In the Beginning... (39 page)

Dardano. The city supposedly founded by an
obscure band of villagers from Tanzania. She’d heard about it, but
she had never been there. Her twin brother and her uncle had both
discouraged her from going there. Said that it was a filthy place
filled with people who were unwelcoming to and suspicious of
outsiders. Rand had actually told her he’d been attacked by the
brothers of a woman he’d dated who lived in Dardano.

Rand. Rand would not stop until he found her
and Mickey. Her twin had protected her and Mickey and their
youngest sister Rebecca since the day Rebecca was born and their
mother died. Her brother was more dangerous than anyone Mal had
ever met. He’d been the one to teach her martial arts when she was
twenty-one and healing.

She’d been attacked and assaulted in the
parking garage of Taniss Industries when she was twenty-one.
Attacked and left for dead. If her sister and cousin Josey hadn’t
found her, she would have bled to death in the parking space beside
her Uncle Jason’s car. She’d recognized the sedan and pulled
herself to it, knowing her uncle would find and help her.

She’d vowed never to be a victim again.

This monster carrying her would not hurt her
that way. She’d kill him first.

He carried her to the most elaborate pair of
doors she’d seen so far. “This is our suite. Best in the wing, of
course.”

“Bully for you. Let me go.”

“Nope. Not going to happen.” He sat her on
her feet and opened the doors for her with a flourish. “Welcome
home, kitten. This is where you’ll be spending the rest of your
life.”

“How many days will that be? One, two? Five?
My brother and my uncle will be coming for us. They won’t stop, and
they will rip you apart just for looking at my sister and me.” Mal
pulled against the bonds. He’d wrapped a rope around her arms and
legs, trussing her up like a damned turkey. She was half afraid she
was loosing circulation in her extremities.

“I’d like to see them try. You are mine,
now. For always. Better get used to the idea of it.”

“I won’t sleep with you.” Mal forced herself
to look at him directly. “I won’t. You might as well kill me now if
that’s what you want.”

“Oh, I want it. But it will be your choice
when we do.” He pulled a knife free from the pocket of his shirt.
His tunic; she’d not noticed what he’d worn before. It looked like
a set of black hospital scrubs, with differences. The clothing
looked odd, some sort of tunic and trousers. Tanzanian, maybe?
Would that explain his strange accent? He brought the knife closer
and her breath backed up in her throat. Would he cut her? Like that
bastard in the parking garage that day?

It had taken three rounds of plastic surgery
to remove the scars.

A whimper escaped but she barely heard or
felt it. All she could focus on was the large man coming toward her
with a knife in his hand and intent on his face. “Please...”

Her fear hit him like a fist to the face.
“Dammit, woman! I am not going to hurt you! Just cut you
loose.”

He made quick work of removing the bindings,
berating himself as he did so. Why had he felt the need to bind her
so tightly? To terrify her out of her wits? The instant the binding
fell she erupted, aiming straight for his throat, his stomach, then
his groin. She was quick and determined.

Theo’s words ran through his head while he
attempted to subdue his female. He gentled his hold.

That was a mistake. Her head rammed into his
nose, and her knee hit him square on. He bent over as the pain
threatened to block out every other rational thought.

He grabbed her just as she
reached the door to the suite. It was a struggle, but he did it. He
wrapped his arms around her, intending to keep her from hurting
herself
or him. Her struggles pulled them
both off balance and he felt them fall. He turned at the last
moment, shoving her toward the couch, instead of the marble
floor.

He landed on top of her, his weight crushing
her down into the soft turquoise cushions.

Her scream chilled him and
he pulled back to look at his
Rajni
’s face.

Her eyes were wide, absolute
terror unfocusing her gaze. Her lips moved, a litany he had to lean
closer to hear.
“Not again. Not
again...”
Not again?

Aodhan reared his head back
and let out a roar of pain when the true meaning of Theo’s words
became clear.
Your female has suffered so
much in a way no woman ever should. Her soul still has the
scars...

