A Forbidden Taking (11 page)

“Open
your mind. Concentrate on relaxing it and let me see if I can get in.” Beau closed
his eyes. He could feel the wall; it was tight and very hard. He suddenly knew
that it wasn’t her. She wasn’t blocking him, but someone else was. He looked at
her and frowned.

“What?
What did you find?”

He
was distracted by her breasts for a second and then when she smacked him, he
couldn’t think about anything but the small bounce they did when she moved. Leaning
forward Beau took her nipple into his mouth and suckled. Her moan and her fingers
wrapping in his hair had him moving up and then pressing her down into the
mattress again. He wanted her again. Now that he was over her he wanted nothing
more than to rock into her and come. The knock at the door made him snarl. Her
giggle didn’t help.

“Whoever
is there is going to be a dead man if the house is not falling down around us.
Speak,” he bellowed as he dipped again at her breast.

“It’s
Aaron and while the house isn’t falling yet, it may soon. Come upstairs, the
both of you. We have things to discuss.” With another growl Beau moved to the
side of the bed and sat up.

“I
think I hate the man.” And when Megan stood up and moved toward her clothes Beau
pulled her into his embrace, resting his head on her belly. “Yes, I could
gladly kill the man for interrupting us.”

~Chapter 12~

Beau and
Megan came from the lower levels not long after Mac and Lizzy came into the
kitchen. Aaron loved his children and was excited about the new baby coming
into the house. He reached over and laid his hand over the mound that was
Sara’s belly. The child within kicked against his hand.

As
soon as Megan came through the door Mac turned to look at her. Aaron didn’t say
anything as his son got up and touched his hand to her chest. Aaron got up
quickly when Beau made to shove his son away.

“Wait.
He sees something we can’t,” Aaron whispered urgently. “Let him touch her, he
won’t hurt her.” Aaron pulled the large vampire back and held him while still
watching his son. “Mac is very good at his power. And he knows the rules of
mates. He wouldn’t do this if he didn’t need to.”

Aaron
could feel the fury in Beau. It was strong and hot. Aaron had to commend the
man, he didn’t try to break free of Aaron, but let him hold him back.

“She
is protected by someone. Someone…her maker. He protects her even in his death.”
Mac laid his hands on her head. “He blocks you from the one who would kill you.
A creature he has…it took his life. This creature took your maker’s life.”

“Mac,
who is the creature? Can you see him? What is he?” Mel shimmered into the room
and spoke softly to Mac.

“He
was once a great man. He didn’t want to kill your maker, your friend.” Mac
looked at Megan as he answered Mel. “The creature told…Alfred that he didn’t
want to hurt you, that you were special and that Alfred would need to keep you
safe. He told Alfred how to protect you even from himself.”

Megan
looked over at Beau. Terror was evident in her eyes and the set of her mouth. But
she didn’t move, she didn’t brush Mac away as he studied her more.

“Can
you tell me where the creature has been? Did he tell Alfred how to…how to kill
him?” Megan asked as she put her hands over Mac’s.

“Yes.”
Mac grinned. “He said the power is within you to set him free.”

The
adults adjourned to the living room after Mac and Lizzy were sent to bed. Aaron
looked at Megan who seemed to still be in shock. Aaron couldn’t blame her. He
was sort of worried himself.

“This
creature, I think…he’s been in my head. I heard him, I guess you could say, the
night that I met you.” Megan pointed her finger at him. “I thought it was you,
Aaron, and that you were going to hurt me or something.”

Aaron
moved to the fireplace and stood in front of it. “No. After I spoke with you I
only kept tabs on you. That’s how I knew that the man was in my realm. I
wouldn’t have bothered with him had I not felt your anger.”

“Yeah,
thanks for that. I still don’t know why you butted in. I had it under control.”
Megan shifted on the couch when he came and sat down with her.

