Forbidden Lust (2 page)

“No one that I know of.”

The clock on the wall showed it was one in the morning. Makayla’s school was three hours away. Figuring quickly, he estimated that she would be home between four and five in the morning.
They’re moving her out faster than what I’d planned.

“This isn’t like them. They don’t send for her so late at night,” he said.

“I know. They called here an hour ago and the whole place has been quickly packing her up. It looks like she isn’t coming back.”

No she isn’t.
“Okay, thanks.” He hung up, took a deep breath and pocketed his phone.

He sat down behind his new desk and picked up the landline phone dialed the number and waited for someone on the other end to pick up. Of all the things he’d ever done in his life, this happened to be one of the hardest. He felt selfish, excited, and like he was betraying everyone he knew at the same time. He half expected to be here in town for a few weeks before making this call, but clearly Dane didn’t want to give him the chance to summon her. Guess he’d underestimated Darius once more. After all, why wouldn’t he track her down and get someone on the inside to work for him and give him reports all the time on Makayla?

“This is Darius Alistair and I’m requesting pick-up of a Makayla Tabor at the Knight home in the morning.” Another deep breath. “She’s being snuck in, so I don’t have much time.”

“Sir, you are aware that the next celebration isn’t for another month.”

“Yeah, and I’ll pay the extra cost to have her taken to the Compound and kept there.” His answer was silence. “Pay anything. I really need her taken in the morning, or she’ll be gone for good.”

“Hold, please.” The wait wasn’t long. “Mr. Alistair, I have put your request through and it has been granted. How long would you like for us to hold?”

Darius thought about that. How long did he want Makayla to sit in the Compound waiting to see if Dane or Berdina would come to rescue her? What would she think when it was him that came to her and not them?

“At least twenty-four hours,” he answered. “And please call me the moment she’s ready and I’ll be there. Expense is irrelevant. I want here there tonight.”

“Yes, Sir. Our men will be heading to the Knight household first thing in the morning.”

“Better make it tonight and have them wait there. Not sure what time on arrival.”

He ended the call and sat back in the chair, propping his feet on the desk. His hand shook, a nervous feeling hit and before he could talk himself out of it, Darius was up and heading out of the house to his car. He couldn’t sleep knowing that soon she would be here. There wasn’t a chance in hell he would get any sleep tonight.

He drove to Berdina’s home. Since the burning down of Dane’s house, the man had decided to move back in with his grandmother. Darius didn’t understand it, but then again he didn’t understand how one girl could change the cold heart of that woman. Makayla had. She’d changed the women, softened her up, and made her almost human.

The town was dead, not many out. He found a spot to park his car, concealing it from all yet affording him a clear view of the house. He turned off the engine and sat back to wait for her. The lights in the house were all on, breaking through the night. That told him that the call he got was, without a doubt, true. Makayla was coming home for a very short visit.

He felt like a stalker. Darius sat in his car, watching the house, seeing everything that went on inside through the windows. He watched as Samara straightened up, waiting for their guest. When the lights did go out he told himself that he should go home, get some sleep and get ready for the impending fight that would land on him. But he didn’t. He couldn’t leave, not when he knew she was coming. He started to drift off to sleep only to wake up with a jolt when lights hit his face. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard, saw it was four in the morning and sat forward in his seat as the car that woke him drove up to the house.

The front door opened, light spilled out, and Samara Knight came outside to greet her sister. Darius watched Makayla get out of the back seat, rush over to Samara and the two hugged tight.

Makayla’s hair had grown longer since the last time he saw her. It now hung down to the middle of her back. She wore jeans and a jean jacket. He couldn’t make out her face, only her delightful backside.

Fisting his hands tightly around the steering wheel, Darius kept his eyes locked on the two. They talked outside, Samara holding Makayla while the staff took her bags out from the trunk and into the house. Damn. He wished he could hear what they were saying. He wanted to hear her voice.

When the two went inside, he lowered his head down to the steering wheel and sighed. He felt guilty now over what he was doing and wished like hell he could go about it all in a different way. He wished right then that he could’ve gotten lucky with finding the one for him without ruining a friendship. Fuck, Darius just simply wished he were someone else.

