In the Beginning... Page 27

  Josey thought for a moment, watching the conversation flow around her. They weren’t arguing the right of the Dardaptoans to try her grandfather. Not anymore, and probably not ever again. They were discussing how the company was going to handle it. No one seemed to care for the old bastard. Not even her father. So she and her family were of one mind, then. Not surprising; her grandfather had not been close to anyone in the family. She looked at him one final time, then back at her Rajni. He might have started off as the monster in her nightmares, but the true monster stood in handcuffs near the guard. Josey wrapped her arms around her Rajni and held on.

  No. I’m done with him. My family is done with him. Let Dardaptoan justice decide if he lives or if he dies.

  ******************

  THE WARRIOR’S WOMAN

  Copyright ®Calle J. Brookes

  For my very own hero. Thank you for always believing in me!

  Chapter One

  “That stupid, evil, old bastard.” Mallory Taniss said the words out loud, punctuating each syllable with a whack of the chef’s knife into the fresh fruit she was preparing for the next day’s lunch. Her attention wasn’t on the food, but still with the files and revelations she’d read that afternoon. Her grandfather was a freaking thief. Who’d stolen from thousands of people and from the entire Taniss family.

  “I’m old, and some would say a bastard though my father and mother take exception to that but I am far from stupid.” The voice came from behind her, close. Mal spun, clutching the knife more like a weapon than a cooking tool.

  The man was a damned giant, at least a foot taller than Mal’s own five-ten. His arms were muscled and his chest broad. More importantly, he held himself like someone who’d had a lifetime of training in the martial arts.

  She faced one hell of a fight, but she would fight him until she couldn’t fight anymore. Her little sister was upstairs. And she’d fight to the death to protect one of her sisters. Mal yelled for Mickey to run, using the code word she’d drilled into her sisters’ heads for the last eight years. Mickey would do what she was told, while Mallory delayed this monster bastard.

  Her body tensed, and she prepared to defend herself the instant he moved. With an attacker of his size, she was better off doing what she could to evade. If Mickey hadn’t been in the house, Mal would have fled. But her sister was upstairs, and their cousins Josey and Emily were just next door. Mal wouldn’t risk this bastard going after one of them, either.

  “Well, come on, then, you son of a bitch. Let’s get this party started.”

  He wasn’t the only one with martial arts training. She’d studied every day for the past eight and a half years, learning to protect herself and her family. She would not be some man’s victim ever again.

  ***

  This was a beautiful creature, courageous and fierce. Her red hair hung down her back and curled at the ends. Her eyes were the darkest green and trained on his every move. She was tall, but not thin, with a siren’s curves. Muscle tone and definition lurked beneath the curves. This woman was in excellent physical shape.

  The way she held the knife shouted skill to Aodhan. This woman was a warrior in every sense of the word. And women warriors had always intrigued him. Heated him.

  Pity she was a Taniss.

  He feinted left, then spun in. Made glancing contact with her knee. She’d anticipated his move, and countered. He felt the blade whiz by his arm. She’d drawn blood. Skilled. He pulled back and reevaluated. He knew he would win no human female, regardless of fighting ability, could win against a Dardaptoan male, especially one his size and skill. Poor little cat, she didn’t stand a chance. And if she did manage to get away from him, his wolf Tajic waited outside her front door.

  She struck, but he’d anticipated. His fingers wrapped around her wrist and squeezed. She would either drop the blade or risk him breaking the bones beneath his fingers. And it would be so easy for him to do just that; to crush the bone beneath her soft, soft skin.

  It was no less than any of the Taniss line deserved.

  But the girl didn’t drop the knife. Her knee bounced off his abdomen, and he smiled. This cat was a fighter, but she would lose. Simple as that. He used the wrist he still held to swing her to him. She cried out as the move bent her arm at an unnatural angle.

  He stopped just short of breaking the bone.

  She may have been the granddaughter of his enemy and he planned on killing her within the next few hours but a warrior female such as she did not deserve unnecessary suffering and pain. There was little honor in harming an enemy especially a weaker one just because you could.

  Her grip on the knife loosened. He grabbed the blade and released her wrist at the same time. She countered, used her elbow to strike at his face. He stopped her, wrapped one hand in the soft red hair hanging down her back. He had her in his arms with a single jerk on the hair.

  Her ass was pressed into his groin, and her hair wrapped around his forearm. He jerked her head to one side, exposing her neck. He lifted the knife to her silky flesh. She froze, and for the first time her fear was stronger than her fight. The blade pricked her skin in a half inch long slice. The smell of blood filled his lungs. Her blood.

  He pressed his lips to her throat as he threw the knife across the room. Her taste filled him. His head reared back, before he returned his lips to her neck and sank his fangs deeper into her skin.

  It was the taste of his...Rajni. This Taniss cat was his mate.

  Chapter Two

  Aodhan felt her shaking against him, her fear and confusion palpable on the air. He gentled his hands, his teeth. The strength of the emotions pouring through him threatened to send him to the ground.

