Taken For His Own

by Tara Fox Hall

  Aspen was crying too hard to reply. Her father answered for her. “You hurt her,” he spat at Theo. “She loved you.”

  “I never hurt her,” Theo said, his tone cool, but no longer like ice. “I never did anything to her she didn’t want me to do.”

  “You broke her heart,” Aspen’s father said. “And you’re going to pay for that, pay through your nose. You have no idea who I am—”

  Theo abruptly dropped his gun to his side and stepped closer to Aspen’s father. “You’re Derek VanMerill.”

  “Yes,” Derek answered, surprised.

  “Do you know who I am?” Theo said, his tone implying he was enjoying this, savoring it.

  “Aspen said your name was Theo, that you did woodworking—”

  “I go by Theo. But my full name is Theopolis O’Connor,” Theo said, his eyes staring into Derek’s.

  Derek’s face went white, and he backed up several steps. “You used to work for Danial Racklan. You’re—”

  “That’s right,” Theo said, stepping forward, his gun still held at his side.

  Derek backed up fast, Aspen behind him looking confused.

  “Am I the kind of man you want your daughter with?” Theo said softly, holding his gaze.

  “No,” Derek said in a whisper, his abhorrence tangible.

  “Get going,” Theo said, ice cold again. “We were never here. Someone attacked you and killed your men. You and your daughter were unharmed by some miracle.”

  “You’ll let us go?” Derek said hopefully.

  Theo turned fast and stepped right up into Derek’s face. “Only because Sar is unharmed. If you had done anything to her at all, you wouldn’t be leaving this building. Not in one piece.” He looked over at Aspen. “Neither of you.”

  Aspen choked out a sob and held onto her father.

  Derek looked at Theo angrily, then dropped his gaze and led Aspen to the door. “Come on, sweetheart. We’ve got to go home now.” They went out, their footsteps quickly fading.

  Theo grabbed my hand and led me out the door, his gun at the ready. On the way out, we passed the bodies of at least five guards. All were dead, one with his throat cut and the others with single bullets to the head or the heart.

  “They were human,” Theo said. “I used your pistol. There was no point making a bigger mess than necessary.”

  We drove back to the motel in silence. Theo’s movements were still tense and angry.

  When we got back to the room, he paused at the door. “Have you had any contact from Danial?”

  I gaped at him, confused. “Not since Wyoming. I left a message for—”

  “Wait here. I’ll be back.” Theo slammed the door.

  I curled up on the bed. It had cost Theo something to act that way to Aspen. He was angry now because he’d cared about her, and it had bothered him to upset her.

  Although I was sympathetic, I was also irritated. I hadn’t stolen him away from her or set out to seduce him back to me. I hadn’t asked to be attacked in the women’s bathroom. In fact, my head was beginning to pound. Where was his concern for me?

  I got some aspirin from my travel case and swallowed them. Then I lay down in bed, too tired and sore to take a shower.

  Sometime later, Theo slid into bed next to me. But he said nothing, and neither did I.

  Chapter Six

  When I awoke, it was morning. Theo and I had slept the night in our clothes, his still bloodstained.

  “Sar?” Theo said sleepily.

  “Hi,” I said softly, touching his face.

  “Shower?”

  “Yes.”

  We left our clothes in a pile and cleaned off the grime of last night, taking turns in the warm spray. I was washing out the conditioner in mine when I noticed something was wrong.

  I pushed my hair out of my eyes and moved closer. “Are you okay?”

  Theo got out of the shower. “I’m fine.”

  He’d been crying. It hadn’t been just the water. But I let it go.

  As I finished showering, I debated for the first time if I’d been wrong to come after him.

  Theo might have had a good life with Aspen out here in the West. Maybe he could have been the carpenter he’d wanted to try being. No one had been looking for him. Everyone thought he was dead. Now he was back in the spotlight and back to killing, as if he’d never left. And it was all because of me.

