The Community Series, Books 1-3

by Tappan, Tracy

  His throat filled with lead. He made himself say it, though. He had to concentrate like hell to form the words, but he did it. “There are tons of other men in this community, Toni, great men, who –”

  “No.” She turned her head to look at him, her eyes filled with such a tender ache that the floor dropped away from beneath his feet. “No other men.” She walked out and closed the door gently in his face, leaving him with nothing to do but stare at the spot where she’d just been, his soul screaming the loss of her with a sudden, debilitating defeat.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The scene was unreal.

  Toni stood with her toes squishing in the sand and took it all in, feeling like she had no idea where she was, and not for the first time since her arrival in Ţărână. A tropical jungle and water cliffs in the middle of a cave half a mile beneath the earth’s surface? Come on. How much more was she expected to take, really?

  A beautiful white sand beach spread out before her, complete with palm trees, ferns, tropical plants, and moss covering a panoramic out-cropping of the cave wall. This lush greenery, all fake, of course, provided the backdrop for a spectacular array of waterfalls, fountains, and slides splashing cheerfully into pools of various shapes and sizes. Off to the right, several mini geysers spurted periodically, much to the delight of a group of squealing children. The whole scene could’ve been photo-shopped right off of a travel agency poster for the perfect Rio de Janeiro vacation, including the gorgeous, half-naked people frolicking about. Although the display of dragon tattoos among the blondes also gave it a new wave, live art exhibition feel.

  Toni still couldn’t quite get used to how incredible those tattoos were. The dragon adorned the entire span of the back, shimmering green scales on the body and wings, red scales on the belly, claws, and mouth. The head arched over the left scapula, the wings extended out over the right, the tail curved down to the lower back, and the feet extended out to the left of the spine. The dragon had a fierce look to it, with its claws and teeth bared, but also elegance, the creature giving the impression of graceful flight.

  “Amazing, huh?” Kasson popped up at her side, having just finished spreading their picnic blanket out on the sand. Shirtless, he was dressed in a pair of Reef flip-flops and a Billabong bathing suit. The outfit, along with the cowlick in his light brown hair, turned him into the epitome of the California surfer dude. Even his skin tone was surprisingly honey-colored, the result of being a Dragon rather than a Pure-bred, from what she understood.

  “Maggie designed the Water Cliffs,” he went on. “You know, the curly-haired one? She’s the horticulturist.”

  “Yes, I know Maggie.”

  “And her husband, Luken, built it for her… for the community. That’s another one of the cool things about living here, Toni. When you put your skills to use, everyone really appreciates everything you do. Hey, look” – Kasson pointed toward the water – “there are the Costaches.”

  Toni turned. The whole family was by one of the kiddie pools. Beth was talking to a four-year-old girl, who was laughing and splashing in the water, while Arc, wearing green Hawaiian print trunks that perfectly matched the dragon on his back, was encouraging their two-year-old son to stick his toes in.

  “See Beth’s bathing suit?” Kasson’s voice was suddenly right next to Toni’s ear.

  Uh, oh. She knew where this was going. Kasson had been so disappointed when she’d shown up for their lunch date at the Water Cliffs in nothing more exciting than a utilitarian one-piece Speedo and a sarong. Beth, on the other hand, was wearing a bikini of the kind Daisy Duke might’ve worn: faux jeans hot pants on the bottom and red-and-white checked mini halter on the top. The suit itself was sexy, but the body wearing it was what really made it hot.

  “She might have another one of those in her shop,” Kasson murmured.

  Toni cut a sideways glance at him. “I wouldn’t look as good in it as she does.”

  “Ho,” Kasson enthused, dropping his gaze to her boobs, “yeah, you would.”

  She poked a finger under his chin to lift his attention back to her face. “I’m wearing the mud now, Kasson. You’re supposed to be able to behave yourself.”

  His smile was boyishly charming, though the heated glitter in his gaze cancelled any illusion of immaturity. “That doesn’t change the fact that I’m young and horny.”

  She exhaled a small laugh. “Direct and to the point. Commendable.”

  “Ah, well, then I should also tell you that I’m at least ten years younger than Dev. I have way more staying power, for sure.” Kasson bobbed his eyebrows at her. “That’s a good quality to have in a mate, right?”

