Stolen By The Warrior

by C. J. Brookes

  A hot male hand wrapped around her elbow, and she fought not to jerk away. Until she looked up into dark eyes and a familiar smile. Rathan pulled her close and kissed her forehead. She hadn’t had time to talk to him since they’d landed at the family vacation home hours ago. Her arms slipped around his waist, and she hugged him tightly for a long moment.

  He smelled like he always did. Like home. “I’m sorry I kicked you.”

  “He calls you kitten. I’ve always felt that endearment would fit you well.” Rathan pulled back after a moment, then slung an arm over her shoulder. He was so tall. Just as tall as a Dardaptoan, maybe four inches shorter than Aodhan or so. She’d always liked his size, had always felt safe with him. Like he could protect her from the world.

  “Don’t be a dork, Rath. I’m not too happy with you, either.” His black eyes held his laughter, something that was so characteristic of him. He was one of the few people she called friend. And he’d lied to her for years by omission. “What the hell are you exactly?”

  “I’m a demon, kitten.” He smirked again, as he stepped back from her, hands up in surrender, when one of Aodhan’s guards stepped closer, hand on sword. “An Incubus to be exact. Have your new boyfriend tell you about my Kind sometime. About how we…feed.”

  A demon was her brother’s best friend. Had been a part of her life for almost ten years, and she’d never suspected. “How did you meet my brother?”

  “He saved my life years ago, and I owed him a debt. Then we became friends. Mallory…” He hesitated a moment. “You need to speak with your brother. There is something he and your uncle do need to tell you. But…this world you’ve found yourself in, it will welcome you now. Remember that. The rules are different, but it’s because they’ve had to be. Your warrior…well…he’s not a human male. Don’t expect him to act as one.”

  Mallory looked at her brother, who stood apart from the group, his eyes trained on Jierra. Hungrily.

  “Rath…why is Rand so focused on Jierra? Is he trying to terrify her out of her mind?” Jierra was even more naïve than her cousin Cass, which said a lot. Cass…Cass had chosen not to attend public school, had had private tutors and was happiest surrounded by flowers. She knew nothing of the world—or men. Jierra wasn’t much more worldly, from what she’d observed.

  Rand would have to terrify her.

  “Probably not terrify her, kitten.”

  Mallory looked back at the man—the demon—next to her and rolled her eyes. Rathan just shot her his trademark wicked grin.

  “Don’t call me that. It’s ridiculous.”

  “Bet not when your giant of a Rajni says it?” Rathan laughed, then turned more serious. “Are you happy with him? He has not hurt you in any way? Because if you want, I can see to it that he suffers for it. I have made a vow to you and your cousins to protect you from the vampire Kinds, after all. I am bound to that oath.”

  Mallory thought of everything that had happened to her since the night Aodhan had carried her out of her home. “Hurt me? No. Terrified me, confused me, exasperated me, yes. But other than that first initial meeting, he’s not hurt me at all. Not since he decided I was his Rajni.”

  Rathan put his hands on each side of her head and shook her head lightly, teasingly. The guards, cousins of Aodhan’s, shifted closer, their eyes trained on Rathan suspiciously. “A male doesn’t just decide a female is his Rajni. The bond is too strong, too powerful, too damned magical for that. A Rajni bond is actually quite a beautiful thing. Put in place by a goddess associated with pure love. Is that the way it is for you, poppet? Do you love your male? Because if it isn’t, and you want to go home, I will do all in my power to make that happen. But I will warn you, being separated from him for too long will hurt you. More than you have ever been hurt before. I know what that means to you. But if you want away from him, I will make it happen. Even if I have to take you to the demon world myself. I have a castle there and more brothers than I can count to protect you. They will simply adore you, as I do. No Dardaptoan will get to you there.”

  Mallory threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, in spite of all who watched them—including Aodhan’s sister. Rathan’s arms came up around her, and he held her just like he always had before.

  He felt like home. Like normal. Even if he was a demon.

  She loved him—and it didn’t change a thing that he wasn’t human.

  It was exactly the reassurance she needed, and though it came from neither her brother nor her uncle, it still meant the world to her. Rathan always would. Her hero, in so many ways. “Thank you, Rath. I don’t know what I am doing yet. But at least now, I have the choices.”

