“Inside, away from all of these…people.”
“Mallory?” Rand almost growled her name. “We need to talk. Now.”
“In a minute, Randall. You and me, we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about this.” Mallory shot her brother a look filled with the irritation she still felt for him. Then she looked at Rathan. She had some words for him, too. He grinned at her, but he’d stopped moving. He held his hands up in front of them—pointed toward Aodhan. Who still stood scowling—at Rathan, in particular. “I want to check on Jierra and her mother first. Make sure you two dorks didn’t do lasting damage by being so stupid.”
Her brother’s face darkened to an angry red. His words were almost a growl when he spoke. Nothing Mallory hadn’t heard from him before. He usually was growling at her. Usually when she didn’t do what he wanted. “I didn’t do any damned damage to her.”
Which her? “I’ll check for myself, thank you.”
She stepped around the big man blocking her path and skirted around her brother.
“Mal!” Rand grabbed her arm and shook her, like he had so many times before. “Is that all you have to say after being missing for weeks?”
Strong hands pulled Mallory away from her twin with a sharp jerk. She found herself crowded behind Aodhan’s back, and two Dardaptoan men in turquoise right next to her, with hands on their pockets. Where knives rested, visibly. They’d apparently left the swords at home, at least.
Aodhan’s right hand was wrapped around Rand’s throat, and Aodhan was hissing his anger. He looked larger, harder, and far, far more dangerous than he ever had before. A chill shot through her at how deadly he looked right then. “You never touch her like that again, wolf. Or I will rip you into pieces. So small that they will never be found. Do you understand me?”
Rand growled, his hand on Aodhan’s arm. Mallory pushed between the two men. She put a hand on each strong male chest. These two idiots were exactly alike. And she wasn’t about to be the bone they fought over. It just wasn’t about to happen. “Stop! Now! Aodhan, let him go!”
“He touched you.”
“Yeah? So what? We’ve been touching each other since the womb. This is my twin, you idiot. He’d never hurt me.”
“I don’t care who he is. He doesn’t shake you, or anything else. Ever. No one hurts you again.”
Mallory resisted the urge to smack him while fighting off the power of his words and his expression. All of this was for her. How in the hell was she supposed to process that? “So my brother can’t touch me, but you can hold a knife to my throat, practically break my arm, threaten me, and carry me out of my home over your shoulder? A little confused there?”
His cheeks turned red. His hands went around her waist, and he lifted her out from where she stood between the two men. “That was different…”
“Yeah, it was.” Mallory lowered her voice and looked straight at him. Overbearing butthead. She didn’t have a clue how she was going to deal with him. Not a clue. “You intended to kill me because of some stupid, archaic law. Rand touches me because he loves me. Big difference.”
“Then. Not now. And I didn’t know you were my Rajni then.”
“And that makes it all ok in your mind? Because we’re Rajnis, you think you have the right to order my family around, to decide who touches me?”
His eyes sparked, and he smiled then pulled her closer, despite the people surrounding them. He kissed her once, quick. When he pulled away, she almost protested. The world had felt right again when he was kissing her. “Thank you, kitten.”
“For what?”
“For finally admitting aloud that we are Rajnis. I thought I would never hear those words on your lips.”
Damn it. She’d said it, and it had been natural. “I might have said it, but that still doesn’t mean I believe it.”
“Mallory. Inside.”
Rand’s impatience was easy for her to hear. She threw an angry look his way. “Bite me, bro. Em, Jadie, let’s go. I’m sick to death of male idiots thinking they have the right to tell me what to do. News flash, boys. This stupidity you’ve all started ends right now.”
Rathan clapped. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Can it, Rath. I’m just as angry at you, too. You have a lot of explaining to do.”
Rathan just leaned his head back and laughed. “I love you, Mal. You always entertain.”
Mallory couldn’t help herself. He was just the straw that broke her back. She kicked him, with one perfectly executed snap kick right to his knee.
