Taken For His Own

by Tara Fox Hall

  “Sar, Theo is safe,” Danial said.

  I let out the breath I’ve been holding for hours. “Where is he?”

  “He’s in jail.”

  “In jail? Why?”

  “Because he paid for the hotel room with his own credit card. When they ran his name, the local sheriff was alerted. Theo should have paid cash or used one of your cards. He knew better.”

  “Explain.”

  Danial paused, obviously trying to choose his words very carefully. “Theo did a job for me once in that town, and the sheriff remembers him. Theo left no evidence, but the man knew he was guilty all the same and arrested him. Theo spent a week in jail, while the sheriff tried everything he could to make the charges stick. It was only the threat of legal force that got him out finally.”

  “Should I go post bail?”

  “He hasn’t been charged with anything,” Danial said patiently. “I got my lawyer involved, and he’s backed the sheriff down. Theo will be let out tomorrow, and he’ll call you when it’s time to pick him up. Then you, he, and Devlin can wait for nightfall and come home.”

  “Sounds good,” I said, finally relaxing a bit.

  “Get some sleep, sweetheart. Things will be better tomorrow evening.”

  I hung up the phone and went back to sleep. Bright light woke me. I looked at the clock and read four in the morning.

  “My apologies,” Devlin said, turning off the light. “I wanted you to know I was back. Shaking you awake was my only other option.”

  I’d expected him to be covered in blood from having ripped someone’s throat out. Yet there was no blood on him that I could see. His longer hair and stubble were back, making him look pretty rough.

  “Thanks for letting me know.”

  “So I’m sleeping on the floor?” he said, raising his eyebrows.

  “Yes,” I said, turning my back to him. “I’m a married woman.”

  “Yes, I heard,” he said patiently. “But I’m not asking for intercourse, merely for a softer bed than the floor. Can I not implore you to change your mind?”

  “Next you’ll be telling me you’re harmless,” I snorted.

  “I am not harmless nor was I ever,” Devlin said, laughing easily. “But I’ve no cause to be hurtful. You can surely see that.” He moved the bedclothes back onto the bed, slid off his boots and then crawled beneath the covers beside me.

  “Hey,” I said, turning toward him. “I didn’t say you could get in here with me.”

  Devlin held my gaze. “Do you really see me as a threat even now?”

  I shifted uneasily beneath the covers. Yes, he was a threat. Not only was he dangerous to my health, his good looks were dangerous to my virtue, especially those eyes of his...

  “Will you not answer?” Devlin prompted curiously. “You have the look of a woman lost in thought, but they do not seem to be ill ones.”

  “Were your eyes always that color? Before you were a vampire?”

  He leaned closer. I leaned back involuntarily.

  “You like my eyes?” he said softly, intrigued.

  I mentally tried several responses on for size and then said finally, “They’re unusual.”

  Devlin held my stare. His eyes were a gold color that was lighter than a werefox’s eyes, yet darker than Theo or Elle’s cougar eyes. The color was somehow richer, like actual gold was, though not so brassy or shiny. There was a liquid aspect to them, something alive that was missing in everyday metal that enhanced their singular beauty. As I stared into his eyes, I decided that they were almost certainly the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.

  “You do like them,” he said happily, with a tone of sinful pleasure.

  I flushed and didn’t reply.

  He laughed. “Yes,” he said. “They were always this color.”

  Devlin moved forward suddenly. I recoiled back hard, letting out a gasp. He laughed and kissed me on the forehead.

  “Get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll be a while in the bath.” He got up and went into the bathroom. The shower began to run.

  I rolled over and went to sleep. When I woke up, Devlin was beside me under the covers, though not touching me. I deliberately turned my back on him, telling myself he’d had an opportunity while I’d been asleep to kill me, and he hadn’t. There was nothing to fear.

  * * * *

  When I awoke, it was early morning. Devlin was beside me, either asleep or faking it pretty well. I turned over and went back to sleep.

