Taken For His Own
Promise Me
Book 4
by Tara Fox Hall
Published by
Melange Books, LLC
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
www.melange-books.com
Taken For His Own,
Copyright 2013 by Tara Fox Hall
ISBN: 978-1-61235-623-5
Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States of America.
Cover Art by Caroline Andrus
Taken For His Own
Tara Fox Hall
After learning Theo is alive, Sar immediately embarks on a mission to find him. Reunited, the lovers return to New York, Danial, Terian and Theo uneasily combining forces to protect Sar from Al’s assassins who still seek her. But when Sar is taken prisoner in an all-out attack, only one man can save her—her old adversary, Devlin.
Dedication
To my new editor Jane, for all her help and suggestions.
To Caroline, for her excellent cover work.
To my Promise Me fans, for all your support of my work.
To Jessica and Cavity,
for lap-warming encouragement since the first typed word.
And lastly, to Tor, for typo-hunting, the many long emails, and being a true friend.
Table of Contents
"Taken For His Own"
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue
About the Author
Previews
Chapter One
“What are you talking about?” I screamed at Terian. My heart was beating a mile a minute, the breath tearing out of me as I tried to get enough oxygen to my brain to process his words.
“Theo is alive,” Terian said again.
I sobbed from sudden relief, my knees giving way. Terian grabbed me before I fell, then guided me over to a shady spot to sit down. A few minutes later when I got control of myself, I wiped my face with my sleeves and faced him. “Tell me everything you know.”
“Theo came back here in February—”
“February! Why didn’t you tell me?” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
Terian got to his feet, putting distance between us. “I’ll tell you everything I know, but not if you keep screaming at me. Calm down.”
I tried to breathe. I tried to be calm. I could do neither. Theo was alive. I ached for him already. The last two years seemed like a dream, and I wanted suddenly to go home to my house, where I crazily hoped he would be waiting for me.
“Where is he?” I demanded.
“Out west,” Terian said. “In a little town in Wyoming called Casper.”
I processed that, making plans at once. I could fly there in a day, most likely. Or I could drive there and take the dogs; I’d never travelled outside the state by myself. Ever. Maybe Elle would want to go. In any case, I was going, and I was going tomorrow. I wanted to leave tonight, but the day was already half gone, and I would need to pack and get maps and money ... Hurriedly, I made a mental list.
“Walk back to the house with me,” I said calmly, “And tell me all you know.”
We began to move, I with a purposeful fast stride. Terian reluctantly matched my speed.
“I was out walking in the woods one night, doing guard duty. I came upon the tracks of a cougar and thought they had to be Elle’s. But after studying the size and depth of them, I concluded that they were from an adult, not a child, and so deep that likely a male had made them. I followed them and found Theo. He was huddled in one of the sheds, trying to get out of the cold.”
Theo had been so close to me and I’d not even known it. “Go on.”
“I took him to my room and let him sleep in my bed. During the night he changed back to human.” Terian took a deep breath and looked into my eyes. “He was hurt badly. He could get around okay, but he was covered with scars. He said it had been a lot worse, but most of the damage had healed.”
I took a long shuddering breath, walked faster and motioned for Terian to continue.
“He asked me not to tell anyone he was here, especially you, Sar.”
“Why?” I got out, too hurt to elaborate.
“He had seen that you lived here with Danial and that Elle thought of Danial as her father. He knew you were pregnant.”
I closed my eyes then, trying to breathe. “Did he say where he had been?”
“He said he’d been captured and held by several different people. That he’d escaped each time, but the damage that initial sadist had done to him had crippled him, so he was unable to journey quickly. He said he’d been without a passport in more than a few countries. He had nothing to prove he was a US citizen and no money, no identification of any kind.”
“There are such things as collect calls,” I said deliberately.
“I only know what he told me.”
“Why didn’t he call us? Write us?” I said angrily. “He could have broken into an office and sent us an email! That’s all it would have taken!”
“I don’t know,” Terian replied evenly. “The only other thing he said was to tell no one that I’d seen him, to let everyone think he was dead.”
“What did you tell him about Danial and me?”
“He didn’t ask,” Terian said bluntly. “Theo wasn’t the man he used to be. He was broken and bitter. He didn’t want to hear what I had to say about you. He said he had seen all he needed to see with his own eyes.”
My eyes flooded with guilty tears. I swiped at them angrily, then took a deep breath. “You’re sure he said Casper?”
“Yes,” Terian said confidently.
