In the Beginning...

by Calle J. Brookes

  He brushed a kiss over her forehead. “You shouldn’t look so tempting. I am just a man, you know. An old bastard lusting after a pretty, young thing, but I can’t help myself. I’m weak.”

  He dropped his tone to a lecherous purr and Mallory couldn’t help it. She laughed. For the first time in she didn’t know how long, she laughed over something sexual with a man she found unbelievably attractive. As their laughter trailed off, she thought about that. What did it mean?

  Was it possible she was coming to like and feel comfortable with him?

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Mallory hated flying, and had since Emily’s mother had died in a small plane crash. She fought the urge to hold the damned vampire’s hand as the helicopter they were in flew the small distance between the Taniss vacation estate and the Dardanos resort. Why had she never noticed how close the two areas were? Had her grandfather built the vacation property thirty-five years ago so close to the Dardaptoans for a purpose? So he could victimize them more easily?

  Suddenly the property she’d always enjoyed had a more sinister undertone.

  The vampire had his arm behind her. He must have sensed how nervous she was. What was she going to say to her idiot of a twin? How could he do that, take someone as vulnerable as Jierra away from her own family? It wasn’t right, at all. It made her brother no better than the man sitting at Mallory’s side.

  That gave Mallory pause. If she was to forgive her brother for kidnapping Jierra and Kindara, why couldn’t she forgive Aodhan for taking her and her sister? Was it the same concept or not? He’d taken her to get back at her family. Rand had taken the two women to get back at their family. Idiot jerks, both of them.

  She loved her brother. Would always love him, so she knew she’d forgive him this stupidity eventually. But would that forgiveness ever extend to the man who claimed she was his mate?

  The helicopters landed, and her breath caught when she saw the familiar white and yellow stone mansion that had housed her family for nearly every Christmas and holiday of her life. She had so many good memories of the place. Her, Rand, Emily, and Marshall running around like little demons playing and getting into all sorts of trouble. Then the younger cousins, Josey and the rest, following the older around. The swimming, the running, the hide-and-seek all of the good times and some of the bad ran through her mind. The day Rebecca was born and Mallory’s mother died she, Rand, and Mickey had been with Aunt Elizabeth at the vacation home when their father had come to tell them the news.

  It was home. But did it have a darker history than she knew about?

  The whirl of the helicopter blades kept her from having to make conversation as she let the damned vampire lift her down from the helicopter. Normally she would have spurned the assistance, but right in that moment she wanted to throw her arms around him and cling. To pretend that the next few moments weren’t going to be rough. She didn’t, though.

  She didn’t need him. She didn’t.

  She met her idiot brother in the front yard of the home.

  Looking at him was like looking in a mirror, at times. They had the same shaped face, the same shaped eyes, same hair. His was worn just a bit too long around his face. He always looked wild and untamed to her, and she knew that wasn’t too far off the mark where he was concerned. Rand had always lacked the businessman polish that her father and uncles possessed. He was just more…animalistic than any other member of the Taniss family.

  He drove her nuts.

  He wrapped his arms around her, giving her an uncharacteristic hug. Mallory clung to him for the longest time, unspeaking. She didn’t think she could force a single word out of her tight throat. Rand pulled back first, and quickly hugged Emily.

  Mallory stepped away, her gaze instinctively going to the damned vampire.

  His eyes were warm. Understanding, though it was obvious he was on full alert.

  A squeal had Mallory jerking toward the front door. A blonde girl who looked so much like her sister Mickey raced toward her.

  Jade. Josey’s sister. She was the same age as Mallory’s youngest sister Rebecca, and they were best friends. Jade threw her arms around Mallory’s neck and around Emily’s, pulling the two of them closer. Mallory hugged her cousin, fiercely relieved that she had gotten the opportunity again.

  “I thought you were dead! Where’s my sister, where’s Mickey? Tell me what happened, tell me!”

