Taken For His Own

by Tara Fox Hall

  Theo stripped off his shirt, revealing himself completely. He opened my robe, then pushed it off my shoulders. It fell to the base of the wall, and he kicked it aside. He pulled me against him, then rubbed the tip of his penis against my clitoris.

  “Is it later now?” he asked in a guttural voice.

  “Yes,” I moaned. “Now is later.”

  “Good,” he said, lowering me onto the robe.

  He devoured me, wringing cries of climax from me easily as I writhed beneath him. As many times as I came, Theo did also, his body only surrendering after the third time. After we were spent, he brought me to the bed, laying me down with a few tender kisses.

  “You rest,” he said, covering me up carefully. “I’ve got to see about a pie.”

  I lay there, blissful. Would it always be like this? We’d had so short a time together years ago, I couldn’t remember if Theo had been this adventuresome in bed. Yet I did remember how he’d made me feel. It was the same way I felt now—cherished, loved and utterly protected.

  * * * *

  Theo nudged me. “Wake up. It’s about two. We should leave.”

  I sat up groggily. “Do we have time to walk the dogs?”

  “We should probably get going,” he said, running his hand in my hair reluctantly. “Sorry.”

  “No big deal,” I yawned. After putting on some clothes, I let out the dogs, then settled them in my truck.

  “I’ve got everything else already packed,” Theo said, handing me my purse and keys. “There’s water in a small cooler on the floor.”

  “I’m going to drive one truck and you the other?” I asked.

  “Yes. I’d rather ride with you, but we need to get both vehicles home. Let me make a last quick check, and we’ll go.”

  He emerged a minute later. “I have to drop off the keys to the landlord. Follow me.”

  I nodded. “Lead on.”

  As I pulled out of the driveway, I looked back just once at the house. It sat there in the sun, the mountain rising behind it. Some part of me wanted to stay here with him and never go back. The few days we’d spent here had been perfect and simple, the way real day-to-day life was not.

  So much turmoil was waiting for us at home and little was certain. Would Terian welcome his role model? Would Danial want Theo to work for him again? Would Theo want to? We’d talked about him getting out of the business, about him being a carpenter. But if his life was in danger, it would be better if he had Danial or Terian around to watch his back.

  Would Danial want me to work with him as I had this past year? I’d liked the work, but seeing him every day would be hard on both of us. Maybe I could telecommute? He wasn’t up days, though Elle would be...

  She was going to be another concern. I didn’t know what Theo expected. Or how to tell him Elle had known he was alive and hadn’t said anything to us, that she said she hated him.

  I pulled onto the highway, watching Theo driving ahead of me and was reassured. We had each other. We’d make it work.

  * * * *

  Theo and I made it to just outside Kansas City the first night and to Indianapolis on the second. The following morning, I told Theo I needed a break from the driving.

  “We need to do only a half-day’s worth today, so I can move around some. The dogs need a break, too. Walking around the block twice a day and keeping them cooped up in the truck the rest is making them spastic and me edgy.”

  “I’m sorry, Sar. I shouldn’t have pushed you. We should be far enough away now from anyone who’d be after us. We can stay here for most of this morning and head out this afternoon.”

  After a quick breakfast, Theo and I took the dogs for a long walk. It was nice, seeing a place I’d never been before. After what had happened to Theo and me in Orleans, Danial had never taken me with him again on his trips, and he hadn’t taken many of those either, compared to how he had in the past. I hadn’t missed traveling exactly, but this brought back the feeling of being on vacation and seeing the sights, even if that only comprised a different park that looked similar to the ones I’d been to at home.

  The scenery had changed as we left the west for the Midwest. We had left the prairie foliage and pine trees behind and were now back to where green was a common color and the trees mostly large deciduous. The scent of spring was on the wind, along with tree blossoms and the sweet smell of fresh cut grass.

  After our walk, we had lunch at a drive-in, our meals delivered by roller-skate. Within minutes of ordering, Theo became increasingly anxious.

  “What is it?” I asked him nervously.