Rathan went tumbling down to the ground, laughing like the asshole he was the entire time.
“You are all idiots!” Mallory stormed inside, her cousins right on her heels.
28
Aodhan watched his female march inside just in front of her cousins. Fury radiated from her, but she no longer acted afraid of him. And to hear her say they were Rajnis…even his new brother-in-law couldn’t put a damper on how that felt. “I do love her temper.”
Her brother growled, reminding him of the biggest hurdle he now had to face. Well, one of them. The other…the male Rathan concerned him. He’d recognized him for exactly what Kind he was the instant the male had stepped out of the house.
“You were going to kill her. We just took them to draw you out, but you were going to kill them. And you hurt her.”
“Unknowingly. We were following the laws of our people. I would have killed her, yes. But it was not my first choice.” Thank the goddess he had been the one to find Mallory and not one of the other three males that night. The Four Fates had had their hands in it, no doubt. Still, one thing needed clarification, and fast. “Tell me: How is it that my Rajni’s twin is a Lupoiux and she has no knowledge of it?”
The brother’s eyes narrowed, and the growl that was issued was that of a true alpha. Aodhan forced his instincts to tamp back down. Dardaptoan and Lupoiux had fought for centuries, and he’d killed quite a fair share of the animals himself. He’d also formed a few friendships with the other Kind on occasion, too. When necessary. Whether he liked it or not, he could not kill the male next to him. Not now.
Family was the basis of his Kind, after all.
“None of your business.”
Rydere broke in before Aodhan could say that it was. His female needed to be kept safe, even from her family, if necessary. “I suggest we do take this inside. Before those females of ours manage to plot against us all.”
Aodhan nodded. Now that Mallory was in her family’s house, there was nothing stopping her from insisting she stay behind when he left. He did not want to give her time to even try that. “I wish to see for myself Kindara and her daughter.”
Aodhan studied the house as he climbed the porch steps. It had not been in his notes. If he had realized it was so close to Dardanos, and that Mallory had probably been there for years, he would have…well. No. Fate had worked the way it was supposed to, if he subscribed to Theo’s way of thinking. The Fates had given him the world now.
His female and the young blond human were bustling around the large kitchen, obviously making coffee. The blonde kept chatting, bubbly and excited to see her cousins. She was very young, and looked much like Theo’s Rajni, but with different hair and slightly different cheekbones.
Tanisses apparently resembled each other strongly.
Aodhan watched his mate for a moment. She wouldn’t look up at him. Was she still angry? With him or her brother? Aodhan stepped up behind her and wrapped a hand around her arm. He pulled her back into him and dropped a kiss on her hair. She stiffened, then relaxed.
But instead of it being the reticence of fear making her not want his touch, he sensed only irritation at his actions.
“Don’t bother trying me, Aodhan. You didn’t have to act like a damned caveman with my brother.” The frost of her words had him hiding a smile. Spirited, his female. He would have her no other way. “We want to resolve this mess you’ve all created. Not see the two of you in a whose-is-bigger contest.”
“I apologize. Perhaps it will just take time for your brother to understand that we both only want what is right for you.” He needed to find a way to placate her, and fast. Before she headed upstairs and locked herself in.
He’d take the doors off if he had to, but that wouldn’t exactly fix everything like she wanted. He wanted to kiss her; he just brushed his lips over flame-red hair that smelled like roses.
“You’d make a great politician with that tone. Just go away. Get this over with so we can move on. Em and I have business to discuss with the rest of our family if we’re going to actually do this.”
He would have said more, but the green eyes she turned on him were sad and confused. Very little anger remained. She always made him feel like a monster when she looked at him with that expression.
He pulled her into his arms and held her tight before he thought. She was stiff in his embrace for a moment. Then her arms slipped around his waist, and she clung to him. He held her until she pulled away.
