Stolen By The Warrior

by C. J. Brookes

  “But he’s probably terrified them. He looks very much like your grandfather in the surveillance photos we have of him. Kindara especially would remember.” And Aodhan hadn’t been lost to those similarities when he’d first seen photos of Taniss’s grandchildren. Including photos of this beautiful girl. He wished he had known she was his female the first time he saw the photos.

  He could have handled things differently, then. He wouldn’t have had to terrify her so deeply, at least.

  It had to be the Four Fates screwing with him for some reason.

  “I’m sorry for that. Rand hates that he resembles him. But that is not our doing, and we shouldn’t have to pay for Grandfather’s sins, anymore. We’re not going to anymore. Ever again. We have to end this stupid war between us.” Her face tightened. “I’m going to have to do it myself apparently. Since Rand is an idiot and my cousins and sister have gone over to the dark side. What are you planning to do?”

  Something about the way she looked at him as she said it made his heart stutter. He did not want his Mallory trying to stop a war. That was the most terrifying thought he had ever had. There were many of his people who thought they were still at war with those with the Taniss name.

  The four Rajnis might be safe now—and that was still in doubt—but the rest of her family wasn’t.

  “I’ll need to speak with Rydere, first. Your cousin Joselyn has refused to return with us. Says she doesn’t know what she’ll do yet. She also said that you should return to speak with your brother on the others’ behalves. Seems to think your brother will listen to you rather than Mickey.”

  “And he’ll get an earful. When are we supposed to be going?” Temper flashed in her green eyes. Her hands rose to fist on the most perfect hips he’d ever seen. “Jierra probably was terrified. Rand is big and strong and probably harsher than he intends to be. No doubt he scared her and didn’t even realize it. He can be intense with what he wants. If Rathan was with him—and he probably was; the two are pretty much inseparable—they can get pretty overwhelming.”

  That was a name he didn’t recognize. “Who is this Rathan?”

  “Something you don’t know? Rathan is a friend of Rand’s. His second-in-command, I’d guess you’d call him. He comes and goes whenever he pleases. Rathan is…different. He’s…the only guy friend I have. Or want.” There was a softness in her tone that Aodhan didn’t like hearing. Not for another male. It took him a moment to realize he was jealous. Possessive.

  “You admire this male? You like him?” Had she been with this Rathan? Aodhan wrapped his hands around her waist before he thought. “Has he touched you? Should I kill him then?”

  Green eyes widened, and she gasped. Then she laughed. She laughed right in his face. Aodhan wanted to taste that laugh. “I kissed Rathan…once. Five years ago. We were both a bit drunk, and nothing came out of it. That I remember. I remember kissing him, and then we fell asleep on the couch together. Rand found us cuddled there the next morning. He was furious with Rathan for some reason. I…needed a friend that night, and Rathan was there.”

  “I don’t like him. He wants you.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not like that with us.”

  “Is he male?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then he wants you. He can’t help himself.”

  “You’re an idiot.” Her gaze softened, turned vulnerable. “He…I was so afraid whenever a man got close. Even my father and Rand. I thought I was going to go insane. I kept seeing monsters, literal monsters, every time a man got near me. But then, Rathan was there, and he got me drunk on something. Right there in the hospital, he gave me something to drink. I’d never had it before—or since. I still don’t know what it was. But after I drank it, I felt better. Calmer and less afraid. He’s always been there when I’ve needed him. Since…he and Rand met the year before I was attacked. I think he assigned himself as special protector to me for a while after. When I woke in the hospital, he was beside my bed. He only left me once that I remember. I don’t even know how he got in there, but he did. I felt safe with him there. I couldn’t have made it through without him. He was just…always there…when I needed him. He’s involved in this. I can promise that. He’s the kindest man I have ever known. Without him, I would have broken years ago.”

  “Then I will not kill this male for kissing my female.” He would force himself to see this male as a beloved cousin. Provided the male kept his distance. After Aodhan met him, that was.