  He’d found his Rajni. His mate. The female he was destined to spend the rest of his days with. It had only taken him 598 years to do it. Found her and she was beautiful.

  And a damned Taniss.

  What was he supposed to do about that?

  His curse was loud in the room and the girl flinched. “Let me go.”

  “Not going to happen.” Aodhan applied pressure to the back of her neck, subduing her when she started to fight him again. His woman was a fighter, and he respected that. His family line was inundated with warriors throughout the ages. This woman would give him strong children. Hopefully many.

  Her nails raked across his cheek, her hand headed for his eyes. He grabbed her wrist, pleased to feel the muscle beneath her skin. His woman was sleek and toned. Beautiful. “No! Hold still!”

  “What do you want?”

  “You.” As simple as that. His female. He was taking her. They’d work out the details later. He tied her hands with the silk scarf of his House that he’d worn around his waist. He tied the fabric as tightly as possible, knowing his female could slip free.

  “Why?” She twisted and fought against his hold, but even though she was probably a strong fighter by human standards she stood no chance against him. He was the head of Dardaptoan security for a reason. He was the largest and the strongest of his contemporaries. And the fiercest warrior.

  “Because you are mine.” She struggled when he tried to pull her from her home, something he had expected. He solved that problem by hefting her over one shoulder. His woman was heavier than she looked. Muscled. He ran his hand over her ass, thrilled with her physically. Once she finally gave in to him, he would enjoy her immensely.

  ***

  His friend and partner on this venture, Theodoric the near-blind Prognosticator, met them outside after a few moments. It took Aodhan’s eyes a minute to adjust to the dim night light, but once he did his honed sense of sight allowed him to study his friend. Theo had a strawberry blonde cuddled close to his chest. She was a more delicate almost washed-out version of Aodhan’s female. The younger sister, then.

  When his Rajni saw her sister held by the other man she went wild, kicking and cursing at him. She tried to reach her sister, but Aodhan prevented that. He yanked on the silk tether, harder than he’d intended. She jerke
d off-balance, but righted herself. Her green eyes blazed when she looked up at him. “I will kill you both for this. If he hurts her at all, you will suffer more than you can imagine.”

  “Of course, kitten. Now, either you walk, or I carry you. I would far prefer to carry you, but...”

  “Don’t touch me.”

  “I’ll touch you whenever and however I want. You will not be able to stop me.”

  The fear that filled her eyes surprised him at its intensity. Before she’d masked her fear with fight, but now...

  “I’ll die first, you son-of-a-bitch!”

  Aodhan loaded her into the van, though she kicked and fought. Theo and his burden climbed in behind her, and Tajic hopped into the front with his master. Aodhan drove the dark roads connecting the Dardaptoan city of

  Dardanos to the mountain property that housed the Taniss family as carefully as he could.

  He had precious cargo in the back of the van.

  He could hear her alternately cursing and pleading for her sister’s freedom. He whistled, the tune one that had symbolized mating and Rajni bonding throughout Dardaptoan history. He doubted the females understood the significance of the song, but he knew Theo did. And it hadn’t taken Theo’s confession of the sister being his for Aodhan to recognize that his closest friend would soon also be his brother-in-law. But how would their people take the news that two of the highest ranking members of the council were now bonded to the granddaughters of the Dardaptoan’s greatest human threat?

  First order of business would be to convert her to Dardaptoan. He’d seen the procedure done four hundred years ago, when a friend had found his human Rajni dying from a knife wound. It had been a terrifying experience for them, but the female had survived and become a beautiful Dardaptoan female.

  His female would look glorious with little fangs in her mouth. His body tightened when he imagined how it would feel to have his mate feed from him for the first time. Her, him, in the battle that was sex. He lived for that moment.

  The drive took too long. He wanted his female in his suite so that he could begin the conversion. Begin their life together. Aodhan had never been a patient man. He pulled the van up to the portico leading into the hotel.

  He assisted Theo in getting his Rajni out of the vehicle. She looked up at him in awe and fear, with the same shade of eyes as her sister. Both were beautiful females.

  His own woman spit and hissed, ordering him not to touch her sister. Aodhan pulled her from the van. Even bound she was strong.

  Theo stepped closer, and ran a hand over Aodhan’s female’s hair. Aodhan hissed a low warning before he could stop himself. No one, even his best friend, touched her but Aodhan.

  He forced himself to remain calm. Theo needed to touch others in order to see them for the first time. His gift of foresight had come at the cost of his physical sight. Sometimes, the other man could see snippets about the individual if he touched them first.

  Compassion filled Theo’s face and Aodhan tensed further. What had he seen?

  “Be careful with her, my friend. Your female has suffered so much in a way no woman ever should. Her soul still has the scars.”

  Aodhan stilled. “What are you saying, seer?”

  “Just that ours is not the first act of vengeance against her grandfather she has been the instrument of. Treat her kindly, as gently as a kitten, rather than as the fiery cat she presents. It will serve you well in the long run.” Theo’s face and words were sad.

  Aodhan fought the urge to shift her off of his shoulder and to his chest. To carry her in the same manner that Theo carried his own precious burden. His arms did tighten around her hips. “The conversion process will hurt her. That’s unavoidable.”

