Forbidden Love, J.M.Hurley [thriller book recommendations TXT] 📗

I help you get over him?”

“Help me meet with him; I just need to see him, to tell him in person, that there will never be anything between us,” she said tugged on his shirt collar, “please Mark?”

“If all you want to do is talk then I guess I can-”

“Oh my god, you’re the best friend ever Mark!” she screamed as she hugged him tightly and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“When are you going to meet with him?” Mark asked once she’d finally release him from her tight grasp.

“I’m not sure, but I’ll tell you tomorrow, okay?” she said gleefully as she pulled him into another hug.

“Hey, cut it out, you’re wrinkling my dress shirt,” Mark protested as he straitened his shirt once more.

“Dress shirt? Is someone going on a date?” she asked as she straitened his tie from him.

“Relax, it’s just a friendly get together, okay?” he said as he blushed and hid his face.

“Okay, but if you want to call me after your ‘get together’ and let me know how it went, I’ll be waiting,” she replied as she gave him one more quick hug before he left the room. Thank the heavens for Mark,

she thought silently as she laid back down, her hand still clutching the photo of her parents.

“I miss you guys…you didn’t die for nothing I'm going to make sure of it,” she whispered but the more she thought of it, she wasn’t sure if it was true.

***

“You’re going to be avenged, it’s really going to happen,” Dakota whispered to herself as she stared at a picture of her and Terrance. In the picture her light blonde hair was a bit shorter and her smile was stretched wide. Terrance had his arm around her slim shoulders, pulling her close to him. His milky brown eyes sparkled and focused on the hand the she displayed in front of them, a ring on the third finger. She remembered that night perfectly, the night he’d proposed, the night she’d said yes…the night before her world stopped turning.

She blinked back tears as she flipped through the old pictures, all of them holding a happier her, her arms wrapped around Terrance, her smile brighter than she’d seen it in awhile. “But that’s going to change,” she whispered as she flipped to the next page. “Mystica’s going to help me, we’re going to make them pay,” she spoke softly to herself and for the first time in a long time, she felt relieved. Like a load had been taken off of her shoulders.

No longer did she have to feel guilty for have living through the attack and Terrance not, no more crying at night because she didn’t get to Jeannine faster, no more sobs over finding her parent’s dead bodies.
She sighed as she set the book back onto her desk and got up off of her bed.

“Kota, Kota!” Grace came running in, a small pigeon in her tiny hands. “Look what I caught!” she exclaimed and Dakota smiled as she picked her up. That’s the only good thing that came out of that night; I met Gracie and Anne Marie.

“Wow Gracie, did you really catch that all by yourself?” she asked as she tickled her stomach and was surprised to see her shake her head.

“Nope, Zeze helped me!” she said with a smile and Dakota’s jaw dropped.

“Zeze helped you?” she asked as she set her back down. There’s only one person that she’s ever called Zeze.

“Dakota?” a voice from outside called her name and she raced out to meet him.

“Blaze!” she called as she gave him a hug, “What are you doing here?”

Blaze’s green eyes sparkled and she felt a pang of sadness as she remembered who had just those same green eyes. “How are you doing?” she asked in a more timid voice and he chuckled.

“I’d imagine I’m doing better than you, I lost my sister that night, you lost your parents, your best friend, and your fiancée, I’m so sorry Kota,” he said as he gave her an extra squeeze.

“Oh Blaze, it’s so great to see you again, and you couldn’t have come at a better time, we’re going to avenge their death!” she said and he shook his head.

“How on Earth are you planning on doing that?” he asked and Dakota smiled.

“We’re going to ban together, in fact, we already have, oh it’s really going to happen Blaze, and they’re going to pay!”

Blaze smiled and lifted Dakota up and spun her around. “That’s great, Kota!” he said and as he set her down their eyes met and she felt something tingle in her gut, pushing it away, she stepped back and nodded.

“Yeah, we’ve already recruited more vamps and pretty soon, we’ll have those wolves running for the hills,” she said and Blaze continued to stare at her.

“Thanks Kota, this really is what Jeannine would want.” Hearing him speak his sister’s name was almost too much for her, her gut clenched with sadness and for a moment, she didn’t respond, for she was afraid that if she did, she would certainly cry.

After she’d gotten a hold of herself she replied, “It’s what they would all want, it’s what they deserve too,” she replied and a unwelcome tear slipped down her cheek.

“No more tears after this is through,” Blaze said as he pulled her close into his comforting embrace. “Those wolves are going to pay Kota, no more tears!” he insisted as he gently wiped the salty tears from her cheeks with his finger. Dakota looked up at him and was hit by guilt when she realized she was in his arms, just inches away from his face. You’re Terrance’s girl, whether he’s here or not!

