The Taking (erotic paranormal) (The Breeding Prophecy) (2 page)

“Cassi!” her mother had cried, appalled. “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to know what blood tasted like,” Cassandra had answered.

Her mother’s
mouth
tightened in a disgusted moue. “Well, that’s disturbing. Don’t do that. Little girls don’t need to be wondering about such things. Do you hear me?” she chastised as she quickly bandaged Cassandra’s finger.

Cassandra had nodded, sufficiently convinced that she ought to never do such a thing again but deep down…Cassandra had been afraid to admit that she’d liked the taste of the blood. The copper tang had thrilled her senses, as if lighting her insides and creating a pervasive hunger for more.

From that point forward, Cassandra had always preferred her meat rare and slightly bloody.
Her friends had always shuddered and called her a carnivore. If only they knew…

Of course, now it made sense. If anything about her new life could make sense, that is.

How would her life have been different if she’d been raised with full knowledge of her heritage? What if her biological parents had been able to raise her within Clan
Barrachius
? What would that have meant for her life? Would she have gone to college? Would she
have been as driven to push herself academically? To be fair, her high IQ wasn’t exactly helping her out at the moment but she supposed being as dumb as a rock wouldn’t have helped much either. Too many questions without any answers.

“You are awake.”

Cassandra’s eyes opened reluctantly to find Jandin watching her with a warm, relieved smile.

She sighed and struggled to sit up. Jandin rushed to her side to help. She graced him with a brief grateful smile and took a good look around her surroundings before asking, “How long was I out?”

“Two days.”

Her eyes bugged. “Two days? I’ve never slept that long in my life. Am I…okay?”

Jandin came to sit beside her. Her heightened senses picked up his unique body odor and it smelled delicious, like chocolate and steak; rain and green grass all wrapped in one unique scent. And yet, now that she wasn’t Phasing, she wasn’t wildly attracted to him. It was as if he were simply…her brother. She frowned. That can’t be normal, right? She didn’t have much experience with these sorts of things but wasn’t she supposed to feel something deeper for the man who’d taken her virginity?
“I can’t tell you how happy I was to hear you’d found your way to our compound,” Jandin said, breaking into her thoughts. “We took some losses
that
night. As much as I hate that blood-sucker Cristophe, taking you away from the heat of battle may have been the best course of action.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she said, though she wasn’t sure about anything these days. “I wasn’t safe for long. Ulster and his clan found us just as we were leaving the cave,” she admitted with open distaste.
“And then I Phased again.”

Jandin didn’t have to ask; he knew what happened next. “There is no shame in what happened. The Phase is a powerful force in a female’s body, not to mention there are forces at work that go beyond the simple biology of our species.
You are unlike any female we’ve ever known.
”

“Yeah, so I hear,” she grumbled, rocking her head to the side to crack her neck. The crackle of bones felt good but only briefly so as her stomach growled like a beast trapped under her skin. She clutched her belly with embarrassment but Jandin simply chuckled as he rose from her bedside.

“The Prophesied One requires sustenance,” he said, smiling when she grimaced at his word choices. “Too much?” he asked and she nodded. “Okay, Cassandra it is. Any preference?”

“Just food and lots of it.”

“Red meat and wine; food of the Gods. Only the best for you, I promise.
”

“Or a sandwich would work, too,” she suggested with a weary smile. “Besides, I don’t think your Alpha shares your feelings about my worth.
No sense in making it worse with fancy meal requests.
I think I’m just a problem that’s been thrust in his lap to solve. Doesn’t really make for the warm and fuzzies, you know?”
On either side
.

Jandin’s expression lost some of its warmth and he shook his head in apparent frustration at his brother. “
Tieran has always been stubborn. Hardest head of all the pups, our mother used to say. He will come around. He’s trying to do what’s best for the clan, much less the world.”

So his name was Tieran? She supposed she didn’t need to call him The Prick any longer, though at this point it was a perfect fit. Cassandra weighed her words carefully, not interested in pitting the brothers against one another when she needed all of their help to get through this epically screwed up Prophecy in one piece. “
It seems that everyone I come into contact with wants to kill me, fuck me, or own me. Including Tieran.”

Jandin looked away, his mouth tightening. “I cannot speak for my brother but as long as I breathe, you will not be harmed in this house by anyone in Clan
Barrachius
. I make this vow to you.”

His sweet declaration warmed her heart, even if she knew he shouldn’t make promises he might not be able to keep. If it hadn’t been for something that held Tieran in check, she might’ve been reduced to a bloody pulp at the Alpha’s hands. Still, she appreciated the gesture. After everything that had gone down as of late, she’d take any kindness. “Thank you, Jandin.”

He bowed ever so slightly and then left the room to get her food. She sighed and leaned against the giant fluffy pillow at her back. The bed was luxuriantly soft and her poor bones appreciated the fine quality. It wasn’t every day that a girl turned into a wolf and then back to human again within a few hours. If only she had a clue as to how it’d even happened. Probably something to do with that damn Phase. It was seriously mucking up her life. Would she ever make it back to college? She ground the grit from her eyes and groaned.
She’d give anything to go back to her normal, mundane life where the most complicated event involved juggling her meager budget so that she could both afford food and electricity at the same time. If there had to be some big, dark secret in her family tree, why couldn’t have been something like a rich, senile relative who suddenly died and left her his entire fortune?
Yeah, like that happens in real life. Oh wait,
none of this shit actually happens in real life, so whatever: dream big, Cassandra
.

“
Are you sufficiently recovered?” a voice asked from the doorway. Cassandra opened her eyes and swallowed her irritation when she saw Tieran with a tray of food. She jerked a short nod and he entered, placing the tray on her lap with an efficient motion. Cassandra accepted the tray with a muttered thanks and then tore into the food, ravenous.