  “You don’t own me.”

  “I own you just as much as you own me, my kitten. And if given the chance, I will kill any male who has touched you before me.” Aodhan lifted her off the couch. She squealed from the sudden movement, but she didn’t fight him. “So has he touched you?”

  She shook her head. “Rathan is my friend. That’s all. What are you doing? I thought you said you would never—”

  “Force you? I won’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m a damned eunuch, female. These shorts do nothing save tease me.” His fingers brushed against the skin just under the polyester. It was a quick matter of sliding the material up and cupping her ass. He did just that, then pulled her tighter against him—forcing himself to do no more than he already had done. He just had to touch her, to erase this Rathan from her thoughts, her flesh.

  “I…was sparring with your sister in the gym. She promised to teach me to use a sword.”

  Aodhan pushed that thought out of his head. He would teach her all she needed to know about wielding a sword, just as he had his sister so many centuries ago.

  “I am a male who has waited more than half a millennium for my female. And here she is tempting me just by breathing. And wearing such tiny shorts. Where did you even find these little red things? How strong do you think I am?”

  Her fingers flexed on the muscles of his shoulders, and she tried to pull away. He wouldn’t let her. “What are you doing? Aodhan—”

  “Be quiet, female. I have given you my gentle, patient side. But that is not me. I am a warrior; I fight for what I want and need. Why shouldn’t this be the same?” He covered her protests with his mouth and kissed her. One tiny peck that could nowhere near express his frustration.

  He kept it brief. Then pulled away. And grinned at her.

  She hit him with one hand, smacking her palm against his shoulder. She pushed at him with the other. He didn’t sense any fear from her. Just aggravation. It was a start. She had to realize he was a male, with a male’s heart and a male’s feelings. And his feelings were centered all upon her. He pulled back eventually, to catch a breath. “Gods and goddesses, female. You burn me. And those shorts…they torture.”

  “Oh, just get over it.”

  “I’ll never get over you, Mallory Adrastos. You just remember that. You’re my entire world now.”

  26

  When was the last time someone had treated her with less than kid gloves when it came to matters of sex? Mallory couldn’t remember.

  The last guy she’d been with—the only one she’d been with since the attack—had been a friend of her stepcousin who’d helped her work through some of her fears. The sex between them had been mild, comforting. He’d eventually moved to work in TI’s Paris office, and she’d been ok with that. She’d always love him for how gentle he was, and was thrilled he’d found a woman in Paris and married her six months later.

  The burn between her and this damned vampire put the tepid heat between her and that man to shame.

  His hands were still on her, holding her lower body flush against his. Yes, he’d definitely been excited by the kiss. She could feel the evidence of that. She pushed against him again. “Let me go.”

  “Why should I?”

  The question had her pausing, but only for a moment. “Because I said to.”

  “What will happen if I don’t? Will you fight me? Scream for help? Tell me? Do you still fear me, Mallory of Adrastos?”

  Mallory didn’t know how to answer. She wasn’t even sure she knew how to
breathe.

  She could feel every inch of him, every bit of him, pressed against her from the waist down. Her skin burned where she touched him. He slid his fingers over the bare flesh just beneath the shorts, just beneath her rear. She shivered, wrapped her leg around his and pressed closer before she thought. It felt so…good. Almost right. Damn him.

  His eyes heated; he pulled her leg higher.

  His hand was firm on the other leg, lifting it as well. She knew what he wanted—she wrapped both legs around his waist. He was so strong that when he lifted her into place it was so easy. She locked her ankles behind him and tightened her arms around his neck.

  What was she doing? Why was she doing it? Mallory didn’t know, but she couldn’t bring herself to let him go. He was hot and strong, and it felt right to have him pressed against her.

  The world didn’t seem so chaotic then. He blocked it all out. Big, strong, beautiful. His neck was so close.

  He smelled so perfect. Felt perfect. She knew he’d taste perfect, too.