  “In a bit. I think we need to get inside first, don’t you?” Emily said. Mallory nodded. Kindara had rushed to meet Cormac and the two stood embracing nearby. Mallory looked past the blonde woman to the man who’d followed her down the steps. Rathan stood very close to Kindara, possessive in a way Mallory had never seen before.

  Rand swept a hand between the group. “Inside.”

  Mallory saw several of the Dardaptoans scowl, including Aodhan. Aodhan stood staring at her brother, suspicion on his face. Mallory stepped closer to the vampire. “What is it?”

  Strong fingers wrapped around her arm and he pulled her away from her brother. “Stay with me. There is something we need to discuss and quickly.”

  She looked up at him, ignoring Rand’s moving closer, as well. “What?”

  “Inside, away from all of these…people.”

  “Mallory?” Rand almost growled her name. “We need to talk. Now.”

  “In a minute, Randall. You and me, we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about this.” Mallory shot her brother a look filled with the irritation she still felt for him. “I want to check on Jierra and her mother first. Make sure you didn’t do lasting damage by being stupid.”

  Her brother’s face darkened to an angry red. “I didn’t do any damned damage to her.”

  Which her? “I’ll check for myself, thank you.”

  “Dammit Mal!” Rand grabbed her arm and shook her, like he had so many times before. Mallory paid it no attention. She and Rand were very physical with each other. She was just as likely to smack him on the head or give him a kick in the butt. “Is that all you have to say after being missing for days?”

  Strong hands pulled Mallory away from her twin with a sharp jerk. She found herself crowded behind Aodhan’s back. His right hand was wrapped around Rand’s throat and Aodhan was hissing his anger. “You never touch her, wolf. Do you understand me?”

  Rand growled, his hand on Aodhan’s arm. Mallory pushed between the two men. She put a hand on each male chest. “Stop! Now! Aodhan, let him go!”

  “He touched you.”

  “Yeah? So what? We’ve been touching each other since the womb. This is my twin¸ you idiot. He’d never hurt me.”

  “I don’t care who he is, he doesn’t shake you, or anything else. Ever.”

  Mal resisted the urge to smack him. “So my brother can’t touch me, but you can hold a knife to my throat, practically break my arm, threaten me, and carry me out of my home over your shoulder? A little confused there?”

  His cheeks turned red. His hands went around her waist and he lifted her out from where she stood between the two men. “That was different…”

  “Yeah, it was.” Mal lowered her voice and looked straight at him. “You intended to kill me. Rand touches me because he loves me. Big difference.”

  “Then. Not now. And I didn’t know you were my Rajni then.”

  She snorted. “And that makes it all ok in your mind because we’re Rajnis, you think you have the right to order my family around, to decide who touches me?”

  He smiled then pulled her closer, despite the people surrounding them. He kissed her once, quick. “Thank you, kitten.”

  “For what?”

  “For finally admitting aloud that we are Rajnis. I thought I would never hear those words on your lips.”

  She had said it, hadn’t she? Dammit. “I might have said it, but that still doesn’t mean I believe it.”

  “Mallory. Inside.”

  Rand’s impatience was easy for her to hear. She threw an angry look his way. “Bite me, bro. Em, Jadie, let
’s go. I’m sick to death of male idiots thinking they can order me around.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Aodhan watched his female march inside just in front of her cousins. Her fury radiated from her. “I do love her temper.”

  Her brother growled. “You hurt her!”

  “Unknowingly.” Aodhan considered a sarcastic remark but thought better of it. This was his Rajni’s brother, and though they were both obviously hot tempered with one another, he could see that she loved him. Still, one thing needed clarification, and fast. “Tell me, how is it that my Rajni’s twin is a Lupoiux and she has no knowledge of it?”

  The brother’s eyes narrowed and the growl that was issued was that of a true alpha. Aodhan forced his instincts to tamp back down. Dardaptoan and Lupoiux had fought for centuries and he’d killed quite a fair share of the animals himself. But he’d also formed a few friendships with the other Kind, on occasion, too. When absolutely necessary.

  “None of your business.”