  “Okay, now you’re just being rude.” It was an effort to smile. The last thing she wanted to think about was a potential mate. Her heart was still tangled up over one man in particular…the one who’d snubbed her.

  He was posted to one side of the Water Cliffs. Dressed in his black warrior gear and armed with the typical array of knives, Jacken was standing in parade rest, with his hands locked behind his back and his legs set in a wide stance, his head swiveling on his thick neck as he continuously scanned the vicinity. He looked like a boulder falling on him would merely bounce off. Up close, she knew that all of those hard muscles gave off more warmth than a cozy eiderdown quilt.

  A rush of heat swamped her belly, followed by a stab of pain. Not in a million years would she have thought she’d end up wanting one of the men here, especially not Hard Face. Had she learned nothing from her long run of bad date choices? Evidently not, because here she was falling for the one man in Ţărână who wasn’t stumbling around on three legs after her. Or couldn’t have her because of some foolish vow of –

  Pop, pop, pop.

  She startled at the strange noise. “What was –?”

  “Get down!” Kasson tackled her to the ground and pancaked on top of her.

  She omphed and cursed. “Jesus, what’s going on?”

  People started screaming.

  Blowing sand out of her face, Toni craned her head up and scoured the Water Cliffs, her breath catching when she spotted an unfamiliar young man high up on one of the rocky overhangs. He was holding a rifle. Shirtless, he was sweating profusely, and –

  An icy cold washed through her. Dear God, the guy had a creepy black flame tattoo on his jaw. Up close would he also have a sprayed pattern of dotted scars on his chest?

  Her insides quailed. Good God, that was the guy from the murder scene two weeks ago with John Waterson. The dead guy!

  Two more men materialized next to the supposedly-dead kid, one with spiky black hair, the other a tattoo-covered shaved head. Both were bare-chested, as sweaty as the kid, and also carrying rifles.

  The maniac kid propped his rifle back against his hip and swept the crowd with another hailstorm of bullets like he was Scarface.

  Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop ….

  Bodies began to jerk and fall. Shouts rose to shrieks as Ţărână’s angelic family outing at the Water Cliffs turned into a panicked mob scene.

  Kasson hopped off her body and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s get to the mansion!” he yelled, urging her into a run toward –

  Pop-pop. Two hits to the back and Kasson plowed face-first into the sand.

  Toni screamed and dropped into a crouch next to Kasson, checking his injured back. There wasn’t any blood …. The sound of pounding feet brought her head up. The spike-haired man and the bald one were racing at her, directly at her. Holy crap! This time she didn’t hesitate as she had with Lorke. She leapt to her feet and raced for the gates of the Water Cliffs, picking up speed as she left the sand behind.

  She barreled onto Main Street, running faster than she ever had in her life. Her lungs were soon on fire, the muscles in her legs screaming, but the sound of pursuit kept her feet moving even when she couldn’t feel them anymore. Jesus, please, just a few more –

  She cried out as something bit into the back of her leg. She tripped, righted herself, then we
nt down hard, scraping her shins as she skidded onto her belly. Bright lights sparkled before her eyes and shards of electricity spiked under her skin. Groaning, she cranked her head around and looked at her leg. A dart was sticking out of her hamstring. Poison? She slumped back onto her face. Oooooh. Something weird was happening. Her body jerked and her brain clunked, like a car popping out of gear, control slipping from the driver.

  A man’s rough hand landed on her shoulder. And then she was being rolled over ….

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Nyko!” Jacken yelled into the mic of his headset. “Do you copy!?”

  Only an ominous dead static answered him back. Damn it to hell! His brother was one of the warriors on guard duty today, but hadn’t squawked a single heads-up warning about this incoming furball. Maybe for a really bad reason.

  Growling, he forced his mind into a necessary blankness as he hurdled another of a growing pile of bodies in the sands of the Water Cliffs. Even if all these people were dead, his brother, too, he sure as shit couldn’t think about it now.

