The Bond That Consumes Us (21 page)

Hurting Fallon.

His
Fallon.

“I will kill you,” Taber said each word with slow precision.

There must have been enough menace in his voice because Tony pulled his face away from Fallon’s and turned to look at him. The wicked smile on his face told Taber that while Tony was clearly insane, he wasn’t about to make a careless mistake—like freeing Taber’s arms.

“And how to do intend to do that? Do you think she belongs to you? Huh?” Tony turned and pushed his hand into her hair, yanking her head at an awkward angle to expose her neck. “You don’t belong to him, do you, Fallon?”

Fallon swallowed hard, but she was smart enough to keep her eyes locked on Tony.

She relaxed her body against his and gave him one of her small, shy smiles that Taber had grown to love so much.

“You killed Nate for me, didn’t you?”

She made no other movement, silently waiting, giving Tony all her attention. In that moment Taber couldn’t help but wonder if she really felt anything for him or if she was that talented an actress with his affections as well.

Regardless, Tony seemed sucked in to Fallon’s change of reaction. He shifted his weight slightly, rising up on the balls of his feet as he leaned in closer to her.

“Yes.” Tony swallowed hard, lifting his free hand to caress the side of her neck.

“Nate told me he wanted you. That he didn’t care about the rules and he was going to take you.”

Fallon nodded as much as she was able. “I knew he wanted me, but I was never interested.”

“He caught me with the device. He saw me watching you from the storage room that night. I didn’t know this and when I ran into him in the hall, he confronted me.

Wanted to know how I’d gotten out there. So I showed him.”

141

Tony laughed a low, mirthless chuckle that sent a shiver through Taber. He’d met many criminals over the years, but the criminally insane were always the most disturbing.

“I yanked him back into the bar storeroom and shot him.”

“Why did no one see you?” Taber managed to say, his voice little more than a harsh whisper.

“The device has sensors. It becomes in tune with your body after a while. I can sense who and what might be on the other side of the wall. I simply wait until the coast is clear.”

“And of course you’d erase the computer feed afterward and replace it with something else,” Fallon said, a note of awe in her voice. “That way no one would know it was you.”

Tony turned back and kissed Fallon’s forehead. “I knew you’d understand.”

“And Lukas?” She kept her voice light, but Taber could hear the small quiver as she spoke.

“He wanted to fuck you. He was crude, talking about what he’d do to you to anyone who’d listen. I wasn’t about to let him touch you.” He began to shake his head and laugh. “No, no, no. Lukas had to go.”

Fallon’s gaze darted to Taber, fear threatening to overtake her. He knew exactly what Tony was thinking. If Tony killed Nate and Lukas for thinking about being with her, what the hell was he going to do to the man who actually slept with her?

As if on cue, Tony stood up and made his way close to Taber. He looked down, the crazed smile still on his face. “And then there is you.”

Taber relaxed his body, mentally bracing himself for what was about to come next.

He didn’t have to wait long. With his hands restrained, his stomach and chest were open targets. Tony’s kick landed squarely on Taber’s side, knocking the air from his lungs and sending a lancing pain through him.

“I saw you.” He kicked again, this time connecting with Taber’s stomach. “I saw you in the tube. Your filthy hands all over her.”

“Tony, please stop!”

“Your filthy
alien
hands.”
Thunk
. “You have no right to touch her. She’s mine.”

Thunk
.

“Tony! Tony, look at me!” Fallon pleaded. “Please stop.”

Taber was able to focus on her face, recognized the tears that streamed down her face. When Tony landed his next kick, the pain didn’t seem quite as strong.

“You have no right to come onto my ship and even look at my woman,” Tony screamed at him. “And you dared to
touch
her?”

Fallon was panting, yanking hard against the restraints. When she realized Tony wasn’t about to turn around, she looked Taber in the eye and mouthed,
I love you
.

142

Taber’s entire world came to a grinding halt. For a moment, he forgot about Tony, the pain tearing through his body and the stinging of his eyes. All he could do was blink and pray he hadn’t imagined what he saw. Fallon let out a sob and nodded, mouthing the words again.

I love you.

That was the last thing he was able to see for the next several minutes. Tony began to pound his fists into Taber’s face, blood spraying over his hands and arms as he worked him over. Taber had sustained worse beatings in his life, but he hated the fact Fallon was forced to watch, knowing what a wretched mess he’d look like.

The thudding noise of the beating began to fade and an eerie silence replaced it.

Taber thought he was about to slip into unconsciousness when he heard something very soft buzzing in his mind. At first he dismissed it as a byproduct of the damage his head was taking, but it began to grow more persistent until he was no longer able to ignore it.

Taber.

It wasn’t a complete thought, not really. The barest whisper of a word brushing past the corner of his mind, like a shadow out of the corner of his eye.

Fallon?

Instead of an answer, like one he would have shared with a bonded mate, he could feel her emotions. That contact was just out of reach, but it was enough that he could make sure everything was okay.

Fallon, don’t cry.

Taber heard her sob, and how she tried to fight against it. The noise of whatever else she was doing was chased away when Tony landed another punch on Taber’s ear.

“Tony, you can stop now,” Fallon managed to get out in between sobs. “I know you’re more of a man than anyone.”

“No you don’t!”

When the blows finally stopped and Tony whirled around and marched over to Fallon, Taber’s heart nearly stopped. He had to sit and watch helplessly as Tony got in her face, screaming at her.

“You never once looked at me! You’d flirt with anything that had a cock, but not me!”

Slowly, something shifted to the surface of his mind, something Tony had said that could help. Taber closed his eyes and concentrated on the thread, the fragile connection between him and Fallon.

Rules. Against the rules.

