Allister, J. Rose - Discarded Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (17 page)

He caught hold of her arm before she could duck inside the truck cab. “Are you well, Tal? Truly?”

She nodded, unprepared when he pulled her against him in a tight embrace. He smelled of campfire and strongly of male sweat. He hadn’t bathed in at least one day, possibly more. “The entire clan has been searching and praying in shifts. We’ve all been frantic, none more so than your father and me.
It means more than you know that I am the one to find you.
”

She felt him nuzzling her hair and heard him inhale deeply. This was more than the actions of a man who was grateful for the return of his clan member. Perhaps
Nadya
had been right about Vanje’s interest in her, after all. She stiffened, and her reaction seemed to make him remember himself.
When he pulled back,
his already dark brown eyes had gone even darker.

“I’m glad you are safe,” he said in a thick voice. “I should call the camp and take you to Zakono.”

Few among her clan owned cellular phones, but those who had gone out looking borrowed
from others
so they could call in progress to those waiting in the camp. Vanje dialed as they drove and gave the news in excited Romani.

“They are
re
calling the other
s
,” he said after he hung up. “There is much rejoicing that you are unharmed.” Even as he said the words, however, she saw him slide a sidelong glance at her shoulder. She resisted the urge to tug the elastic up and cover the marks.

The air inside the truck grew heavy with questions she could tell were hovering around him, questions she realized she didn’t want to answer
.

Evening was barely cresting the top of the mountain when they turned into the campground where many anxious faces waite
d. Nadya
raced up and grabbed her tightly, not unlike Vanje had done by the roadside. “
Devlesa araklam tume
, Talaitha. Thank the heavens. We thought you were lost.”

She smiled at the woman and glanced around, not seeing one expected face. “Is my father here?”

“He was out leading the main search party when the call came in,” said Kovack, one of the older men. “They are on the way back.”

The words were barely out when a commotion sounded from the other side of the camp. “Where is she?” She knew it was her father before she saw him, and the moment she heard him, she pulled her still-damp braid over the front of her shoulder, hiding the mark.

“Talaitha!” Her father
’
s rapid stride broadened into a near run when he caught sight of her. “Thank the heavens, child. Are you well?”

“I’m fine, Papa.”

He reached out, but when she lifted her hand toward him, he bypassed her and took hold of Vanje’s instead. “You have my eternal thanks for finding her. You are a hero twice over since we have arrived.”

“Hardly a hero. I was more a victim in our first encounter. And Talaitha found me, more or less. She was right along the roadside.”

“No matter. You are a hero to our people still.” Her father gave his ha
n
d a firm shake
,
then released it and shifted his gaze to her. “How did you make your escape? Where were you taken? We will go there immediately and end these foul creatures for daring to threaten you.”

She shook her head. “
T
hey weren
’
t holding me prisoner. I left of my own accord. And they never harmed me.”

“That’s not true,” Vanje said, hands on his hips. “She has been injured. I saw the marks myself.”

Her father
’
s eyes narrowed. “Marks? What sort of marks?”

“It’s nothing,” she said, taking an unconscious step back.

He strode forward, and despite the fact that Vanje had not yet answered,
her father
pulled her hair aside and glared straight at her shoulder. Several gasps sounded from the group.

“It doesn’t hurt,” she said. “It was
…
an accident.”

“She has been bitten!” Kovack said. “She is a night monster now.”

“
W
e have no choice but to destroy her.” The speaker was Marko, who had come up behind Vanje and looked more smug than distraught at the suggestion. She swallowed at the hard stares fastened on her from every direction.

“No,” her father said. “She was not bitten. She was marked.”

“Marked?
”
Vanje asked, clearly puzzled. “What does that mean?”

Her father’s silence was almost more disturbing than his response when it finally came. “She is worse than a creature of night. She is their whore.”

His hand came up, and he struck her hard on the cheek. As her head snapped around with a gasp, she covered her hot, stinging flesh with a hand and flashed on a fleeting memory of the night Yoska had hit her. That strike had been because she’d refused to give herself to a man. This one was because she finally had.

Vanje scowled. “What are you talking about? It’s obvious these creatures attacked her, just as they did me.”

“It is nothing like they did to you at all,” Zakono said, spitting the words in Talaitha
’
s direction. “
Yours was the sacrifice of a hero.
She has given her
body fully and willingly
to those foul animals.”

