Through the Veil

Read Through the Veil Online

Authors: Lacey Thorn

Through the Veil

Lacey Thorn

 

Reggie finds her mother wrapped up in a cult and barely
escapes with her chastity intact. Drugged and on the run, she is drawn by a
wondrous song through a veil of fog and into a whole new world.

Jamison and Taggart are devoted to the task before them,
finding and seducing the woman who is to be theirs. When they find Reggie
already submerged in the bridal pool, they can’t believe their luck.

The pool serves one purpose, to prepare a bride for her
mating by revving her sexual desire and need. Her body craves their touch,
their possession, and that’s just what they desire as well. Let the mating
begin!

 

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica
Publication

www.ellorascave.com

 

 

 

Through the Veil

 

ISBN 9781419931772

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Through the Veil Copyright © 2010 Lacey Thorn

 

Edited by Helen Woodall

Cover art by Dar Albert

 

Electronic book publication December 2010

 

The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of
Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

 

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not
be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written
permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home
Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

 

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
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distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without
the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including
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Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not
participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your
support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

 

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons,
living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The
characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Through the Veil

Lacey Thorn

Dedication

 

To all the people who dream of going through the veil…and
finding a different tomorrow…this one is for you. Keep dreaming.

 

 

 

Trademarks Acknowledgement

 

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark
owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Tinker Bell: Disney Enterprises, Inc.

 

Chapter One

 

What the fuck had her mom gotten her into?
That was
all Reggie could think as she ran deeper into the woods of the national park.
She’d been worried when her mom’s letter had arrived, begging her to come,
saying it was important. Her mother’s phone was disconnected and a new address
was listed. So being the daughter she was, Reggie had dropped everything and
left.

For the longest time it had been just the two of them and
Reggie still suffered from guilt issues at having left home a year ago at
twenty. But she had finally made herself believe that she deserved a life of
her own. So she’d packed up and moved for all the good it had done her. She was
just like her mother. She worked from home as a medical transcriptionist and
did most of her shopping by mail. She’d barely gone out in the year she’d been
on her own and had no friends.

So there was no one to miss her now.
She should have
run when she pulled up to a gate guarded by two men with guns. Especially when
they recognized her on sight and greeted her by name. But they’d told her that
her mother would be so excited that she was finally here, they had laughed and
smiled and tricked the hell out of her. She had left the car with her bags at
the gate, and taking only her purse, had followed one of the men to find her
mother.

Her mom had looked gorgeous. She had positively glowed,
looking years younger. She’d been wearing a formfitting dress that seemed to be
the style for every woman who Reggie saw. Her mom wasn’t sick, wasn’t in
trouble, actually seemed better than she’d ever been. When they’d finally found
a private place to sit and talk, Reggie had felt the hairs on the back of her
neck rise. From everything her mother was saying there was no doubt that this
was some kind of cult.

Her mother had asked Reggie to freshen up, offered her one
of the dresses that Reggie had politely refused, preferring to keep her jeans,
t-shirt and running shoes. Then they had gone back to where the others were so
that Reggie could meet some of her mother’s new friends. And with each new
woman Reggie had felt her anxiety increase. The women were content to be
subservient and Reggie didn’t think it was just the cooking, cleaning and
child-rearing that they were expected to do.

Reggie had been taking everything in when a sudden silence
fell over everyone and she watched as they all had bowed their heads. Glancing
around, her gaze landed on a man dressed in loose-fitting, white linen-style
pants and an unbuttoned white shirt. His eyes took her in from head to toe and
when he met her gaze he didn’t seem too happy but quickly tried to hide his
displeasure.

“Daffy, you did not offer your lovely daughter the time to
freshen up before leading her to meet everyone?” He phrased it as if it were a
question but Reggie could hear the reprimand in his voice.

“Mom offered,” Reggie said. “But I preferred to stay as I am
since I’ll be heading to the hotel soon.” She hadn’t planned any such thing but
it seemed important to keep that information to herself. Something just didn’t
feel right here.

“But of course you will stay here with your mother,” he
said. “Isn’t that so, Daffy?”

“Yes, yes.” Her mother grabbed her hand and squeezed.
“Regina, you must stay here with us, with me.” The tone of her mother’s voice made
her even more uneasy.

“Well, it is settled then,” the man said. “I will see you
later at the evening meal.”

Reggie had feigned fatigue and her mother had taken her back
to where she slept. It was in a big building that reminded Reggie of a
dormitory. There was one big communal bathroom that everyone used. Her mother
explained that a lot of the women shared a room but her mom had one to herself
so that Reggie could stay with her as long as she wanted.

