Sin of Fury

by Avery Duncan

  “Yes,” he said, getting off of the bed to put jeans on. Obviously, the mood was ruined and she didn’t want anything to do with him now --

  “Don’t leave?” Her thin, weak voice had him turning to look at her. She looked so small, so fragile. Talon felt as if he had taken her like an animal, bitten her like some sort of monster. Taken her and claimed her as his mate, without even getting her consent.

  Talon sighed and put the jeans down, sitting on the edge of the bed and oblivious to his nakedness. He was so disgusted with himself. Never in his life had a woman cried because of having sex with him, and now his mate was? He scrubbed a hand over his face and watched as she struggled to stop crying, and also stared at his chest with longing eyes.

  He knew what she wanted. When he opened his arms for her, she crawled her merry way into them and pressed her face to his chest. Her tears were hot on his skin, but that didn’t stop the possessiveness that flowed through him as his woman curled her way into his body.

  “Don’t cry, love... Tell me what I did,” he commanded as gently as he could. His arms came around her body tightly, holding her to him as he picked her up and swung her into his arms bridal style. She let out a gasp and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on for dear life.

  His scent came off of her in waves, making it known to everyone who ever dared to touch her that she was taken. He forced himself not to worry about the fangs coming out while he’d been close to orgasming -- there was still a lot that he didn’t know, and Lucian would have answers.

  But later. His mate needed to be cleaned, and she had some talking to do.

  When he realized she hadn’t answered him, he gave her a little pat on the butt to get her attention. She took a shaking breath, then pressed her forehead against his neck. “I’ve never felt so...amazing, before that. It was... I thought -- it was just too much for me.”

  His chest puffed up as pride filled him. Then her tears had been for happiness, not disgust or pain. He gave her a look of complete dominance and said, “You will never cry like that again.”

  Jamie let out a little sound, and her hand collided with his chest. Despite himself, he found himself laughing at her outrage. “You can’t tell me whether to cry or not, Talon. Just because you own the world, that doesn’t mean you own me,” she huffed, giving him another good slap to the chest.

  He walked into the bathroom, flipping on the lights. A jaccuzzi was set up in the corner, large enough to hold the both of them. Lucian had given them the only room with a bathroom of their own, and going by all the shampoos and salts on the ledge of the tub, she had been using that to her advantage.

  She made him set her down. An adorable blush came over her face when she stood there naked. Talon stared at her, running his eyes over her body. Jamie quickly covered her private areas and ducked her head, thinking of all the times that Chris had stared at her like that -- but because he had been proud of her bruises.

  Talon growled and moved her hands, palming her breast and leaning down to her ear. “Don’t hide yourself from me. Ever.” A flush came over her body -- this time because of the tone of his voice and how close he was....and naked. With her head still down, she had a clear view of his body and the more harder part of him.

  Her breath rushed out of her lungs and it took everything inside of her not to reach out and grab him. He must have known, too, because he stepped back and the smile he gave her spoke of pure male pride. And then he swung her into his arms and set her in the bathtub.

  Water settled around her and quickly filled the tub. She shivered, staring up at him, wondering if he was going to join her.

  He did.

  “You know, now that you are mine, you aren’t allowed to do anything without me right next to you,” he said arrogantly while wrapping his arms around her waist. Jamie froze, eyes widening. Not just because his...third leg was poking at her hip, but because of what he had said.

  “No. I can’t live like that,” she said sternly, stabbing him in the chest with her finger. He caught her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckles slowly.

  “You will, and you’ll enjoy it.”

  She shook her head, deciding not to argue on it. He would learn sooner or later that she wasn’t going to be held down any longer, by anyone. Chris had been a turning point in her life, and she was just now getting back on track...even though she still had to deal with the new world she was being brought into. Being her own woman was her new goal, one that she planned on reaching.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Who said I’m yours?”

  Talon put her hand on his chest, over his heart. The arrogance left him in a second, replaced with a quiet solemnity that almost made her back away from him. Water sluiced around them while he adjusted her against his chest, to a more firm position that she couldn’t get out of.

  “Me. You. Anything with a mind should know that you are mine,” he growled softly, tightening his arms around her. She was pressed closely to his chest, low enough that her head reached under his chin. His legs were bent around her, enclosing her in a warm blanket of male heat and water.

  She shivered. “I think you got that wrong. I haven’t agreed to anything concerning ‘ownership’, thank you very much.”

  His hand, which had been tracing slow circles around her waist, came up and settled on her neck. Right over the place that had had a soft ache since he had made love to her. It hadn’t hurt enough for her to notice it, but now that she was more clear minded...

  Jamie gasped. He spoke in her ear. “Feel this?” His hand pressed against her neck, and the place irradiated with heat. Jamie held down a whimper and bit her lip, feeling tingles run along her body. If she had been wearing panties, they would have been drenched.

  “Yes...” she whispered, hoping that it prevented any sources of arousal from escaping through her voice. Of course, her body was a whole other thing. She had to cover her breasts so he didn’t see her peaked nipples, and it didn’t help the blush that was getting worse by the second.

