tessa was hopeful.

“I will but, I don’t like the implications. I think you should tell me the entire plan so I don’t lay awake at night worrying,” Debbie pleaded.

“Can you accept that you are better off not knowing?” Tessa prayed Debbie would understand.

“You know once you do this you’ll have to go into deep hiding. We’ll have to have your meals delivered. You can’t go out and I won’t be able to visit. If you’re spotted, or Mason follows me here, the jig will be up,” Debbie paced a nervous circle around her chair.

“I’m prepared for that. I won’t take the chance of being seen. I just need you to promise to keep the secret until the time is right.”

Debbie nodded her understanding.

“I’ll make some calls and be back tomorrow with friends.” Debbie did her best to smile. Tessa understood the burden she had just laid on her friend’s heart and mind, but in the end, the lives of the people they both loved were worth the extra weight.

FOURTEEN

Beads of sweat popped out on her brow. Focusing her energy was hard work that still required intense discipline on her part. Brandi couldn’t wait for the day to come that it would all be second nature. She had been meeting Doc in this spot to practice controlling her pyrokinesis for over a year, but today she was alone. She had come a long way from the days when she had to keep spare clothes in her car in case she lost control and flamed out, ending up nude and pissed off. If she lost control of her emotions, her grip on her growing power would slip too. She lost a lot of cute outfits that way.

Brandi had gone from burning up her clothes when the slightest thing upset her, to containing the fire in her hands instead of letting it spread across her body. Then she progressed to a point where she held the heat without allowing actual flames to appear. She went from throwing fireballs with no skill or real aim to forcing waves of angry heat out from her hands. With a lot of practice and encouragement from Doc, she had learned to focus the heat into a controlled beam instead of walls of blistering energy. Her goal was to think about an object and burn it. She could do it to a point, but she had to be really close to the target. If she learned that skill with confidence, she wouldn’t have to worry about harming innocent by-standers if the need to defend herself arose.

The night of Dani’s bonding was the first time Brandi had directed the flames outward instead of trying to contain them within. Since then, she and Doc realized that her power needed to be vented from time to time. She had to be especially careful in times of stress or the pressure would build up and eventually bubble over. After her fight with Grey, and Samantha’s unexpected visit, she needed to let off some steam.

Brandi focused herself on the target she created across the clearing. It was much farther away and a larger target than she had attempted to ignite thus far in her training. She dug down deep into the bottomless pit of flames in her belly and willed to consume the pile of wood.

****

Derek watched Brandi from the tree line. What in the hell was she thinking coming out here to this secluded spot on her own? He wanted to put her over his knee. What if he wasn’t the only one watching her? The situation at The Nest was getting tense. Things were coming to a boiling point and the Master was gearing up for a strike. This was not the time to be out in the wood playing fire starter.

He had watched her for over an hour while she practiced tossing fireballs accurately and sending waves of heat rushing out ahead of her. She concentrated fiercely on a target she created out of a pile of fallen tree limbs at the opposite end of the clearing. Sweat trickled down her face and the deep blue of her eyes slowly bled to the deepest black. He was amazed when the pile began to smoke without Brandi lifting a finger to lob a fireball or send out a heat wave. First it smoldered and sparked until suddenly orange and red flames shot up into the darkening early evening sky.

Brandi was so powerful and so beautiful it made his chest ache with the need to protect her. He knew from experience that he could eventually pay for his attachment to Brandi. The last time he dared to have even a friend outside of The Nest without a purpose set forth by the Master, he paid dearly and so did the girl. She was just a friend whose company he enjoyed and occasionally fed from, but someone had reported his interest in the girl to the Master. So the Master took her to teach Derek a lesson. Even now she was locked in a cell awaiting the Master’s pleasure. It made him sick and he couldn’t decide if it was a good thing she had become one of the Master’s favorite playthings or not.  Would she be better off dead than living to please a monster?

The thought of losing Brandi that way was more than he could bear. Brandi was more than just a girl whose company he enjoyed. She was the only thing he wished for in life, the only person other than his mom that ever been able to breech the walls of defense around his heart and mind. He had resolved time and again to stay away from her. He should let Malibu Ken look out for her safety. He really did try to forget her but before he knew it, he would find himself watching her again. The sight of her was an addiction. The taste of her haunted him constantly. 

Derek didn’t think Brandi knew he was hiding in the woods until the tree concealing him from view burst into flames. His jacket caught fire and he had to execute a classic “Stop, drop and roll.” He didn’t realize the danger he was in until he found himself surrounded by a blistering wall of air that shimmered and undulated like a desert mirage in the distance. Brandi rushed through the trees with her hands up, ready for a strike. With nowhere to go he put up his hands in surrender and prepared for the hit. Brandi walked right through her molten cage and glared at him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She pushed him. The ring around them dissipated. “You scared the shit out of me!”

“I scared you? Jesus, you nearly roasted me. This jacket is toast.” He smiled in spite of himself. Brandi was so damn cute when she was angry. Her hands were propped up on her hips and she glared up at him from eyes of darkest night. His grin just made her even angrier.

“I was keeping an eye on you, Sparky. You shouldn’t be out here alone. What if I had been a bad guy?”

“The last time I checked you were a bad guy.” She smirked.

It stung. He really hoped she would learn to understand his dilemma.

“I’ve never hurt you, Sparky.”

“What do you want, Derek? I asked you to stay away from me. I don’t know why you keep popping up like this. I have Greyson and...”

Derek tried to speak over her. The sound of the other man’s name on her lips pissed him off. “Don’t say his name…”

“And Greyson is all…” she continued.

He spoke over her again. Getting angrier by the second, “I said don’t say his name, Brandi.” He growled.

“And I said
Greyson
is all I need. So you can just…” She was goading him

That was it. He stalked toward her. If she wouldn’t shut that sweet mouth he would do it for her by giving her something far better to do with that sharp little tongue.

“If you’re gonna burn me do it now, Sparky.” He didn’t stop advancing as she backed away, wide-eyed.

“Do it now because I’m about to give you a reason to need more than that old man of yours.”

She just gawked at him with a strange mixture of curiosity, fear and challenge. She retreated until a tree hit her back. Derek caught her around the waist and lifted her to eye level, wedging her between the tree and his body. He used his arm to prevent the rough bark of the tree from rubbing her back. He moved in slowly, giving her the chance to stop him if she wanted to. Brandi looked at his mouth, watching his lips get closer. She licked her lips just before he claimed them. She tasted like warm honey and smelled like a bonfire on a cold night. He leisurely caressed her tongue with his own, searched out every bit of flavor he could capture and doing his best to brand her with his own flavor. No matter what she claimed about her relationship with the ever absent warrior, Brandi responded to Derek and gave him as good as she got. The temptation of her soft warmth pressed against him was sublime.

Derek lowered her slowly to her feet. He was holding on to the last bit of his control by a thread. She clutched at his arms and held him close to her body. He had to get away from her. If he made love to her it would all be over. His whole life, all of the suffering he had endured and inflicted on others would have been in vain. His mother would die and he would live with that guilt forever. If he stayed and Brandi allowed him to take her he would never return to The Nest.