“Mom, why don’t we go out for dinner?” Reggie asked. “Just
the two of us, like old times.”

“Oh, we can’t do that,” Daphne said, shaking her head
frantically back and forth.

“Why can’t we do that?” Reggie asked. “Aren’t you allowed to
leave, Mom?”

“Dinner is a big event, Regina,” her mom said. “We’ll be
dining with Brother Michael tonight. That is a big honor and not to be denied.”

“I didn’t come here for him, Mom,” Reggie shook her head. “I
came to see you, to make sure you were okay. I was afraid that something was
wrong, that you were sick.”

“Oh, Regina,” her mom gushed. “I’ve never been so happy. My
life is so perfect here. Brother Michael takes care of all of us. I’ve only a
few specific duties to see to and everything else is taken care of for me.”

“What do you do, Mom?” Reggie asked.

“I take care of helping with the morning meal,” her mother
said excitedly. “It is the most important one of the day. Then I go with two
other women and clean the worship center. When we are done there it is time to
help with the lunch preparations so that some of the younger women can take the
refreshments out to the men. Then I have the afternoon to read or sew before
starting on the evening meal.”

Her mom loved to read, sew and cook. She had been meant to
be a housewife, which was what she had been before her husband, Reggie’s dad,
left them. Her mom had never really seemed to recover. But looking at her now
was like going back in time to the younger, more vibrant woman her mother had
once been.

“That sounds wonderful,” Reggie said. “But if you are so
happy then why the letter to me?”

Her mom looked away, refusing to meet Reggie’s eyes and a
chill went down her spine. She definitely felt like something wasn’t right now.

“I just wanted to see you, Regina,” her mom insisted, still
looking anywhere but at Reggie.

“Mom, you haven’t called me Regina since I was six,” Reggie
said. “Why are you calling me it now?”

“Brother Michael says that Regina is a beautiful and fitting
name,” Daphne said.

“And yet he calls you Daffy?” Reggie asked with a laugh.
Daffy made her think of the cartoon duck.

“Brother Michael said the name fits me perfectly,” her mom
said with a smile and a dreamy look.

“Mom, you’re not sleeping with this guy, are you?” Reggie
asked and her mom finally met her gaze, an appalled look in her eyes.

“Of course not,” her mom gasped. “Don’t speak of such things
out loud, Regina. I am not worthy of one such as Brother Michael.”

That didn’t make Reggie feel any better. The women here were
all subservient in manner and it hadn’t escaped Reggie’s notice that when her
mom had offered her a dress to wear she’d been told to just throw “all” her
clothes in a pile in the corner of the room. The longer Reggie was here the
more creeped out she got.

“Here,” her mother said, handing her a glass of what looked
like tea. “You look hot and tired, Regina. Drink this. I just love the tea
here. It is perfectly brewed.”

Reggie took a sip and it was perfect. Not too sweet and no
trace of the bitterness that sometimes came with tea. She really was thirsty so
she drank it all down.

“Mom, I’m glad that you are happy,” Reggie said and she
meant it. Perhaps this was the life that her mother needed. She would have to
stop at the police station in town and find out what she could about this
group. And then she would work on getting her mother out of here. Maybe she
would have to get word to her mother that she was sick or something. That
thought made her feel guilty. Her mother was a grown woman and Reggie had never
seen her look happier.

“I am happy,” her mom gushed. “The only thing that could
make me happier is if you were to join me here.”

Reggie shook her head. “I can’t, Mom. I have a job, friends,
and they’ll be expecting me to check in soon.”

“No, you don’t,” her mom said with a laugh. “Brother Michael
checked. You work from home and have no visitors.”

Reggie blinked. She was getting really tired and was
fighting to keep her eyes open. “How would Brother Michael know that?”

“He checked on you,” her mom said. “When he saw your picture
he told me that you were the one whom he’d been waiting for.”

“Waiting for?” Reggie asked. That didn’t sound good to her.

“You’re the one,” her mother stated with awe. “You’ll be the
one to give birth to Brother Michael’s son.”

Reggie was shaking her head now in denial as well as an
attempt to clear her vision. “I’m not having his child,” she vowed.

“You will, Regina,” her mother told her. “It is God’s will.”

Two things clicked in Reggie’s mind at once. First was that
her mother was lost to her. They had never been that close, probably because
Reggie had always felt like more the parent than the child. She would never be
able to persuade her mother to leave here. The second thing was that her mother
had drugged her drink, or at the very least given her a drink that was drugged.