“You
were asking him to kill you. I doubt that Beau would have been very pleased
with me had I let that happen. Besides, I doubt he would have killed you right
then. He wants you for something more. What, I don’t know, but I don’t think
your life with him would have been all that easy.”

Megan
stood up and began pacing the room. Beau watched her with a hunger that Aaron
could understand. He looked at his own mate and knew she could see it as well.

“That
kid, Mac, he said that the power is within me to set him free. I don’t know
what he meant. Set who free? Was he talking about Alfred or this creature thing?”

Mel
cleared her throat. “I would think them both. Michael is the creature’s name. He
was a good man, and somewhere deep within the creature he still lives. At one
time he was a doctor; a healer I guess would be a better term. Sara said that
you are a doctor as well. It could be that he knew that from Alfred when he
killed him.”

Megan
didn’t look convinced. Aaron decided that now would be a good time to tell her
what she was, to give her a bit of a lesson in what she could do. He picked up
the knife he had laid on the end table earlier and handed it to Mel. He knew it
was the coward’s way to do it, but he didn’t want Beau to hurt him.

Mel
took one look at the knife and then smiled. The knife was sailing across the
room in a heartbeat. Beau was up and in front of Megan, but she shoved him
behind her, caught it, and held it up as a weapon. No one moved for several
seconds. Then Megan exploded.

“What
the fuck! Are you nuts? You threw a knife at an unarmed woman?” They all looked
at Beau who was standing behind Megan and breathing hard. “Are you growling? Oh
grow up, I had it under control.”

“A
man protects what is his. You will obey me when I push you behind me and not
try to protect me.” His voice was calm, even low, but no one doubted the anger
in it.

“I’m
not yours. And the next time you say that I may have to hurt you. Go sit down,
you overgrown ox.” When Beau stood there without moving Megan walked away. “This
was a test, I’m guessing. You know, I don’t do well without cliff notes. The
next time you throw a knife at me,”—the blade went through the air and landed a
mere inch from Mel’s hand resting on the arm of the couch—“you should make sure
that I’m not as good with it as you are.”

Aaron
burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it. It was the last thing he expected and
the most perfect. She wasn’t near as helpless or as defenseless as he had
thought. He got up, pulled the knife from the wood, and handed it back to
Megan. “You owe me for that. That was an expensive antique. But I’m glad to see
you can use it. Here.” Aaron handed her the knife, handle first. “Keep this.
You may need it. It’s silver.”

Megan
nodded and started pacing again. “I don’t know why I’m so special. There are
hundreds of doctors at the hospital. Why does he want me? I hadn’t even gotten
my results back when Alfred killed me so it couldn’t be because I was a doctor
yet.”

“It
could be because you are wolf, or at least part one. Somewhere in your lineage
there was a were. And you being a vampire too could be what makes your blood
stronger.” Mel moved as she spoke. “You also smell like Michael. I’m not sure
how, but I’ll figure that out too.”

It
wasn’t until Shamus shimmered in the room that Aaron understood. The baby. He
was still nursing and probably wanted his mother. Mel moved to the big chair
and turned her back to the room. Aaron looked over at Sara and smiled. He loved
it when Sara nursed. His cock leapt at the thought of her swollen breasts then
he realized he had missed a part of the conversation daydreaming.

“A
wolf? I don’t think so. My parents are as normal as they come. They would be…my
parents would be really pissed if they heard you say that. Besides, I think I
would have noticed them eating the gardener and howling at the moon.”

Aaron
was surprised at that. Her parents were still living. He had forgotten just how
young a vampire she was. He wondered if that was a part of the reason this
person, Rome, wanted her as well. He looked at Beau again. “You need to take
her under your wing, so to speak. I’m assuming you’ve never shifted.”

Megan
looked at Aaron with a look of complete horror on her face. “You really do
become a bat? Shit!”

“No,
not unless I want to, that is. And I don’t wear a cape either. Don’t be obtuse,”
Aaron snapped. “You can shift into something, maybe several things for all we
know. How did you survive all this time without some knowledge of what you can
do?”

