Anatomy of a Nightmare - M J Marlow (i read a book .txt) 📗

the place where Lily and Thomas were waiting and found the man on the ground with a tranquilizer dart in his arm several yards away as the man groaned. He helped him sit up.
“I didn’t see who it was, Greg,” Thomas told him. “I heard a branch break and turned and then I had this,” he pulled the dart and dropped it on the ground, “in my arm. Whoever it was took the girl.” He put his head in his hands. “I feel like such a fool!”
“It happens,” Gregory remarked. He had fallen to men who knew how to get the drop on people more times than he cared to remember. “We just need to find her again.” He saw Thomas stumble to his feet. “You stay put. I’ll move faster without you.” His head snapped up as he heard her scream. “She’s giving her kidnapper a hard time,” he smiled. “Tell Dave I’ll meet you back at the boat.”
He headed into the jungle and followed the sound of her screams. But then they died and his heart nearly stopped. She could not be dead, he told himself firmly. There was no way he would believe she was dead! He began tracking by sight and sign then and prayed he was not too late to help her. He would die if he lost her now.

Lily was dumped on the ground in the center of the village and Ken turned to the matriarch, Diona. She had changed from the uniform Quentin made her wear back to her village clothing and she was impressive. Ken bowed his head to her in deference and she nodded slightly. He was a son of this island; one of the children she had sent into the outlands to learn their ways. He was the first to come home.
“I have come home, Mayta,” he said to her. “I present to you she who I would make my bride.”
“The girl is muted,” Diona frowned. “It is not her wish to be a bride? Has she no one to speak for her?”
“She is without parent,” Ken replied and heard Lily cursing him from behind the gag. He went to his knees and bowed his head lower. “I bought her, Mayta. She is damaged; the light does not shine for her, and no one wanted her but me. She is my property and of no rank, but I would make her a bride.”
“You honor her then,” Diona nodded, relieved at this news. The girl was probably just angry at being property. Many people behaved thus when their freedom was lost. She stamped her staff. “Prepare the female for a wedding. She will go into it as a daughter of my house.”
Lily was helped to her feet and she tried to pull free of the hands. She heard women giggling as they kept her moving forward. She slapped at them as they removed her clothing and then shivered as the chill air hit her skin. She could smell flowers and then they were rubbing oil into her skin. She began to go limp and could no longer stand without help. They held her as someone handed her a cup.
“You must drink,” one of the women said to her. “It will make your wedding night a pleasure.”
“I don’t want to marry him!” Lily sobbed. “Please let me go.”
“He has requested and the matriarch has agreed,” the woman told her. “You will grow to want him.” She got out the paints and began to draw the family symbols on Lily’s face and body. “It is a good thing when a woman such as you finds favor in the eyes of a good man. Kenet will be a good husband to you.”
Lily could feel her body beginning to ache and she knew what they had given her. It was like the performance enhancers that Ambrose used to give her to make her so horny she could not refuse him when he had sex with her. She was lost. She was going to be so horny that she would attack Ken by the time this wedding was over.
While Lily was being ‘prepared’, Gregory saw Ken Crawford standing alone. He held a mask in his hand and he appeared to be quite happy about something. Gregory felt his skin crawl as he realized what that had to be. So he crept up behind the man and knocked him out. He dragged him into the shadows and changed clothing with him. Then he put on the mask and secured Crawford. Thomas arrived and dragged Crawford off at Gregory’s sign. Then he turned, prepared to storm the village and rescue Lily.
“Kenet!” a man’s voice called out. “You will be late for your own wedding!” Gregory put on the mask and went towards it. He was in the village in another few strides. A gong was struck and everyone went on their knees.
Diona stepped out of her hut and took her throne. Another gong sounded and Lily was pulled out of another hut. She was forced to her knees before Diona’s throne and she was shaking as if from a fever.
“This female comes to us,” Diona stated, “claimed by a son of our island. She has been prepared. Let Kenet now come forward and take his bride.” Gregory did not fight as two men helped him to his feet and led him forward. He was handed a cup and he raised his mask only slightly to drink the liquid. “She hungers for her mate, Kenet,” Diona laughed as Lily moaned and tried to get to him. “Take her with you to the wedding hut and make her your mate.”
Gregory picked Lily up in his arms and he could feel her burning. He followed the two men and they led him to a hut. He lifted the mat covering that was the door and realized they were staying outside. He was trapped in this hut with no way out and Lily was drugged and mindless with lust. At least there were no lights, he told himself.