Every eye around her was bugged wide, save her father’s
. His were
narrowed into slits. “How could you do it?
” he went on. “
You went before the kris rather than submit to your rightful husband. Now you throw yourself away on a pair of murderous dogs?”
His face had gone red, and he raised his hand to strike her again.

She recoiled, but Vanje stepped in front of her father. “Don’t.
So sit ando shoro?
” he asked, aghast. “She is your daughter.”

“And I am
Rom barò
,” Zakono bellowed. “Your leader
.
Do not presume to tell me how to handle a traitor to our clan.”

Vanje turned to her. “Tell him it isn’t true. Tell him he’s made a horrible mistake. I know you. You would never do the things he is saying.”

She swallowed and glanced at him, and she knew he could see the truth in her eyes. There was nothing more she could say.

A visible shudder went through him, and he shut his eyes for a moment. “It can’t be. You wouldn’t have escaped them. You wouldn’t have flagged me down and come back with me.” Each word grew louder and more insistent.

“I had to come back,” she said, facing her father. “It was not by my choice that I was taken from here
, that’s true
. I know you all were worried and that you would search for me. I had to return and let you know I was all right. But I also have to let you know I have discovered my life path, and it is no longer as part of this clan. I am destined to be with them. I always have been.”

Startled whispers were exchanged. Vanje stared at her as though she had fallen from outer space. Marko curled his lip in disgust.

“No,” her father said. “You are
not
destined to be with those evil creatures. Not you. Not after all I have been through because of their kind.”

“I’m sorry, Papa. I never meant for this to happen.”

“And so it shan’t.” He moved closer to her. “I have heard that if a were-dog’s mate experiences powerful enough feelings, the
other mate
can sense it. It would be most unfortunate if you failed to suppress your emotions right now. I would have your sorely misguided
rikonos
killed immediately if they were to try and come to your aid.”

She gazed at him quizzically
but never had a chance to ask. He nodded to Marko, who had come up behind Vanje. “Take her.”

Marko was on her in a flash, and one of the others joined in when she began bucking and jerking to try and pull out of his strong grasp. “What are you doing? Take your hands off me at once.”

“Keep yourself calm, child,” Zakono said, “or your lovers’ heads are as good as severed.”

“What will you do with her?” Vanje
asked
, echoing her thoughts.

“I will not be father to a
ming bedako
who consorts with devil dogs.”

Troublesome cunt? Her mouth fell open at such public vulgarity. Never had her father spoken such, especially not about his own family.

“This is for her own good, Vanje. Do not interfere.”

“Where do you want her?” Marko’s voice sounded almost eager.

“Put her in the cage.” Her father’s expression made him almost unrecognizable. Not to mention his actions. “Then pack up. We leave immediately.”

Chapter Eight

“I’m here, Talaitha. I’ve come for you.”

Drew’s voice prompted a smile on Talaitha’s sleeping face. She knew
full
well it was only a dream, one of many she had happily succumbed to in the days since her clan had fled from the mountain. In sleep she found happy, if not imaginary, times in her mates’ arms. Her favorite dream was the one where
they would find her,
despite the hundreds of miles that had passed beneath the caravan’s wheels
,
and make love to her while she was still trapped inside the cage.

Yes, sleep was far preferable
these days
.
There,
she found happy smiles and searing touches.
When she awakened, her constant companions were
ripples of rage and anguish from the distant wolves
, not to mention
her own anger, betrayal and desperation.

“Come on, darlin’,” came the soothing voice again.

A warm hand grasped her shoulder, and her skin tingled beneath his touch. She
reached up to pull
the hand down to her waiting breasts, arching her back with a moan as the nipple peaked. Heat and need pooled low in her pelvis.

“Jesus, woman.” His voice was a tense, yet sultry whisper. “Here I’m tryin’ to keep my thoughts off how hot you look in that cage while I’m savin’ you, and you start writhin’ around like you want me to fuck you right now.”

“I do,” she said, her voice strangely real and loud in her ears. “That’s all I’ve wanted ever since I left. You and Russell inside me again. And again.”

“Happy to see you
,
too, but can I at least get you out of there first? Tal, honey, open your eyes. We don’t have much time.”

The voice penetrated the thick fog in her head, but she shook it. “I don’t want to. The dream will end, and you’ll be gone.”

“
It’s no dream.
I’m here, darlin
’
.
She’li’.
”
I swear.