In the Beginning... (19 page)

She is being cared for. I
will have her fetched for you.
If
you cooperate with me for the rest of the
evening.

Josey thought for a moment.
Would it be better to make him think she was cooperating?
That doesn’t include sex. I will not sleep with
you, if that’s what you’re wanting.

I do want that. I will have that. But on
your timeframe, not mine. I will not force you. I won’t need
to…

Then I will cooperate. For
tonight.
But
don’t
think that means I
want
to be here. The minute I can, I’m getting away from
you!

Fifteen minutes later Josey was dressed in
the tunic and trousers he’d tossed her way. They were too big for
her and reminded her of hospital scrubs in design—except they were
made out of the softest silk. The top fell to her knees and off one
shoulder.

The trousers were
elastic-waisted and could be rolled up. But the top…
This won’t do. You are too small.

I’m five-six. Not exactly
small—by
human
standards.
Josey stared at him, her
arms outstretched. He rolled up the material past her
wrists.

This will not do.
He grabbed the nearest phone and punched in a
number. His head was turned away from her so Josey missed whatever
it was he said. He hung up the phone and looked at her.
We wait.

For what?

A set of clothes from the lobby shop. They
will be off the rack, and not of the most luxuriant material. But
they will do for tonight.

The clothes he had sent up for her fit her
much better and Josey allowed him to wrap an emerald green sash
around her waist, before she followed him to a luxurious private
dining room.

Tears filled her eyes when she saw the
little black-and-white dog sleeping in the corner. Next to a large
black animal Josey recognized as a wolf. She hesitated only a
moment before falling to her knees beside her dog. The wolf only
watched her, not moving at all.

The dog whined and climbed onto her lap,
laying her head on Josey’s shoulder. Josey brushed at her tears
before hugging the little animal. She laughed when Free licked her
cheeks.

Now that she’d found Freedom, everything felt
just a little better, a little less frightening.

Cormac listened to the indistinct sounds his
female was making to the little dog and grew uncomfortable. She
obviously loved the animal. Why hadn’t he had the dog kept in his
suite, where his female could have seen her from the very
beginning? Had that least little bit of comfort and reassurance?
She kept hugging the animal and rocking back and forth. The dog let
her, obviously just as happy to be with her mistress as her
mistress was to be with her.

He let her and the dog have
their time together until Theo and his strawberry blonde
Rajni
walked into the
dining room. This one had the clear look of Jocelyn, and was close
to her in age.

The girl tapped Jocelyn’s shoulder, drawing
her attention. Jocelyn released the dog long enough to hug her
cousin. The two females clung to each other until Theo led the
other to a chair and guided her to sit.

Aodhan was the next to enter, and he had the
redheaded Taniss female thrown over his shoulder. She was fighting
and hissing, obviously more defiant than the rest of her cousins.
Aodhan handled her cheerfully, smacking her on the ass and giving
her the command to quiet. She didn’t listen. Cormac watched as
Aodhan dumped her in the chair next to her sister. “Stay,
woman.”

“Fuck off, blood-sucker!”

“Mal!” The strawberry blonde wrapped her hand
around her sister’s arm and shook her, fear in her green eyes. “Be
quiet!”

Jocelyn signed something, something that
Cormac did not understand. His attention sharpened on her, and he
brushed against her mind.

She stiffened, as if she felt his touch. A
shutter dropped around her mind, surprising him. His female looked
at him, surprise and triumph on her pretty feminine face. When had
she learned that skill?

Guess it works both
ways!
Her words were filled with pride as
they echoed in his head.

Mmm.
So you can keep me from reading your thoughts? Such a clever
girl you are!
He wrapped his hands around
her waist and lifted her, then plopped her butt into the chair
across from her cousins.
Sit. We’ll eat as
soon as your cousin and Dahr Rydere arrive.

Goody. Let me guess, we’re having blood
pudding? Plasma potato cakes? Oh, joy.

Smartass. You will eat what I tell you to
eat, or you’ll regret it.

Oh, I’m scared. What will happen? I’ll
starve to death?

No. Eat the wrong things and your changed
physiology will react badly.

Her face tightened and she
studied him.
How? How is human physiology
different from whatever your Kind is called?

We are Dardaptoan. I am no healer, rabbit.
But I do believe books filled with our medical knowledge do
exist.

I want to read them!
Intrigue and interest were clear on her
face.

It gave him pause. Was that
the way to get through to her? Give her information about
his—their—people?
You must do something for
me, then.

Imagine that. You’re an extortionist,
too.

His mouth quirked. She was
certainly spirited. That would make the coming centuries
entertaining.
You’re funny.

What do you want?

Your word that the knowledge stays within
you. My people have survived by keeping our presence cloaked from
humans. There are fifteen thousand people in this city—half of them
women and children. They must be protected.

Solemn green eyes looked at him. She
understood, he could see that.

I promise…

Josey held the book he gave
her and studied the binding closely. It was obviously an old
artifact; the cover felt like real leather and the paper had a
consistency she could not identify. She cracked open the book—the
words were
written
in ink. Not printed, written. It was in a mix of English and a
language she did not recognize. And she was fluent in German
and
Latin,
herself.

This language looked much
older than that. Excitement filled her chest—this book might very
well answer all of the questions that had been filling her mind
since the moment she realized the jerk
wasn’t
human. What was his race and
what separated them from humans?

Could whatever it was they’d done to her and
her cousins be reversed? Jocelyn couldn’t deny that he’d done
something to her, had changed her in some integral way.