  I turned off the shower, dried off and went out to find Theo lying silently in bed. I got in beside him and held him, saying nothing. Minutes passed.

  Finally, Theo said, “I was starting to fall in love with her, Sar.”

  I didn’t reply.

  “I’m sorry that I said it was just sex. It wasn’t. We went hiking together. We ate together sometimes.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t.

  “Aspen came to Casper back in January. She was taking a semester off from school. She dated a few of the local boys, and then I came into town. I never saw her until she came to my house one night. She asked me if I wanted her, and I said—”

  “I know what you said,” I snapped. “I don’t need to hear the graphic details.”

  “She and I...it wasn’t like it is with you and me. Tell me that you know that.”

  “She said you asked her to move in with you. Is that true?”

  To his credit, he didn’t look away or deny it. “It’s true. She was going to move in next week.”

  I closed my eyes, upset. After my going back to Danial, it wasn’t fair to act like Theo was wrong for getting on with his life. But down deep, I’d wanted him to have been out here waiting for me to come back to him. It wasn’t fair or right, but there it was.

  “Sar, say something.”

  “Look, you didn’t owe me anything. You thought I’d moved on without you. You found someone to take my place. It’s okay.”

  “She never could have taken your place, Sar,” Theo said, pulling me tight against him. “Not any more than Danial could take mine with you. I would have lived with her, but I wouldn’t have married her.”

  I didn’t believe him. He couldn’t know that, not really. He and Aspen didn’t have the aging problem that Danial and I had. They didn’t even have the problem of being were versus being human...

  “Sar?”

  “Theo, it doesn’t matter,” I said tiredly. “You married me. You’re with me. I’d say I forgive you, but there isn’t anything to forgive—”

  My cell phone rang. I reached over and answered it. “Hello?”

  “Sar,” Terian said. “Are you almost home?”

  “Terian, we’re just leaving the motel, but we got a late start—”

  “I need to know right now when you’ll get here,” Terian said angrily.

  My hackles went up. I wanted to shout that we’d have been a day closer without the persistent Aspen but stifled it. “What’s the rush?”

  “Danial’s upset, nimwit,” Terian said. “He’s going crazy here waiting for you to get back. It’s trickling down to all of us.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, then covered the receiver. “When should we make it home?” I asked Theo.

  Theo groaned and looked at the ceiling. “Maybe two days? If we drive all day and some of the night and then crash and do it again the next day—”

  I wasn’t going to be able to do that with the pets, much less my aching head. Time for Plan B.

  I uncovered the receiver. “Terian, it’s going to be at least two more—”

  “What is the problem?” Terian said bluntly. “You made it there in less time.”

  “What do you want from me?” I said angrily.

  “I want you to come and get your cats and your cooking stuff and your clothes and get them out of here so Danial can start coming to terms with you leaving. He’s sitting here thinking about you and Theo screwing your way home—”

  I hung up on him. The phone rang again promptly, and I let it ring.

  Theo answered it finally. “No, it
’s Theo. Listen, Terian, someone was following us. Sar was taken last night by them, from the ladies bathroom of the place where we were eating—”

  Theo stopped abruptly, then resumed talking. “She’s fine, but I had to kill a few of them as a point to make sure that it wouldn’t happen again. It’s resolved, but that delayed us for over a day. We’ll leave shortly, but part of the problem is we have two vehicles, and we can’t share the driving—”

  Theo cut off again, anger clouding his words. “Terian, don’t think I don’t care about Danial. I do. It wasn’t just for Sar that I left things as they were back in February.”

  Theo paused, then resumed again much more calmly. “Go and pack up Sar’s things from Danial’s room while he’s working tonight. Get the cats and anything you know is hers and have the werefoxes take them to her house. Station one of them there to wait for us. Danial will be able to handle her loss if he’s not confronted by it every time he goes to sleep. Call if there’s a problem.”