  Sometime later, I woke up. The dogs were lying beside the bed watching me, taking turns whining and yawning in intervals, trying to rouse me. I went to move and couldn’t. Devlin’s arms were wrapped around me, his body tight against my back.

  Immediately I was wide-awake. I slowly tentatively looked over my shoulder. One golden eye peered back at me sleepily.

  “I suppose you want to move?” Devlin said, stifling a yawn with one hand.

  “I need to get up and feed the dogs.”

  “Fine, just let me wrap up.” Devlin released me and pulled the covers up over his head.

  “I lived with Danial over a year, and we stayed in hotels sometimes,” I retorted, getting up and grabbing some clean clothes. “I’m not going to open the drapes.”

  “You never know with women,” Devlin said from under the blankets. “Sometimes they wake up in moods far different than the ones they ended the night with.”

  “You’re jovial for it being so early,” I said, going into the bathroom.

  Devlin didn’t reply.

  I hurriedly showered, then dressed. When I emerged, Devlin was finishing knotting the drape ties together. He turned to me, then went back to the bed and lay down, getting under the covers again.

  I fed the dogs, then went to the door to let them out, grabbing my gun on the way.

  “Walk around the hotel,” Devlin commanded. “Don’t leave the parking lot or go near the trucks.”

  “I won’t,” I lied and shut the door.

  As the dogs did their business, I debated how long I was going to be able to stay in one room with Devlin. Spending the whole day together was right out. And what was the point, anyway? Theo had been in this kind of situation before obviously, and he didn’t need me to bail him out. So why stay here waiting? I should get in one of the trucks and leave now for home...

  Darkness let out a growl, then Ghost did, too. Both of them were looking over at the edge of the parking lot at a car. Someone was sitting there, in the driver’s seat.

  “It’s nothing,” I said reproachfully, moving toward Theo’s truck. “Just someone texting or talking on their cell phone.”

  The car’s engine suddenly started. But the car didn’t move.

  I watched for a split second, then bolted with the dogs for the strip mall. We made it across the street, narrowly missing being hit by a speeding Toyota, then across the parking lot to the chain restaurant. Reaching the bench outside, I sat down and tried to catch my breath. As soon as I had, I ordered some takeout from the window, complete with a big slice of cake. This was no time to be dieting.

  As I waited, I petted the dogs and tried to decide what to do. I didn’t want to call Terian or Danial; I was irritated they’d trusted Devlin enough to send him to guard me. Yet I didn’t want to risk leaving by myself, not when I had the dogs to worry about. There seemed to be no option but going back to the room and waiting for nightfall. Resigned, I paid for my food and went back to the hotel.

  The car and man were still there, yet now the engine was off.

  I hurried inside and went up to the counter. “Hi. I’m the one who needed to stay an extra night yesterday? It turns out I need to stay tonight, too.”

  “Room number?”

  I gave it to him.

  “Your husband called down and already booked another night, ma’am.”

  Saying the man in my room now wasn’t the husband I’d come here with last night was too much. “Thanks,” I said quickly. “Do you have some more towels?”

  �
�He asked for them as well and for fresh sheets and an additional set of blankets,” the man replied, his tone carefully neutral. “They’ll be delivered in a few minutes.”

  I flushed, quickly thanked him and walked hurriedly back to the room with the dogs. Devlin was waiting there for me, irate.

  “I told you not to leave the parking lot.”

  “I needed some breakfast.”

  “They have breakfast in the hotel lobby every morning until eleven,” Devlin replied, taking my food from me. “You were brainless to risk your life for some chocolate cake.”

  Livid and trembling with frustration, I slammed out of the room and stalked back down to the hotel lobby, entering the small kitchen/cafeteria. Eyeing the clock, I speedily got some cereal and made some toast from the remains of bread on the counter. The breakfast crowd had all descended like locusts and left. There was only one other man there on the other side of the room, dressed all in black, reading the latest Peter Straub novel as he ate. I thought about asking him if it was any good, but his back was toward me, and I was still too angry over Devlin calling me brainless.