She silently kicked herself as she got up and picked up Grace once more.

“Kota, Zeze is going to stay, we’ll have so much fun!” Grace said and Dakota glanced over as Anne Marie came outside.

“Ah there you are, I was going to tell you Miss Evans, but I couldn’t find you, Sir Richards will be staying with us,” as she finished she took Grace from Dakota and gave her a warm smile. Dakota’s mind kept telling her lips to smile but they wouldn’t respond, he’ll be here now, you’re going to betray Terrance,

voices in her mind kept whispering and she felt her throat close up.

“I’ll be in my room,” she choked out then hurried inside, running at inhuman speeds and slammed the door behind her. “I’m sorry baby,” she whispered to the picture, “I’m not going to love him, I won’t, I swear!” she insisted as the tears spilled down and landed on the picture making it look as if Terrance was crying, which made her sob even harder. “I’m going to honor you baby, and I’m not going to change my life, you’re the one I love, you’re the one I’ll always love,” she whispered and for a second, she wondered if that would always be true, but one more glance at the picture reassured her, she loved Terrance, and refused to even think of loving anyone else.


Chapter 4

“Ouch!” Daniel cursed as the rubber on his converse slid against the tree bark, causing him to fall from the tree. His back slapped onto the forest floor and stared up at the canopy above him.

“You okay?” Randy called as he ran over and waved his hands wildly above himself, “do I need to go get Ted?”

“No, I’m fine,” Daniel assured him; just the mention of Teddy’s name had his stomach doing flips. He desperately wanted to talk with Randy, to tell him about the connection between him and Mystica, but he knew he couldn’t. As alpha, Teddy heard everyone’s thoughts, conversations, and even their dreams; nothing was safe unless it was out of sight out of mind. Daniel was impatient but he knew he’d only have to wait one more day, then Ted would go off on his hunting trip and he’d be too far away to get any signal as to what he was thinking.

“That looked like a pretty nasty fall,” Randy said as the young men walked back to the campsite.

“No, just lost my footing, that’s all,” he replied and Randy smiled.

“So there’s this girl I saw,” Randy began and Daniel sighed.

“Another one?” he asked tiredly, Randy was always crushing on someone new.

“No, you don’t understand, this one was different, there was something special about her,” he insisted and Daniel snorted.

“Tell me about it,” he muttered as he forced himself to remove Mystica from his thoughts.

“She had long legs, a perfect smile…she had this gorgeous flowing blonde hair that almost sparkled it was so smooth, and these-”

“Stunning gray eyes?” Daniel asked and Randy smiled.

“So you saw her?” he asked and Daniel held back a laugh.

“Her name is Dakota Evans, and I’m quite sure she’s not interested,” Daniel replied and Randy sighed.

“So what does your girl look like?” Randy asked and Daniel sighed.

“She’s not my girl.”

“Oh, lighten up, what does the vamp look like?” Randy asked again and Daniel turned to face him.

“She looks exactly like Dakota, except her hair cuts off at her mid drift and she’s about a foot shorter. She has a cute little dimple on the left side when she smiles, and whenever something’s bothering her she bites her lip. She wears a peach scented perfume, her mother’s favorite, and sometimes when she’s sad she-”

“Are you sure she’s not your girl, because it sounds like you’ve put an awful lot of energy into reading her mind for someone you supposedly don’t care about.”
Daniels pulse quickened as he realized he’d just blown his cover. Panicked, he grabbed a nearby branch, broke it off, and began writing in the dirt in front of them. ‘Don’t tell. Ted will disown me’ he wrote and Randy gasped as he read it. He gave Daniel a quick nod then wiped away the traces of their message.

“Ready to head back?” Randy asked in a casual tone and Daniel smiled.

“Yeah, I think I am,” he said and as they walked back to the campsite, he thanked the heavens it’s been Randy who found out.

***

Tori rounded the corner quietly, hoping to sneak up and scare Mystica like she always did, but this time was different, something was wrong. She stayed close to the wall as she snuck around the house until she came to Mystica’s room, occupied by Mark and Mystica. What’s Mark doing over right now?

She thought silently as she crept over near the door frame.

“Help me meet with him; I just need to see him…” Tori stopped listening as her jaw dropped. Mark’s going to help her betray us!

She thought, her face panicked as she quickly retraced her steps.

“Oh God what am I going to do? I have to stop them, but if I do then-” she came up short when she ran straight into a wall of muscle. “Oops I’m sorry!” Tori blurted out then looking up, her gut flipped over. Oh my god, it’s Blaze! He’s back!

She silenced her thoughts as