Talson Temptations 4: Talson's Match (12 page)

Why are you doing this?

The brothers exchanged a glance and more communication Romy
couldn’t read.
Then Min said,
Remember this favor when it’s all over
.

Ah, that he understood. Romy gave him a mental nod, one Min
shared with Daket. The Yal brothers seemed
to relax. Then the dirty cops
and the Yals marched Sean, Romy and Tara into the enemy’s stronghold.

Chapter Eight

“Tara Drake, what a pleasant surprise,” Trotter drawled, his
eyes hard as he stared at them. “Apparently you’re hard up for a good cock,
hmm? Drowe wasn’t enough? An Otra
and
a cop?”

Tara couldn’t care less what he thought, but she felt the
anticipation in Romy.

Her
iriu
played into it. “Fuck you, Trotter,” he
snarled and stepped between her and Trotter. The Yals did nothing to dissuade
him and closed in on Tara, caging her protectively between them, when one of
them said,
We’re going to protect you, Tara. Don’t worry. We’ll get your
idiot
iriu
out of this if he’ll shut the hell up.

Oddly enough, Min Yal made her feel better. She’d seen him
and his brother many times, but she’d never caught a bad vibe from the pair.
Even now she felt safer with him and Daket than any of the others.

The police circled Romy and aimed a pair of pistols at his
head.

Trotter walked up into his face and backhanded him hard
enough that Tara cringed for him. Jesus, that had to hurt. “One more word out
of you, Drowe, and it’ll be the last one you ever utter.”

Romy, shut up
, she mentally screamed. Adrenaline and
fear pumped through her. Though confident in her skills, she’d never before
healed anyone with a bullet to the brain.

Romy glared but remained silent, and Tara couldn’t help a sigh
of relief. Unfortunately, that brought Trotter’s attention again. He stepped
close and yanked her away from the Yals.

Sean cleared his throat. “Jonah Trotter? I’m sure you’re
aware one of your boys was just busted downtown this morning. It’s only a matter
of time before the rest of the force arrives.”

“Good point.” Trotter smiled, his teeth too white, too even
and too straight. Tara had an unsettling urge to break his jaw and watch those
teeth fall to the floor in a bloody mess. Startled, she realized she’d picked
up on Romy’s thoughts. Despite her fear of the situation, she couldn’t help a
sense of pride that nothing seemed to cow her
iriu
. Not being
outnumbered by the enemy or matching wits with a murderer.

“So tell me, Officer Lindor,” Trotter began. “What interest
is any of this to you? I know you and Killer Drake are friends, but I hadn’t
realized you knew his sister.”

Sean paused, and Tara felt Romy’s
psychei
reach out
to him, telling him what to say. “No, I just met her today.” Sean nodded at
Romy. “I’ve known Romy Talson for years, though.”

The room grew still. Trotter swung large eyes toward Romy.
“Talson, you say?” He grew ominously quiet. He let go of Tara, who moved back
between the Yals. Then Trotter attacked Romy.

He swung a hard right then a left into Romy’s midsection.
The violence made her want to retch.

Romy sank to his knees without a sound, but Tara could feel
his pain and instinctively reached out with her power.

No,
veyou
. Save your energy. Let me distract
Trotter. We need to get rid of these cops, too. Daket and Min won’t hurt you,
but I’m not sure how much they’ll help either. Just keep your mind open to the
link between us. Remember how I became two people last night? Like we talked
about. That’s what you should—

Their connection ceased when Trotter knocked him unconscious
with a kick to the face. Blood burst from Romy’s nose, and his head struck the
ground hard. As Tara watched in horror, blood pooled around his skull.

“Shit, boss.” Min held her arm tight.
Say nothing, Tara.
Not a word.
He shook his head. “Killing a Talson is only going to infuriate
his family. I’ve heard stories about his dad, Rhenec, and they weren’t pretty.”

“Rhenec Talson is an imbecile. He does what he’s told. I’ve
met his older sons, Zaret and Valis. They’re the important ’Or Fal when it
comes to business. His youngest I never cared to meet. But from what little I’d
heard about
Romec
, he’s a nothing and no one and never will be.” Trotter
snorted and kicked him again. “I’m not impressed.”

