A Forbidden Taking (18 page)

“Megan, if you keep that up we’re
never leaving this room. The master…
merde
, you smell delicious.”

His hands tightened around her
waist and he kissed her head. Need coiled inside of her so tightly that she
thought she might break from it. Licking the pulse that pounded there, she felt
him shiver and marveled that something so simple could make him do that. When
she nipped at his earlobe she found herself pressing closer to him. Then she
stiffened and pulled back.

He stiffened and she knew that
whatever it was that reached in her lust-filled mind he was feeling it too. Listening
intently she searched for and found what had alerted her. Megan turned to Beau
and smiled. “Sara is in labor. She is abusing her mate and telling him to call
for me. He sounds like he is going to hurt someone. Should we go up?” She
didn’t wait for him to answer, but moved toward the door and then the stairs. She
knew Beau was behind her as she could smell him. Things were starting to click
into place; her mind a jumble of misinformation before, felt ordered and ready.
It took her a few seconds only to realize that she knew how to shift, that her
animal was a wolf. She also knew how to put someone into a compulsory state, to
have them do just what she wanted them to do, needed them to do. Feeling
confident for the first time in almost two years, Megan knocked on the bedroom
door and stepped inside, Beau right behind her.

“About fucking time. I’ve been
calling you for over an hour. Where the hell have you been?”

Megan grinned at Sara. The usual
posh and polished woman sat on the edge of the bed covered in sweat and her
hair looked like a rat had taken up residence. She had a blanket across her
legs, but Megan could tell that she didn’t have any pants on. Aaron looked
terrified.

“Playing with my own mate. You’re
in labor and having fun too, aren’t you? Well, let me see what you’ve been up
to.” Aaron looked so grateful that Megan almost missed what Sara was saying.

“It never hurt at all before. Pete
took it all away. I don’t suppose you could do that, could you?”

“Nope. And even if I could, I’m
not so sure I would. I think you might owe me. You’ve been butting into my life
for a few days now.” Megan helped Sara lay back. “When is the little guy
actually due?”

“Last week. Just like his father,”
Sara threw a dismissive hand toward Aaron as she spoke. “He was being stubborn.
I’m beginning to think all men are like that. Christ, I hurt.”

Megan watched as Aaron paled more.
She thought if he kept that up he’d be white as the sheets under his mate in no
time. Taking pity on him she told the guys to step out while she examined Sara.
Waiting through a contraction Megan knew it wasn’t going to be much longer.

“Do you want Dingdong in here or
not? We are about twenty minutes from lift off.”

Sara glared, Megan grinned bigger.
“You have to be more smart-alecky than Pete. She told me to brace myself, that
she was going in. I had visions of her swooping inside of me and delivering my
babies.” After a few seconds of thought Sara shook her head. “I suppose she
did. Is the baby all right?”

“Yeah. Ready to meet you, I guess.
Don’t know why. He’s probably safer where he is. Not such a nice world out
here.”

Megan hadn’t meant to say that. Her
life was her own, but before Sara could comment another contraction ripped
though the woman. Her scream for Aaron had him in the room and beside her in
heartbeats.

It didn’t take much time at all.
Sara had told Megan between contractions that she’d been in labor since around
noon, but had waited until dusk to tell anyone. “Not that anyone could do a
whole hell of a lot anyway.”

Baby boy MacManus, born at
nine-seventeen that evening, weighed in at seven pounds and seven ounces; he
was eighteen inches long. Once his bottom had a firm slap put to it Megan
handed him off to his mother. While both parents held their child Megan
finished up with the birth. By ten o’clock the bedroom was filled with people,
mostly more vampires and other magical beings. Megan was slipping out the door
when Aaron stopped her.

“You did a good job tonight, kid. Thanks.
I owe you.”

Embarrassed, Megan turned to the
door and looked into the hall. “Yeah, I’ll send you my bill. Listen, hum, do
you think…I…well, I know this is a crappy time, but I need to tell you
something. Something about what I’ve learned.”

She felt rather than heard Beau
come up behind her. She leaned into his strength when he slipped his arm around
her waist. It was too calming to be here like this, but before she could pull
away he pulled her into his body again.