She screamed. He jerked
back, cursing himself aloud for frightening her, yet again. She
curled up in a fetal position, trying to protect herself. From him.
His
Rajni
was more
than just frightened of him, she was terrified. She believed he
would...

“I will not rape you. Never!” Aodhan grabbed
her under her arms and dragged her to her feet. Where before she
was spirited and as dangerous as a little cat, now she was
practically limp in his hands. He shook her slightly.

“Who hurt you before? Tell me!”

As soon as he had the man’s name he would
find him and kill him. Rend the bastard’s arms from his body and
feed them to Tajic. “Tell me, woman. So that I may set my men to
find him. So that I may kill him for what he has dared to do to
you.”

Mallory tried to control the shaking that
still wracked her body, tried to even out her breathing, but when
he’d come at her with the knife then shoved her toward the couch
she was back in the TI parking garage all over again. Defenseless,
helpless, all over again.

His words barely registered. When they did
she couldn’t believe them. Why would he care what had happened to
her in the past? Wasn’t he planning the same damned thing? She
couldn’t go through it again, not again.

He sat her down on the couch; this time his
hands were gentle. As if he cared about her.

“Oh, little kitten, you will not forgive me
for the longest time, will you?”

“Never.” Mal was barely aware of whispering
the word, but for all that she was quiet, she meant it.

“Then it will be best, I think, to just do
this while you know not enough to understand and to dread it.” His
tone was resigned, but the hands he had on her were gentle.

The gentleness was what frightened her
now.

She had expected pain, and roughness, like
before. And like he had shown her when he’d dragged her from her
home.

“It must be done.”

“What must be done? Why did you kidnap us?
Don’t you think I deserve to know that much before you do whatever
it is?”

His fingers ran through her hair, pushing it
out of his way. He trailed a touch down the side of her neck as he
stared at her. Pity was in his eyes. His strange yellow eyes. She’d
never seen eyes like his, not color or shape. Nothing about him was
like anything she had ever seen before.

“Poor little kitten. You’ll hiss and hiss
when backed into a corner, but you don’t have too much fight to
protect yourself with, now do you?”

“I can protect myself just fine.”

“Until tonight, hmmm?” Before she knew what
he’d done, he had both her wrists locked into one of his hands. She
pulled against him, once again aware of his strength. He refused to
let her go. He leaned forward, crowding her.

Mallory leaned back,
desperate. “Please, stop. Don’t do this! I thought you said you
wouldn’t
”

“I will not force you to lie with me, woman.
I give you my solemn vow that I will only touch you in that way
when you wish it, when you are ready, and not a moment before. But
I will have this from you. It will be done, this night.” “What will
be done tonight?” Her voice rose and she pulled against his hold
again. It did no good. He had her and he wasn’t letting her move
until he was ready to. “Get off of me, please!”

He didn’t. His left hand was now wrapped
like a vise around the back of her neck. His right hand held both
of hers. “You will soon learn, kitten. I promise you, tonight is
the only time this will ever hurt you. In fact, in time, you will
crave me like I crave you.”

He freed her hands then pulled her over him,
using his superior strength to have her sitting on his lap with
barely a movement. Mallory felt the press of his muscles against
her shoulder. He turned her, until they were chest to chest.

He was big and strong and muscled. And he was
not letting her go until he was ready to. He pushed her hair to one
side. Stroked her neck again. Then his left arm went behind her
shoulders. His right hand slipped around her neck.

Again.

Why was he so fascinated by her neck?

“It would be best, kitten, if you kept
yourself as still as you are able. I could force your compliance,
but I will not like doing that to you.”

For what? What was he doing? Was he crazier
than she suspected? Mallory couldn’t just sit still and let him do
whatever it was he planned on doing to her. She couldn’t. She
wouldn’t be able to respect herself if she let herself be a passive
victim.