  The enraging part was that he was right; I had been stupid to go out by myself and ditch my guard. That carelessness stemmed from my anger at Theo for not being here when I needed him, for having to rely on Devlin for help. After this, I’d be indebted to him. I didn’t want to be indebted to someone I hated...who cared even if his eyes were spectacular...

  “Ma’am?” the hotel desk clerk called. “Your husband asks if you’re done that you come back to the room. He says he misses you.”

  Son of a bitch. I gave a fake smile to the clerk, tossed my garbage and then started for the room. Walking down the hallway, I noticed fearfully that the man in black was coming after me.

  I darted into the room and locked it fast behind me. Through the door came the dim sound of a key sliding into a lock, then a door opening and shutting.

  Duh, Sar. He was following you because he was staying in the room across from you. That must be the superstitious salesman. I snorted. He must sell funeral plots, with that black attire...

  “How was breakfast?” Devlin asked from the bed. “I put your salad and cake in the small fridge near the closet to save for lunch.”

  I didn’t reply.

  “Come back to bed. I have been missing you.”

  I gave him a shocked look.

  “I’m cold,” he said easily. “You’re warm. I loved snuggling next to you last night.”

  “I’m a heater for the undead. What a compliment.”

  “I’m not undead or dead,” Devlin said angrily, turning his back to me. “Yet you somehow think you should be regaled as a vampire expert or given compliments?”

  He really sounded offended. I didn’t care.

  There was a knock at the door. Devlin was beside me in an instant, moving me behind him.

  “Yes?”

  “Towels and sheets, sir.”

  Devlin gave me a shove toward the bathroom and then opened the door. He took the linens, handed the maid some cash, then shut and locked the door. To my surprise, he then stripped the bed and began to make it.

  I went to help him, taking hold of the other side of the sheet. Together we finished the bed, and then he handed the used bed linens to me. “Put these outside the door, please, then go into the bathroom.”

  I took the linens. “Should I take the dogs with me?”

  “They won’t mind me undressing. I thought you might.”

  I flushed, then went into the bathroom. Devlin let out an amused sound as I shut the door. I sat on the toilet for several minutes, until the sounds of him moving around outside stopped. But I didn’t move, lost in thought.

  I’d been tempted to tell him I wasn’t leaving. The odds were good that wouldn’t have fazed him a bit, and he would have undressed anyway. I was curious to know what would have happened next. Would he have tried to seduce me? Would he have gotten dressed? Intriguingly, I thought maybe something else would have happened, though I wasn’t sure what.

  “You are needed, Sarelle,” Devlin called.

  I went outside to find him in bed again. A heavy cotton shirt was his only visible clothes.

  “What?”

  “Take my clothes and put them outside the door. I’ve asked for my clothes to be cleaned today and be ready later tonight.”

  That seemed excessive since we were leaving tonight, but I did as he asked. “Are you going back to sleep?”

  Devlin gave me a considering look. “I don’t really need to sleep more than I have already, if you want someone to talk to.”

  I didn’t want to talk to him, but I didn’t want to say that. He seemed to be trying to be an actual person instead of the bastard I’d known him to be in the past. I didn’t want to ruin it.

  “I’m not sure,” I said, sitting down on the bed. “I’m sick of being stuck in this room. Even a pay-per-view movie sounds uninspiring.”

  “Come sleep with me,” Devlin said, patting the bed next to him.

  “Do you have on pants?” I asked skeptically.

  Devlin snorted. “Of course. If I wanted to have sex, I’d have asked you to have sex.”

  “You wouldn’t have gotten far if you had,” I said, irritated at his lack of interest.

  “I know,” Devlin said, a smile curving his lips. “Which is why I didn’t ask.”

  I didn’t reply.

  “Any man would welcome you in his bed,” Devlin said pleasantly. “First you charge me with being a sex fiend, and now you’re offended I’m not hitting on you. Why don’t you tell me what you want me to say? It will make our conversations much less tense.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, glancing over my shoulder. “I’m just upset. It seems like ever since I found out Theo was alive I’ve been on a rollercoaster. I just want the ride to end.”