  “Is it making you hot?” he growled, his hot breath washing over her ear. Jamie couldn’t stop the shudder that wracked her body, or the nod that she gave him.

  He pulled his hand away from her neck and put it on her stomach, right under her breast. Jamie let her head fall back against his chest as his thumb rubbed slow circles on her skin, pressing and massaging, stealing her very breath.

  “That is how I know you are mine,” he murmured. She felt his lips at her temple, kissing her softly. Jamie almost glared at him, but found that she didn’t have enough strength. He was just so...calming. “And if anyone ever touches what’s mine? They die.”

  “Like Chris,” she said softly, the image of Talon beating the living daylights out of him flashing through her mind.

  “Not like Chris. He was lucky you were there, or he would be dead.” He paused. “Next time, I won’t be so merciful. One wrong look, or touch, or even thought, towards you, and the fucker will be dead within a second. I won’t go through the preliminaries of using my fists, either.”

  Jamie knew he was telling the truth. Knew he was being completely serious. Knew that she could be the reason he could end up in jail. And what did that do to her? It made her pant. Honestly, seriously, pant. Unlike Chris, he was possessive over her -- not what she looked like. Not the money she had.

  She should hate that he was possessive of her at all, but how could she when it made her feel wanted? She stared down at her hands, hating herself.

  Later on, Talon tucked her in and left. He had needed to talk to Lucian, and ever since they had gotten out of the tub, he had been distracted to the point where she couldn’t say a word to him.

  Head hurting, eyes aching, and her mind turning, it wasn’t long before she was asleep...and dreaming of things that she had buried long ago.

  ~*~

  “Jamie, you’re an adult now. And this means you need... time away from the house.”

  She stared at her mother as if she were crazy. What w
as she talking about? Jamie was barely sixteen, still drooling over boys, and going to school. Her parents were adults, but she wasn’t. Didn’t want to be, in fact. Too many people came to visit you, talked about boring things, and then left with a cool difference that had always left Jamie angry.

  “But Alexis was coming over soon,” she said, hoping it would be a good enough reason. She really had no clue what her mother was talking about. Time away from the house? As in leaving?

  “I called her mother, and she understands that you will be gone for some time. Your father and I agree that it is time for you to... mature. Away from us.”

  Jamie felt as her heart thundered in her chest. They wouldn’t send her away -- what would they do without her? What would her teachers think? And....where would she stay? Her other family had never really talked to her at all, and there was no one willing to take...care of her. Besides her parents and her friends, Jamie had no one. And she didn’t want anyone else.

  So why were they sending her away?

  “Away from you?” she repeated dumbly, ears ringing. Away. Gone. Not with her mother.

  She stared into her mother’s cool blue eyes, feeling like this was all too much like last time. Except now, her father knew, and he hated her. He didn’t care about her. Was he the one sending her away from her mother? Hurt shone in her pale eyes as she backed away from her mother like she was a monster.

  “Yes. You will be taken out to Colorado, where.... a friend of mine has agreed to take care of you.

  “A friend of yours? Mom, why can’t you just take care of me. I mean... I’m your daughter. Don’t send me away,” she whispered, falling against her bed. She had just gotten home, and it was only noon. Carry and her had gone to the mall with a couple of their friends, checking out the latest selection of tapes that they had gotten in at the music shop.

  She had rushed upstairs, excited to show Alexis the new cassette she had gotten, only to find her mother sitting on her plush bed, hands folded in her lap and her eyes staring at the pale pink walls of Jamie’s quaint room.

  Now, with her mother rising calmly to her feet and gesturing to a suitcase Jamie hadn’t noticed, she really couldn’t believe that this was happening. “Is this because I got a B on my AP calculus test?” she blurted out, praying that this was just a joke, an event to scare her into doing better at school.

  Her mother’s coiled hair stayed in place as her head shook, elegant eyes cooly regarding Jamie. “No. Take your suitcase down stairs. There is a car waiting outside for you.”

  And then she left, her soft perfume permeating the air as if she were a bad stink leaving behind a bad mark. Wasn’t that too true, though. Her throat closed up, and she reached for the suitcase blindly. Her mother wasn’t joking around. Her father was behind this, she was sure of it.

  Ever since that episode with her mother trying to take her away, he had treated them both with apparent disdain, had even gone so far as to hurt her mother in front of her face, and then round on Jamie. It had happened once, but it would forever be in her mind.

  Suddenly, she recoiled. Was her mother on board with this because if Jamie left, she wouldn’t be harmed? Was Jamie’s departure a type of...cure, for her mother? Her heart almost jumped out of her throat. If it meant making her mother happy, then she would do it.

  She didn’t deserve what she had to go through because of Jamie’s presence in their household. Now that she knew the reasons her mother was sending her away, it didn’t seem so...bad.

  But as put the suitcase by her door and went to fill her backpack with anything her mother had missed. She grabbed her journal and her headset, a couple of her favorite books, and then slung it over her shoulder with mute pain. Maybe she would come back, maybe her father would realize he missed her.

  Even as the desperate thought crossed her mind, she knew it wasn’t probable. If anything, he would send her farther than Colorado and across the seas. She tried to make light of it by thinking that she would get a chance to meet some hot Italian boys, but it didn’t work.

