Free In the Beginning... by Calle J. Brookes Page A

status shortly.”
    “My status as what ? Your
hostage?”
    “You are not a hostage. You are my mate. I
know you do not understand—”
    “You’ve got that right. Why me? And what is
that man doing to my sister? Is he hurting her?”
    “He will never hurt her, though he appears a
rough man. Aodhan is a warrior. He will protect your sister until
the day he dies. Just as I shall do with you.”
    “Despite what we want?”
    “In time, you will want me. As much as I
want you.”
    “Stockholm. I’m not some Patty Hurst. And my
family will be coming for us. Throw you in jail for this. Your
friend, and all who saw what you’ve done and have done nothing to
stop it.”
    “They may come, but there is no law to
protect them here.”
    “Sure there is. Even cities are required to
follow state and federal laws. Kidnapping is against the law—even
in Colorado. C.R.S. 18-3-301 states that using force to move
someone against their will is a first degree kidnapping case.
You're looking at life in prison minimum.”
    “So you know the law then?” Once again proof
that the Goddess knew what she was doing when she gave this girl to
him. “You can learn the laws of our people, and assist me in
overseeing the judicial council.”
    “Our people? Tell me what separates ‘our’
people from normal human beings?”
    “That’s just it, my little love. I’m not a
human being. And come morning, neither will you be.” Would it be
best to just do it? To start the conversion process while keeping
her in the dark of what it would entail? Would that frighten her
less?
    It would not lessen the pain, and he felt
that scar his soul. But it would keep her alive. Didst not the ends
justify the means, in such a case?
    If such an act was committed and brought
before his council judicially,
    Theo was uncertain how he—the head of the
Judicial Council for the Dardanos tribe—would rule. After 643 years
on the Earth, there were still some situations where right and
wrong remained blurred.
    “You really are crazy! I want to go home,
please!”
    Theo could so easily hear the fear in her
voice. How was he to make her fear him less? Especially considering
what he was about to do to her?
    Yes. It would be best, he supposed, to just
get it over with for her. He would start the process. He closed his
useless eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath. Whispered the
short word to put her back into a frozen state.
    It would hurt her slightly less if she did
not fight him.

    ***

    She could not move again. How was he doing
that to her? It had to be a drug of some sort, something applied
directly to the skin. Maybe when he’d touched her arm?
    He felt around her, his hands hot on her back
through her shirt. His hands found her waist and he lifted her
again. He was such a strong man.
    He wrapped his hands around her and pulled
her into his chest. She wanted to fight him but could not. That was
the worst part, not being able to fight. Not being able to protect
herself. She knew some basic self-defense, Mal had insisted she
learn. But it was useless.
    She was surrounded by him, his scent, his
heat, his body. His hands were in her hair, moving the strands off
her neck. He brushed her nape once, twice. Then again.
    “This will hurt. I wish it wouldn’t. But it
is necessary, you see.”
    Her trembling, the only movement she was
capable of making while under his strange spell, increased. She
wanted to question, to fight. To move away. She couldn’t do any of
those things.
    His lips brushed against her neck. Mickey
closed her eyes, surprised even that small movement was
possible.
    Blinding pain burned through
her neck. Mickey wanted to scream, but couldn’t. He was sucking at
her neck, pulling her blood from her body. Drinking it! Oh, God, he really
thought he wasn’t human!
    She couldn’t push him away, though she tried
with every fiber of her being to get her muscles to cooperate. All
she did was exhaust herself.
    How much time had passed
with him