Her brother stood watching them, a resigned look on his face. The brother knew the strength of the Rajni bond, no doubt. As a Lupoiux, perhaps it would be easier for the brother to accept Aodhan’s role in his sister’s life.
It wasn’t as if the brother was getting a rude introduction to the Dardaptoan way of life, Rajnis in particular. When the wolf found his own mate—if he hadn’t already, though Aodhan’s research had shown no known lover for Rand Taniss—the wolf would understand completely that his place in his sisters’ lives had been usurped. Aodhan looked at the wolf again. “I think we have much to talk about. Kitten—”
“Go. Be total male idiots. I don’t care anymore. I’m going to talk to Kindara and her daughter. You and I—we’ll talk more later.”
“I am eagerly looking forward to it.”
But first, he needed answers. There was a demon attached to his female’s family. And there damned well shouldn’t be.
An Incubus, at that.
With the way that demon was hovering around Kindara, it was a wonder Cormac hadn’t killed the demon on first sight.
29
Mallory studied Kindara closely. There was something more vulnerable about her than Mallory was used to seeing. She seemed less aloof, for one thing. More unsure. “I want to apologize again for my idiot brother and his moron friend. Rand…I can see Rand doing this, but Rathan? He’s usually the smart one.”
Kindara nodded, then looked around quietly. “This entire situation has been messed up from the beginning. I…was completely opposed to the council’s ruling against your family. I…your grandfather deserves to be punished, but I have never thought you or the rest of your family did as well. Not since the moment I realized most of you were the same age as Jierra. Mickey, especially, reminded me of my daughter. I couldn’t condone harming you, even before I knew Joselyn was for my brother. But there are those on the council…they were threatening to attack everyone in your family and then declare war against Rydere and his supporters. It was ugly. And it could cause a civil war if it continues. Even my testimony didn’t help. Rydere and Aodhan…they really didn’t have much choice in what they were going to do. Theo’s going to try to change the laws because of what almost happened. And it’s still ugly right now. There are some who are calling for the rest of your cousins’ blood. Aodhan is arguing against it, but…I just wish…for Jierra…she will have a long journey ahead of her now.”
Mallory tried to process all Kindara said. None of it made much sense. Jierra was pale and obviously exhausted, but Mallory could not see anything wrong with her. “What do you mean?”
Kindara hesitated. “That is something you need to speak with Aodhan about, I’m afraid. It is not my place to explain.”
“Explain what?” Apparently, Dardaptoans couldn’t do simple answers.
“Just ask him.”
“I will.” She’d sit him down and make the man—vampire, rather—explain everything she needed to know so that she could make sense of this. This…whatever it was.
30
Apparently, Rathan was a highly dangerous creature that Rydere’s brother Barlaam already knew.
He’d disappeared right before her eyes.
Just what he was, she wasn’t entirely certain. No one had come out and said.
They’d been gathered around the main dining table, discussing the changes Emily wanted to implement at TI and arguing details. Then her uncle had burst in and announced there were Lupoiux wolves coming for them.
The house had had to be evacuated.
Quickly.
She wasn’t certain why Aodhan kept calling her brother wolf, either. None of it made any sense.
Especially after Rathan disappeared right before her eyes and returned with a Dardaptoan she recognized. One who’d been fighting against Rathan like Rathan was a monster.
Rathan hadn’t even broken a sweat.
Jambu was a cousin of Emily’s Rajni, but Mallory didn’t know much more about him. Rathan had called him a traitor, and Cormac had tried to hurt the younger man.
Oh, she had some serious questions. As soon as she got Rathan alone…well, as soon as she unwrapped him from Kindara, anyway.
Rathan was almost attached to Kindara like a parasite now. What surprised her the most was that Kindara seemed to be tolerating him. She hadn’t minded being abducted by Rathan in the least.
Cormac and Aodhan had gone all ballistic on the Dardaptoan Rathan had caught.
If she, Emily, Jade, Kindara, and Jierra hadn’t been watching, they may have killed the other guy.