I turned to face him. “You are only telling me about Theo now to get me to leave Danial, you bastard. Would you have ever told me, if this hadn’t have happened?”
“No,” Terian answered. “I would have left things as they were, like he asked me to.”
“Damn you, Terian,” I yelled. “Damn you and damn your stupid moral code!”
Terian’s eyes flashed red. “Sar, you spend all this time pining for Theo, but when you’re with Danial you’re happy to be with him. How long did you wait after Theo disappeared before going back to Danial? Were those three months you spent together really love or some kind of infatuation?” He stepped closer. “Or just good sex?”
I slapped Terian hard across his face. “I want you to know that I considered you my friend,” I said hatefully. “I did. But that’s over now, Terian. You have caused me more heartache with your potions and your keeping things from me than Danial has ever done. I’m sorry that you’re part of my child.” I paused for a moment, glaring at him. “I would rather it had been anyone else, even Devlin.”
I walked away and left him there, too stunned to speak.
When I got back to the house, I use
d Danial’s computer to check plane flights. There were no flights left to Casper that night or the next day within driving distance. Instead of that relaxing me, I just took it as a sign that traveling by car was the way to go.
As much as a flight would have cost, driving to Wyoming would be just as expensive, if not more, factoring in gas, food and hotels. Lucky for me, Danial had insisted on paying me for my help with his business for the past year and a half. I hadn’t cared at the time, had just deposited the money in a savings account. That would give me the needed money to finance this trip with no trouble.
Strangely, doubts about what I was planning didn’t faze me. I realized that most everyone would think I was crazy to be doing this. Sure, my life here with Danial was good, even with Dr. Camlyn’s dire prognosis of me being on the threshold of becoming vampire. Yet all that was in the noise, really. I had only to think of seeing Theo again, of being with him and there was no hesitation, no thoughts of any other option but going to him.
I began printing out maps of Casper itself and the shortest route to get there. The drive would be a long one, four days of solid driving. That was a hell of a long drive. Yet flying somehow seemed too short. Too sudden. I needed time to think about what I was going to do. I couldn’t just show up in town asking for him. He might have moved on like I had.
The thought floored me, but it was a good possibility. Theo thought I’d oathed to Danial, and he had been in Casper for four months now. He liked sex, loved it actually. It was unlikely I’d find him alone.
I sighed, reasoning that Elle shouldn’t come on this trip, even if she wanted to. However, I had to go even if I found him with a live-in lover. I had to know what had happened to him.
I finished printing out the maps. Shit, it was already late afternoon.
I went downstairs and put the maps in Theo’s truck. It hadn’t been used in close to a year, but the engine started easily for me, and the inspection was still good. That was a relief. The problem was I had only two things left to do before leaving—pack my clothes and tell Danial I was leaving to find Theo.
I didn’t want to wake him to tell him what I was planning. But there was no more putting off the inevitable. I went back into the great room, determined to face Danial.
Terian burst in the front door. “Sar!” he said raggedly. “You were right. I’m sorry—”
“Fuck you and your being sorry!” I screamed at him. “You knew what he meant to me. You of all people knew! How could you let it go so long? How could you not have come and gotten me when you knew he was here? I could have seen him, touched him, held him in my arms! I’d have been with him these last four months!”
“You were pregnant with Theoron, remember? You wouldn’t have been going anywhere.”
I sagged, defeated. Terian was right. I’d given Danial my word. My pregnancy with our half-vampire, half-human child had been anything but easy. “Maybe I would have had to wait to see him,” I said quietly. “But Theo wouldn’t have left if I’d told him how things really were.” I turned from him.
Terian grabbed me. “Sar, please forgive me—”
Danial threw open his door, standing there in his robe. “What in the hell is going on out here?”
“Theo is alive!” I yelled, the echo resounding throughout the great room. “He is alive and somewhere out west, and Terian has known for months!”
Danial’s face went white. He hissed at Terian, “Is this true?”
“It’s true. He asked me not to tell anyone—”
“What kind of idiot actually does that?” Danial roared. “You are to tell me everything that goes on here, no matter who tells you otherwise. Is that understood?”
“Yes,” Terian said, cowed.
“What happened?” he asked. “All of it!”
Terian relayed the message to Danial of Theo being badly wounded, that he had seen we were together and had left to go west alone.
Danial sighed deeply, then faced me. “You’re leaving tonight to go to him, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I said softly. “I’m sorry. I told you I’d stay and now—”
“Go,” he said just as softly. “I love you, Sar. I don’t want you to be what I am. And we both know that it would likely come to that, if you stayed with me now.”