I borrowed the book from my sister. She is
the one who has authored this book, please care for it well.

Josey looked at him.
I didn’t know you had a sister.

She is younger by a few hundred years.

Is that all? Wow. Mine is five years
younger. She’s probably worried sick about me. But you don’t care
about that, do you?

Don’t be difficult.
He crossed his arms over his massive chest and
glared down at her. Josey smirked up at him.

I’m difficult by nature. Maybe you’d better
trade me in on a different model. I’m sure there are women from
third world countries who’d find your arrogance and dominance
attractive.

You find me attractive. The goddess decreed
it. You are mine. Forever.

Please!
Josey hissed at him, feeling the sound rather than hearing it.
She had the urge to hiss at him again. She ran her tongue over her
newly developed teeth. Fangs. She had to admit to herself that they
were fangs.

I have work to do. Stay in this room,
understand? If you do not I will be forced to lock you in and post
a guard.

Some loving mate you’re turning out to be.
You always have to lock your women in?

Only when they are as
stubborn as you. And you are the last woman I will ever
have.
His face was serious as he looked
down at her, but she saw no trace of honesty.
Bully for me.

Cormac had tried everything he could think
of, and his female had yet to warm to him in the slightest. He had
given her jewels, and gifts, and everything he thought a female
would like. Nothing seemed to work.

It had been three days since he had brought
her to his home. She showed no signs of weakening and he wondered
briefly if the goddess had made a mistake pairing him with the
obstinate female. But when she lay sleeping and he stared down at
the perfection of her face and form he knew the goddess had chosen
exactly right for him. Jocelyn was his mate. That he could not, and
would not, ever deny.

But this being close to her and not touching
her was wearing on him. What could he possibly do to convince her
that he wanted only her happiness?

Besides letting her go back to her family? He
could not do that. The thought of letting her go almost dropped him
to his knees. He just could not do it. He would find another way to
make her happy. No matter what he had to do.

Josey stared at the pile of gifts the vampire
jerk had given her. Clothes, jewelry, pretty knickknacks and
baubles. Books. Of all the things she had deliberately piled into
one corner of the suite, the books were the ones she took out when
he was out of the suite. She’d read them all and remembered almost
all of the information stored within them. But she’d told him
nothing about what she had read or what she had done while he was
off doing whatever it was he did when he wasn’t there tormenting
her.

It was all the power she had left.

But…she could not stay in this suite for even
a single minute more. He let her out when he left of the mornings
and she spent much of the day with Mickey in the private sitting
room that the jerk said was for her and her cousins’ personal
use.

They sat there and plotted, mostly.

But Josey didn’t want to do that today. She
wanted to be outside, to get outside with her dog. He had not let
her leave the hotel, yet. Probably afraid she would find a way to
escape.

At that very moment, escape
was the farthest thing from her mind. Just simple breathing topped
her list. There was a tightness in her chest, an urge, a hunger
for
something
that
she could not describe.

She had to get out of this building. Free
stood when she did and Josey was grateful for the little Border
collie’s presence. The dog was a tie to her life before this Alice
in Wonderland debacle.

The garden next to the jerk’s suite
beckoned. The glass doors had a complicated lock system, but she’d
figured it out the first day he’d left her alone in the suite. The
gardens were beautiful, well-kept, and laid out around a small pool
and grotto. Free loved running to the grotto and barking at the koi
swimming within. Josey would sit and watch the dog’s antics for
several hours each day, and had yet to be joined by anyone.

Today wasn’t to be the same;
a woman her age was already seated on the bench Josey had begun to
consider hers. The woman looked up when Free bounded by. She smiled
at Josey and said something. Josey was too far away to read her
lips. She quickly signed, “
I am
deaf.”

The woman looked at her and
nodded. She signed in return. “
I can sign,
some.”

Josey smiled. This woman was
obviously one of
them.
Her eyes were a strange shade of orange that the Dardaptoans
Josey had met all had. The woman had fangs when she
smiled.

She was dressed in an
identical outfit to Josey’s, complete with emerald green sash wound
around her waist. Josey pointed toward it. “
You are related to him. To C-o-r-m-ac?”

“
My uncle. You must be his new Rajni. I
am J-i-e-r-r-a.”

“
I am his nothing. He kidnapped
me!”

The woman’s eyes widened.
“
He did what? Uncle C-o-r-m-a-c would not
do that to his Rajni.”

“
Well, he did. So where
did you learn to sign? Your uncle cannot.”
Josey wanted to throw all of her questions at this woman’s
feet. She was the first Dardaptoan to talk to her at all, besides
Cormac and his three musketeer buddies.

“
I am a teacher. Third grade. I have had
three deaf students over the last two years. I learned for them. I
also speak Spanish, and Dardaptoan, of course. What is your
name?”

“
J-o-s-e-y. Or Woman! according to your
uncle. J-o-c-e-l-y-n T-a-n-i-s-s.”

Jierra’s eyes widened again and her mouth
dropped. She pulled away in obvious horror.

Josey frowned at her.
“
Why does that upset you?”

Jierra stared at her,
rudely. “
You are a T-a-n-i-s-s!”

“
Yes? Oh, I
forgot.
We’re
the boogeyman to your people. Your uncle comes into my house
and shoves my head under my bathwater, yet I am the monster? He
drained every drop of blood from my body, and I am evil? You all
have a seriously messed up idea of evil.”

Josey jumped up and started to walk off,
clapping her hands to signal the romping Free to return to her
side.