  Before she thought about it, she nipped him. Then ran her tongue over his neck. He laughed.

  “I see now. I know what my female demands. Go on, kitten. Take what you need. It is my right to give it to you.”

  His hands were beneath the band of her T-shirt. The T-shirt he pulled over her head in an instant. It didn’t matter. It also didn’t matter that his hands were tugging at the black sports bra.

  She nipped him again, then sank her fangs deep into his neck.

  He tasted good, right, and that was all that mattered.

  She drank from him for several moments, longer. Mallory wasn’t aware of him laying them both out on the mattress, wasn’t aware of him slipping the bra and shorts from her body. She was only vaguely aware that she was lying in his arms, wearing only a tiny pair of red panties. His hands scorched her skin, her breasts. It was like he couldn’t get enough of touching her.

  She didn’t mind. In fact, she liked it. Liked knowing they were his hands touching her. This vampire just wanted her. She hummed low in her throat, an almost purr.

  For some reason, that made him laugh. He sounded so satisfied, like he had won something, had accomplished something. She started to protest, to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her. He pushed her hair to one side, exposing her neck.

  She knew what he was about to do. It terrified her; it thrilled her. Mallory closed her eyes and pulled in a deep breath. It was now or never.

  Either she let him do this and made the conscious choice to be with him, or she stopped it right now.

  Her breath backed into her throat as the ramifications of what they were doing sunk home.

  The changes she was about to willingly accept.

  She’d never had a panic attack before, but she feared she was about to have her first. She flat-palmed his chest and shoved with all her strength. “No! Stop!”

  He froze. His hands stilled on her body, one on her breast the other tangled in her hair. He slowly pulled away from her. “I wish you’d said that a little louder and a whole lot earlier.”

  “You should have kept your hands to yourself to begin with.” Mallory knew that wasn’t fair the moment the words left her mouth. She looked away, ashamed. “I—”

  He brushed a kiss over her forehead after an almost beleaguered sigh. “You shouldn’t look so tempting. I am just a male, you know. An old bastard lusting after a pretty, young thing, but I can’t help myself. I’m weak. It’s all the red shorts’ fault.”

  He dropped his tone to a lecherous purr, and Mallory couldn’t help it. She laughed.

  For the first time in she didn’t know how long, she laughed over something sexual with a man she found unbelievably attractive. After turning him down for what he wanted.

  She’d told him no. And he’d stopped.

  Her laughter faded as that thought sank in. He’d stopped. Even though he wanted her, he’d stopped because she’d wanted him to. He’d controlled himself enough to respect what she’d wanted above all else.

  That knowledge rocked her to her core.

  27

  The next day was going to bring changes Mallory wasn’t ready to face. Aodhan had been quiet as he’d wakened her. They were going to get Kindara and Jierra back. He’d left the choice up to her whether she went with him or not.

  She was going. To prove to herself that she could leave the hotel whenever she wanted. That she didn’t have to stay with him.

  Someone had to tell her idiot twin that they were going to live in peace with the Dardaptoans, no matter what. She couldn’t let some weird revenge thing keep hurting people.

  But her resolve didn’t really help her at the moment.

  Mallory hated flying and had since Emily’s mother had died in a small plane crash. She fought the urge to hold Aodhan’s hand like a wimp as the helicopter they were in flew the small distance between the Taniss vacation estate and the Dardanos Resort. She’d never noticed how close the property was to Dardanos. No doubt her grandfather had built it that way on purpose. So he could more easily hunt the Dardaptoans.

  Suddenly, the property she’d always enjoyed had a more sinister undertone. She shivered.

  Aodhan had his arm behind her. Mallory shifted closer to the vampire. She had no idea what to say to Rand about this either. What he’d done had been reprehensible. It made her brother no better than the vampire sitting at Mallory’s side.

  That gave Mallory pause.

  If she was to forgive her brother for kidnapping Jierra and Kindara, why couldn’t she forgive Aodhan for taking her and her sister? It was the same concept. He’d taken her to get back at her family. Rand had taken the two women to get back at their family.