I gaped at him, not knowing what to say.
“Stephen said you were close to turning,” Danial said tiredly. “I’m afraid of losing control, like I did before—”
Terian gasped.
“—I haven’t felt any urges,” Danial said quickly. “But I trust Theo to watch over you—”
“You’re telling me to go?” I said incredulously.
“I’m torn between protecting you, Elle and Theoron. I can’t send Terian with you, not without risking them and myself. Theo will take care of you. Wyoming is far enough away you’ll be safe—”
“Stop,” I said softly, stepping closer and embracing him.
He hugged me tightly. “What I just said is the only reason I’m not making you stay here and going in your place. But where you’ll go unnoticed, I’d almost certainly be attacked.”
I drew breath sharply. “You said nothing about trouble.”
“There is always trouble when you’re a Lord,” Danial said ruefully. “But that’s not important. I want you to remember that if it doesn’t work out with him, that you always are wanted here. If you return, I’ll welcome you with open arms, be it in a few weeks or a few years.” He kissed my cheek gently. “I understand that you have to do this. Don’t worry about Theoron or Elle. I’ll take good care of them.”
“I love you,” I said tearfully, kissing him. “You know that, right? That I wasn’t with you all this time because you were good to me, or because you are amazing in bed, or because you are so desirable. I love that you were all those things, but they are part of you, not the reason.”
“I know that, my darling,” he said, embracing me tightly.
“Do you want the ring back?” I asked awkwardly.
We both looked down at it, sparkling on my finger.
“No. Wear it for me, Sar. To remember I love you and that I always will.”
The front door slammed. “What is going on?” Elle said, taking in Terian, Danial and me.
Danial came and crouched before her. “Elle, your father, Theo, is alive.”
She looked at him calmly with no intake of breath or gasp of surprise. “I know he is.”
I gaped at her. Terian also was speechless.
“How do you know this when I have just discovered it?” Danial demanded.
“I smelled him ... the night he came here. I saw Terian help him inside the were compound.” Elle stared at me defiantly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Danial asked her.
“You would have told Mom,” she said finally. “Mom would have left us to be with him.”
I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to call her a little bitch for daring to keep this kind of information from us. I longed to spank her. I did none of those things because she was right. I would have left, just as I was leaving now.
“Elle, Sar is leaving now to go to Theo. That is okay. If he is alive, officially she is still engaged to him.”
I didn’t think that applied to persons gone for two years, but maybe it did.
“You understand. Theo gave her a ring, and she promised to marry him. At the least, she has to give it back to him and tell him that she can no longer do that—”
“She should stay with you!” Elle cried out. “You’re my dad! Not him!”
“Elle—” Danial tried to touch her, but she was having none of it.
“We’re her family! You’re her man, not him! He left us alone for two years. She cried every night!”
I’d hoped she’d forgotten, but by her words, her memory was all too clear.
“She only stopped crying when you came. That night we all slept in bed together.”
The night I’d given in to Danial. The night we had had sex and he’d
been there to help me with Elle. The night she’d first assumed human form. Would she have transformed that night if he hadn’t been there? Would I have been able to handle her on my own if she had? Most likely not.
My resolve began to waver. I swiftly strengthened it. This was Theo. I had to go.
“Elle, I am leaving tonight,” I said determinedly. “You can come if you want to. Even if Theo doesn’t want to see me, he’ll want to see you.” I extended my hand to her.
“I never want to see him!” she snarled with disdain. “I wish he were dead!”
Her angry words enraged me in a heartbeat. I held myself still with effort. How she felt was not her fault. Some of it was mine for pushing her away in my grief. Some of it was Danial’s for loving her so much and some was Theo’s, for disappearing from her life in the months she had needed him most. Really, they just made this easier.
“That’s okay,” I said slowly. “You’ll be better off here with Danial.”
I turned from her.
“Mom! Mom!”
I went into Danial’s room to pack my things. I put my toiletries in a bag, grabbed a few changes of clothes and extra sneakers. When I reemerged, the great room was empty.
Quickly I got the dogs in the truck and started the engine.
There was a sudden knock at my window. I started to see Terian there.
I opened the window.
“You were right about Danial,” he said. “Do you want me to send someone with you?”
“No,” I said, looking away. “I need to do this alone, as much as I’d appreciate help driving.”
“I’m sorry for not telling you. Forgive me?”
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