Viciously. Mallory wasn’t entirely certain what was going on, but she suspected Jambu was responsible for the attack on Joselyn.
It had been meant for Jierra. That had been mentioned.
Rand was the one they’d had to stop from killing him.
The helicopter stuttered, and Mallory drew in a breath. She really hated flying and always would. Aodhan wrapped his hand around hers and squeezed, his touch meant to reassure. The sound of the helicopter made it too difficult to speak, but Mallory appreciated his presence. She leaned closer and he got the hint, wrapping a heavy arm around her shoulders. Before she even realized it, she’d snuggled right up to him. Like he could keep her safe even while flying.
She looked up and studied the rest of the helicopter’s occupants. Aodhan had told her earlier that Rydere rarely traveled in the same vehicle as he or Cormac or Theo. Had told her it was safer to keep the Equans of each House separate to ensure assassination attempts were kept to a minimum. But with the staff of the vacation home plus Rand’s people in the security division of TI, they’d decided that all the Dardaptoans, Mallory, Emily, Jade, Rand, Rathan, and Uncle Jason would travel in the largest helicopter, with the rest of the Taniss staff taking the others.
Mallory studied her uncle and her brother and the man she now knew wasn’t human. Rathan filled her with questions.
Rathan had kept her sane years ago. Every night she’d opened her eyes that first week in the hospital, Rathan had been there.
He wasn’t supposed to be there. Visiting hours had long been over. But Rathan had been there, one hand on hers the entire time.
He’d promised she’d be safe forever, that he was going to make it that way. That he would always be there. Always keep her safe. She’d believed him, trusted him, more than she had any else before. Including her father, brother, and uncles.
Her brother looked at her, his eyes dark and guarded for the first time she could remember.
Rand had said that Jade was the only human there now. That didn’t make any sense at all. Unless Rand and her uncle…no. She would have known.
Aodhan helped her down from the helicopter, lifting her easily out of its belly and down to Rydere’s brother, Barlaam. Her hands tightened on his forearms for a moment until she got her balance. Aodhan hopped down and took her from the healer. He took her hand in one of his, then yanked Jambu out of the helicopter when Cormac practically threw the younger Dardaptoan at Aodhan. Aod
han frog-marched the traitor toward the resort.
Mallory was torn between following him and staying with the rest of her family. She had so many questions, and that made the decision for her. She followed Aodhan into the building, ignoring Rand calling her name.
Aodhan turned to her, stopping for a moment. “No, you need to stay with your family, kitten. What I will be doing with Jambu is something you should not see. Stay with your brother for now.”
“Are you going to kill him?” They talked of killing in his culture far more than she did in hers. Mickey had told her some of the ancient laws were brutal. And that there were those like Theo who were working to change them. She couldn’t imagine it going well with a traitor.
“No. Just question him a bit. His betrayal is a deep one, such as he had the trust of the entire royal House. We need to ensure it went no deeper than Jambu. That no one else is involved.”
Mallory watched the young man pale. She did not envy him. She felt no compassion—because of him, Emily and Joselyn could have died. “You believe Rathan, then? That Jambu is responsible for the attack on Joselyn?”
Aodhan nodded. “Yes. I do believe him. The only question is why. Go. Stay with your family. I think the young blond girl may be developing a crush on our Barlaam. It can only end badly for her, as he will not touch her. It would dishonor her and his future Rajni.”
She knew he was right, but that didn’t mean she was happy about it. “I have a bunch of questions.”
“I will answer them later. In our suite.”
“All of them.” She nodded before she realized what she was agreeing to. Rand and Rathan were there—and Rathan was terrifying apparently. Aodhan couldn’t expect her to just meekly go back to his suite with him. That was just crazy. That was as good as giving him exactly what he wanted all along.
She thought about that as she and Aureliana led the rest of the group through the hotel, giving what amounted to a guided tour.
Stolen By The Warrior Page 11