A Forbidden Taking (12 page)

Creature
was starved. That was another thing that Human would do, starve him of meat. He
loved meat. Creature would eat meat all the time if Human would just let him.
Creature decided that he would have all the meat that he wanted when he was in
control. All meat, all the time.

He
knew that he couldn’t get into the gate, it sparked too much for him, and that
noise, the mean sound hurt his ears. He snarled at it again and left the area.
He could smell her now, the female. He wanted to pull out the shirt again that
the blood man had given him, but his claws were too long and the human stuff,
the material, wasn’t on him any longer.

Creature
moved along the perimeter of the fence following the scent. It was faded and
hard to follow, but creature knew he would find it again and he did. Over and
over he found it to follow. He was inside of the cave before the sun rose and
he could smell her now. It was strong and Creature liked it. He marked the area
so that no others would come here, his scent strong to show her that he was
strong. Burrowing deep in the earth Creature lay down to wait. She would
return, and when she did Creature would have her.

~Chapter 13~

“Damn
it, will you wait a second? You’re going to get us both killed if you don’t
stop.”

Megan
turned to look at the man who she wished would just go away. “I didn’t ask you
to come with me. In fact, I would be just as happy if you would go the fuck
away.”

“I’m
not leaving you. We need to talk about this. You need to know that—”

She
turned on him and advanced quickly at him. “I need to know? What I need to know
is why you did this to me. Why you think I should be thrilled that you turned
me into your food tray. Where do you get off…oh, forget it.”

She
turned again to leave him when he grabbed her arm. When she spun around to face
him she had her fist doubled up and caught him in the jaw. It hurt like hell,
but she managed to make him let her go. It was short-lived, but she did feel a
moment of triumph. But only a moment.

The
second time he grabbed her he was prepared and she missed him by a good foot.
She didn’t know if she was happy she missed because her hand hurt, or pissed
because she missed because now he had her again. When she ended up on his
shoulder she couldn’t see for several seconds until she tried to sit up using
his back as leverage.

“Put
me down, you moron. I can’t see. If you don’t put me down this—” His hand came
down on her ass painfully. “You are so going to pay for that. When you put me
down, I’m going to hurt you badly, buddy.”

“Be
still. I didn’t hurt you,
mon amour
. I can smell your arousal even now. We
will talk if I need to hold you here for the rest of the night.” Megan watched
as he started to walk. He would, too, she thought. He’d carry her all night.

“Now,
what is this nonsense about you not enjoying the way we bonded? Was it not good
for you? I can try again if you would like. It will be very little hardship on
my part.”

No
doubt,
she thought. “Put me down. You’re making me sick to my stomach. And
as much as I would relish puking down your back, you’d probably make me clean
you up.”

“You
will behave?”

She
nodded then realized he couldn’t see her. “Yes. As long as you don’t try to
have sex with me again, I will. Otherwise, all bets are off.” She slid down his
body. Her breath caught when she was pressed against him. Her feet didn’t quite
touch the ground, but she could touch his feet. His mouth was very close, close
enough that she could see the tips of his fangs as they touched his lower lip.

“You
want me, do you not? Your scent is making my beast rise with need. Do you feel
how badly I want you,
mon amour
?”

She
could too. His cock was swollen and hard against her. Megan nodded as she
watched his mouth lower to hers. He was going to kiss her and she knew that she
was going to let him. The loud howl in the distance broke them apart and they
had their backs to each other.

“You
must ob…listen to me, please. We are out in the open and we could be harmed. I
care not for myself, but I will not allow you to be where someone can take you
from me.”

“Because
you can’t live without me, right? You’d starve so having me living is all you
can do?”

As
soon as the words left her mouth, she knew they weren’t true. He had done
nothing to her that she didn’t want as badly as he did. She felt him stiffen
behind her and nearly turned to tell him she was sorry.

“No.
You must stay there until we are certain the beast is gone. But know this,
Megan Reed, I need you in my life for more than food. I have fallen in love
with you and your stubborn ways and sarcastic words.”

“Gee
thanks. Be still my heart.” His chuckle had her wanting to smack him, but the
howling started again. Aaron appeared before her.

“Shit.
Don’t you knock or something? There’s a beast out there and you’re sneaking up
on me.”

“Oh,”
Aaron started, a bite to his tone. “Next time I feel your terror I will make
sure I send you a telegram first. That way you’ll know, as well as the monster
in the forest will know, that I’m coming. Come on. Bradley said that it’s in
the caves just ahead.”

Megan
had the most irresistible urge to giggle. Dingdong was really pissed and she
would probably piss him off more if she did. But she couldn’t help it. He was a
nasty bastard when he wanted to be. When he suddenly stopped she ran into his
back.

“I
can smell it now. Can either of you?”

Megan
sniffed the air. She couldn’t smell anything at first. Beau coming up behind
her had her tense for a second until he began to show her what to do.

“You
must find what you do not know. Find the things you are aware of, that smell
like the things you have scented before, and take those away. Separate them
from each other. Find the one that is different.”

Megan
started to separate the different odors like he had said. She took out the two
men beside her. Then the scent of the night, first the forest’s loam and the
dried leaves. Next, the animals she knew, the wolves and the mice and other
small animals. Soon she was left with a scent. It wasn’t strong, but there. “It’s
them. The beast that howled tonight is there, and a man with him. The man, he
is with him some, but not always.” Megan sniffed again and then leaned down
closer to the dirt. “But it isn’t two men, I think. Something is…he has two separate
smells because he has changed.” Megan looked up at Aaron and at Beau. They both
looked surprised if not a little impressed. She actually felt pretty good
herself.