Tara felt her
iriu’s
life pulsing though his energy,
and it was spotty. She had an almost irrepressible urge to heal him, despite
knowing it would do little good if Trotter just beat him up again. She let a
touch of her energy seep into his
psychei
, healing the worst of his
injuries. No longer on death’s door, Romy still had a ways to go before he’d be
a hundred percent. If she could just get rid of their audience, get Trotter to
herself… She didn’t want to be a hero. She had her baby to protect. But to save
Romy, she’d do anything.

“Look, Jonah,” she said in a soft voice. “This is between
you and me. Get rid of the rest of them and we can talk.”

Trotter’s eyes flashed to silver, but from rage or passion?
She could literally see the fury of insanity sparking about his energy like an
insidious swarm of evil.

Sean stepped in. “I want to see Manuel Drake, now.”

Tara feigned surprise. “Mannie? He’s here?”

Trotter smiled, Romy apparently forgotten.
Thank God.

“Killer decided on a short visit. I tell you what, Tara.
Behave nicely, and I’ll let you see him. We’ll bring along Officer Lindor as
well. Min, Daket, come with me. The rest of you guard
Talson
,” he
sneered.

He held out his hand and waited for Tara to take it. She
did, and he squeezed her hand hard. She couldn’t help wincing.

Trotter’s breath quickened. “Do you like that? A little bite
of pain makes it sweeter, doesn’t it?” he asked, licking his lips. Out of the
corner of her eye, she saw Min and Daket exchange a look.

They stopped Sean when he tried to interfere.

“You’re squeezing too hard,” she whispered. The ache in her
hand was nothing next to what Romy suffered though. She took another subtle
look at her
iriu
lying so still on the ground.
Screw it.
She
wouldn’t feel right leaving him less than able to stand on his own two feet. She
sent him a jolt of healing, along with a warning to remain pliant upon the
ground.

She felt him slowly regain consciousness, as well as the
full function of his body, and took a deep breath. Trotter mistook her
inhalation for excitement. As if she would ever get off on being beaten and
abused. He murmured depravities as he dragged her through the compound with
Sean and the Yals in his wake.

They walked through a maze of buildings. Tara caught
glimpses of several Otras and rough-looking men moving crates and boxes into
large shipping containers.

Trotter noticed her attention. “That, my dear, is our
future.”

“You mean your prison sentence,” Sean said with disgust.
“How much Majesty do you think you can transport before being caught? Honestly,
Trotter, you’re living on borrowed time. If the feds don’t nail you, the
Threaders or some other gang banger will.”

Trotter smiled. “I’m sorry, Officer. Did you say something?
I can barely hear you at all.”

Sean frowned, as did Tara. She sensed a burst of
psychei
.
Was Trotter trying to
push
Sean into something? She hurried to thrust a
large wave of energy to Sean and imagined throwing a shield up to protect him.

It must have worked, because nothing happened.

“Did I say something?” Sean sneered. “Yeah. Fuck you.”

Trotter looked confused. They continued to walk into another
worn-down warehouse. Inside, her brother sat unconscious, bound to a chair.

“Mannie!” She tried to run to him but Trotter held her
tight.

Sean knocked Min and Daket aside and raced to Mannie. He put
his fingers to her brother’s neck and bowed his head in relief. He stared up at
Trotter with death in his eyes. “Consider yourself lucky, asshole. If he’d been
dead, you’d be wishing you were.”

“Such melodrama. I’ve had enough of this.” Trotter suddenly
shoved Tara to the ground. She hadn’t been expecting it, and she hit her
kneecap with a solid
thwack
that hurt like hell. Then Trotter pulled out
a gun from behind his back. He shot Sean twice, once in the gut and once
between his eyes. Then he turned and shot Daket, one of his own men.

Min stared in shock.

“I’m taking my
iriu
upstairs for a while. You’d do
best to stanch your brother’s blood, Min. Don’t even think of helping Killer
Drake to escape. If you’re lucky, Tara will sate my hungers, and I’ll send her
back to heal Daket.”

Min growled low in his throat, his eyes brilliant with
anger. “If he dies, I’ll fucking kill you.”

Trotter didn’t look so confident anymore.

“Jonah, let me ease him past the fatality point. Not enough
to fully heal him, but enough that he won’t die,” she offered.

“Fine. Hurry up.” Jonah tried to act as if he didn’t care,
but he didn’t like Min’s wrath.

Hell, neither did she.