  “We always have choices. Sometimes, it is just hard to see them. On that note…” Rathan turned toward the rest of the group who’d paused to watch their quiet conversation. He shot them all a decidedly wicked demonic look before smirking at the guards. He turned to Aureliana and winked. “So where does Kindara sleep?”

  “I doubt that she would want me sharing that information with you. She’s extremely private, and I’ve made it one of my jobs to preserve that privacy,” Aureliana told him, eyes narrowed and her hand on her own sword.

  Mallory just stared at him. “Rath? Seriously? Can’t you leave her alone?”

  “It’s…complicated. Needless to say, she will want me near her soon. I will find her myself, then. Thank you for your time.” He kissed Mallory’s forehead and ruffled Mickey’s hair. “Mickey, little mouse, I like your male. He seems reasonable, unlike the rest of these Dardaptoans. We will talk later, though, about these laws of his you mentioned. Mallory, as always, just yell for me if you need me.”

  He blinked.

  Then he was gone.

  Mallory shared a look with Mickey, who shrugged. “I don’t understand it, either. Apparently, Rand’s best friend is a demon. The good kind, not the evil. And we don’t even question it at this point. How wicked is that?”

  Mickey looked at Rand as he stalked Jierra—who was still trying to slide behind Aureliana. “I have so many questions.”

  Mallory grabbed her brother and jerked his attention away from Jierra. “So do I. And I know one man who can answer them. Come on. We’re so going to have a talk.”

  31

  Aodhan finished with Jambu, then went in search of his female. His instincts were flaring; she needed him. Now.

  She was not in his suite, but he hadn’t expected her to be. Not with her family with her.

  It took him but moments to find her.

  The shouting drew him to the sitting room she’d shared with her cousins since the day after he’d brought her home. Her voice and a male’s. He heard the rage in the male’s tone. Aodhan cursed, then increased his pace. He burst into the room.

  Mallory stood between the wolf and a crying Jierra.

  “You had no right!” Mallory was yelling at her brother. “She deserved a choice! I never thought you would do this. Not after what happened to me.”

  “Don’t meddle in things you don’t understand, Mallory. This is the way of my people!” the wolf snarled.

  “Your people? Your people? Are you kidding me? How can anyone on this planet be any more your people than me?” Mallory’s confusion was clear, as was her anger. And the protective way she stood between her brother and Jierra.

  The wolf snarled.

  Things fell into place quickly.

  “She’s mine, Mal. It’s not the way it was before. You both need to get used to it. Give her to me. Now.”

  “Then you are no better than the rest of them.” Mallory threw her arm out and pointed toward Aodhan. He hadn’t known she’d realized he was there. Her face was so pale, sad. “I know! Why don’t we just get Jierra’s uncle in here, and you can make an even trade—Joselyn for Jierra? That’s sick, Randall. Sick.”

  Aodhan shook his head as it started to become clear to him. The wolf wanted Jierra. The wolf wanted Jierra and was fighting his own family to get to her. Was growling at his beloved twin for in
terfering. Because nothing was more important to that wolf than his mate.

  Jierra had been with him long enough that it was a done deal. Mallory was all that stood in between that.

  “Mallory.” Aodhan’s voice was sharp, firm. More so than he’d ever used with her. “Stop. Now. Come to me.”

  “No! He…he…he…he’s not doing this to Jierra. Just taking her away from everything that matters, everything she’s ever known. Not Rand. He wouldn’t—” Mallory’s confusion was clear for everyone in the room to hear. But it didn’t matter. Her brother still growled; and his fury was focused on his sister.

  Aodhan grabbed Mallory and jerked her behind him. Before the wolf could strike her. “Jierra! Out of here. Go to your uncle and stay there. Hell, find that demon, too. I think he’s sniffing around your mother’s heels somewhere. Get him in here now. Go, now!”

  Jierra understood he meant it, and she obeyed immediately. Mallory continued to yell at her brother, her fury increasing with each hiss she issued in the brother’s direction.

  Aodhan loved her fire, but this time, he wished she’d just stop.

