Darkest Desire (14 page)
Authors: Tawny Taylor
“I've heard you say that, but I just thoughtâ”
“That I'd changed my mind?” Lei finished for her sister.
“Maybe.”
“No, I haven't. I don't ever want to be married. I won't be any man's possession again.” Lei forced a smile, knowing it would lift the tone of her voice. “Really, this comes as a huge relief. I didn't know how I was going to tell him he needed to find someone else.”
“I guess that's good, then.”
“Sure.” After a beat, she asked, “Did you hear who he was marrying?”
“Her name's April. Have you met her?”
Lei's heart lurched. “Not formally.”
“And ...?”
“She's a safe choice for him. I guess that's what he wanted, safe. I heard she and Brent and Malek have had this ongoing threesome thing for a while. If he marries April, things can pretty much stay as they were.”
“Oh, I didn't realize that. What would you have done if he'd married you?”
She thought the answer to that question would be to let him make the choice for himself, but that wasn't what came out of her mouth. Instead, she said, “I don't know.”
“Yeah, it's tough. Oh, darn. Drako's getting impatient. I have to go. We're heading into town to do some shopping for the baby.”
“Have fun.”
“Stay safe, little sister.”
“I will.”
The instant the call ended, Lei's eyes filled with tears.
14
M
alek hit the button on his cell phone a little harder than necessary. He couldn't help it. He was irritated.
alek hit the button on his cell phone a little harder than necessary. He couldn't help it. He was irritated.
Drako was being an ass.
Normally, he could handle Drako's surly, overbearing personality. But not when it came to this. He had every right to choose whom he married. And he had every right to take as long as he needed to convince his chosen bride to marry him.
Drako didn't like it, but he could kiss his ass.
Malek closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
It wouldn't take much longer. He'd already made some great headway with Lei. She was tolerating his touch much better now. And he was feeling more comfortable with her, too.
But Drako was insisting he pick someone else. Someone easy.
He wasn't ready to give up on Lei yet. She was special. She was The One. She was the woman who made all the other women in the world disappear.
His heart sank at the thought of waking up every morning without her by his side. The last two nights had been absolute heaven. Granted, he'd gotten very little sleep. Between the thrill of holding her, freely touching her when she was asleep, and the wild thrashing and kicking and screaming she did periodically, he was catching maybe a couple of hours of sleep total. But he didn't care. There was plenty of time for that later.
Already, he was looking forward to tonight.
He was also eager for Lei to come out of her room. She'd been in there a long time. Too long.
Moving cautiously, he eased himself up off the couch. The pain in his gut was still excruciating. But he'd done his best to hide it from Lei. He felt like shit because they'd been forced to go into hiding after the attack. That was his fault. He couldn't handle seeing his pain reflected on her face, too. She was too delicate, too fragile right now. She needed to be protected and cherished.
Forcing himself to walk with as much fluidity as he could, he ambled across the great room and headed toward the bedrooms. Just before he made it to her room, her door swung open.
Their gazes met for an instant; then she jerked hers away.
Her lips thinned. Her face paled.
The sparkle in her eyes was gone.
Something was wrong.
“Lei?” he said.
“Are you hungry?” Her voice was flat. And her face was a little puffy. Dark circles stained the thin skin under her eyes.
“No. What's wrong?”
She smiled. Or rather, she tried to produce an expression that would pass for a smile. It didn't. “Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
“Nothing's wrong.” She inched past him, avoiding any contact with him. “Nothing at all.”
He grabbed her arm and instantly regretted it.
She lurched around, yanked it free, and hissed, “Don't ever touch me again.”
What the fuck?
“Lei, tell me what's wrong.”
She shook her head. “I said nothing. Nothing's wrong.” She sighed. “I'm sorry for being so snappy. I just...I heard some news and I'm kind of cranky.”
“News about what?”
“Nothing important.” She waved away his concern, not that it worked. “Don't worry. I'm fine.”
She was a horrible liar. But he was glad for that.
This time when she started to walk away, he didn't stop her. She went one way, toward the kitchen. He went the other way, to his room. After closing the door, he pressed an ear to the door connecting to hers, and when he was sure the coast was clear, he snuck inside.
He felt like shit for snooping, but he needed to find out what the hell had happened. If she was upset with him, and he couldn't get to the bottom of it immediately, there was absolutely no way he'd be marrying her. As much as she wanted to convince him she didn't want to marry him, he knew she wanted it, tooâas much, if not more, than he did.
He glanced around her room. There were some school books lying on the bed. A notebook filled with her loopy handwriting. He skimmed the contents, flipping pages. Notes from a class, it seemed. On the front page was a listing of friends or classmates. Names. Phone numbers.
News. She'd said she'd received some news.
There wasn't a TV in the room, so she couldn't be referring to that sort of news.
Computer?
It was sitting on her dresser. He felt the cover. Cool, not hot. It hadn't been powered on for a while, if at all today.
He turned back toward the bed. Phone. It was lying next to the notebook.
After taking a moment to listen for her, he shuffled over to the bed, snatched up the phone, and checked the call log. She'd been talking to her sister just a few minutes ago.
“What the hell are you doing?” Lei. Pissed.
Shit. Think quick.
“My phone's dead. I was hoping I could borrow yours?”
“My phone's dead. I was hoping I could borrow yours?”
“Ever heard of asking first?” she snapped, her voice chilly. Her eyes were slits. Her mouth was a hard slash. She'd never looked at him like that. He had to find out what the hell was wrong.
“I'm sorry.” He put down the phone and lifted his hands in surrender. “I wasn't going to use it without talking to you first. I . . . assumed you'd be back in a moment and then I'd ask.”
“Why not ask when we were out in the hallway?”
“I got distracted.”