Sitting back up, he started the car, put it in gear and pulled away from the house as exhaustion set in. He headed back home. Off in the distance a soft glow of light started—the hint of sunrise.

Not bothering to turn any lights on he went upstairs to his new room. Dropping down face first, he closed his eyes, not bothering to undress. Sleep was what his body demanded, so he’d nap, just a couple of hours and then he would be able to face whomever it was that would be stopping by to see him, or to rip his nuts off, whichever came first.

* * * *

“Tired?” Samara Knight asked Makayla.

“Some, but I’ll take a nap later on.” Makayla sighed, slumping down on the sofa in front of the unlit fireplace. “So you want to tell me why Dane had them pack me up and haul my ass here in the middle of the night? Thought we agreed I’d be home for the weekend.”

Samara went over and joined her. Makayla could tell right then that something wasn’t right. Samara had that look, the same look she use to get when their father made her do something she didn’t want to do, or when something bad was about to happen.

“Dane has this feeling that someone might have you summoned to the Compound.”

“No shit!” Makayla snickered. “Who’d be that stupid?”

“Makayla, please.”

“Oh, come on.” Makayla stood back up and jammed her hands on hips. She faced her sister, feeling her own kind of frustration hitting. “You three have been sneaking me in and out of this damn town without letting me in on the why of it. Don’t you think it’s time I was let in on it? Hell, I’m almost twenty-two. No one knows me! The ones that did have forgotten me.”

“Not everyone has forgotten you,” Samara said.

She knew who they were talking about now. “You’re talking about one of Dane’s friends. What’s his name?” Samara nodded.

“What about him?”

“He might want you,” Samara said.

Makayla snorted, “Bullshit.”

“Makayla!”

“Come on!” Makayla sat back down, facing her sister. “I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me. What, I’ve met him like once and that was over a year ago.”

“Sometimes it only takes one meeting. Did for me.” Makayla opened her mouth and Samara rushed on. “And it did for Devon also. Don’t you see? Can’t you understand why we want to protect you?”

“Protect me? You three have made me feel like I’m in damned protective custody or something.”

“You just don’t understand.” Samara slumped back on the sofa.

“What is so bad about it anyway?” Makayla went on. “Why would it be so bad if I did get married?”

“It’s nothing like that.”

“Then it’s the guy. You all know who it is and I don’t, so once more you three are making the choice for me,” she snapped as she stood back up.

“Makayla, please,” Samara pleaded.

“How old do I have to be before I can make up my own damn mind?” She left the sitting room, went back out to the large hall and towards the steps. The grandfather clock chimed and she looked at it. Five in the morning already. She got halfway up the stairs when a knock came at the front door. “Great.” She stopped, turned and went back down. “Who the hell is coming over now so damn early?” She yanked the door open with a tight: “Yes.”

“Makayla Tabor?”

Makayla stared at two men in dark suits. Her gut dropped. “Um, yes.”

“Please come with us.” Together they reached for her, taking hold of her arm.

“What? Wait!” she shuddered. “Samara!”

“What’s going on?” Samara came rushing out from the kitchen, just as Makayla was hauled outside by the men. “Hey!” she yelled.

One guy shoved Makayla into the back seat of the car, while the other blocked Samara’s efforts to reach her. “I’m sorry, Miss. Your sister has been requested to the Compound.”

“What?” Samara gasped.

That was all he said. He turned, got in the back seat, boxing Makayla in. All Makayla could do was sit there, staring in disbelief. The car door shut, then it pulled away, and she watched as her sister stood on the steps watching her leave, looking just about as lost as she felt.

Well isn’t this just fucking great! I was just talking about this shit.

* * * *

“Darius!”

Darius jolted awake, looked up and groaned at the bright sun shining in his face. Rolling over he rubbed his face then sat up as he heard his name bellowed again.

“Darius!”