“Of course.” Aaron looked at his
mate then back at Megan. “Now would be fine. Sara will be fine for a little
while. Let’s go to my office.”

Megan wasn’t aware that Beau had
planned to be there until the lock set home on the door and he was inside with
them. She looked at Aaron, but he was too busy sitting down…making a production
of sitting she should have thought.

“He doesn’t need to be here. If
you think I’ll jump your bones, you can—” She looked at Beau.

Aaron laughed. “He would try and
hurt me if I were to be in a room with his mate without him, master or not. I’m
sure you’re aware that we vampires can be slightly possessive about our women.”

Megan snorted. Like she cared. “He
can stay or not. I could care less. I like him, but right now, this doesn’t
concern him.”

“And he’s right here,” Beau said
with a low voice. “If you do not wish for me to blister your bottom again,
mon
amour
, then I would suggest that you get on with this meeting. We have
unfinished business you and I.” Then he whispered though her mind.
“I want
you naked beneath me, me buried deep inside of you.”

When Aaron cleared his throat
Megan turned to look at him. With narrowed eyes she swept his mind. He looked
startled for a second, but didn’t stop her from looking.

“You can’t hear us. I don’t
understand. Why?” She sat in the chair across from his desk and waited.

“The path between mates is very
private. The one between you and I is also private. It’s the blood bond we have
and the mate thing you and Beau have.”

Megan looked at him. “You took my
blood that first night. But you haven’t…it’s because I was blocked from you,
right?” Aaron nodded. When Megan laughed he merely glared harder. “That must
have burned your toast, huh? The Master Dingdong didn’t have any control over
something. I love it.”

“Did you bring me in here to
insult me or was there something important you had to say? And stop calling me
Dingdong. My name is Aaron, or Master, but the Dingdong reference must stop.”

Megan sobered. “I got…that pain
was from Michael. I don’t think he meant for me to have so much of him. He said
it was to help me get a head start. I have it all, I think. He gave me a
message too, about you. Michael said that you were to be trusted, that Mel
trusted you so he would. The beast is coming here and he will use whatever
means possible to get inside to get me.” Megan got up to pace. “The beast is
more than he had first thought he was. He’s more powerful than he’d first
imagined. He said that you should circle your wagons and call in the troops,
that you’re in for a showdown.”

“So he wishes for you to stay here
to fight him. Good, I have more men at my disposal that we could—”

“No. No one is to die for me.” She
put her hand up to stop both men from arguing with her. “He said that the
beast, who calls himself Creature, by the way, will go through your men like
paper. He said that only together, Beau and I can defeat him.”

~Chapter 21~

“Then why did you tell Aaron that
it didn’t concern me?” Beau was pissed and he didn’t care who knew it. “You
thought to do this on your own anyway. And just how the hell were you going to
keep me out of it, Megan? Hummm? Were you planning to sneak out of our bed to
take care of it and slip back in like nothing had happened?
Merde
, you make me want to beat you at times.
”

“You try that, buster, and I’ll
make you hurt for a month, if not longer. You can’t be hurt. It’s…it’s, I don’t
know why that’s so important to me that you aren’t hurt.” She was shouting, but
so was he.

When he realized that Aaron was
laughing he turned on him. “This is not funny,
mon
seigneur.
Elle est ma vie. Si quelque chose
devait lui arriver alors je
—” Aaron’s
raised his brow made Beau realize he was speaking French. “If anything were to
happen to her then I would not wish to live, that is what I said.”

“I
understood. I just don’t know why you’re telling me and not her.”Aaron sat in
his chair. “But that is between the two of you. Now, Megan, tell me what we
need to expect with the…Creature, did you call him?”

Megan
looked at him and Beau was humbled by what he saw there. She was hurt and
confused. When she turned away Beau felt as if some part of him had soured, a
part of him hurt because he had hurt her.

“Yes,
he speaks of himself in the third person, for whatever reason. He is supposed
to bring me back to a vampire.” Megan stood next to the fireplace. “He’s not
sure who the man is, just that he is very powerful and very mean. Michael said
that he cannot hope to win against him so long as Creature is in control.”

