In the Beginning... (5 page)

He did, though she heard his
muffled laughter. “I’ll have you naked and moaning beneath me
before the end of this week,
Rajni
. Your body won’t be able to
resist me.”

****

She woke snuggled against a warm male chest
that felt nothing like what she would have imagined a vampire’s
would be like. His hand was wrapped possessively around her waist,
under the tunic he’d given her. His other hand was woven into her
hair.

He held her like he loved her, had her tucked
into him, warm and safe.

Safe with a monster.

Should she use that with him? Use the weird
belief he held of her being his mate against him? Gain his trust,
then try to escape?

What about Josey and Mickey? Mal? Would it be
easier for only one of them to escape and find help? Get home, to
Rand and Uncle Jason?

Those two men would not stop until they were
found. If someone were to meet them halfway, rescue for the others
would come twice as fast.

Did she have much choice?

Josey would not be able to get away from the
monster holding her. Of all these creatures, the one called Cormac
frightened Emily the most. Mickey was too timid to even attempt an
escape. That left either Emily or Mallory. 

The first opportunity Emily found, she’d
formulate a stronger plan with Mallory—and between the two of them,
they’d seize the first chance to escape they could find.

And just pray they pulled it off and could
return with help before the creatures hurt Josey or Mickey
further.

Emily slipped the small knife she'd taken at
dinner under the thick mattress she knew she'd be sharing with the
king for the fifth night.

"Are you awake,
Rajni
?" He whispered the
words as he pulled off his clothes. She knew now what that strong
chest, muscled arms, and tanned body looked like. Knew exactly what
it felt like pressed against her. The night before had been long,
with him holding her tight against that chest through the
hours.

She should hate him, but last night she’d
been filled with the urge to touch him. Even to taste him.

What had he done to her? With every minute
that passed her desire to escape him waned. If she stayed with him
much longer, would she ever want to leave? Did she have some sort
of Stockholm syndrome? Was she falling in love with her captor? Her
breath caught, backed up in her throat.

The bed dipped beneath him, his large body
slid beneath the blankets and rubbed against her much smaller one.
Emily shifted, turning more onto her stomach. Within reach of the
knife. Could she do it? She let her hand fall casually between the
mattress and the wall. Her fingers closed around the hilt. If she
was going to act, she'd have to do it quickly, without hesitating.
She would have to make it work.

Strong hands slid around her waist and pulled
her to him. His scent surrounded her as he buried his mouth in her
hair, as one hand traced her thigh. Emily closed her eyes and took
a deep breath, then flipped over quickly. It was now or never.

****

Rydere stilled when he felt the press of a
blade against his neck. Green eyes stared at him in the low
moonlight, determination and fear in their depths.

"Don't move." Her voice trembled but the hand
that held the knife was steady.

"I'm not." He kept himself
still, curious to see how far she'd be able to take her threat. He
knew she wouldn't be able to kill him; as his
Rajni
, her heart would not let her
harm him permanently. "You know this won't work."

"Maybe not. But did you honestly expect me to
just fall in line with your plans?" The blade slipped a bit until
she firmed her grip.

It would take him seconds to disarm her, but
he ran the risk of hurting her. "I expect you to put the knife down
and go to sleep."

"I'm an adult and I have rights—rights you
seem to think you can just take away because of some insane idea
that we're mates. We're not. I don't believe in that."

"We are mates."

"What we are is hostage and kidnapper.
Period. No matter what that book said." She took a deep breath,
causing her chest to press against his. It distracted him for a
moment. "And I'm tired of playing that game."

"It's not a game, Emily. Nor
is our mating insanity. I've waited six hundred years for my
Rajni
. I'm not going to
mistake her when I find her." Rydere grabbed the arm holding the
knife and pushed it down, away from his neck. "Give me the
knife."

"No." Her left knee slid between his knees in
a sudden move women had used as defense for centuries.

Rydere cursed as he tried to catch his
breath. Damn her.

She still held the knife and was climbing
over him to run. He stopped her with a hard jerk to her sleep
tunic, anger giving his move more force than he’d intended.

She stumbled and jerked, lashing out with the
knife.  Burning welled in his chest. He grabbed her forearm
and jerked her still. "You'll stop now."

"Rot in hell!" She aimed at his neck but he
moved, catching the blow across his shoulder. He ignored the second
burn as he yanked the knife free of her grip. He flung it across
the room, hearing it embed in the wall. She screamed and backed
away, her eyes wide on his.

It was nowhere near the worst injury he'd
ever received, but none had ever hurt him more.

****

Emily felt the heat of his blood on her skin
as he wrapped one hand around her neck. Panic filled her. He was
going to kill her now, rip her throat out as punishment.

She stifled a second scream when he jerked
her off her feet and carried her back to the bed, throwing her
roughly across its surface.

"Sleep, now." He spoke through gritted teeth,
and his eyes burned the orange flame. His hand covered the wound on
his shoulder. "While I take care of this."

Emily didn't argue, sliding back in the bed
and watching him. When he returned he said nothing to her. The bed
dipped from his weight and she felt herself rolling toward him.

She lifted a hand as a barrier between them.
Her fingers brushed the small bandage on his shoulder. Tears filled
her eyes as she imagined what the knife slicing through his flesh
must have felt like. How it must have hurt him.

Hard fingers covered hers,
held tight. “Do not touch me again unless it’s to give me your
acceptance as my
Rajni
, to give me your body.” He pushed her hand away. “Sleep. We
will speak of this night no more.”

Emily felt oddly bereft as he turned his back
to her and flipped off the light. She lay in the darkness for
several hours, thinking and listening to the sound of his
breathing. He should have—could have—killed her, yet even though
he’d been angry he hadn’t hurt her. But what did that mean?