  “When the food gets here, pack it up. We need to leave right away.”

  Alarmed, I did as he asked, handing the surprised carhop a huge tip. Theo drove back to the motel, ushering the dogs and I inside.

  “Wait here. I’ll be right back.” He left.

  A few moments later, he was back, his expression grim. “We’ve got someone coming after us.”

  Chapter Five

  My breathing immediately sped up. I took a deep breath, then asked, “Who? How do you know?”

  “I saw the same car behind us three times today, Sarelle. I’ve just seen it again in the parking lot, checking discreetly to see if our vehicles were here.”

  I pushed down my rising fear. “Do we wait for dark and try to leave then?”

  “We’ll stay here tonight. I don’t want them to catch us at night in separate vehicles on a deserted road. We’ll leave right before dawn tomorrow. I’ll plan out an alternate route home, one that wavers enough so they won’t know our exact destination. They may already know it, but we can’t help that. If this has to do with Danial, I don’t want to lead them straight to him. If it has to do with me, I don’t want them knowing where we live.”

  Danial’s home was a closely guarded secret. The entrance was disguised, and he had guards. My house was wide open by comparison.

  “It must be someone from Casper that is following us, right? Someone from the Northeast wouldn’t have needed to keep tabs on us so closely. They’d have known our destination.”

  “Maybe. They’re either very good or amateurs. I’m guessing the latter because no one checks out a car in daylight that carefully if they’re any good. Still, they may have sent the person who did that as a decoy and be hanging back themselves, waiting for us to foil the decoy so we think we’re safe and relax. It’s an old trick.”

  “That sounds way too complicated for real life,” I said skeptically.

  “Not really,” Theo countered. “They most likely already know where we’re going. Your license plate is from New York, so they know we’re liable to be headed there. If they checked either the post office or the courthouse, they’d even have your address.”

  A shiver of fear ran down my spine. “What if they’re lying in wait at home?”

  Theo held me tighter. “You’re safe with me,” he said, giving me a kiss. “Don’t worry. Everything points to amateurs. That means they won’t wait for us to get home before they act. They’ll try something at the first opportunity. Tonight we’re going to draw them out if we can.”

  He sat me on the bed. “Get some sleep, Sar. I’m going to check over the maps and figure out a few alternate routes.”

  I curled up on the bed with both dogs, too nervous to sleep or even read. As Theo plotted, I stroked Ghost and Darkness, listening to them breath and filling my mind with memories of the last few days, letting the happiness I’d felt then comfort me now.

  “We should go out tonight,” Theo said finally, setting down the maps. “Somewhere where there are a lot of people.”

  “What about the dogs? I don’t want to just leave them here.”

  “Whoever is looking for us isn’t going to be interested in them. They’ll be safe enough in the hotel room. We won’t be gone long. This is just an exercise to see if I can spot one of the men following us.”

  “What if they shoot at us or attack in a group?”

  “If they wanted to do that, they�
�d have done it already. That car’s been following us all day, and there were moments in that park today we were in spots isolated enough for a sniper. But we weren’t isolated enough for them to grab us. For whatever reason, we’re wanted alive.”

  Apprehensive, I went over and hugged him. “Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it, Theo. I trust you. I’ll follow where you lead.”

  He crushed me to him with a possessive growl. “Saying I love you doesn’t cover it. It’s not close to what I feel having you in my arms, knowing you’re finally mine, or that the life I wanted for us is possible now. We’re going to make it through this.”

  “I’m scared,” I murmured

  “Stay close. We can do this. Come on.”

  We left the dogs in the motel room with some Cheweez, hanging the Do Not Disturb sign on the door. Taking Theo’s newer truck, we drove to the nearest strip mall and splurged on a large dinner of cheese fries with bacon, steaks, and vegetables thrown in to soak up some of the heart-stopping cholesterol. Both of us were ravenous, our appetites spiked by the danger we were in. Theo kept watch circumspectly but saw no sign of our stalkers.