  Idiot jerks, both of them.

  She loved her brother. Would always love him, so she knew she’d forgive him this stupidity eventually. It wasn’t as easy to forgive the vampire next to her.

  The helicopters landed, and her breath caught when she saw the familiar white-and-yellow-stone mansion that had housed her family for nearly every Christmas and holiday of her life. She had so many good memories of the place. Her, Rand, Emily, Mitch, and Marsh running around like little demons playing and getting into all sorts of trouble. They were all within a year of each other in age, and they’d had their own little gang of playmates almost every day of her life.

  Then the younger cousins, Joselyn and the rest, following the older around. The swimming, the running, the hide-and-seek—all the good times and some of the bad ran through her mind. The day Rebecca had been born and Mallory’s mother died she, Rand, and Mickey had been with Aunt Elizabeth at the vacation home when their father had come to tell them the news.

  It was home.

  Tainted now.

  Mallory let Aodhan lift her down from the helicopter. Normally, she would have spurned the assistance, but right in that moment, she wanted to throw her arms around the vampire and cling. To pretend that the next few moments weren’t going to be rough.

  She didn’t, though.

  Mallory met her idiot brother in the front yard of the home.

  Looking at him was like looking at a more masculine mirror, at times. They had the same-shaped face, the same-shaped eyes, same color hair. His was worn just a bit too long around his face. He always looked wild and untamed to her; that wasn’t too far off the mark where he was concerned.

  Rand had always lacked the businessman polish that her father and uncles possessed. He was just more…animalistic than any other member of the Taniss family.

  He drove her nuts. They rarely agreed on anything. She was mentally gearing herself up for a battle.

  Mallory stepped away, her gaze instinctively going to Aodhan. His eyes were warm. Understanding, though it was obvious he was on full alert.

  A squeal had Mallory jerking toward the front door. She laughed as the tension seeped out of her. A blond girl who looked so much like her sister Mickey raced toward her.

  Jade. Joselyn’s sister. She was the same age as Mallory’s youn
gest sister, Becca. Jade threw her arms around Mallory’s neck and around Emily’s, pulling the two of them closer in a death grip.

  Mallory hugged her cousin, fiercely relieved that she had gotten the opportunity again.

  “I thought you were dead. Where’s my sister? Where’s Mickey? Tell me what happened. Tell me.” Jade was blubbering and demanding at the same time.

  “In a bit. I think we need to get inside first, don’t you?” Emily said.

  Mallory extracted herself from her cousin. “I’m glad to see the hair’s no longer blue, Jade.”

  “I almost went with orange, but then I figured I’d look too much like Mickey.” Jade did look a great deal like Mickey, except for the blond corkscrews everywhere. She, Becca, and Cass all had that wild curling hair like their grandmother.

  Mallory hugged her again. Jade was the first symbol of normal she’d had in a long while.

  Kindara had rushed to meet Cormac, and the two stood embracing nearby. Mallory looked past the blond woman to the man who’d followed her down the steps. Rathan stood very close to Kindara, possessive in a way Mallory had never seen before.

  And then he headed straight toward her. Aodhan cursed lightly and lifted her. Behind his back. He physically blocked her from the others, going into full-out warrior mode.

  “Damn it. What are you doing?” Mallory stepped back around him deliberately.

  Rand swept a hand between the group. “Inside.”

  Mallory saw several of the Dardaptoans scowl at the order and sniff the air, including Aodhan. Aodhan stood staring at her brother and Rathan, suspicion on his face.

  “What is it?” she demanded of him. He’d promised her he’d be peaceful. She’d believed him. Trusted him with her family’s location.

  Just what she’d risked with him wasn’t lost to her.

  Strong fingers wrapped around her arm and he pulled her away from her brother. “Stay with me. Next to me. There are some things we need to discuss and quickly.”

  She looked up at him, ignoring Rand’s moving closer as well. “What?”