Forbidden by Jacquelyn Frank Read Free Book Online Page B

where it lay over herphone and wrenched the digit back as far and as hard as she was able, the knuckle cracking loudly in her tiny living room.
    The giant roared and fell to his knees as Docia twisted and twisted, forcing agony onto a creature she was sure could snap her in two with just a thought.
    “Whatever I am, queen or no, you will show me respect, you oaf!”
    Oaf? What the … ? Since when did she use a word
like “oaf”?
    “My apologies, mistress,” Asikri grunted out, making his kneeling position mean something as he bowed his head to her in acquiescence. Even when he was kneeling, his head came to nearly her shoulder line.
    Impressive indeed.
    Docia realized she was still holding his finger, and as if awakening from a half-numbed sleep, she comprehended she’d just committed an act of violence. She let go and jumped back, appalled, only to slam into the hard body of the other strange man in her house. Hands, large and strong, lean fingers cupping her rib cage on either side, steadied her. She felt his breath against her ear as he made a long, sibilant sound of comfort against the back of her half-shaved skull.
    “Peace, my queen,” he said with that tone again, the one that made her feel like an easily spooked filly under the masterful touch of a man who could break her to his will with just the right amount of time and patience. “You know Asikri.”
    No. She didn’t know Asikri. He knew that. She’d never met either of them, yet he spoke as if she should be long familiar with him. As though Ram were already a close and trusted friend.
    “No, I don’t know him! Or you! Why are you here? Who are you?” she demanded, trying to turn but finding herself unable to with the way she was tucked into his body and held by his hands.
    “You do,” he insisted softly. “And soon you will remember that. You will begin to remember who you are. But for now you must come with us. It is our duty to protect you, and we will do so at all costs.”
    Docia watched the bigger man climb to his feet, those overlarge black eyes looking at her with a disgruntlement that was palpable. But she saw … she felt … there was a new edge of respect in his regard of her. Still, Jackson’s years of warnings welled up in her head.
    “No way. If you’re going to kill me or something, you do it now. Here! I know what moving to a second location means for a female victim. I’ll be damned if I’m going to survive what I just did only to have you all rape and murder me in a cold ditch somewhere.” Well, that, and if she kept them long enough, Jackson might walk in on them. She had hope if she stayed right where she was. If she left … if she let them take her …
    “We’re not here to hurt you,” Ram reassured her. “Look at him,” he urged her, making her look at the other stranger. “Do you think you would even be conscious right now if we meant harm?”
    Her eyes climbed the massive wall of testosterone in front of her. The big bastard had the temerity to smirk at her, as if the idea of clocking her into unconsciousness had a great deal of merit in his book. He reached to pull his center finger back into place with a snap. The look in his dark eyes said she’d gotten the best of him only because he’d underestimated her and she’d taken him by surprise. He wouldn’t let it happen again. Not with her and, she had no doubt, never again with anyone else.
    She swallowed loudly.
    Great, Docia. Way to piss off the psychopathic killers.
Now Jackson would be walking in the door at anyminute and would be taken by surprise just like that. And although they were not hurting her at the present moment and didn’t seem intent on doing so … she couldn’t have the slightest bit of hope that they would be as gentle with a trained SWAT officer. Did Jackson even have his gun? She tried to remember if she’d seen it on his belt under his jacket before he’d gone off to the store. She knew there was a stun gun in the table by the