She gave a little humph and glared at the open door, the one connecting the two rooms. “I didn't realize that door led to another bedroom. I thought it was a bathroom.”
“There's a third bedroom upstairs, if you'd rather take that one. But it's a loft, over the kitchen, with no door.”
“I guess I'll stick with this one.” She squinted at the door. He guessed she was looking for a lock.
She wanted to lock him out?
Whatever the fuck her sister had told her had set him back in a big way.
He left through the door she had been leering at, making a point to lock it from her side before shutting it. Then he jerked his phone out of his pocket and dialed his brother.
Drako answered on the fucking tenth ring. “What's wrong?” he asked.
“What the fuck is going on?” Malek growled, trying hard to keep his voice low.
“What do you mean?”
“I meant what I said. What the fuck are you up to?”
“First, I'm not âup to' anything. And second, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Lei.”
“What about her?”
“She's upset.” He pressed his ear to the connecting door, listening for her.
“And ...?”
Satisfied she wasn't eavesdropping, Malek moved to the other end of the room. “It's gotta be your fault. What did you say?”
“Nothing. I haven't talked to her.”
“Then you had your wife say something to her. I want to know what the hell she said.”
“Hang on.” Drako muffled the phone with his palm while he talked to his wife. Malek couldn't make out what they were saying. All he could hear was a low-pitched male's voice and a higher female's. This back and forth went on for a long time, so long that Malek was tempted to hang up.
“It's not good news,” Drako said finally. “But nobody is to blame.”
“What? Tell me.”
“Rin overheard me talking to Talen.”
“What did she hear?” he hissed, biting back a handful of curse words.
“Me talking about you marrying April.”
A wave of white-hot rage charged through his system. His fist clenched. His jaw clenched. His gut clenched, too. Dammit, Drako had gone too far this time. Too fucking far. “I told you, I'm not marrying that woman. Dammit!”
“I didn't know she was listening.”
“Fuck.” He needed to pound something. To hurl something. . . at Drako's head. This wasn't fair. It wasn't right. Nobody had interfered with Drako's marriage. He had no right. “I don't want to marry April. Got it?”
“I hear you, Malek. But you may have no choice now.”
“I'll straighten it out.”
“There's another problem.”
Something else? What the hell was it now? “What's that?”
The doorbell rang.
“Who's at the door?” Malek asked.
“The other problem,” Drako said, sounding slightly apologetic.
Malek jerked the curtains aside. His room faced the front of the house. Thus, from his vantage, he could see who was standing on the porch. “What the hell is April doing here?” he yelled.
“Talen gave her the address. That's what we were talking about when Rin overheard me.”
“Fuck!” He jerked the curtain shut and stomped toward the door. “It's a good thing you're not here right now.”
“Look, I know you have the right to choose your wife.”
“Shut the hell up.” He jerked open his bedroom door.
“Bro, Lei's got problems. She's nowhere near ready to get married to anyone. Rin said so, said Lei told her she was feeling pressured. By you. Is that what you want?”
His heart jerked. He closed the door. “I . . . don't know.”
“Think about it.”
“But look at your wife. She married you for money. It didn't bother you that she was feeling pressured.”
“That's different.”
“How?”
“It just is. She didn't have any feelings for me. It was just a deal we struck. I wouldn't have married her if she'd felt obligated for emotional reasons. That's a surefire way to start trouble.”
“Maybe.” Malek went back to the window. “But things with April aren't all that simple either.” He peered out and watched April totter back to her car.
“Talk to her. See if you can work something out. In the end, I think April is more capable of setting aside her emotions and making a solid decision than Lei. Lei's just too damaged right now.”
Malek rammed his fingers through his hair. This situation was so fucked up, and he couldn't think straight. How the hell was he supposed to make the right decision? “If only I had more time. A few weeks, even.”
“You know what the contract says.”
The contract. The fucking contract.
Malek pulled the curtain aside again. April hadn't gone back to the porch yet. With any luck, she was headed for the freeway. “And so what if I don't get married by January first? What's going to happen? Is someone going to fire me? Are you going to report me to the trustee?”
“No, but... you saw what happened when Rin was kidnapped. We know a little about the gifts now. We know what that clause means. If you aren't married, maybe you won't get one?”
Malek's phone beeped, indicating he had another call. He glanced at the screen. It was April. He hit the button, sending her call to voice mail.
“Maybe I won't get a âgift,' anyway,” he said. “Could have been just you, since you're the oldest, the leader. Maybe I don't need some fucking supernatural gift.”
“What if you do? What if it's the difference between saving our lives or dying? Losing The Secret or keeping it safe? Like it or not, this is our life, our reality, our obligation. You have less than two weeks to be married.”
“Fuck.”
“Good luck, bro. As your oldest brother, I want you to be happy. But as the leader of the Black Gryffons, I need you to do the right thing. You might not be able to have both ... at least not right away.”
“I get it.” The doorbell rang again. “I gotta go let April in. Later.”
“Bye.”
Knowing he was in for a shit storm, Malek hobbled to the door. He arrived there at precisely the same moment as Lei. She glanced out the sidelight, saw who was ringing the bell, turned a one-eighty, and avoiding eye contact with Malek, headed toward her room.
As he was opening the front door, Lei's bedroom door slammed, the sound echoing through the entire house. He flinched, sucked in a deep breath, and welcomed April inside with a tip of his head.
“Malek!” April dropped her bag at her feet and flung herself at him, taking him off guard. “I was so worried about you.”
He steadied himself before she knocked him on his ass. He was holding her stiffly, trying to handle the pain.
She clued in right away. She unwrapped her arms from around his neck and stepped back. “Oh, darn. Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to. Here.” She took his hand in hers and started dragging him toward the couch. “You just had surgery. You should be lying down.”
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