Fallon’s sobs stopped and he heard her suck in a shaky breath.

“But I couldn’t, Tony. It would have been against the rules.”

Safe.

143

“I wanted to make sure you were safe. That no one could hurt you, damage your reputation,” she said in a soft voice.

Taber opened his eyes to see Tony squatting in front of Fallon, leaning over at an awkward angle so he could look her in the face. There was a chance that if she were to get him off balance, he’d be able to take Tony out of the picture.

Taber looked directly at Fallon and tried to project his thoughts to her.
Pull your legs
up.

“Yes,” Tony said nodding. “I knew you understood. You have to play by the rules or else you get punished.”

Pull your legs up.

“I’d never want you to get hurt or to be punished.” Fallon smiled and cocked her head to the side. “You’re a very strong man.”

Fallon! Pull your legs up.

When she shifted her body and slowly pulled her legs closer to her body, Taber felt a wave of relief. As quietly as he could, he moved into position and prayed she was strong enough to do this.

Kick him hard. Kick his stomach.

He didn’t think she heard him at first—that their connection had weakened and stopped. A wave of frustration hit him and Taber jerked against the restraints hard.

Tony turned his head to look back at Taber and grinned.

“You see, you alien fuck. She’s mine. She understands that you have to play within the rules if you want to live.”

With Tony distracted, Fallon was finally able to react. She rocked back so her body rested on her ass and her feet both came off the floor. Taber watched as she kicked both her legs out, catching Tony in the chest. Fallon yelled as she kicked, throwing Tony off balance and sending him flying backward to land on his back.

Taber reacted instantly. The second Tony’s head banged on the floor, Taber swept his legs out and braced his knees on either side of Tony’s head. Taber began to squeeze, praying he had the strength left to do what he needed to do. Tony clawed at Taber, bucking and fighting against his loss of oxygen. Taber had his eyes closed, focusing every ounce of his concentration on keeping the other man still.

“Taber! He’s reaching for the thing on his arm!”

Tony began to blindly hit at his arm, smashing the sensors on the implant without seeing what he was doing. Suddenly, Taber felt the other man’s weight increase and his body begin to slip away. He looked down to see the floor had half absorbed Tony’s body. Unwilling to let his enemy get away, he jerked his legs back enough to keep Tony from slipping all the way into the opened portal. A loud humming pop filled the room and Tony stopped struggling.

Taber looked down to see that only the top half of Tony’s body remained. A look of pain and horror was frozen on his now lifeless face.

144

“Oh my god,” Fallon whispered.

“Don’t look,” he managed to croak out. “Don’t look at him. Only me.”

Using what little strength he had left, Taber managed to push what remained of Tony’s body to the side, as much as his legs would allow. Now free of the added weight, he was able to pull himself up enough to get a better look at Fallon.

Her face was pale, and the strands of her hair were tangled where Tony had grabbed her. Her eyes were wide and she was panting hard as she continued to stare at what remained of her tormentor.

“He can’t hurt you anymore, Fallon. Look at me,
shallen
.”

Her eyes flicked to his face and she swallowed hard. Taber nodded and gave her as much of a smile as his beaten face would allow.

“That’s better. You’re going to be okay. Sean will find us and we’ll get you out of here.”

“He was going to kill you,” she whispered. “He was going to take me away.”

“But he didn’t. You stopped him. You were very brave,
shallen
.”

Fallon swallowed hard, her gaze slipping to the floor for a moment before she looked back, her eyes locked on him. “What does
shallen
mean?”

His heart was already pounding hard from the beating and his fight with Tony. But somehow that one simple question sent it racing even faster. He couldn’t hide behind his language anymore. He shouldn’t hide—not if she meant as much to him as he knew she did.

“Taber?” Her soft question hurt him more than the beating he’d sustained. “What does it mean?”

My beloved, my love.

“I—”

“Fallon!”

They both turned their heads at the sound of Sean’s voice.

“We’re over here!” she called out. “Taber’s hurt!”

The noise of a security detail making their way toward them let him know they were going to be okay. Fallon would be safe and he could finally relax. Relief sapped what remained of his strength and unconsciousness won him over.

* * * * *

Fallon watched helpless as Taber’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body slumped forward. Panic raced through her and she struggled against the restraints that held her fast.

“Sean, hurry!”

145

The first person she saw run around the corner and race down the hall was Davin.

Sean was only a few steps behind, a chorus of flashlights chasing them.

“Here! We’re here!”

Davin immediately went to Taber’s side while Sean came to hers. She struggled against the restraints, trying to get to Taber.

“Sit still, Fallon. Let me free you,” Sean said, trying to find the right code to release the bindings.

It took a minute, but he finally succeeded and Fallon barreled past him to reach Taber. She got there to see Davin checking Taber over, a deep frown on his face. He moved a hand to Taber’s chest and closed his eyes.

“
Friken
, there is a lot of internal bleeding,” he muttered.

“Can you help him?” she asked in a shaky voice. “Please.”

Davin frowned, looking at Taber’s face for a long moment before nodding once.

“He’ll probably be pissy at me when I’m done. Just to warn you.”

Fallon shifted her body to rest against Taber’s side. She clung to his arm, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Don’t you die on me, you stubborn jerk.”

“There’s no dying on my watch,” Davin said and smiled at her. “He’ll be back being a pain in my ass in no time.”

Davin adjusted his hand on Taber’s chest and closed his eyes, forcing Fallon to wait.

Please be okay.

An eternity passed in a few minutes as the entire security detail, including Sean, gathered around them in a loose semicircle. Fallon couldn’t look at them and closed her eyes, concentrating on the odd sensations she’d felt when Tony had been at her side.