While she and Min hovered over Daket, Min managed to shove a
knife into her pocket without Trotter seeing.
Use it when he’s in close. I’m
sorry I didn’t do a better job than this. Do what you can for Daket, but
conserve your strength for that dickhead.
He glared at Trotter.
Don’t
worry, help is on the way.

Not sure what help he meant, she healed Daket more than
enough to save his life, but not enough to make Trotter suspicious. When she
rose, she pretended to be weaker than she was. Normally the healing would have
sapped her strength, but having mated Romy, she felt worlds stronger.

She stumbled and Trotter caught her. To Min, she sent,
I’m
good. Just acting woozy.

Keep the fucker off balance, but don’t piss him off.
Talson wants you safe and sound.

She glanced at her brother again, and at Sean. She wasn’t
faking the tears that slid down her cheeks. “Why did you have to do that?”

Sean’s lifeless body bled out at Mannie’s feet. Neither of
them moved, and her worry magnified. What if Mannie neared death as well? But
her senses told her that her brother suffered nothing more than some bruises
and scratches.

“I’ll be back, Mannie,” she yelled before Trotter pulled her
away. “Just hold on.”

Mannie said nothing, nor did he stir.

She limped behind Trotter, her knee really hurting. She
didn’t mute the pain, conserving her energy for what was to come.
Romy?
He didn’t respond, and she could only pray he remained okay. She felt as if her
psychei
blazed with righteous fury—with
Romy’s
fury—and tried to
tamp her energy lest Trotter catch wind of it.

But the jerk had other appetites on his mind. She’d seen his
arousal that had yet to abate. His erection sickened her, because she knew he’d
gotten off more on hurting others than thinking about anything sexual with her.
The perverted murderer. Tara actually looked forward to catching him by
himself.

They finally reached the lone, small office at the top of a
long flight of stairs. Once inside, Trotter turned to her with a smirk on his
face.

He waved his gun in her direction. “I tried being nice. I
tried being patient. And instead, you wasted yourself with a Talson. As if
those pricks didn’t have enough already.” His handsome face scrunched with
jealousy, and his features blurred into a menacing mask. “But you know what?
That makes it all the sweeter. Because I’m going to fuck what a Talson
considers his.”

He crossed to her and slapped her across the face. Damn, she
really had to start anticipating his violence better. Then Trotter nuzzled the
gun into her belly, and cold fear hit her. The notion that he might harm her
child before she could fight back was uppermost in her mind.

“Take off your clothes, whore.” He unzipped his trousers and
stroked himself. “If you please me, I’ll let you have some of this.” He panted
as he touched himself, running the muzzle of his gun over her breasts and up
her throat. “Swallow my cum, or swallow a bullet. Your choice.”

She glared at Trotter, seeing the evil within him that was
so foreign to the man she’d come to love. Romy Talson would never harm a woman
and would never hurt so many the way Jonah Trotter had. She stared at the
hardening flesh in Trotter’s hands and prayed for it to wither and fall off so
he couldn’t hurt anyone else.

As she thought it, his erection began to fade.

“Take off your clothes,” he said in another attempt at
persuasion.

Like all the other times before, his words had little
effect. “No. In fact, I think you should put down that gun before you shoot
yourself.” She gave him her own
push
and watched with satisfaction as
the gun wavered in his hands before he steadied it. But the sign of uncertainty
told her what she needed to know.

Trotter’s reign had finally come to an end. Now she needed
to close the chapter for good.

* * * * *

“I know this is supposed to be a surprise, but where is
everyone?” Rhenec Talson ’Or Fal said to his son, Z, as they touched down at
Port Chase’s docks in the Talson shipyard. “I sense several Otra beyond those
buildings, but no one here, where the loading and offloading should be
happening.”

“Shit. Roarke and Romy were right. Trotter’s off. I can feel
the negative vibes in the air.” Z swore again, his giant frame and dark frown
enough to send their ship’s officers heading in another direction. “Dad, I
think—”

“Wait. Look down there, son. There are some police officers
over there carrying… By the stars, that’s Romy!”

Rhenec didn’t wait. He jumped out of the ship before the
stairwell emerged, and landed some thirty feet down. He heard Z cursing behind
him but could only focus on his younger son, groaning, bloody and beaten as he
was carried by half a dozen humans. The closer Rhenec drew, the louder Romy
groaned.