His head lowered. His lips brushed her neck.
Once. Twice. Mallory fought an instinctive shiver of nerves.

“You said you wouldn’t force me.”

“I know. And this is
different. I have waited near on six hundred years for you, kitten.
I will not spend another night waiting to claim you as my
Rajni
.”
Oh, God. He really was crazy!

Mallory struggled on his lap, feeling the
unmistakable evidence that he was enjoying having her so close.
“Stop!”

He pulled back, then looked at her with what
she thought was resignation on his face. “As I thought, then. I am
sorry; I am going to have to do it. I can only promise you that we
will both get through this, though it will hurt you. Once it is
over we will have centuries together, my love. I can only hope
you’ll forgive me eventually.”

Mallory couldn’t fight,
could barely blink, when he moved again. His arms went around her,
tighter than ever before. She couldn’t move, could barely breathe.
He kissed her neck again, this time more insistent. “Stop!”
Sharp pain rushed through her when his teeth sank
deep.

He’d bitten her.

Just like the bastard before.

Fear of what he would do next consumed her,
and for the first time in her life, Mallory fell into darkness.

It was a blessing, Aodhan thought, when he
felt her go limp in his arms. For the pain would soon begin. And
conversion was rumored to be unbelievably painful. He quickly
accomplished his task of draining all the human blood from her
body, then forced his wrist over her mouth.

She took to him
instinctively, like she knew exactly what was expected of her for
her continued survival. Her teeth pierced his skin and she fed
fiercely, fighting him to get closer. It was unexpected, to say the
least. When it became apparent that his wrist was not
ad
equa
te enough to
meet his female’s needs, he shifted her to give her access to his
neck.

She hummed in her throat as
she sank her teeth, small human teeth at that, into his carotid. It
took her little time to extract from him what it was she needed.
And he freely gave, forcing himself to remember he’d made a vow not
to touch his
Rajni
until she requested it. But it felt so goddess-damned good to
have her tucked against him while he provided.

After she finished feeding from him he
cuddled her close, waiting. He would have to pull the rest of the
human blood from her body and replace it with Dardaptoan again, if
needed, before the conversion was complete.

She slept on and it concerned him. She was a
fighter, that had been evident from his first glance of her, so why
did she continue to hide from him in a shroud of darkness? Was it a
conscious act?

The conversion began an hour later and she
fought and screamed. At the end, she pleaded with him to just make
it stop. Oh, how he wished he could.

He wiped the sweat away, first from her
forehead, then his own. His arms trembled from the strain of
holding her down while she struggled. He greatly feared her
thrashing would lead her to hurt herself even more. “I am sorry,
kitten...we will get through this together. I can promise you
that.”

Mallory woke cuddled close to the man’s
chest, her head pillowed on his broad shoulder. He was watching
her. The pain was only a dull ache now, but she would never forget
it. She clung to him, her arms locked around his neck, her mouth
pressed close to his skin.

“It is over now. I think.” His words were
low, soft. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been on a nasty drug trip. One I
don’t want to repeat.” She pulled her arms down, trying not to
wince at the pain in her shoulders from where she’d held him so
tightly during the...whatever...it was that had happened. He
reluctantly let her move away from him. Mallory studied him for a
moment. The clothing he wore, though black in color, was covered in
blood. Her blood. Her own shirt and jeans were ruined.

“You won’t ever have to.” His hands dropped
to her sides and he shifted her until her knees rested on either
side of his hips. Mallory looked at him, studied the gold of his
eyes. He was pale and exhaustion showed on his face. Why was he so
tired? She’d been the one to go through hell...

“What exactly was it that you did to me?”
She had an inkling, but didn’t want to put it into words. She
didn’t believe in such things. Didn’t. Couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

“I am from a race of beings far older than
humans. We have the ability to change humans into our Kind by a
type of blood transfusion. I know you understand what I am talking
about.”