  He angled hard to the left, trying to cut off Skull from a headlong charge at Toni. Yeah, Skull. He recognized the prick who’d tried to punch his brains into La-La Land at Scripps Hospital, the guy Thomal had stabbed in the throat and supposedly killed. Jacken rounded the corner onto Main Street and –

  Spike Boy was pointing a rifle at Toni. Horror flipped a circuit in Jacken’s brain, switching everything to slowmo, the action before his eyes fragmenting into dozens of individual movie frames; Spike Boy pulling the trigger; a dart appearing at the back of her leg; Toni hitting the ground hard; Spike Boy grabbing her by the shoulder ….

  “You crotch stain! I killed your asshole buddy, now I’m gonna kill you!”

  Spike Boy froze in the act of turning Toni over, his black eyes latching onto the man who’d just snarled that at him.

  Fucking A! Jacken almost shouted in relief. It was Thomal, roaring down from the sloped face of the cave wall.

  Spike Boy’s eyes flashed red and then he was up on his feet and launching himself at Thomal.

  Thomal did his fast Dragon-thing, the image of his body blurring with his inhuman speed. And suddenly, he was whaling on Spike Boy with his fists. No knives, good man. Thomal remembered the Topside Om Rău bled acid.

  His chest heaving, Jacken slid down onto his knees next to Toni and rolled her over. Her eyes were slitted and glazed. Crap! What was in that dart?! “Stay with me, Toni,” he panted.

  Her pupils wiggled strangely, then her eyes snapped clear and stared fixedly at him.

  “Just hang in there. I’m going to –”

  She missiled herself against his chest, her legs clamping his waist and her arms linking around his neck.

  He choked on his next breath. He couldn’t have been more shocked if she’d just asked him to paint a daisy on her ass.

  “Ren!” Skull shouted as he ran toward Spike Boy. “You ballsed it up, you chuffin’ wanker!”

  Jacken staggered to his feet. “Holy motherfucker!” he hissed when Toni stuck her tongue in his ear. With no time to figure out what this newest shit-storm was, Jacken just took off for the mansion, Toni locked firmly in his arms.

  He didn’t know how fast he ran; he wasn’t aware of his legs anymore. The feel of Toni’s luscious breasts jammed so closely against his chest that there wasn’t a breath of space between them pretty much eclipsed every-damned-thing else in the whole world.

  Thomal was soon tight on his heels.

  Halfway there, a sexual purring noise started to come out of Toni that curled every little hair in his ear canals. He ran faster, the purring sound scaring the ungodly shit out of him.

  “Hurry!” he shouted as Thomal took forever dicking with the key code box into the mansion. By the time he was blasting into the Main Parlor, Thomal right behind him, he was in a dead panic.

  “Whoa!” Dev raised his hands when Jacken almost mowed him down. “Slow down, sir, I got a SITREP for you, okay. Things are chilling. The townsfolk are stuffed in the Drawing Room and the kitchen, upset but –”

  Toni bit his earlobe, and his panic spiked to the ceiling. If she drew blood he was screwed to the hilt.

  “Nyko’s checked in through the main phone lines,” Dev went on, oblivious to Jacken’s frantic efforts to pry Toni off. “We’re assholes and elbows with men down, but none are dead, only knocked –”

  Something garbled came out of his mouth.

  “Apparently, those guns were shooting pellets, not bullets. Our men chased those Topside Om Rău shitheads back into the Oţărât tunnels to –”

  He hauled in a huge breath. “Get her the fuck off me!” he belted out on the exhale.

  Dev stopped talking, his mouth hanging open mid-sentence. The dipshit just stood there, though, he and Thomal both, staring like a couple of cows. Were they blind?

  “Toni’s been drugged and she’s trying to – ah!” Air left his lungs in a rush as Toni started to grind her hips against him, forceful pelvic thrusts that made the polyethylene-like bathing suit she was wearing feel like nothing at all.

  Dev shifted into high gear at that, leaping forward and grabbing Toni under the armpits. He tried to pull her off, but only managed to get the top half of her semi-levered loose. Her fingers were fisted firmly into the front of Jacken’s shirt and her legs were locked around his waist like he was a runaway horse.

  “Peel her hands off!” Jacken yelled at Thomal, staggering forward as he was hauled about in the Dev-Toni tug-o-war.