  With a heavy heart, she started her way downstairs and ignored the condemning eyes of her father and the indifferent eyes of her mother.

  The wheels of her suitcase clicked along the tile as she pulled it, slowly and painfully. The doorman, Frankie, was watching her with pitiful eyes and so were the rest of the staff. The only ones who didn’t seem to care were her parents. How much was that a downer? she thought numbly, pausing at the door.

  “No goodbye?” Jamie asked, hating how her voice cracked.

  “Why should I say good bye to someone that I will not miss?” her father said with a cold hatred. Jamie’s mouth parted on a gasp at the hurt that coursed through her. He had made snide remarks, but none as hurtful as that. Even Frankie made a sharp intake of breath.

  There was a tense, suspense-filled silence, in which the entire staff stared at parents as if they just wanted to...

  “I quit,” Frankie said, his old voice disgusted as he threw down the hat he had been forced to wear since working at their house.

  “So do I!” someone else called out. After that, a chorus of voices were ringing in the room till her father, red in the face and seething, snarled and lunged at Jamie.

  “You are nothing but a nuisance! Get out of my house, you devil child!” And then she was thrown out of the door. Her father would have slammed it shut had Frankie not been there, holding it open for all of the maids and cooks. Their house was large enough to need a team of maids, and the cooks had such large responsibilities that they had needed two.

  Now, though, they came out of the house in waves, with her father's screeches of rage echoing in the large mansion. Her mother, she couldn’t help but notice, was silent, standing there with her hands folding in front of her black pantsuit, hair still perfectly done.

  The door of a black Ford Explorer was held open for her. She looked back at Frankie and the other staff members and realized that, even if she did come back, this would be the last time she saw them. She grabbed onto him and hugged him, crying her heart and soul out into his white, starched shirt.

  The goodbyes were said in a blur, everyone saying that they would miss her and remember her, and she them. In truth, she believed that the staff was her real family. Not her father. Not his family. Not her mother’s family. But her mother...She stared back into the house with watery eyes, and saw nothing but her mother’s grave face.

  And then she stepped into the car and it closed in her face.

  It was a silent, painful ride. The men in the front said not one word to her, and it took a whole two days before they actually entered Colorado. She often stared at the men, waiting for the guns to be pulled out and a shower of bullets to rain around them. They were dressed in straight black suits, both dark haired and wearing sunglasses. When they stopped at a hotel, they got two bedrooms, theirs adjacent to hers and the door open at all times.

  The strong call for security, though, was lost on her. It wasn’t as if they treated her with respect, or even if she were alive. Instead, it was like she was an object that couldn’t get scratched but had no meaning besides deliverance. But, then again, she guessed that’s what she was.

  When she should have been sleeping, she thought of the people that would be looking over her. Who was it, she thought. Who was going to have to change their lifestyles just to watch over a girl that was unwanted by even her own father?

  That question was answered shortly after the long night at the hotel. Colorado, she found out, was a very cold place. Very dry place. Very beautiful place, with trees and land and kind people.

  But that, of course, changed when they started to travel farther into the forests and mountains. The setting reminded her like something out of Beauty and the Beast, simply because of how dark it got, and how quickly the setting turned ominous.

  “Did you guys miss a turn?” she asked thinly, turning her head to look out of the window again. The only time she had asked them a question was when she had to use the b
athroom.

  The one in the passenger side turned his head, and gave a short, abrupt, “No”. And then he turned around and went back to his stony silence.

  Jamie wrapped her arms around herself, hugging her backpack to her chest as if it would keep her safe. The car didn’t have headlights on, and she didn’t think they even planned to turn them on at all. Her skin crawled.

  Something white flashed outside of her window, making her scream and drop her bag. “Oh my god, did you see that?” Her high-pitched voice had the men turning a cold shoulder on her, and it didn’t help her nerves at all. Her stomach roiled, and she thought that at any moment, the car would be flipped over and they would all be eaten alive.

  Her fears, she later learned, were useless. Nothing came after their car, and they didn’t die. Instead, the men drove calmly on the paved path, farther into the forest than she could have ever imagined.

  Hate, for her father and everything he had done, shot through her. Why was he doing this to her? Why wasn’t he giving her a chance? Jamie felt tears sting her eyes -- why did this have to be happening to her? Right now, she could be with Alexis at the mall, with Carry playing Tennis, or emailing her pen pal.

  In no time at all, the car pulled drew up short and, half asleep, she barely registered the squeak of wrought iron gates. Jamie lifted her head from her arms and blinked, staring out into the dark. The care smelled of leather, men, and her own tears. Had she really been crying? God... She wiped her cheeks, grasping the strap of her backpack tightly.

  The car stopped.

  The men got out.

  Jamie almost puked.

  Her car door opened, and the one that had spoken to her was standing there, waiting for her to get out. The other one was getting her suitcase from the trunk. A couple of yards away, hidden behind some looming trees, was a cabin. One light was lit, showing through one of the many tinted windows. A curtain swung back into place, and the light in the room showed a large, dark figure move.