He shifted in his sleep, sliding close to the
bed’s center. Crowding her. Moonlight snuck through the windows and
highlighted his chest, making the white bandage glow. Emily ghosted
her fingers over the cotton before she remembered the warning he’d
given her. Still, it wasn’t as if he was awake.

Beneath her hand, the warm skin felt human.
Her hand lingered in the small covering of hair. Yes, he felt
human. But she knew he wasn’t. Everything about him was different
from any other man she’d known. So why did she find that so
alluring?

****

Rydere felt her exploring fingers and he
fought to keep his body still. Hunger was upon him, the wound she’d
inflicted having bled more than he’d expected. He’d thought if he
ordered her to sleep, he’d not be tempted to taste her again. He
wanted nothing more than to replace the blood he’d lost with one
more taste of her sweetness.

A small finger brushed over the bandage and
she sighed. Did she feel some regret for what she’d attempted?
Rydere stretched his arm over her pillow, casually scooting her
closer to his side. She didn’t resist. He kept his voice at a
whisper as he said her name.

She jerked her head up to stare at his face.
“You’re awake. I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

“No...” Rydere couldn’t help himself. He
needed to taste her more than he’d needed anything in six hundred
years. It took him little effort to pull her over him. Her hand
landed on the bandage hard enough to have him hissing out a curse,
but that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but...“Kiss me.”

She shook her head, sending floral-scented
strands of hair over his chest. “I...”

“Do it, Emily.”

Rydere watched her from the window in his
office. She strolled through his gardens, arms wrapped around her
middle. Occasionally, she'd stop and touch a bloom, but her
demeanor told him how she truly felt. 

Keeping his restraint was the hardest thing
he'd ever done. Only the knowledge that she didn't want his touch
made it possible at all.

Each night she curled into a ball as close to
the wall as she could get, trying to keep as much distance between
them as possible. Each morning she answered him in monosyllables
when he attempted to converse with her, a pattern she repeated
throughout the day.

And last night…last night had hurt him more
than anything he could ever imagined.

Each day they were together he loved her
more. Yet she obviously felt no such connection.

What more could he do to show her that he
would do whatever it took to make her happy?

He pressed the call button
on his office phone. “Jambu, fetch
Dhan
Emily to me, please. I need to
speak with her.”

****

"Call your family."

Emily stared at him, then at the phone in his
hand. "Why?"

"Because you want to."

"And that's enough for you?"

"I want you happy. I've
spent six hundred years waiting for the woman who'd be my
Rajni
. I won't do anything
to make that woman unhappy now that I've found her. Even if it
means I no longer have her. Call your father. Tell him..." He
looked at her then, and Emily's breath caught at the pain on his
face. "Tell him that I'll bring you home in three days."

"My cousins, too?"

He hesitated. That wasn’t his place. "No.
That's up to Cormac and the others."

"And they won't let them go. But you'll let
me?" Emily's fingers stalled over the numbers. Why was it so hard
to press in the numbers? "You know I can lead the police back
here."

"I'm asking you not to. I have fourteen
thousand people dependent on me for safety and protection, many of
them women and children. I ask that you consider them. We'll use
the next two days to make sure you'll be able to live safely among
your family. You'll need to feed once a week, but bagged blood will
work. And there are other precautions you must take."

She nodded, then sucked in a deep breath and
dialed the family vacation home near Denver.

Her cousin Rebecca answered, then started
crying when Emily said her name, the sound clear over the line.

"I'm ok. We're all ok. Even Josey's dog."
Emily watched Rydere's face as she spoke, surprised and shocked at
the vulnerability visible for the first time. He was hurting. "No,
I can't tell you where we are...because I'm not one hundred percent
sure. I just want you to know that we're ok. I swear we're ok.
I...don't know. I'll call you again. Tell Daddy that I love
him."

After she disconnected Emily stared at Rydere
for several long moments. Why hadn’t she told Rebecca where to
find them? "I need to talk to my cousins. I can't leave without
them. I won't."

****

Mickey was the only one of her cousins in the
sitting room when Emily walked in. "Where's Mal and Josey?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen them all day."
Mickey wouldn't look at her.

"Mickey? What's the matter?" Emily sank onto
the sofa beside her cousin. "Did something happen?"

Mickey bit her lip, hesitated. "Yes...He's
sending me away."

Emily's mind latched on to the distinction.
"As opposed to letting you go? Where's he sending you?"

"Home. Back to my dad."

"And that's a bad thing? I was told the same
thing."

Mickey nodded, breath catching. "Don't hate
me, Em."

"I'll never hate you." Emily thought for a
moment about her cousin and about the man who'd claimed her. 
If she was feeling connected to the man who took her, despite his
arrogance and domineering way, why wouldn’t Mickey have fallen for
the Dardaptoan Theo who had treated her so gently? Who so obviously
cared for her? "Why would I?"

"I want to stay with Theo. I don't think I
can leave him."

"Do you think you love him?"

Mickey nodded before wiping away a tear. "I
know I do."

"And have you told him that?"

"No. He was so sure that sending me away
would make me happy. So insistent that it was the right thing to
do. And what about Mal, Becca, and Rand and my dad? They'd all hate
me."

"They wouldn't hate you. Everybody just wants
you to be happy. And if you can be happy with a
six-hundred-year-old vampire, then you should stay with him."

"But you're leaving, and probably Mal and
Josey, too."

"I told him I wasn't leaving without all of
you. I never counted on you wanting to stay."

"I do."

"Then you will and we’ll make it work. But
first, you'll have to tell Theo how you feel. I think it will make
him happy."

"I hope. He's been alone for over six hundred
years, waiting for me, Em. For me. I can't just walk away from
that, from him, and leave him alone like that again."