“I
wasn’t,” Megan said softly. “Trying to survive, that is. I never wanted to be
this monster, but I wasn’t brave enough to end my life either. The first time
the sun touched me was…I had to run and hide until I could heal. Do you have
any idea what it’s like to have your…I guess you do. But I didn’t ask for this
and I certainly don’t want it.”

“Megan,
love, if you die so do I. You and I are a pair now, mated and bonded as a
vampire couple.” Beau started to reach for her, but she backed away. “Neither
of us can feed from anyone else unless it’s our maker. And that too is not an
option for us. We are both orphans.”

“No.
No, I didn’t bond with you. We only had…we only had sex. What are you talking
about?”

Aaron
was at once angry at Beau. He’d taken her and bonded with her without her
consent. He started to rise, but Sara stopped him with a whisper through his
mind.

“Had
he not then she would surely be dead and we both know it. He may have broken
the rules governing our kind, but she had made no bones about wishing her own
death. Let them be, love.”

“We
have fed from each other during intercourse. To become a pair, we needed to
have a climax together and exchange blood. It was easier with you than I would
guess a human to vampire mating would be because you are already vampire.” Beau
let her go as he spoke again.

Megan
looked terrified. Aaron watched her and wasn’t surprised when she ran from the room,
Beau fast on her heels. Aaron would have gone after them both, but Sara stopped
him.

“She
won’t listen to you, love. She’s more than likely not going to listen to Beau either.
Let them go. They’ll work it out.”

“Or
what? Kill each other? I think it’s a good thing she can’t hurt her mate. I
think Beau is in for a long haul.”

~~~

Michael
watched the house. He knew that the female was in there. Her scent called to
him. He moved closer, but not too close to the hum of electricity in the fence
between him and her.

Michael
paced in front of the gate, back and forth for several minutes. He was losing
control of the beast that he’d become. If he was smart he’d go back to the
house and he’d kill the man who dared to think he owned him, Samuel Rome, and
then himself. Once he had a little more control over himself Michael went to
the forest just behind the mansion.

He
was a monster, nothing like the one that Megan thought she was, but real,
horribly real. He’d been a man once, he thought, a good man, a man who could
have been great. But he’d gotten greedy. He’d gotten a taste of what he’d made
and let it go to his head. Michael knew what the consequences were to his
experiment. But he thought he was beyond that, beyond the simple creatures that
had turned vicious once the drugs had taken hold.

The
formula was supposed to make it so that he could live forever. He had been an
immortal, but he wanted more, needed more. He had played with the human body,
cell research, blood typing and manipulations. Every test subject had been a
failure until the end. Until the one man he’d tried it on. And Michael had
thought he was ready to try it on himself.

It
should have killed him. He wished every day that it had. He had created a new
serum for immortality and had destroyed any chances of it working. He knew as
soon as he was able he was going to destroy himself just as he’d done all his
research.

Michael
was slipping again. He could feel himself slipping away and the beast, the
creature, taking him again. The transformation wasn’t quick and it certainly
wasn’t without pain. As soon as he shifted Michael no longer existed.

Creature
erupted from the human in a horrible shift of bones and muscle. He liked being
in control and hated when the human fought him. Someday, and soon, he would be
in control always. Someday very soon, the human would not be able to come out
and play.

Creature
moved along the fence and touched it with his claw. Sparks shot off the fence
and had him jumping back in fear. He wished that Human would tell him things,
let him know what he needed to do. But Human didn’t like Creature; he only
liked himself. Pissed off, Creature raked his claws along the tree and then
moved to the road. His claws dug into the concrete, making a footprint that he
hoped the human would see. Then she would know, she would know that it was
useless to fight something so strong and come with him to the cage. He hoped
that the blood man would let him play with her as he’d promised. He wanted to
taste her blood as she died, drink from the puny human female that thought she
could escape him.