Read Online Forbidden by Jacquelyn Frank - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jacquelyn Frank
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you may use in any way you deem necessary. What have you brought to these fifteen minutes?”
She opened her mouth to retort but didn’t say anything. She thought on his remarks instead, her teeth chattering as her hands fisted and flexed in turns over the heater. Ram reached over to increase the heat, then turned his hand briefly back and forth to inspect the knife wound through the center of it. It had closed and was already healing under the mess of blood that had dried over it. It was probably better that it was so obscured. If the precipitous healing had been more obvious to her inexperienced eyes, she might have flown into a full-blown panic. To be honest, he was rather amazed she hadn’t done so already. For all intents and purposes, two total strangers had just kidnapped her.
“If you two don’t kill me, I’m fairly certain Jackson will,” she muttered at last.
“Oh, for pity’s sake. Can’t I knock her out or something?” Asikri spat from the backseat.
“Asikri!” Ram barked the man’s name like a whip, and Asikri immediately sat back and sulked in the dark rear of the truck.
“Well, she whines a lot,” he whined in defense of himself. “It’s highly annoying.”
“Well, why don’t
you
get kidnapped by a bunch of thugs twice your size without explanation and see if
you
can win Miss Congeniality!” Docia bit back at him, those threads of strength glowing across her entire body as she faced off against the man who could snap her like a dried twig.
It made her amazingly beautiful. For that instant, as her inner determination fired into her aura and her features, she looked like a gorgeous virago risen from defeat to do battle once more. That she found the strength for it was remarkable, Blending or no. She couldn’t be far enough into the process to reap the true power of it.
“You have not been kidnapped,” Ram assured her. Or lied to her. It depended on whose perspective it was. “We’re just bringing you somewhere far safer than where you were.”
“My brother is a highly trained SWAT officer. You can’t get much better protection than that,” she argued icily. “So that settles that. Back we go. Go on. I have a comfy pair of jammies awaiting me.”
“And where was this highly trained SWAT officer when that man was trying to gut you just before?” Ram countered.
“That’s not fair! I told him I’d be okay. I convinced him to get me some food,” she defended him, her voice becoming small by the end of the statement.
Ram took his eyes from the road once more and methers, their ermine brown so defiant and the spirit within them so protective of the brother she loved.
“I would never let you convince me of such when I know in my soul it would be a mistake. Your brother had three officers other than himself watching you every minute you were in that hospital because his instincts told him there was danger still waiting for you. He allowed himself to waver and turn his back.” He made sure he held her eyes. “I will never so much as blink if I think it will give evil a chance to harm you.”
Docia stared at her adversary … or was he an ally? She couldn’t seem to decide from one moment to the next. But there were more arguments on the side of ally than there were on the side of enemy, and she was beginning to believe she might not end up dead once they got to wherever they were going. She knew they were driving north, that the car they were in, large and nondescript, was not cheap to come by and was possibly top of the line in its margin. But signs of wealth did not make for instant reasons of comfort. Besides, she was pretty sure it was a rental car. It was far too clean, and she could see the streaking path of the vacuum cleaner that had recently slurped its way across every carpeted surface. The mileage told her it wasn’t a new car, and if she looked long enough, she could pick out a scuff here and a ding there on the interior. Still, it wasn’t cheap, renting
She opened her mouth to retort but didn’t say anything. She thought on his remarks instead, her teeth chattering as her hands fisted and flexed in turns over the heater. Ram reached over to increase the heat, then turned his hand briefly back and forth to inspect the knife wound through the center of it. It had closed and was already healing under the mess of blood that had dried over it. It was probably better that it was so obscured. If the precipitous healing had been more obvious to her inexperienced eyes, she might have flown into a full-blown panic. To be honest, he was rather amazed she hadn’t done so already. For all intents and purposes, two total strangers had just kidnapped her.
“If you two don’t kill me, I’m fairly certain Jackson will,” she muttered at last.
“Oh, for pity’s sake. Can’t I knock her out or something?” Asikri spat from the backseat.
“Asikri!” Ram barked the man’s name like a whip, and Asikri immediately sat back and sulked in the dark rear of the truck.
“Well, she whines a lot,” he whined in defense of himself. “It’s highly annoying.”
“Well, why don’t
you
get kidnapped by a bunch of thugs twice your size without explanation and see if
you
can win Miss Congeniality!” Docia bit back at him, those threads of strength glowing across her entire body as she faced off against the man who could snap her like a dried twig.
It made her amazingly beautiful. For that instant, as her inner determination fired into her aura and her features, she looked like a gorgeous virago risen from defeat to do battle once more. That she found the strength for it was remarkable, Blending or no. She couldn’t be far enough into the process to reap the true power of it.
“You have not been kidnapped,” Ram assured her. Or lied to her. It depended on whose perspective it was. “We’re just bringing you somewhere far safer than where you were.”
“My brother is a highly trained SWAT officer. You can’t get much better protection than that,” she argued icily. “So that settles that. Back we go. Go on. I have a comfy pair of jammies awaiting me.”
“And where was this highly trained SWAT officer when that man was trying to gut you just before?” Ram countered.
“That’s not fair! I told him I’d be okay. I convinced him to get me some food,” she defended him, her voice becoming small by the end of the statement.
Ram took his eyes from the road once more and methers, their ermine brown so defiant and the spirit within them so protective of the brother she loved.
“I would never let you convince me of such when I know in my soul it would be a mistake. Your brother had three officers other than himself watching you every minute you were in that hospital because his instincts told him there was danger still waiting for you. He allowed himself to waver and turn his back.” He made sure he held her eyes. “I will never so much as blink if I think it will give evil a chance to harm you.”
Docia stared at her adversary … or was he an ally? She couldn’t seem to decide from one moment to the next. But there were more arguments on the side of ally than there were on the side of enemy, and she was beginning to believe she might not end up dead once they got to wherever they were going. She knew they were driving north, that the car they were in, large and nondescript, was not cheap to come by and was possibly top of the line in its margin. But signs of wealth did not make for instant reasons of comfort. Besides, she was pretty sure it was a rental car. It was far too clean, and she could see the streaking path of the vacuum cleaner that had recently slurped its way across every carpeted surface. The mileage told her it wasn’t a new car, and if she looked long enough, she could pick out a scuff here and a ding there on the interior. Still, it wasn’t cheap, renting
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