“The
vampire, as you know, is the one we met the other night. He is strong, though I
believe that most of his strength comes from his confidence that the two men
can defeat anything we put out there.” Aaron reached for something on his desk.
“His name is
Samuel Rome. I’ve gotten some intel on him and it appears
that he is approximately a thousand years old. He has a realm, though not large
by any standards. There is plenty of money in the coffers and a few homes. He
has just over a thousand subjects. According to the information Pete gathered
he isn’t well liked or respected.”

Beau frowned. “Then what could he
want Megan for? I mean a realm, money, subjects…Megan can’t be his mate. What
could she do for him?”

“Gee thanks. Your endorsement of
my charms is amazing.”

Beau flushed when he realized what
he’d implied. “I only meant that with your temperament he can’t think to keep
you in line. You’re not the most cooperative female I’ve run across.” Beau
looked over at Aaron who was having a coughing fit. “I do not understand. Am I
not saying this correctly?”

“No, you’re doing just fine if
you’re hoping to get yourself castrated,” Megan snarled at him. “My charms
notwithstanding, he doesn’t want me for that. He wants my magic. Michael said
that if he kills me himself all that I am goes to him. He plans to kill me to
absorb what I am.”

Aaron went to the door and opened
it. Mel was standing on the other side. Aaron continued as she walked in. “What
I don’t understand is how he knew you had this magic. You didn’t have it until
tonight.”

“She’s always had it. Michael’s
been holding it for her, hiding it if you will.” Mel sat down and a basket of
fruit appeared in front of her. “My mate. He thinks I need more fiber. I’m
going to fiber his ass when I get back to the castle. Anyway, your magic. According
to my father’s research you are a child of a female alpha wolf and a male
sorcerer, Donald. Your mother changed him when he was still working for Rome as
a chemist. When Rome realized what your mother brought to Donald as a mate he
decided to bide his time and see what developed when they had a pup. Cybil,
your mother, was also a healer and a mage in training. She protected you.”

“Wait. Are you saying that my
parents were fucking around with my DNA before I was born? For what, to make
some sort of super baby wolf?”

“No. They didn’t do anything other
than love each other.” Mel looked over at Aaron and, at his nod, continued.
“Your Uncle Michael was away most of the time. He was experimenting with things
that should have been left alone. When he discovered a serum that would prolong
life without magic he used it on himself. Then before he could figure out what
he’d done, he found out that his sister, your mother, was in trouble. He came
to her aid immediately. But things went from bad to worse when he got there.”

“And the end results? He used it
without fully testing it, right?” Megan was pacing again. “But I still don’t
know what this has to do with me. Why does he think I’m this all-powerful thing
that he needs to destroy?”

Mel looked at Beau then back at
Megan. “He gave the serum to you. Well, he didn’t give it to you, the beast
did. He thought it would be a grand thing to have you as his mate. He would
wait, you see, wait until you were old enough before he would claim you. The
beast, not Michael.”

Beau watched Megan as she absorbed
this. At first she continued to pace then slowly turned to Mel when she
stopped. When he started to stand to go to her Megan stopped him with a hand. Mel
continued her tale.

“Your mother tried to save you. When
she went up against the beast, he…he killed her. Michael burst through the
beast and tried to save her, but it was too late. The beast and Michael fought
for control and in doing so, you were injured too. Your father tried to save
you with his magic and he did a good job too. But the damage was done. You had
been marked, marked with a claw from the beast.”

Beau has seen the scar. It was a
long, jagged one that curved her right thigh. Megan rubbed it now and Beau was
surprised that he could feel the burn of her touch as she touched her own skin.
Mel looked at him when he glanced up.

“Michael gave you all that he was
that night. The pain Megan felt was from the passing of his DNA, all of it in your mind then to your blood. I don’t think he meant to give it all to you, but
I will never be sure. That’s what happened after Megan fed from you. The
information and the knowledge that made Michael, all of him was poured into
you.” Mel laid her hand on Beau’s head. “I can feel him in you, his thoughts,
his dreams. That is what called me to you, or so I thought until I came into
this house. It’s Megan. She is Michael and all that he was.”