In the Beginning... (24 page)

There was no brainwashing involved. Your
cousins simply found their mates. Like you have.

Yeah, right. A vampire who
got his rocks off by shoving me under my own bathwater? Who kept me
tied to him while he drained me of my blood and filled me with his?
Who converted me into his kind? Who is keeping me away from my
father and my sister, and the rest of my family? All in the name of
being mates?
She raised her head off his
shoulder and looked at him dead on.
Do you
really think I’m not the tiniest bit crazy?

Of course not.
He kept his eyes on hers as he carried through the
suite, back toward the bed. He sat her on the edge of the monstrous
piece of furniture. Why
did
he need such a big mattress? It had to be two feet
thick and nine feet long, and seven feet wide. Huge. Her medical
books only took up a small portion of the space. He pushed one out
of his way and sank on the mattress beside her.
What are you doing in here?

Comparing your medical histories to what I
know of my people’s. Physiological differences, medical needs.
Medical knowledge and discoveries of your people. It would be so
much easier if I had my textbooks from my own medical school
classes. The bodies are similar in so many ways. It’s only the
subtle differences, possibly in DNA that are responsible for the
major differences. Has anyone ever done a DNA study of your
people?

His face closed. His body
tensed.
Your grandfather. His damned
company pioneered some of the earliest DNA research. He used my
niece and her biological parents.

Josey backed off quickly.
She would not push that line of questions. Not when it upset the
vampire so.
I see. No one else has studied
samples of your blood? Not even your sister?

Not that she has ever shared. We don’t
discuss her work, or your grandfather. You need to understand, she
was so broken after her mate was killed. After your grandfather
tortured her. Had I not found Jierra a few years later and brought
her to Kinney I have no doubt my sister would be dead by now. She,
Jierra, and Kinney’s brother-in-law were the only survivors of your
grandfather’s experiments. Out of at least two thousand who we
suspect were taken.

Josey stared at him.
You’re kidding? There is no way my grandfather
could have hurt that many people without help. Someone had to be
helping him!

His sons.

Josey shook her head
emphatically.
No! Not my dad, or my uncles.
You don’t understand.

They tolerate my grandfather only because he
is their father. They wouldn’t do this!

You speak with a child’s faith. Who else
would it be?

Anyone else! My grandfather
despises his children—and his grandchildren. Me, especially. Em,
Mickey. Our sisters. He tolerates Mallory because she told him to
go screw himself once and he respects that she spoke her mind.
That’s all! And my uncles are the most wonderful men. They love
their children and families, and would
never
sit back and watch people be
tortured and die! You are wrong!

Shhh. Maybe I am. We don’t
know. We have yet to find the old bastard, or his latest
laboratory. We suspect he’s keeping more of his research somewhere
here in Colorado. You need to understand that we plan to find all
who are involved in his genocide and kill them. All.
He guided her back on the pillows after shoving
more books out of his way.

Including my father, if you
decide he’s guilty.
Like you decided I
deserved to die simply because of who my grandfather is. Remarkable
plan there. How is that going to help your people?

Do not discount a people’s need for
vengeance. And sheath your claws, little kitten. I never would have
truly killed you. Not after the first moment I tasted you.

Why?

Because I knew from almost
the first moment you spoke to
me
that you were meant for me.
He leaned closer, his hands tugging her gently toward
him.
Jocelyn, you must understand how it is
for our people…hundreds of years waiting for that
one
person. Endlessly
waiting and more waiting. Do you know what it is like to be
completely alone, and knowing that chances are good you would be
alone for a very long time? Do you know how horrible that can
be?

Yes. She could. She was the
only member of her family with any sort of impairment. Any kind of
handicap and there were times she
had
felt completely alone. Her own
mother couldn’t look at her. Had hated her since the moment she’d
become deaf. Probably before. She had spent more than twenty years
in silence; the only voice she heard was inside her head. Until
now. Until him.

That had to mean something, too.

Still…

No ‘still’ about it; I have waited for you
for more than five hundred years. Five hundred years!

Yes. I may have planned to kill you once,
but you need to understand that was before I knew you as my mate. I
have you now, and nothing will ever keep me from you again. Even
you. Even your family.

His hands tightened on her
arms and he dragged her half beneath him. Josey didn’t fight him.
She could have—she
should
have. But she didn’t. What did that mean for
her?

She couldn’t answer that question. He didn’t
give her the chance.

His lips covered hers as one hand sank into
her hair just above the loose braid that contained the strands.

He was kissing her. And she
was letting him. Josey could think of nothing else but the feel of
him above her. He was so warm and strong, and he blocked anything
else from her world.
He
was her world in that moment.

His hand sank into her hair, holding her face
still as he deepened the kiss. His other curved gently around her
hip. He was so careful not to rest his weight on the wounds in her
abdomen.

Josey slipped her arms
around his neck and tugged him closer. She could feel him
breathing; could smell his skin, his blood. God, he smelled good.
And if she was honest with herself, having him hold her
felt
good.

She pulled him
closer.
Hmmm.

You like kissing me.

She didn’t know how to answer him. And with
his lips pressed against hers she could barely concentrate on the
words he whispered in her head.

You don’t have to answer me.
Your body does all the answering.
His hand
slipped over her shoulder and trailed along her collarbone. Josey
shivered.

What are you doing?