“Mom, what have you done?” Reggie asked, fighting to stay
awake with all she had.

“It’s for your own good,” her mother stated and she looked
angry. “You have been chosen and you plan to walk away as if this is not a
great honor. Brother Michael is willing to accept you as his bride and gift you
with being his son’s mother. There are many women here who would give anything
for that honor.”

“They can have it,” Reggie groaned. “If there are so many
willing then why me?”

“I told you,” her mother shook her head. “You are the one
who was chosen.” Her mom pushed her back on the bed she’d been sitting on so
that she lay on her back. “Don’t fight it, Regina. Relax and sleep. I’ll have
you bathed and changed when you awake. And soon you’ll be with Brother Michael,
his first wife. And I will hold the honor of being the mother of the first
wife.”

First wife? What the hell? Her mom’s eyes glowed now with a
sort of zealous light that sent more chills through Reggie. This was not the
woman she’d grown up with, not the cowering figure who just wanted to stay home
and in her own world. This woman would go to any lengths, it seemed, to get
what she wanted, even drugging and sacrificing her only child.

“Mom, please,” Reggie begged as she felt the effects of the
drug sucking her under.

“Just sleep, Regina,” her mother said and her smile was
anything but reassuring. “Everything will be ready when you wake up.”

That was what she was terrified of.

* * * * *

Reggie awoke with a pounding headache. She had to blink
several times before she could focus on the room around her. It wasn’t her
mother’s. She was in a much bigger, plusher room now. She lay on a huge bed and
she was wearing a white dress similar in style to what her mother had been
wearing, only Reggie’s was made entirely of lace. You could see the dark rings
of her areolas through the dress as well as her nipples, which were tingling.

When she looked down she saw that her pubic hair had been
completely removed, which disturbed her. Who had shaved her? Her mother? And
what the hell was she wearing? She stood up and wanted to laugh. Her dress
covered her from neck to ankle and yet revealed everything.

“Ahhh, I’m glad to see that you finally woke up, my love,” a
voice she recognized said from behind her. Brother Michael. She didn’t dare
turn around. “I was afraid you might sleep right through our wedding night.”

That got her turning around. “Wedding night?” she said and
her voice actually squeaked. “I don’t remember a wedding, saying ‘I do’ or
anything like that.”

His gaze was all over her, taking in her breasts and sex and
making her feel dirty. The lust in his eyes was more than apparent when he
finally met her eyes. “There is no need for either of us to say words when our
joining was decreed by God.”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure about that,” Reggie said, edging away
from the bed behind her and still trying to keep her distance from him. “I’m
not sure that I’m really the one who was chosen.”

Brother Michael smiled and it was a scary thing to see. “You
were chosen, Regina. And we are already bonded. The ceremony was performed
while you slept, my love. Our priest checked and vouched for your purity and
your mother and her ladies prepared you for our wedding night.”

Reggie was devastated. A priest had vouched for her purity?
That could only mean that he had checked for her virginal status, which meant
that he had touched her, while she was unaware. What kind of man of God was
that?

“Then I’m sure he told you that I don’t have a hymen,” she
said. She knew that it was on the outside of the vagina no matter what some
romance stories said, and she knew that she didn’t have one. She’d used toys,
even though she’d never been with a man.

“He assured me that you have not lain with a man,” Brother
Michael said. “It pleases me that I will be your only. And you will hold the
title of first wife and be the mother of my heir.”

“First wife?” Reggie said. “How many do you plan to take?”

“A man may have as many wives as he desires,” Brother
Michael said. “You will not concern yourself with what I chose. Your only job
now is to take care of my needs, to see that I am happy and well.”

He walked toward her and she found herself trapped between
him and the wall. He leaned into her, letting her feel the ridge of his hard
cock against her abdomen. “I am well pleased with you, Regina,” he said while
he ran his hands over her body, stopping to fondle her breasts and pinch at the
nipples.

She recoiled against the wall, wanting to disappear inside
it. Her hands were flattened against it, somehow knowing that it wouldn’t fare
well for her if she gave in to the desire to claw his eyes out. She turned her
head when he leaned in and she gagged at the feel of his lips on her neck,
sucking and licking at her flesh. She had to get out of here. She could not let
this happen.

“Brother Michael,” she whispered. “Please, I need to use the
facilities,” she begged.

His tongue was licking at her skin, his hands pinching any
part of her he could reach and he was rubbing, almost grinding, his cock hard
against her. If he didn’t let her go soon she would most likely throw up all
over him.

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