“Please,” Lily whimpered; and reminded him she was there. “I need you.” She put her arms around his neck and moved closer. “I will die if you do not take me.”
“Lily…”
Her lips were cool and soft as she pressed them to his. She ran her tongue along his lips and he groaned. He could not do this to her! When she remembered what had happened, she would hate him for taking advantage of her weakness.
“Please don’t reject me,” Lily sobbed as he put her on her feet and she went to her knees. “I could not bear it if you did not want me.”
His body responded to her nearness and to her need. He was beginning to burn himself and he groaned. They had drugged both of them. There was no way he was going to be able to keep his hands off of her. He went down on his knees and pulled her to him. He would have to find a way to make this all right, was his last conscious thought as he took what she was offering to him and joined her. His kiss held all the love he had been harboring for her since the very moment he had seen her.
He could not apologize for the next thirty days. Every day, at each meal, a new cup arrived with their food and they were locked once more into their need for each other. In the few moments she was aware of more than sex, Lily looked at Gregory and thanked God that he was the one she was held captive with. The thought of Ken Crawford putting his hands on her made her ill. But this was Gregory and she had already been more than half in love with him before she had been kidnapped and brought here.
“Lily,” Gregory moaned as he woke up the final morning and reached for her. She was not at his side and he sat up and looked around. She was crouched in a corner looking miserable. “What’s wrong?”
She nodded to the door and he saw clothing piled there neatly. There was a note on top and he guessed she had read it. On top of the note was a jeweler’s box. He got up and took the note.
“We talked to the matriarch the morning after you took Crawford down,” he read aloud as he recognized Dave’s handwriting. “She said since you had taken his place, Lily is yours. Apparently, old friend,” Gregory could almost heard Dave’s amused tones, “you are married; at least according to the customs of this island. She also told me you would be kept in the wedding hut for thirty days. Since I can’t see you keeping your hands off of a woman we all know you love, I went to Miami and got you a marriage license. Your brother and her sister stood in as your proxies and you are now legally wed according to the customs of the US of A. Long and happy life, hound.”
Gregory groaned and set the note aside. He opened the box and saw a very beautiful set of rings there. They were not ornate but classic and elegant. Evelyn must have picked them out, he thought as he turned to Lily. She was his wife, he thought. His heart sang happily at the thought. But he could not hold her if she didn’t love him as much as he loved her. It wouldn’t be right.
“Lily…”
“Is it true?” she broke in before he could speak. She looked at him warily, as if she was just waiting for him to hurt her. “Do you really love me?”
“With all of my heart, Lily,” Gregory told her, “but…”
“Because if it’s true, Gregory,” she interrupted him again as she got to her feet and came towards him, “then we have to be married.”
“And why is that, Lily?” Gregory said as he pulled her into his arms and waited for her words to free him from the torment.
“Because I love you, too, idiot,” she purred. She kissed him then and left him in no doubt as to the truth of her words. “So, darling,” she smiled up at him with that love shining from her eyes; “keep me honest?”
“I am never letting you go,” Gregory groaned and drew her into his arms.

EPILOGUE
They were all waiting in Gabriel Talbot’s office. It had been seven months since she and her sister had been rescued and life was a constant joy for her now. She and Gregory had been given a beautiful wedding by his aunt and uncle, Vladimir and Zina Ivanescu. Quentin Caine, Ken Crawford and Marina Grey were in jail now awaiting trial for their parts in Evelyn and Lily’s abduction and imprisonment. Senator William Grey had turned state’s evidence and was in the Witness Protection Program living a new life somewhere. There was only one piece of information they needed to make the nightmare end. The door opened and Evelyn came into the office. She smiled as her six months pregnant twin rose to greet her. Six months along herself with Geoffrey’s child; she was quite happy to have a sister to share such an event with.
“Well, ladies,” Gabriel Talbot said as he stepped into the office. “The results are finally in. He looked over at Edward, who was looking very uncomfortable. In a few minutes he would be finding out if he had two sisters or two half-sisters. Not that it mattered that much; he adored them both as they were. “Edward, you ready?”
“Spit it out,” Edward replied.
“The DNA tests prove conclusively,” Gabriel smiled at the three of them, “that Evelyn and Lily are the daughters of Elena Vargas and…” He paused