He sat up, looked around again to get his bearings and let his brain remind him where he was. Once that was established, he scooted off the bed, went to the double doors and flung them open. Blaine Cedric was pacing the first floor. From the second floor, Darius could tell by his face, and the manner in which he paced, that he was pissed off.

“You don’t need to yell,” he called out, stopping Blaine from searching for him. “I’m up here.”

Blaine looked up. “You little fuck,” Blaine snapped.

“I take it that she was picked up and Dane has called you to come and kick my ass,” Darius remarked, pushing away from the railing and walking back into his bedroom to the bathroom. He heard Blaine rush up the stairs and into his room, right on his ass.

“Do you know how bad Dane wants to come over here and beat the shit out of you?”

“I have a good idea,” Darius said, turning on the water in the sink. He splashed his face with cold water, clearing the fog of sleep away. “And you?” he looked over his shoulder, grabbed the towel hanging on the bar, wiping his face. “Do you want to beat the shit out of me also?”

Blaine made a growling sound in the back of this throat. “I don’t know what I want to do with you. This isn’t the way to go about getting Makayla.”

Darius brushed past him, back into the hall closet and grabbed a clean shirt from the hanger on his way back into the bedroom. “What the hell did you expect me to do? Sit around and hope like hell I’ll have a chance that she’ll be around long enough for me to have her taken to the Compound. There was no way in hell that Dane or Berdina was going to let her stay in this town long enough, not when they both knew I wanted her.” He stopped in the middle of the room, took off his shirt and tossed it to the bed, then put the clean one on.

“This is not how to go about doing this,” Blaine said through his teeth. “They went to the damn house for her at five in the morning. Took her from the house in front of Samara, for Christ sake. Dane is ready to kill you.”

“So there’s only an acceptation to the rules if it suits you guys, not me,” Darius said. “What Dane did to Samara shouldn’t happen to anyone else, is that what you’re saying? Or I know, how about I go in and hope like hell I get lucky and she
might
be there.”

“Don’t pull that bullshit on me,” Blaine snapped.

“Better yet, how about I just wait and go in during a fucking party and pick one. No wait, Devon didn’t just pick her there, he discovered Kera when she tried to run away. Sometimes all of your stories get so confusing, yet their memorable at the same time. Guess I’m supposed to sit back and just listen to them, not take notes and do the same thing.” He left the bedroom, walking as fast as his long legs would carry him away from Blaine. “Guess it would be different if she was a different girl. If it wasn’t Makayla then you three would be patting me on the back, congratulating me and giving me all kind of hints how to break her in easy.”

“God damn it, Darius!” Blaine yelled, following him out. “This isn’t a fucking game here. How the hell did you pull this shit anyway? Next party isn’t for a few months and what the hell are you going to do if you two aren’t a match? You ever thought about that?”

“Did you guys think about that when you went in?” he tossed back, going down the stairs and heading for the kitchen.

“This cluster fuck is going to backfire on you if you two don’t match. It’s already screwed you and Dane’s friendship.”

“That was fucked up a long time ago.” He went to the fridge, opened it and brought out the juice.

Blaine leaned on the island hand on his forehead, looking down. “Darius—”

“Blaine, it’s done!” Darius snapped. “In less than twenty-four hours we’ll know if we’re a match.”

“And if you are?”

He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he brought his glass up to his lips. He took a drink, meeting Blaine in the eye. “Then we are. And I’ll be a damned lucky, happy man.”

Chapter Two

Makayla Tabor couldn’t believe her damn luck. Coming home to see her sister one last time before she took off for her big trip and she gets grabbed for the damn Compound. Who the hell knew she was coming back? No, scratch that. Who the fuck wanted her? She didn’t know that many people in town, mostly because she stayed the hell away from it. After Dane married her sister, got her out of that shitty school where her father sent her, it was decided by the four of them, Berdina included, that it would be better if Makayla stayed away from Treece until she was too old to be sent to the Compound. Neither Dane nor Berdina wanted to take the chance that Makayla might be taken and married. The only one that seemed like it didn’t bother much was Samara. No, scratch that again, Samara did act like it bothered her now with the idea of her going to the Compound, which meant that she likely kne who wanted her.