  Theo nodded, and Aodhan knew the other man’s attention had shifted inward.

  He thought on Theo’s words as he carried his female in the direction of his family wing. Opposite of her sister.

  Chapter Three

  Mallory watched the slightly smaller man carry Mickey away and she fought the urge to scream. To cry. To berate herself for not keeping the gun Rand insisted she know how to use in the house instead of in the console of her car.

  Only the knowledge that doing those things wouldn’t accomplish anything kept her from them. Where was he taking Mickey? Why was he so gentle when the man carrying her was rough and violent?

  What did these bastards want?

  She took note of every turn he took down the long hallway. Turquoise and gold covered the walls. Real gold. Even with all of her family’s wealth, she’d never been in a hotel gilded like this one. Where the hell were they? The man hadn’t driven more than an hour in the van, so she knew they were still in Colorado. But a hotel of this caliber? There were a few possibilities near enough to the Taniss family land, but she’d been to all of them but one.

  Dardano. The city supposedly founded by an obscure band of villagers from Tanzania. She’d heard about it, but she had never been there. Her twin brother and her uncle had both discouraged her from going there. Said that it was a filthy place filled with people who were unwelcoming to and suspicious of outsiders. Rand had actually told her he’d been attacked by the brothers of a woman he’d dated who lived in Dardano.

  Rand. Rand would not stop until he found her and Mickey. Her twin had protected her and Mickey and their youngest sister Rebecca since the day Rebecca was born and their mother died. Her brother was more dangerous than anyone Mal had ever met. He’d been the one to teach her martial arts when she was twenty-one and healing.

  She’d been attacked and assaulted in the parking garage of Taniss Industries when she was twenty-one. Attacked and left for dead. If her sister and cousin Josey hadn’t found her, she would have bled to death in the parking space beside her Uncle Jason’s car. She’d recognized the sedan and pulled herself to it, knowing her uncle would find and help her.

  She’d vowed never to be a victim again.

  This monster carrying her would not hurt her that way. She’d kill him first.

  He carried her to the most elaborate pair of doors she’d seen so far. “This is our suite. Best in the wing, of course.”

  “Bully for you. Let me go.”

  “Nope. Not going to happen.” He sat her on her feet and opened the doors for her with a flourish. “Welcome home, kitten. This is where you’ll be spending the rest of your life.”

  “How many days will that be? One, two? Five? My brother and my uncle will be coming for us. They won’t stop, and they will rip you apart just for looking at my sister and me.” Mal pulled against the bonds. He’d wrapped a rope around her arms and legs, trussing her up like a damned turkey. She was half afraid she was loosing circulation in her extremities.

  “I’d like to see them try. You are mine, now. For always. Better get used to the idea of it.”

  “I won’t sleep with you.” Mal forced herself to look at him directly. “I won’t. You might as well kill me now if that’s what you want.”

  “Oh, I want it. But it will be your choice when we do.” He pulled a knife free from the pocket of his shirt. His tunic; she’d not noticed what he’d worn before. It looked like a set of black hospital scrubs, with differences. The clothing looked odd, some sort of tunic and trousers. Tanzanian, maybe? Would that explain his strange accent? He brought the knife closer and her breath backed up in her throat. Would he cut her? Like that bastard in the parking garage that day?

  It had taken three rounds of plastic surgery to remove the scars.

  A whimper escaped but she barely heard or felt it. All she could focus on was the large man coming toward her with a knife in his hand and intent on his face. “Please...”

  ***

  Her fear hit him like a fist to the face. “Dammit, woman! I am not going to hurt you! Just cut you loose.”

  He made quick work of removing the bindings, berating himself as he did so. Why had he felt the need to bind her so tightly? To terrify her out of her wits? The instant the binding fell she erupted, aimin
g straight for his throat, his stomach, then his groin. She was quick and determined.

  Theo’s words ran through his head while he attempted to subdue his female. He gentled his hold.

  That was a mistake. Her head rammed into his nose, and her knee hit him square on. He bent over as the pain threatened to block out every other rational thought.

  He grabbed her just as she reached the door to the suite. It was a struggle, but he did it. He wrapped his arms around her, intending to keep her from hurting herself or him. Her struggles pulled them both off balance and he felt them fall. He turned at the last moment, shoving her toward the couch, instead of the marble floor.

  He landed on top of her, his weight crushing her down into the soft turquoise cushions.

  Her scream chilled him and he pulled back to look at his Rajni’s face.

  Her eyes were wide, absolute terror unfocusing her gaze. Her lips moved, a litany he had to lean closer to hear. “Not again. Not again...” Not again?

  Aodhan reared his head back and let out a roar of pain when the true meaning of Theo’s words became clear. Your female has suffered so much in a way no woman ever should. Her soul still has the scars...

  She screamed. He jerked back, cursing himself aloud for frightening her, yet again. She curled up in a fetal position, trying to protect herself. From him. His Rajni was more than just frightened of him, she was terrified. She believed he would...