  Thomal didn’t make it in time. Jacken’s shirt ripped, splitting all the way down the middle.

  Toni made a small sound of pleasure at the sight of his bare chest, and then she did let go … but only long enough to turn and punch annoying Dev right in the face.

  “Ow!” Dev barked, blood squirting from his nose.

  Toni rounded on Jacken again and charged.

  Jacken backpedaled crazily. “Get Dr. Jess!” The carnivorous look in Toni’s eyes meant that he was in deep shit and heading deeper. “Have him bring a tranquilizer or – Jesus!”

  Toni jumped on him, slamming against his chest and fastening onto him again. He went flying backward, his feet slipping out from under him until the backs of his knees hit the edge of one of Roth’s dainty parlor chairs. His ass came down hard on it and – crack! – the chair split in half, dumping the two of them onto the Turkish carpet with a bone-jarring thump.

  Toni didn’t waste any time. She climbed up his body and latched her lips onto his.

  He muffled a call for help as he grabbed her shoulders and pushed. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was aware of Thomal thundering out of the parlor and Dev trying to pull Toni off by the waist. Otherwise the blood pounding against his temples made it difficult to attend to much of anything but the overpowering feel of Toni’s hot, eager lips devouring his. A guttural sound boiled up in his chest. He’d never been kissed on the mouth before, and having his first time be like this, with a wild and passion-crazed Toni, was the equivalent of trying to light a cigarette for the first time with a blowtorch instead of a match. It consumed him entirely with heat.

  “Damn it, Jacken,” Dev ground out, “what do you want me to do? I can’t get her off you, not unless I hurt her.”

  Like he could answer that? Toni’s tongue was in his mouth, slipping deep inside to swirl and explore, to taste him in a way he’d never been tasted before, in a way he’d never even thought possible. Lust hit him like a thunderbolt right between the thighs, the honey-sweet caress of her warm, moist tongue against his own sending a tidal wave of blood rushing hectically toward his crotch. He went tense all over and drew in a torn breath. This one’s going to be a bitch …. The blood slammed against the stop-dam in his cock in an excruciating collision.

  He tore his mouth from Toni’s on a bellow. “She’s killing me, Nichita!”

  “Shitfuckpiss.” Dev pulled on her hard this time.

  Jacken hissed as he and Toni were yanked up together, the
grip of her legs around his waist unbreakable. He was jerked up onto his knees, then sent falling all the way over on top of her, his face planting helplessly between her ample breasts. He wanted to scream – in both frustration and ecstasy – as Toni dug her fingers into his hair to hold his face in place and pumped her hips up against him.

  “Good heavens!”

  Yeah, this was the scene Dr. Jess dashed into along with Thomal. And that, along with Dev’s bloody nose ….

  The doctor just naturally assumed it was Jacken who’d blown the fuse.

  “No!” Jacken rocketed upright onto his knees, Toni finally sprawling off him, and glared at the syringe dangling from his arm. “Not me, you idiot! Her!”

  Jess blinked owlishly. “Oh.” Then he blanched, his eyes going saucer-wide on Jacken. “Oh, dear, what have I done?”

  Jacken’s body jerked as a burning sensation roared through his veins, oxygen howling in his lungs like a high wind. Oh, shit. What had Jess done? He felt his muscles start to pump full of iron, growing heavy. Powerful. No – no, no, no. The tranquilizer was making him go Rău. He gritted his teeth, molars grinding. Fight it, fight it. He concentrated on the texture of the carpet, the scent of rug shampoo, the sound of –

  The parlor splintered into a dozen puzzle pieces. Ah! He grabbed his head, swaying on his knees. The crackling filled his ears first, then the red haze unfurled over his vision. He shook his head, but couldn’t clear it. His skull felt big and weighted as a mastiff’s. Through the static in his ears, he heard a breathy whimper. A female. He raised his eyes, glaring up from beneath black brows. There she was. The female. Hair, tousled and fiery, lips, red and swollen. Beach skirt dipped between her parted knees. He made a low snuffling sound, an animal picking up a scent. The female was aroused. For him. Instinct reared up and clubbed him.