  Rydere broke in before Aodhan could say that it was. His female needed to be kept safe, even from her family, if necessary. “I suggest we do take this inside. Before those females of ours manage to plot against us all.”

  Aodhan nodded. “I wish to see for myself Kindara and her daughter.”

  Aodhan studied the house as he climbed the porch steps. Why had he not known of this property so close to Dardanos? How had Taniss kept it so well hidden?

  His female and the young blonde human were bustling around the large kitchen, obviously making coffee. Aodhan watched his woman for a moment. She wouldn’t look up at him. Was she still angry? With him or her brother? Aodhan stepped up behind her and wrapped a hand around her arm. He pulled her back into him and dropped a kiss on her hair. She stiffened, then relaxed.

  “Don’t bother. You didn’t have to act like a damned caveman with my brother.” The frost of her words had him hiding a smile. Spirited, his female. He would have her no other way.

  “I apologize. Perhaps it will just take time for your brother and I to understand that we both only want what is right for you.”

  “You’d make a great politician with that tone. Just go away. Get this over with so we can move on.”

  He would have said more, but the green eyes she turned on him were sad and confused. Very little anger remained. Why did she always manage to make him feel like a monster when she gave him that particular expression?

  He pulled her into his arms and held her tight before he thought. She was stiff in his embrace for a moment, then her arms slipped around his waist and she clung to him. He held her until she pulled away.

  Her brother stood watching them, a resigned look on the face so like Mallory’s. As a Lupoiux, perhaps it would be easier for the brother to accept Aodhan’s role in his sister’s life? It wasn’t as if the brother was getting a rude introduction to the Dardaptoan way of life, Rajnis in particular. When the wolf found his own mate if he hadn’t already, though Aodhan’s research had shown no known lover for Rand Taniss, the wolf would understand completely that his place in his sisters’ lives was usurped.

  “Wolf, I think we have much to talk about. Kitten…”

  “Go. Be total male idiots. I don’t care anymore. I’m going to talk to Kindara and her daughter.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Mallory studied the Chief Healer and her daughter and was satisfied they were ok. “I want to apologize again for my idiot brother and his idiot friend.”

  Kindara nodded. “No need. I think both our brothers and their friends have acted in ways that were far from honorable. I just wish…for Jierra…She will have a long journey ahead of her now.”

  Mallory looked at the younger woman. Jierra was pale and obviously exhausted, but Mallory could not see anything actually wrong with her. “What do you mean?”

  Kindara hesitated. “That is something you need to speak with Aodhan about, I’m afraid. It is not my place to explain.”

  “Explain what?”

  “Just ask him.”

  “I will.”

  ***

  Kindara’s strange words were pushed aside when Mallory found herself back on a helicopter less than two hours later. Aodhan was at her side, his foot resting on a young man’s throat. Mallory didn’t understand how it had happened.

  One minute she and her family were in discussions with Emily’s Rajni and the others when her Uncle Jason had burst in. He’d said that more than forty Lupoiux surrounded the property. Mallory wasn’t entirely certain how her uncle even knew of the werewolves or why he’d attacked Cormac without being told he was the one who’d kidnapped Josey.

  She wasn’t certain why Aodhan kept calling her brother wolf either. None of it made any sense. Her confusion had just increased when her brother’s best friend Rathan had literally disappeared before her very eyes, returning moments later with Jambu.

  Jambu was a cousin of Emily’s Rajni, but Mallory didn’t know much more about him. Rathan had called him a traitor, and Cormac had tried to hurt the younger man. Mallory wasn’t entirely certain what was going on, but she suspected Jambu was responsible for the attack on Josey.

  The helicopter stuttered, and Mallory drew in a breath. She really hated flying. Aodhan wrapped his hand around hers and squeezed, his touch meant to reassure. The sound of the helicopter made it too difficult to speak but Mallory appreciated his presence. She leaned closer and he got the hint, wrapping a heavy arm around her shoulders.