  “We’ll give them one more opportunity,” he said, after paying the bill. “Somewhere away from crowds. Feel like a drink?”

  “Not really,” I shrugged. “But I can playact.”

  We walked to the bar across from the restaurant, got a booth and ordered two glasses of red wine. The place was almost deserted.

  “Tell me about Elle,” Theo said, sipping his wine. “Start at the beginning when you got her back to America.”

  I told him everything. Theo was fine until I got to where Elle began to see Danial as her dad. It was obviously painful to him that Danial had the place that should have been his. But he didn’t say anything until I mentioned my mother’s disapproval.

  “Did your parents ever come around to you being with him?” Theo asked.

  “My mom always liked you best,” I told him, clasping his hand. “They’ll be happy we’re married.”

  “Do they know about your baby with Danial?”

  “No,” I replied, my eyes downcast. “He was only born a little while ago, Theo. He showed his human side only a few days after he was born.”

  “So they haven’t seen him? Ever?”

  “Theoron’s only a month old now. There wasn’t time—”

  “You left your baby at a week old?” Theo said harshly. His eyes were disbelieving and appalled. “You just got in the truck and drove away?”

  Hurt, I took a deep breath. “I can’t nurse him, Theo. I can’t even touch him. Every time I do, he attacks me.” I wiped away tears. “It’s not his fault that he wants my blood. He doesn’t know he’d hurt me.”

  “I’m sorry,” Theo said, taking my hand. “I didn’t think.”

  “No, it’s good to talk about it,” I said, wiping at my teary eyes with the napkin. “I feel oddly detached from him. Theoron came from me, but Elle feels more like my child than he does. That makes me feel so guilty.” I took a gasping breath. “I love Theoron. That’s a given. But I don’t know how long it’s going to be until I can act like he’s my son. And I wonder down deep if I’d have been so quick to leave if part of me wasn’t running away from that. I worry that he might think one day that I left Danial because of him, because it was too hard to care for a half-vampire child.”

  “Danial’s taking good care of him,” Theo soothed. “I’d stake my life on it.”

  “But I’m not,” I said guiltily, putting my face in my hands. “I abandoned him.”

  Theo got up, came over to my side of the booth we were sitting in and hugged me. “I’m sorry, Sar. I didn’t mean to hurt you by what I said. I didn’t know he’d attacked you. Don’t cry.” He handed me another handful of napkins. “You didn’t abandon him. You left him in the care of his doting father who is much better able to handle his nature than you are. Camlyn himself told you to go—” Theo cut off, finally noticing that I was sobbing too hard to hear him.

  My tears poured out of me. I made no attempt to stop them. It felt good to finally cry out all of my frustrations, to not pretend I was fine.

  Theo handed me more napkins and hugged me.

  After a few moments, I wiped at my eyes, then stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Take your time,” Theo said, motioning to the waitress. “I’ll pay the bill.”

  I headed across the room to the bathroom near the far wall. Opening the door, I stepped inside. The first stall was occupied, so I used the second. When I came out, the mirror over the sink showed I was still a mess, my face red and my eyes very green.

  I washed my face with cold water, then checked again.

  The stall opened, and I cast my eyes down, embarrassed.

  “You look stunning,” a familiar voice said from behind me.

  I turned toward it, saw a blur of brown hair, and then everything went black.

  * * * *

  I opened blurry eyes. My jaw hurt. I tried to reach my hands up to my face and couldn’t move them. I looked down. I was tied to the chair.

  “Sit there and keep quiet.”

  Aspen stood there watching me. Her beautiful eyes looked through me. I’d expected to see hate there, but instead there was only disinterest.

  “What do you want?” I said, trying to talk normally.

  “Is this the one?”

  A man came in behind her. He laid a hand on her shoulder and looked at me.

  “Yes, that’s her,” Aspen said. Again, there was none of the anger I expected.

  “Who are you?” I said to the man.

  He came closer and crouched down in front of me. “I’m Aspen’s father,” he said gruffly.

  This was getting weirder and weirder. “What do you want with me?” I asked.

