“You know,” Merinus said softly, sighing with aching regret, “this estate was so beautiful when we first saw it. Stately, graceful, despite the horrible experiments that were practiced in the buildings that once stood where those men are working. Everything was peaceful, as though its very elegance distanced it from the horror those who owned it practiced.”
Merinus tapped a perfectly manicured nail on the glass top restlessly. “Now look at it. Fences everywhere. Wild animals turned loose for protection, and nightly attempts to break the security Callan is trying to enforce. The bastards will never stop until they’re put out of their insane misery, like rabid dogs.”
With each word, anger pulsed and throbbed in the other woman’s voice as she turned her head, her gaze meeting Roni’s fiercely. “Yes, I’m pregnant, by a man I would have gladly given my life to save, Roni. A man who has faced more horror than you can ever imagine in your life. Daily, he faces his worse nightmare. Nightly, he awakens in a sweat after having dreamed the child and I were taken. Who is suffering more? Me, who he protects? Or Callan, who knows the consequences should it happen?”
Awareness pulsed like a hidden ache in Merinus’ voice. Her love for Callan throbbed in every syllable. Her fear for him and her unborn child was like a living fire in her eyes.
“It would seem to me both of you are suffering. You don’t sound unaware of the dangers or the consequences, Merinus.” Roni tilted her head to the side as the brown eyes watching her warmed only marginally.
“No, I’m not, but you are.” She waved her hand to the vacant seat across from her. “Share some coffee with me. Decaf, unfortunately.” Her lips twisted with a hint of self-mockery. “I so miss the caffeine.” The last words were drawn out, dripping with an almost palatable thirst for something that didn’t even have a taste.
“Decaf doesn’t stress you.” Roni shrugged as she took her seat. “And whatever the hell those men do to your body, the caffeine only makes it worse. I found that out after Taber decided to do the marking thing on me.”
“The marking thing?” Merinus laughed in delight, a bit of the strain easing from her face. “That’s as good a word for it as anything. But damn if it can’t be fun.”
Roni glimpsed the remembered fire in Merinus’ gaze. Her eyes were soft with the memories, her lips curved as though they brought her comfort.
“You don’t…burn anymore?” Roni asked her hesitantly, wondering if she would ever sit outside Taber’s presence again and not ache for him.
“Oh, I burn.” Merinus sat back in her chair, her gaze flickering to the men working once again. “But it’s natural now, Roni. I wanted Callan when he was no more than a picture, a story, a man who had suffered. I wanted him like nothing I had known before in my life. A compulsion. A need I wasn’t about to deny. The hormone only kept me from denying it. When I conceived, it was done after I had admitted and realized how much we were a part of each other. It wasn’t something I felt was forced on me.”
Roni looked away. Hadn’t she wanted Taber just as well? From the time she had been eleven to the minute her soul had shattered with that letter he sent her, hadn’t she dreamed, longed, loved?
“I was at Dayan’s funeral,” she whispered, remembering how desperately she wanted to go to Taber at the time, to ease the grief that lined his face. “It was after Taber marked me. But I remember how desperately I hurt for him, not sexually, but because I could see his pain.”
“Dayan’s death changed them all,” Merinus told her quietly. “You don’t know what happened to Dayan, do you?”
Roni nodded hesitantly. “He was killed saving you…”
“Oh no.” Merinus shook her head, her tone harsh. “That was what we told the media, Roni. Dayan died
by Callan’s hand when he tried to kill me. He killed Callan’s mother, Maria, years ago because she had nearly talked Callan into going to the press, and he was determined to kill me for the same reason.”
Roni didn’t disbelieve her, and wasn’t entirely shocked. Dayan hadn’t been completely sane. The day he had brought her Taber’s letter, he had pinned her against the wall of the bedroom over the garage, his breath rasping, his eyes burning with lust as he offered to train her to satisfy Taber.
“When he brought me Taber’s note, letting me know Taber didn’t want me, he tried to attack me,” Roni whispered. “It felt like knives going into my skin when he held me. I had never hurt so bad.”
“Taber’s note?” Merinus leaned forward, shaking her head in confusion. “I knew you two had a history, but I was unaware of what it was.”
Roni pressed her lips tightly together before licking them nervously. She had never told another living soul what had happened. Briefly, bitterly, she told Merinus the whole story, including Dayan’s part in it. It was humiliating, remembering how much she had depended on Taber over the years, knowing he would save her, take care of her, rather than forcing her to take care of it on her own. She had learned, though, that she could care for herself. She had lived and worked, and had slowly been making a life for herself. At the moment, that small salve to her ego was in much demand.
“I hadn’t seen Taber since,” she finished, breathing in deeply. “Not until he jumped out of that damned helicopter and made the situation that much worse. Now if I’m going to get through this, I at least need to understand what the hell is going on, Merinus. I’m terrified because my body is tying me to a man who can destroy me. Who has destroyed me.”
“Whew.” Merinus breathed roughly as she pushed her fingers wearily through her hair.
“What are you going to do?” Merinus asked her. “This doesn’t sound like Taber, Roni. I know him. He would have never touched you—period—if he hadn’t been dying for you. But his need to protect you would have gone deeper than the hunger driving him. Which could have made him react more hurtfully.”
“That excuse doesn’t help much.” Roni shook her head, knowing that Taber would have indeed been capable of trying desperately to protect her.
He had shown it in the doctor’s lab. His voice had been hoarse, his body so tight, so filled with fury on her behalf that he had trembled with her. The tone had been a rumbled, primal sound, the words barely recognizable as he promised her everything he could think of in return for what was being done to her.
“I need to trust in him, Merinus,” she whispered painfully. “I need more than some damned addiction to his sperm or his kiss. I need his love…”
Merinus leaned slowly back in her seat. “Surely he’s told you.” She shook her head. “Roni, he has to love you, otherwise that hormone would not have kicked in as it had.”
Roni gave her a mocking, half-angry look. “Would I be worried if he had told me he loved me?”
The other woman’s eyes narrowed. “Assholes. I swear to God if all men aren’t the most hardheaded, stubborn, exceptionally dense ass**les. I swear they all need to be…” She jerked as wood exploded mere inches from the side of her face, catching her cheek and temple as it sprayed violently around them.