by Kiki Howell
It still stung, how they'd given into their families blackmail and intimidation to keep them apart. She'd not been good enough for him, the daughter of his father's secretary slash personal assistant. Though, as she'd pointed out, Allanah's mother had done far more than that and had been paid excessively more than her job description required because of it. And according to Allanah, her mother had been just as insistent that her daughter would not get mixed up with such a family when not within earshot of anyone in the Byrne family.
The whole thing hadn't made a lot of sense, but with two families united in determination, him forced to stay and work for his, and her sent to another country to study fashion, strings he knew his father pulled and financed, they hadn't had a whole lot of say in the matter save running away penniless, which in the past decade had become a fantasy of his, too; to imagine how such a scenario could have gone for them. Maybe they'd have gone to the Caribbean, learned to bartend in a hut on a beach. He could have fished. She could have still made clothes, sold them. They wouldn't have needed much to survive. Only issue would have been his father hunting for him, forcing him back into the business through magical means unimaginable to the average human. Or, they could have disappeared, changed their looks. Hell, he'd give it all up, the money, the house, worked flipping hamburgers, to have been with her if he could have ensured her safety from the devil he'd called dad.
It all boiled over in his mind, the years of drowning under the dark cloud of his family. He'd wanted so many times to leave them behind and go to her, but they'd have come for him and ruined her. These facts remained unchanged. He knew all too well. There would have been nowhere for them to hide, not with the demon his father had placed within him shortly after she'd left always ready to tell, to expose, and to ruin him at his father's whim. He'd loved her enough to protect her from their wrath, the only thing that had made him go along with his families wishes. If you disobeyed, you paid the highest price, one usually beyond even his diabolically inspired imagination.
"It's widely known, now, that my father liked to throw gargantuan amounts of money into furthering his political agenda," he went on just to stop the train wreck of thoughts he had spiraled uncontrollably into. "He cut vital programs, stripped hard-working people of their mere middle class status, relegating them to struggling destitute. He literally funded nonsensical hysteria to further his own sick and demented desires, lining his own pocket, basically, screw his fellow man. My grandfather had been the same way, but given he'd started the company, earned his initial income in whiskey, he'd kept his downfalls hidden better. But, I have a choice now. I can continue to live that legacy or I can begin the lengthy, and often excruciating uphill battle to become my own person, whoever the hell that is."
"I'm sorry," she said genuinely, strength still in her voice, not backing down from the fire that had spewed forth in his tone during his speech.
It wasn't the shady business deals or the funding of untoward politics, unfortunately. He'd been left a legacy of magick, too, that ran through his veins, dating back generations, misused destructively for gain as well as allegiance. It slithered through him even at this moment. His skin flushed while muscles and veins strained under his crawling skin. Adrenaline rushed through his body as he tried in a jittery desperation to clamp down the desire for chaos and violence, to take this woman in the brutish manner his demon wanted to. Yet, he wouldn't let it win. He fought this battle daily, but with her here his body trembled uncontrollably as he vowed to the beast within to rip himself to shreds before he'd let that thing control him around her.
Allanah will never know your true darkness, he promised himself even as he warned the demon squirming inside him, delighted with the rush of turbulent emotions warring in him.
While he had gone along as a child, even as a young man, with his father and brothers, by the time he'd become a man in his own right, his family's ways had not been so ingrained in him he couldn't change. Yet, he'd known no way around the demon failsafe his father had planted inside him. Still, over a decade later, a sickness stormed within him daily that somewhere in him a better man lurked, one worthy of Allanah. At the age of thirty-two now, nearly thirty-three, his father's friends and associates looked to him and his brothers. The politicians swarmed at his doors for money. The coven hissed about him taking his father's place in the circle. While technically he did reign, his demon controlled all the others within the men in their coven, he'd not exactly warmed to the idea. At the same time, business associates threatened him to keep the business lucrative and the scandals secret.