“Where’s Jandin?” she asked between bites of near raw steak that ran with blood as she sliced into it.

“It is not his place to feed you,” he said stiffly, surprising her.

“Come again?”
She swallowed slowly, regarding Tieran with a frown.
“Do you feed everyone in the clan? That sounds like a full-time job,” she muttered, taking another bite.

“No. Only you.” His blue eyes narrowed and she shivered as the air in the room seemed of short supply.

“Why me? Two days ago you wanted to kill me.” Yeah, sorry that was a hard one to let go, she thought grumpily. “Now you’re suddenly all interested in my welfare? Not buying it. Not be rude or anything,” she tacked on for appearances sake because frankly, she was a bit pissed. Of course, Cristophe had been planning to kill her as well, but for some reason, she wasn’t as miffed at him for his momentary lapse in judgment.
“Here I am kidnapped by creatures I’ve never even heard of until a few days ago and since then I’ve been, well, for lack of a better word,
violated
, when I’d been planning to save myself for marriage and I can’t seem to help myself when that stupid Phase thing starts heating up my body like an engine that’s been running too hot without oil; suddenly, I’m this raging slut who wants to screw anything that walks, oh! And if that’s not bad enough, I’m some mystical werewolf with a magical hoo-ha! Then, I get kidnapped by this really, really bad guy named Ulster who has terrible plans for the world, I should let you know, and when I finally manage to get away —
on my own, thank you very much
— I come to the one place I thought I’d be safe and the first thing you do is try to kill me.
Forgive me if I don’t think much of your managerial style.
”
She finished her last bite, shoveling the meat into her mouth in an angry gesture. “That was delicious,” she snapped, privately shocked at how feral she felt inside. She was all riled up and could almost feel the hackles of her wolf-self rising
from
beneath the skin.
She wanted more food. That steak wasn’t nearly big enough to satisfy her hunger but she wasn’t about to ask Tieran for a single thing. The silky smooth fabric began to chafe her tender skin and a bead of sweat dotted her hairline.
Someone had washed and bathed her sometime after she’d passed out for
her
epic snooze and had dressed her in a thin chemise the color of cream. Seconds ago she’d been perfectly comfortable but now, everything felt too hot and scratchy. Oh no. She recognized this feeling.
Nooooo
, not with
him
in the room! “You need to leave,” she gritted out, swallowing as her heart
rate rose. Instead, he closed the door and locked it. To her horror, he began unbuttoning his shirt. His chest, smooth and chiseled, was the picture of male perfection. Muscle corded his stomach and tapered to tight hips. Her tongue snaked out to slide along her bottom lip. “Please go,” she whispered, too ashamed to care that she was pleading. “I don’t want to be with you.”

“You’re Phasing,” he said unnecessarily. She probably had that figured out seeing as she was about to rip her chemise to shreds just to be free of anything touching her. He advanced toward her, a low growl sounding from his chest when she actually bared her tiny, human teeth at him.
“No one will touch you but me from this moment forward.”

“Get the fuck away from me,” she warned. “Go get Jandin or Koris, or Cristophe for fuck’s sake; anyone but you!”
She scrambled from the bed, trying to escape, possibly to jump through the window — anything to get away — but he jerked her into his arms, hissing when their chests collided. Her breasts heaved as she panted, her insides boiling. God, she hated this! Even as she cursed him, she rubbed against the granite of his chest, writhing in his arms. “
When I come down from this, I’m going to kick you in the nuts,” she promised in an angry breathless whisper seconds before she latched onto his mouth, sucking his tongue deep into her mouth as he hefted her in his arms. She fit perfectly into his arms, like a puzzle piece locking into place.
Cassandra didn’t know if it was the Phase that made her feel as if she’d just leapt into the arms of destiny or something else but she knew it was pointless to try and figure it out at this moment.
She moaned as her core liquefied with desperate need.

“It’s like there’s a fire beneath your skin,” he gasped, breaking free from her ravenous kiss. He cupped her behind and squeezed the plump flesh. She thrilled at the possessive imprint on her skin. His eyes darkened to a wild hue as the blue disappeared with his humanity. He took her mouth savagely, growling against her lips as he plundered, stabbing her mouth with his tongue until she was forced to accept him. It was brutal and heady — something that she would’ve found completely distasteful if she were in
her
right mind — but at the moment she found him intoxicating. She clutched a handful of his dark hair and wrenched it back, laughing when he responded in kind, twisting a hank of her hair and yanking it close to the scalp. The pain sparked an insane pleasure that baffled but she didn’t care. A low throaty laugh followed and he threw her to the bed.
“I don’t like you anymore than you like me,” he said in a low growl as he followed her to the bed to rip the thin chemise away from her body. His eyes glowed with lust as he feasted on the curves and valleys of her breasts, hips and thighs. Her knees fell open and her hand found its way to her core. She was nearly mindless with the
need to be filled. He slapped her hand and pushed it away from her folds as he climbed her body with the grace of an animal; all muscle and sinew corded together to create sheer masculine power.
His scent hit her like a sensual slap. He smelled of something so intoxicating she couldn’t even put words to it, but she wanted to bury her nose against his groin like a woman who’d found her drug of choice.
“But there will be no one but
me
planting their seed in your belly. If you are to whelp a pup that will rule this world, it will be mine or
no one’s
.”

Yes!
No
! Her heart sang even as her brain babbled in an incoherent attempt at holding onto her sanity but the Phase would not be denied and simply shut down the thinking section of her mind.
She wanted to feel, touch and taste. She wanted Tieran to bathe her insides with his seed and calm the fire that raged inside her. She wanted to feel his pup gro
w inside her, beneath her heart,
which was pure insanity
!