  “Life is a rollercoaster,” Devlin said musingly. “It only ends when you die.”

  “I’m not the only temperamental one here. Your happy mood’s turned black.”

  “Touché,” Devlin said with a smile. “I’ll try to be less morose, if you’ll agree to come back to bed.”

  I got the dogs some fresh water, used the bathroom, kicked off my shoes and then crawled back in to bed with him. I waited for him to cuddle close, but he kept his distance.

  Well, I wasn’t inviting him to snuggle up to me. “Are you warm enough?”

  “For now. But why don’t you tell me why you’re so upset?”

  “Theo’s in jail. Elle hates me. I can’t touch my son at all. Vampires are hunting me, and I’ve broken Danial’s heart, for starters.”

  “Theo will likely be out by nightfall. Elle will adjust, and your son will gain more control as he ages. He is already much bigger than he was at birth.”

  “I’m jealous of you,” I whispered. “That you can hold him and I can’t.”

  “You’ll hold him soon,” Devlin assured. “As for being hunted, you are well-protected here. As soon as you return to Danial’s, he’ll likely make sure you’re guarded night and day.” He paused. “As for Danial’s heart, it isn’t broken, just slashed a bit. The only way to break his heart now would be for something to happen to Theoron.” He took my hand in his. “I’m glad you have kept your word to leave him in Danial’s care.”

  “I’m not brainless,” I said scathingly. “I know I can’t take care of him as Danial can.”

  Devlin drew me closer, settling his arms around me. “I’m sorry for my insult earlier. It came from worry over you leaving by yourself in daylight where I couldn’t protect you. This is my least favorite time of year, when the solstice looms, and the days are at their longest.”

  “I always loved it,” I chuckled. “But then, that was before I spent so much time with people who lived exclusively in the dark.”

  “Well put,” Devlin said, also chuckling.

  “Danial plans to go after Manir, but he thinks more attacks will take place even if he does,” I whispered, scared. “He’s gea
ring up for war.”

  “It’s already begun,” Devlin said darkly. “Danial is doing the right thing. There are several vampires and weres I can think of off the top of my head who might try for Theoron. I’ll have my people give him the list. He can send Theo or Terian to stop them before they act.”

  “That’s murder,” I said, sickened.

  “That’s being proactive,” Devlin corrected.

  “Danial wouldn’t compromise himself like that,” I retorted. “He’s got a strict sense of justice.”

  “Maybe he won’t,” Devlin said after a moment. “But he should.” He moved back from me.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I’ve been a king, a good one. It’s better that a few die to ensure peace.”

  “The problem there is that you choose who lives and dies on a whim.”

  Devlin sat up, visibly angry. “It is never on a whim. Sometimes killing one can avert disaster. How many people have to die before you think it’s enough? There are many who speak about turning the other cheek. I know from experience it is a rare being that is willing to die for another person’s moral stance.”

  “What about what you did to me?” I whispered, gazing at him and biting my lip.

  “That wasn’t a whim,” Devlin said, dropping his eyes. “That was my bad judgment. Sadly, it wasn’t the worst mistake I’ve made in my life.”

  “What was?”

  Devlin didn’t answer. I reached out and took his cool hand in mine.

  “When you lead others you must do whatever you have to in order to save your people,” he said with a sigh. “Compromising values should matter less than saving lives.”

  “I agree with you,” I said. “If you rule others, you have a responsibility to them above the responsibility to yourself. But even then, I think your family should come first.”

  “They should,” Devlin said in a cracked voice. He swallowed hard. “But the past can’t be undone.”

  I squeezed his hand. “What happened to Danial wasn’t your fault.”

  “Yes, it was,” he said softly.

  “How is it your fault?” I said curiously, easing closer to him.

  “Because I should have known what the thing was when it attacked. I didn’t know anything back then, except strategy and tactics. I was too concerned about rising through the ranks as fast as possible, so I could leave my family behind and become someone important.”