I think it is pretty
obvious. Your body is calling for mine, just as I long for yours.
It is perfectly normal between Rajnis. But I can spell it out for
you if you need it…
I don’t want this. I
really don’t.

Really? Your heart is
telling me otherwise. Can you not feel it beating against
mine?
He placed one hand over her heart and
Josey felt her pulse double.

Her body did react to his.

She couldn’t deny it any more. There was a
physical connection between them. She didn’t know if it was simply
due to pheromones, or proximity, or even Stockholm Syndrome. But it
was there.

It wasn’t just her pulse she
was feeling. His was beating against the hand she had wrapped
around the back of his neck. When had she done that? Had
she
pulled him this close?
She didn’t remember doing it.

Why did the feel of his
blood beneath her fingers seem so right? Why did she want to place
her mouth on that exact spot and
taste
him?

She really must be crazy.
She tugged his head down, closer, and broke the kiss between
them.
I can’t do this!

Do what? Love your Rajni?
The male destined for you?
He pulled back
and shifted his head, his lips to one side. He ran his tongue over
her neck. Once. Twice.

Oh, God!
Stop doing that!

You like it, don’t you? A
Dardaptoan woman’s neck is so much more sensitive than a human
woman’s.
She heard the rich sound of his
laugh in her mind. She wondered briefly if that’s what his laugh
actually
did
sound
like. Then he nipped her neck again and she lost all
thought.

His neck was right there next to hers, his
skin smelling like his soap and male. Josey tilted her chin down
and brushed that skin with her own lips. Once. Twice. He groaned,
and she felt the sound in his throat. He liked it, then. She did it
again, this time nipping him a little harder.

She laughed when he shivered.

We best stop this soon, lest
I take it further than I think you are wanting it to go.
He tried to pull away from her. Josey wouldn’t let
him.

Her teeth sank deeper into his neck. The tang
of his blood touched her tongue and she shivered. He froze.

I see, then. Take what you need from me,
woman. It is my right and duty to give it.

Josey barely heard his words; his blood
tasted so right on her lips. Her eyes were closed at half-mast and
she slipped her arms around his shoulders to tug him closer.

All she wanted in this world was right there
in her arms. And she could think of nothing else, not what he had
done to her, not the research she needed, not her family, her
cousins; she could think of nothing but the taste of him and the
bounding of his blood beneath her lips.

Do it, woman. Take it. Now!

Josey’s teeth, fangs, sank deep into his
neck. And for the first time since the night he’d ripped her from
her home, she drank.

As her small fangs pulled at him, Cormac
fought his jubilation. His female fed from him, willingly.

He’d waited more than five hundred years for
this very moment. He wrapped his arms around her as gently as he
possibly could and rolled them both over slightly. He wanted her as
comfortable as possible while she took from him.

He whispered encouragement,
though he knew she could not hear his words. But she could feel
them. He ran one hand up and down her spine, smiling at the
sounds
she
made.

But while he rejoiced in the fact that she
was feeding from him, it wasn’t truly of her own choice. It was
because of nature, of instinct. Not because she was ready or
willing to be with him.

Half an hour must have passed before the
little fangs disengaged from his skin. She lay against him, her
breathing shallow and slow. Her eyes reflected her confusion as she
stared at him.

Did you get enough
then?
He wiped across her lips with one
finger.

What happened?

The hunger. You fed from me as you were
supposed to. The first time you fed from me was the night I
converted you. You remember that. The second time, was through
those IVs a few days ago. Today, this was the way it should have
been from the very beginning. The way it will be from now on
between us. A man feeds and provides for his woman. Period.

Despite what she wants.

Do not be like that.
Cormac frowned at her, and shook her slightly. Why
did she have to prove so stubborn? Why couldn’t she see what was
before them? She belonged with him, and always would. It was his
goddess given
duty
to provide for her.

Get off me, vampire.
She pushed against his chest and he backed away.
His feet hit some of those confounded medical tomes she’d spread
everywhere and the books slid off the bed.

I’m the one you’re calling vampire? Did you
miss what just happened here?

Aberration, only. That, or Stockholm
Syndrome!

You’ll deny what is between us, still? You
are highly obstinate.

Get used to it!
Cormac stood, and she scrambled off of the
mattress and stood in front of him. She crossed her arms over her
chest and glared at him.
It’s not like
I
want
to be
here!

Get used to it. I am a
horrible monster for daring to want the woman I am
destined
to be with at my
side! Horrible. I need to be taken into the gardens and
shot!
He wanted to grab her, to pull her
against him and kiss that half-pout off of her face. Wanted to feel
the blonde hair beneath his fingers, feel the press of his woman’s
sweet curves against him. He was half-tempted to just do it,
although he knew that would do nothing but piss her off.

Instead, he forced himself
to step back.
I will speak with my sister
and Barlaam this evening about getting you the research material
you are wanting.

I need an office, too. Preferably one with
testing equipment.

Cormac closed his eyes briefly, then looked
down at her. Did she realize what she was demanding? If he set her
up an office to work in, she’d be in there long term. Research such
as she wanted to do wouldn’t be a quick fly-by-night project. It
would take time—weeks, months. Years. Did she realize that she was
planning to stay?

He fought the urge to put a hand to his chest
and hold his heart within his body. It took him a moment to
recognize the emotion filling him.