  Theo hung up and tossed the phone back to me. “We should go,” he said, giving me a lingering look of longing. “Not that I wouldn’t prefer—”

  I got up, still too preoccupied with his talk of Aspen to be very romantic. “Let me take care of the dogs first. About ten minutes.”

  * * * *

  Theo and I drove the rest of that day and into the night, stopping only to pick up food and to let the dogs out to do their business. Finally, at about eleven p.m., we pulled into a motel that had a lounge attached. Happily, they accepted pets.

  The dogs lay down in the room, relieved to stretch out after the confines of the truck. I was tired, too, but also hungry.

  “The lounge serves until midnight,” Theo said, heading for the door. “Let’s get some hot food.”

  I followed him to the lounge. Within a few moments, we were seated and had put in our dinner order.

  “We’re lucky they serve anything this late,” Theo said, placating. “Much less salad and steak.”

  “I’m not irritated about the food,” I said grumpily. “It was a long and stressful day. Skirting Chicago with all that rush hour traffic was awful.”

  “At least we didn’t get stuck. The lines were moving along.” Theo clasped my hand. “Is it really that, or are you upset over what I said about Aspen?”

  “I’m just tired,” I lied. “Give me a couple days of sleep and no driving, and I’ll be the same old Sar.”

  “Good,” Theo said, relieved, letting go of my hand. “I’ll be right back.” He headed toward the men’s room.

  I watched him go, wondering why I was still so irritated over him caring about Aspen. I’d had a baby with someone else, and Theo wasn’t bent out of shape over that. Yet, just the memory of him doing her...

  I put it out of my mind. Aspen and Theo were history. He was my husband. And we would have enough to deal with when we arrived home.

  A burst of music broke into my thoughts. A man had put some money in the jukebox across the room and the strains of “Bad Moon Rising” came pounding out. He returned to his seat at the bar.

  Belatedly, I noticed that besides a few men at the bar—likely truckers—the lounge was empty. Maybe on Saturday nights things livened up...

  The food came, and I dug in. Theo came back a few moments later and wolfed down his steak and fries.

  The music ended, and silence descended. I dug in my purse for change.

  “What is it?” Theo asked.

  “I’m going to play something. Feel like dancing?”

  “Not tonight,” Theo said tiredly. “I’m whipped. I’m ready for bed.”

  Anger sparked. I was about to tell him that was fine, that I’d dance with the man at the bar who liked music, then noticed the man was gone. The words died on my lips.

  “But go ahead and play something,” Theo said, “I’m happy to listen.”

  “I don’t want to listen,” I said, enunciating every word clearly. “I want to dance.”

  “Then go ahead and dance,” he said easily, giving me some money. “No one’s stopping you.”

  I bit my lip, then formed a small smile. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”

  “Not at all,” Theo said, making a shooing motion. “Go.”

  If he wanted to watch, then I’d make sure he got a good show. “All right.”

  I walked over and scanned the jukebox songs to find the one I was looking for. Locating it, I slid in the quarter and took off my sweatshirt, smoothing down my tank top that had ridden up.

  As the first strains of George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” came rolling out of the jukebox, I went into motion. I worked my hips, gyrating and then my shoulders, rolling my head backward, my hair undulating down my back. Parting my lips, I closed my eyes and slid my hands up into my hair, letting some of it fall while I tangled my hands in the rest on top of my head. Then I titled my head down and opened my eyes.

  I had Theo’s full attention. In fact, his jaw had dropped, and his mouth was open.

  Still moving to the beat, I crossed my hands and put them on my shoulders, sliding them down over my breasts, down my waist to my legs. Then I turned to lean on the jukebox, looking over my shoulder at him, still moving my hips to the beat and slid first one, then the other of the straps of my tank top and bra down to bare my shoulders.

  As I turned away, there was a loud whistle. I grinned widely, then turned back to Theo. With eyes partly closed, I beckoned to him with one hand, the other undoing the top button of my jeans as I sauntered to him.