  Aodhan ensured his body was between his female’s and the threat of the wolf. “Mallory, stop now. Listen to me. Do as I say.”

  She struggled to get around him, to go back at her brother. Aodhan held her tight and jerked her around. “I said stop! It’s too dangerous!”

  “Why?” She pushed at Aodhan’s hands, but he held firm. He didn’t care if he bruised her. He could not allow his female to challenge an alpha Lupoiux.

  Even if it was her brother.

  “Mallory, look at me.” He turned her head to him, then met her eyes before returning his gaze to the wolf. “Your brother is not human. Do you understand me? He’s a Lupoiux, and they are conditioned to fight our Kind in their mothers’ wombs. I don’t know how, or why, but I know this is true. And Jierra is his mate. You never get between a Lupoiux male and his mate. He will kill you sooner than blinking. Even if he’s your brother. Because right now, all that matters to him is Jierra. All that matters.”

  “No. That’s crazy. Rand is not a werewolf; I would have known.” She stared at her brother, who was glaring at her with the worst look of hatred in his eyes. Aodhan watched her puzzlement turn to horror. She tried to step toward her brother, this time her movement one of love and comfort. Hope. “Rand? No…”

  The wolf was too far gone. Aodhan could see the fur of a red wolf starting to cover the brother’s limbs. Rand’s attention was still directed at his twin.

  The brother flashed into wolf form.

  Threatening. Growling. Intent on his own sister.

  Aodhan knew what had to be done. He shifted again, pushing her closer to the door. He needed Mallory out of the way quickly. He cursed himself for telling the guards she’d be safe with her family and to give her space. It had been a foolish mistake. “Mallory, I need you to listen to me. I want you to get out of this room quietly and calmly. Do not draw his attention to you.”

  “But…no…”

  “Do as you’re told! If you don’t, someone may mistake him for a Lupoiux enemy and could kill him without stopping to ask why he is here with us. I’m going to keep him distracted while you get out of here. Understand?”

  “Don’t hurt him.” Her tears were choking her; he could hear it in her voice. Her confusion, fear, pain. “Please?”

  “I won’t. Just go, kitten. Carefully.”

  She slipped from the room, and the wolf growled. Beast was more in control than man. Aodhan could have understood it, but the wolf’s threatening Mallory would never be tolerated. Despite the family connection. He stared at the red beast. “Come on, then. If a fight is what you want, I will give it to you. But listen to me closely, dog. You will never threaten my female again. Dogs much stronger and older than you have died for far lesser offenses. Come on, then. Take your best shot.”

  The wolf leaped. Aodhan caught the beast when it was within three inches of his throat. He would subdue first and do his damnedest not to kill his brother-in-law in the process. To harm the wolf might very well kill Jierra.

  He couldn’t not risk that, either.

  Aodhan was hampered not by the wolf’s strength but by the fact that he had to subdue the beast rather than simply kill it. Had it not meant so much to his Rajni, the red pelt would have adorned his floor by morning. Well, that and had he not been mated to a Dardaptoan. He would never endanger Jierra, either.

  That it was a Taniss male and a Lupoiux he fought had his instincts to kill flaring. Still, while he fought only to contain, the wolf fought to kill. The man was too far gone to be in control.

  This wolf was more animalistic than nearly all of the Lupoiux Aodhan had ever encountered, and he wondered at it. He was also pretty damned strong to be a Lupoiux alpha of less than thirty years. Most didn’t strengthen like this until the age of sixty or so. It warranted more questions, but Aodhan kept his focus on preventing the beast from ripping out his throat.

  And himself from killing it. If it had been anyone but her beloved twin, he would have pulled his sword and ended it now. Before the wolf hurt an innocent.

  Aodhan grabbed the animal and flung him, sending him flying through the glass window into the gardens below. He followed, leaping the two stories to the ground. He would not want the wolf to happen onto an unsuspecting Dardaptoan.

  He and the wolf continued their battle until hands pulled them apart. Cormac, Mallory’s uncle, Barlaam, and Rydere. The demon.

  Aodhan relaxed.

  His job was done. He regained his breath and pushed Cormac’s hands aside. “I am fine. I sought merely to subdue. My Rajni?”