As if all of this was not reason enough to keep his blood pressure high and his nights sleepless, into his world tonight had roamed the woman he'd once been forbidden to love. Allanah Adams. Just for self-torture sake, he ticked off the brief facts of their history together on fingers still clenched, impervious to the ache building. Daughter of his father's personal assistant, who had made herself a millionaire in her own right within the last decade. When he'd first taken a romantic interest in her thirteen years ago, his father had made sure he knew his place, which didn't allow for him to talk to Allanah. While her mother made more than most doctors did in a year to keep his father's dirty dealing secret, her status didn't hold any weight. He'd snuck to see Allanah, at first, fast and furiously falling in love with the spirited girl by the time they'd been caught and forced apart. By this time, his heart had been to the point of never recovering, never being able to let her go or love another. Yep, that summed up the nightmare of his time with her.
"Well, I should go find my mother again," Allanah offered, staring at him, probably sick of waiting for him to finally speak again as he tried to regain control over his wayward thoughts, ones stuck in an infinite loop of anger and despair.
He never had emotional outbursts like this, except when he thought of her. He never let his emotions rule, except when he thought of her. But seeing Allanah, here in the flesh, right before him, her scent washing over him, blanketing him in a severe lust, one built of love, something in him had snapped, disconnected, or reconnected, whatever the case may be. At this very moment, he feared himself out of control, reckless, and at this point the consequences of what he wanted to do, to her, with her, may be more evil than ever before. Regardless, he couldn't let her go, let her walk away from him again. He had to believe he had it in himself to protect her from what lurked within.
He fisted the back of his neck, tilted his head, and pursed his lips as he struggled to find the words that might make her stay. He moved his hand, his hot fingers rubbing his forehead as his mind raced over words and phrases while his chest tightened. His stomach fluttered only a second before the darkness within put a stop to that. In his wild mind right now, he saw the red-eyed demon, his black hand in a death clutch around a swarm of unmoving, mangled butterflies. Shaking his head to dislodge the horror, something in him laughed even as he seethed.
"Please don't. I've waited years hoping to see you again. Please, stay with me longer." Uncontrollable words tumbled from his mouth in a whimpering growl. "We can go somewhere more private. There are lots of little spots around the house. I have one in particular I like, just down a path. It has a fireplace and roof. It should keep us dry when the storm finally gives way."
"You've waited to see me?"
"Yes. Allanah, you have to know. Or, I guess I have to tell you, how heartbroken I was when you left. I couldn't come after you as much as I desperately wanted to, to protect you, though please don't ask me to explain that right now. Regardless, I'm not too much of a man to finally admit to a woman that no one else in my life has ever compared to her, which kept me a playboy. I've followed your career like an internet stalker, always wishing I could reach out to you. Planning to, in fact, once I got my act together, changed things here, so you would agree to see me again. Life brought you to me sooner. Please don't walk away. Give me at least a chance to show you who I really am apart from my inheritance and my horrid family legacy."
"I...
" was all she said, looking around her.
"Please. Follow me. You can't be afraid to be alone with me," he challenged her, hoping that still was the way to best push her buttons into complying with what he wanted.
"I'm not afraid of you," she stated in a rush of words, proving him right.
"Then follow me."
About The Author
Ever since she was young, USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR Kiki Howell has loved to listen to a well-woven tale with real characters, inspired plots, and delightful resolutions. Kiki spent hours lost in books and soon knew creating lives, loves, and losses with just words had to be the greatest thing she could do. She’s now had over fifty stories published and couldn’t be more thrilled or grateful to see her creations polished and out in the real world.
Where to find more from Kiki Howell
Please visit http://www.kikihowell.com/to see all available titles!
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Also by Kiki Howell
Her True Savior
Torn Asunder
Whiskey & Witchcraft
Snowed In! Winter Storm
At War in the Willows Trilogy
The Vampire's Witch
The Vampire's Wolf
The Vampire's Human
Forbidden
What Lies Within Us
(Second Edition)
A Modern Day Witch Hunt
Cowboy Boots & Handcuffs
When the Snow Flies
Playing With Magic
Mystical Mayhem
Love, Creativity & Magick
Working Out the Kinks
Sacred Sex
Hidden Salem:
Salem Series, Book One
Salem's Revenge:
Salem Series, Book Two
The Sorcerer's Songs
Rituals
Mystic Stones
A Violent Seduction
Soul Lights
A Questionable Hero
Spelled
A Strange Freedom:
Blood and Fireworks
The Magic was in the Chocolate
The Healing Spell
The Witch's Beast
We Go On:
Charity Anthology for Veterans