  I’d only gotten a step when Theo grabbed me by one arm and tossed me over his shoulder. He strode to the room and keyed open the door, growling softly for the second it took for the key card to work.

  He dropped onto the bed, moving me beneath him. He pulled off my jeans and his and then pushed inside me, thrusting as far as he could, as fast as he could, groaning loudly. I kissed his neck, licking him, running my hands over his shoulders, feeling the muscles contract with each thrust. He bit me gently on the neck and then harder, pressing down with his teeth.

  “I take it you liked my dancing?” I whispered.

  He growled and began kissing me hard. A moment later he came, his moans muffled against my neck.

  “Yes,” he said, rolling over on his back. “I did. But don’t do it again, at least, not out in public.”

  “Why not?” I teased.

  “Because that wasn’t me whistling at you,” Theo said jealously. “You’re my wife. I don’t want anyone else ogling you.”

  “Give me enough attention and I won’t,” I teased.

  “You’re going to get my full attention tonight. Come here.”

  * * * *

  I opened my eyes to see bright sunlight streaming into the room. Shit. We’d overslept. My fault, for instigating another night of marathon lovemaking. Selfishly, I told myself that a few hours wouldn’t make much difference anyway.

  “Good morning, Wife,” Theo said softly.

  “Good morning to you, Husband,” I said, smiling at him.

  Theo pulled me into his arms and let out a groan, putting his head back on to the pillow. “We’re never going to make it home tonight,” he said, looking at the ceiling.

  “Tomorrow then,” I said, kissing him. “A few hours won’t matter. We’ve just found each other after a year and a half of being apart. I’m not going to feel bad for—”

  “Sar, when we get back home, I’m going to have to find a job. I’ll take at least a few weeks off before applying anywhere,” Theo replied. “I’ll make up to you what we’re missing now.”

  He had a point. Terian had taken his place working for Danial. He’d have to work for someone else.

  “It’s a deal,” I said. “Give me about ten minutes.”

  After feeding the dogs and giving them a quick walk, we got on the road. The day passed quickly again, as we stopped only for gas and lunch. Nightfall found us a little east of Pittsburgh.

  Determined not to oversleep again, we picked up takeout, go
t a room, and went to bed early, the dogs stretched out on the floor.

  The next morning, I woke up to find Theo was missing.

  Chapter Seven

  First, I checked the bathroom. Then I threw on some clothes and went out in the parking lot. Both trucks were still there.

  Sudden panic hit me like a wave. It was all happening again. Theo was gone, and he wasn’t coming back...!

  With effort, I calmed myself. Theo likely had just gone out to get us some breakfast so we could get on the road faster. And I’d better do what I could to be ready when he came back.

  I showered quickly, then fed the dogs and took them outside. Initially, I walked them around the block, sure that Theo would appear momentarily. When he didn’t, I made subsequent laps, until the dogs and I had walked for almost an hour.

  It began to rain. I took Ghost and Darkness back inside the room. The clock said it was after ten a.m.

  Theo had been gone at the minimum over two hours. Something was very wrong. Time to call the cavalry.

  Terian answered on the first ring. “Sar?”

  “Terian, have you heard from Theo?” I said, worried.

  “Are you telling me he’s not with you?” Terian replied, stressed.

  Terian’s worry broke my calm resolve like a snapped twig. “Terian, he’s not here! I woke up, and he was gone!”

  “Are both trucks there?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Are all the guns you had with you there?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “I’m not sure how many he had.” I went to our bags and rummaged inside. “The two I brought are here. There are several others he brought, but I don’t know how many he had to start—”

  “Where are you?” Terian interrupted.

  “A motel just east of Pittsburgh. A Comfort Inn.”

  “Stay there in your room,” Terian said. “We had an attack here last night.”

  I sat down heavily on the bed. “Is everyone okay?” I said hesitantly, not wanting to know if they weren’t.

  “No,” he said sadly. “Demetri was killed, Ivan was injured. Suri is missing, presumed dead. Janice heard her screaming—”