  “Is it true that you’re married to Theo?” Aspen’s father asked.

  “Yes,” I replied. “I’m his wife.”

  “Not for long,” Aspen growled.

  “Aspen, be quiet,” her father growled back at her. “Look,” he said in a conversational tone, turning back to me, “Aspen thinks she’s in love with Theo. She wants to be with him, to see if it will work—”

  “It was working fine until this blond showed up,” Aspen growled.

  “Aspen, I said for you to shut up.” Her father sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Your name is Sarelle, right?” he said to me after a while.

  “That’s right,” I said.

  “I want you to go back to wherever you came from, Sarelle. Tell Theo you need some time, that this Vegas-type wedding was a mistake. Tell him to come to you in a few months, but you need that time apart to make sure it’s right. Will you do that?”

  “No way in Hell,” I said flatly.

  “I told you she wouldn’t do it,” Aspen said, beginning to pace back and forth.

  “Sarelle, what if I sweetened the deal. How would a 100K sound?”

  I looked at him in disbelief. He wanted to pay me off to leave Theo, so his daughter could try to make it work with my husband? Unbelievable!

  He saw my expression. “200K?” he said, his tone still conversational. “Tell me, what does it take?”

  “You have no idea what I’ve done and gone through to be with him,” I said angrily. “Suggesting a bribe is ridiculous.”

  He looked back at me, resolute. His expression told me he was a man who was used to getting his way, used to telling other people what to do and having them run to do it. “Everyone has their price. Just tell me what it will take, and then you get yourself gone with the money.”

  “I should have known,” I said acidly. “With a name like Aspen, your daughter was either the daughter of a small town mother with pretensions or the daughter of a rich daddy who likes to ski.”

  Aspen and her father looked at me angrily but didn’t correct me.

  It made sense. Aspen was in Colorado, just south of Wyoming. Likely that was close to where Daddy was based or had his vacation home. Aspen had come up here to ha
ve a little fun and wow the local boys. Then she’d found Theo. After discovering he was a werecougar like she was, the romance probably had seemed fated. When it suddenly stopped being fun, she’d called Daddy to come and sort it out for her.

  Aspen’s father leaned in, as if to tell me a private thought. “Sarelle, if Theo loves you, giving it some time won’t matter. What are you out? A few months? If you agree to let Aspen have another chance—”

  “Save your breath,” I said. “Nothing is coming between him and me this time.”

  Aspen exploded. “Did he tell you that he had me every night?” she shouted, desperate and angry. “That sometimes that wasn’t enough for him? That he would seek me out wherever I was to make love to me?”

  It hurt to know she was probably telling the truth. But that didn’t matter in the least. “That was before me,” I said disdainfully.

  Tears formed in her eyes. “Did he tell you he’d asked me to move in with him?” she said roughly. “He said he wanted me around in the morning, to wake up to.”

  That hurt, too. I rationalized that Theo had been alone, that he’d known I was back with Danial and having his baby. He’d had every right to try to start over with someone else.

  “He doesn’t now,” I said flatly. “He told you it was over.”

  Aspen strode to me and kicked the chair over. I fell over with it, crashing to the floor, crying out from the jarring pain.

  She stood over me. “Why did you have to come here?” she screamed. “We were happy!”

  “Not like I am with her,” Theo said, appearing in the doorway. “Now back away.”

  Tears of relief flooded my eyes. He had some blood on him, but it was sprayed across him, so likely not his. He held my explosive bullets gun in an unwavering hand.

  Aspen’s father slid Aspen behind him. “Where are my guards?” he whispered.

  “Dead,” Theo retorted, his eyes cold.

  Aspen’s father backed away further, pushing his daughter behind him. Theo crossed to me and pulled his knife. He cut the ropes holding me and helped me to my feet, all the while holding the gun on Aspen and her father.

  “Why do this when I told you it was over?” Theo said coldly. “Why couldn’t you just accept it? And how could you think I’d want a woman who’d kill someone I loved?”