“That
makes sense if you think about it. One man who can shift into two different
beings. Isn’t that how a shifter does it to hide his scent?” Megan looked at
Aaron as he spoke, then at Beau. She knew he was hiding something from her.

“But
you know that’s not all, don’t you? What aren’t you telling me? Please, I have
a right to know.”

Beau
nodded and turned to Aaron. “It’s her. He smells like Megan when he’s in human
form.”

~~~

Beau
didn’t like this. Not at all. After they’d gone back to the mansion they had
sat for another few hours going over what they had discovered. Bradley had said
that the creature had gone to the caves where his pack could smell both Megan
and the beast. When they had entered the lair the beast was not there, but he
had torn up her things.

Everything
Megan had had been destroyed. Books and papers, even her clothes had not been
spared. She had run to the back of the cave, pulled up a large stone, took out
a smallish chest, and sat and wept over it until he had had to pick her up and
bring her to the house. She hadn’t said much since then. He was worried she
might snap, more worried that she didn’t fight him back when he’d deliberately
picked a fight with her four times now.

Aaron
and Sara had told him she would be fine, that she was strong of mind and she
needed to deal with this in her own way. Sara told him that he couldn’t help
her with this sort of grief, but everything within him wanted to try. When Megan
finally stood up and handed him the book he reached for her hand and held it.

“My
parents…my mom and dad, they have to know what’s going on. I have to tell them
what I am and ask them what they know.”

Her
voice broke his heart. She sounded so defeated and hurt. He looked down at the
book again then back up at her. He flipped open the first page and was
surprised to find a photo album.

There
were pictures, hundreds of them. An older couple standing alone and several of
them with a child. Beau saw that the child, a little girl, looked like Megan.
Lifting it to the light better he realized it was her. His Megan was a chubby
little thing. When Megan put her finger on the page and he looked at what she
was pointing at he knew they were her parents.

“I
never looked like them. Never, even as a child. And they were so much…” Her
voice caught. “They were so much older than the other parents when they had
meetings. I’d never been in trouble, but they would come to the open houses and
the parent meetings.”

“I
don’t understand. You were just a little fat baby, nothing more. Tell me what
you’re trying to say, love.”

“I
asked them once why there was only me. Momma told me it was because they had
been blessed with me. She didn’t say that she couldn’t have any more children,
but that she and Daddy had been blessed.”

Aaron
cleared his throat. “You think you were adopted by them.” He didn’t say it as a
question, but as a statement of fact.

“No.
I think I was placed with them. There was no record of my birth. When I started
school the teacher kept asking them for it. Every day for two weeks I’d bring
home a note. Then late one night I heard my momma crying on the phone. The next
day, Mrs. Mann was gone and someone else was in her place.”

“Why
would you think you were placed with them because a teacher disappeared? That
doesn’t make any sense.”

Megan
took the book from him, flipped through pages, and then handed it back to him. “That’s
my uncle. I’d never met him before that day. Look at him, Beau. Really look at
him.”

Beau put
the book under the light again to get a better view. He had excellent eyesight,
but wanted to please her by making sure he didn’t miss any details. He was
about to hand it back to her when he saw it. A wolf just behind them in the
shadows not a foot from her and her uncle. Beau looked up at Megan.

“The
wolf was there off and on all day. She would disappear if my parents came out
and return when they would wander off. My momma said that it was a dog. That
she had taken the picture and she knew it was a dog.”

“Couldn’t
it have been? I mean, it’s not a great picture, but it could be, I suppose.”

Megan
was already shaking her head at him. “She didn’t take the photo. I told you the
wolf would disappear when they came around. The picture was taken by another
wolf, one that shifted into a man to take the picture for me. He said his name
was Michael.”

~Chapter 14~

Megan
didn’t wait for the sun to set before she ran upstairs. She wanted to talk to
Sara before everyone else was up. The shades that drew tight over the windows
were still down in the house when Megan walked into the large room they had
called the half room. Sara and the children were sitting on the couch watching
the television.

“Megan.
I didn’t expect to see you for another hour. If you want to talk to Aaron,
he’s—”

“No,
you. I need to talk to you. It’s about this bond thing. Is there a way to break
it?” Megan had given it a great deal of thought. She was in danger if the
attacks were any indication and the sooner she broke it off with Beau, the
sooner he could get on with his life. He enjoyed begin a vampire, she didn’t. This
was the best possible way. She and Sara entered the large study and when she
shut the door Sara sat as she asked Megan why.

“Why
would you want to? I mean you seem happy with Beau. I know that the two of you
have bonded. Is it the half-breed thing? If it is then we—”

“No. No,
that’s not it. He…” Megan began to pace again. “He seems like an okay guy. I
mean, he’s a bit stiff about stuff, but nothing I can’t get around. It’s that I
don’t want to be here. No, that didn’t come out right. I don’t want to be a
vampire. I want to be…well, dead.” Megan knew that she shocked the woman, but
her stand on honesty had always been “go with it.” If someone didn’t want to
know the answer, then that person should think before he or she asked the
question.

“I
see. No, actually, I don’t see. Why not? And I don’t mean Beau, though I think
he’d be pissed for a lot of reasons about this conversation. But why don’t you
want to be a vampire?”

Megan
was afraid she’d want answers. Megan had some, but she was sure that they
weren’t the ones that would get her what she wanted. If she was honest with
herself she wasn’t all that sure what she did want. “That man, or beast, or
whatever, do you think he’s going to stop until he gets whatever it is he’s
after? And what do you think he’s going to do with me once he gets me? Because
I have to tell you, Mrs. Mac, I don’t think he’s going to be inviting me over
for a nice cup of tea, do you?”