  “She is with Theo.” Cormac pointed to the broken door two stories above them. Aodhan could see his female and his friend. “What in the three hells happened?”

  “Jierra is his mate, Cormac. Mallory did not know not to interfere. Apparently, the wolf is a strong one in her twin, and rose to the surface when my Rajni stepped between them. I will have words with her about it shortly. See she never does that again.”

  “I see.” Fury coated Cormac’s words. No, he wouldn’t be pleased with a Lupioux for his niece. “Kindara did not tell me that. It matters not. Jierra will do only what she wishes where the wolf is concerned.”

  The demon nodded at Aodhan. “We will speak. Later.”

  Aodhan merely nodded, as the demon held the wolf at bay while the creature growled.

  He let the demon deal with the wolf for the moment. He turned back to Cormac. “Thank you for your assistance. I suppose we should ensure the wolf is contained until he can prove his ability to control himself? Take him to the basement. My Rajni will not be happy, but it cannot be helped. He will never threaten her again.”

  “Will do.” Cormac looked unbelievably pleased at the assignment. Aodhan knew the other male was highly protective of his sister’s only child.

  “Do not harm him further. I don’t think any of our Rajnis would appreciate it.”

  32

  She could not look away, and even Theo’s restraining hands couldn’t keep her from running to the balcony railing and looking down on the men in the garden.

  It was just as horrific as she could ever have imagined.

  When it was over, Rathan was wrapped around Rand.

  Aodhan stood, but he looked horrible. Blood coated his arms, his chest. Mallory cried out seeing it.

  Rand was still a wolf, and while that shocked her more than she could ever imagine, she knew in her heart that the animal biting and clawing at the hands that held him was her brother.

  It took her seconds to descend the metal steps, barely aware that Theo and Jierra followed at a much more cautious pace. She stopped less than a yard away from her brother. “There’s blood on him. You have to help him.”

  Joselyn’s father looked her brother over quickly as Rathan just disappeared. “It isn’t his, kiddo. It isn’t his.”

  She tried to step toward her brother, but strong hands stopped her.
Cormac. “No. Don’t touch him yet. He’s too animalistic right now. Let your uncle deal with him. He’s had experience, I’m sure.”

  “Why? Are you saying…Uncle Jason?” She looked at the man she’d loved all her life.

  He was a carbon copy of her father except for the black hair he’d inherited from his mother, Mallory’s grandmother. “Are you…”

  “Yes, kiddo. I am. We were bitten on your eighth birthday.” Her uncle held the wolf. Rand.

  Mallory remembered that night. She’d had a slumber party. And Rand had wanted to go camping to get away from all the girls in the house. He’d gone camping with Uncle Jason but had come home halfway through the trip ill. “I see. Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “We couldn’t. It wouldn’t have been safe for you. But now…”

  “Now that we are monsters, too, you mean?” Mallory looked around at the men still surrounding her. And at Jierra, watching Rand from behind the safety of Theo’s shoulders. Aureliana, who stood—sword drawn—at Rand’s back.

  Mallory’s eyes met Aureliana’s, saw the compassion there. Aureliana put the sword away. Her tone was gentle when she spoke. “Your brother is going to be fine, Mallory. I cannot say the same for mine.”

  Mallory gasped and turned toward Aodhan. He was pale but on his feet. He looked horrible. Her fingers curled to grab him and just make him better. However she could. “You’re hurt.”

  “A bit. I’ll survive, kitten.” He held out a hand to her but wavered. Mallory sucked in a breath. He had always been so strong. Since the moment he’d taken her. Nothing had knocked him down.

  Except Rand.

  “I’ll send for Kindara.” Aureliana motioned for a wide-eyed servant boy, who came running immediately. “Briken, fetch the Healer Kindara to the Green Room, please.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Did the Lupoiux bite Aodhan?”

  “We’re not sure. Keep this quiet, ok?”

  “Ok.” The boy ran off.

  Mallory barely heard them, all of her attention on the bleeding gashes on his arms. His chest. His white tunic was ruined, tattered. And the bloodstain swelled before her eyes. Tears filled her eyes and spilled over. She didn’t care. He was hurt. Because of her. “Aodhan…no…”