  She looked up and studied the rest of the helicopters’ occupants. Aodhan had told her earlier that Dahr Rydere rarely traveled in the same vehicle as he or Cormac or Theo. Had told her it was safer to keep the Equans of each House separate to ensure assassination attempts were kept to a minimum. But with the staff of the vacation home plus Rand’s people in the security division of TI, they’d decided that all the Dardaptoans, Mallory, Emily, and Jade, plus Rand, Rathan, and Uncle Jason would travel in the largest helicopter, with the rest of the Taniss staff taking the others.

  Mallory studied her uncle and her brother and the man she now knew wasn’t human. What exactly was Rathan and why did he seem so possessive of Kindara? And how had he and Rand ever become friends?

  Her brother looked at her, his eyes dark and guarded for the first time she could remember. Why had he looked at her that way?

  And why had he said that Jade was the only human on the property earlier?

  Aodhan helped her down from the helicopter, lifting her easily out of its belly. Her hands tightened on his forearms for a moment until she got her balance. He held her hand in one of his, then yanked Jambu out of the helicopter when Cormac practically threw the younger Dardaptoan at Aodhan. Aodhan frog-marched the traitor toward the resort.

  Mallory was torn between following him and staying with the rest of her family. She had so many questions, and that made the decision for her. She followed Aodhan into the building, ignoring Rand calling her name.

  Aodhan turned to her, stopping for a moment. “No, kitten. What I will be doing with Jambu is something you should not see. Stay with your brother for now.”

  “Are you going to kill him?”

  “No. Just question him a bit. His betrayal is a deep one, such as he had the trust of the entire royal House. We need to ensure it went no deeper than Jambu.”

  Mallory watched the young man pale. She did not envy him. Still, why would he do such a thing? “You believe Rathan then? That Jambu is responsible for the attack on Josey?”

  Aodhan nodded. “Yes. I do. The only question is why. Go, stay with your family. I think the little blonde girl may be developing a crush on our Barlaam. It can only end badly for her, as he will not touch her. It would dishonor her and his future Rajni.”

  She knew he was right, but that didn’t mean she was happy about it. “I have a bunch of questions.”

  “I will answer them later. In our suite.”

  She nodded before she realized what she was agreeing to. With her brother and uncle here to ‘res
cue’ them, did he honestly think she would be sleeping in his suite? Wouldn’t that be tantamount to giving in to him?

  She thought about that as she and Aureliana led the rest of the group through the hotel, giving what amount to a guided tour. Rathan walked at her side, winking at her. “He calls you kitten. I’ve always felt that endearment would fit you well.”

  “Don’t be a dork, Rath. I’m not too happy with you, either.” His black eyes held his laughter, something that was so characteristic of him. She’d known him for ten years, yet what she knew of him was so little. But she was comfortable with him, in a way she hadn’t been with other unrelated men, and that meant a great deal to her. He was one of the few people she called friend. And he’d lied to her for years by omission. “What the hell are you?”

  “I’m a demon, kitten.” He smirked again. “An incubus to be exact. Have your new boyfriend tell you about my Kind sometime. I can guarantee you’ll both enjoy it.”

  “How did you meet my brother?”

  “He saved my life some ten years ago, and I owed him a debt. Then we became friends. Mallory…” He hesitated a moment. “You need to speak with your brother. There is something he and your uncle do need to tell you.”

  Mallory looked at her brother, who stood apart from the group, his eyes trained on Jierra. The strawberry blonde refused to look at her brother, instead stood half hidden by Aureliana. Mallory knew just by looking at the girl that she wanted to be anywhere but where she was. But why was Rand being so intimidating to Jierra? Was he deliberately trying to frighten her?

  What exactly had happened between them out there in the woods? “Rath…Why is Rand so focused on Jierra? Is he trying to terrify her out of her mind?”

  “Probably not terrify her, kitten.”

  “Don’t call me that. It’s ridiculous.”

  “Bet not when your giant of a Rajni says it?” Rathan laughed, then turned more serious. “Are you happy with him? He has not hurt you in any way? Because if you want, I can see to it that he suffers for it.”