Forbidden: (A Psychological Dark Romance) (The Dark Necessities Prequels Book 3) Read online

  Forbidden

  A Dark Necessities Prequel

  By

  Felicity Brandon

  Copyright © 2019 by Felicity Brandon

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: [email protected]

  This book is entirely a work of fiction. The author does not condone, nor endorse any of the acts in this book.

  First edition August 2019

  Cover design by Eris Adderly

  Download your FREE Felicity book here.

  https://felicitybrandonwrites.com/

  “It was terrifying to love someone who was forbidden to you. Terrifying to feel something you could never speak of, something that was horrible to almost everyone you knew, something that could destroy your life.”

  - Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

  This book is dedicated to my children.

  I am always there with you.

  There in the words that you use.

  In your heart.

  Prologue

  England, January, 1990

  Dalton

  The place was every inch as bleak as Dalton had imagined, and as he stepped out of the car, he was filled with an overriding sense of doom.

  This was it. This was where it had happened.

  This was where his parents were supposed to have taken their own lives, leaving him and his younger brother, Connor, to fend for themselves.

  “This is it then?”

  Connor’s question broke his dreary train of thought, and Dalton glanced left to see his brother striding toward him. It had been nearly a fortnight since they’d received word about their parents. The police had come calling at their aunt’s house one afternoon, and even though there were no bodies, Beachy Head was the last place they’d been spotted, some of their clothing washing up on a local beach days later.

  As if it wanted to haunt them.

  In all that time, Connor had barely said anything on the subject, and he certainly hadn’t shed any tears. Dalton sighed. He was worried about his little brother.

  “This is it.”

  “What a shithole,” observed Connor, eyeing the locality as he wandered forward.

  Dalton was inclined to agree with his conclusion, but still, he didn’t like hearing such crude language from his brother. Connor had only just turned seventeen, after all.

  “Watch your mouth, Connor,” he fired back, ensuring his tone was light as he made the remark.

  Connor turned, fixing him with one of his piercing stares. “Fuck you,” he replied with a smile. “You’re not Dad.”

  That much was true enough, thought Dalton with a heavy heart, but he was the closest thing to one Connor had at the moment.

  “I know,” he called in response as he closed the distance between them with three large strides. “But still, just think about your language. Mum wouldn’t like it.”

  Connor snorted. “Well, she’s not here, is she?”

  Dalton turned his face into the wind. No, she wasn’t.

  “She chose to go with him,” his younger brother sneered. To leave us.

  Connor never vocalized that last part, but Dalton heard it, nonetheless. He’d been sensing other people’s thoughts for years now. A skill he’d apparently inherited from both of his parents, yet now, there would be no one around to guide him about how to utilize the ability.

  Now, he was on his own.

  The enormity of that thought swelled in his chest until it hurt.

  “Don’t,” Connor muttered as he caught sight of the tears brimming in his brother’s eyes. “Just don’t, Dalton. I can’t…”

  Connor paused, gazing back into the direction of the cliff edge.

  “You can’t, what?”

  Dalton’s tone was curter than he’d intended, but Connor’s lack of emotional empathy stung. He was so much like their father. So callous, and able to switch off his emotions at will. Sometimes, the comparison scared Dalton.

  He didn’t know everything his father had been into, but he had sensed enough from his parents’ thoughts to know it was nothing good. And deep down, he suspected, it was terrible. His father had likely done horrendous things, that his mother had, for some reason, condoned. It made no fucking sense.

  “I can’t deal with all the emotion,” Connor blurted. “I get it. It’s fucked up, and you’re sad about it.”

  “Why aren’t you sad about it?” hissed Dalton as he edged toward his brother.

  At six foot three inches, Dalton was hardly a small guy, yet his younger brother was taller, seemingly acquiring their father’s intimidating height from an early age. Dalton stared into Connor’s young face. There wasn’t a flicker of emotion there. Nothing. It was like he was void of any feeling on the subject.

  “I just deal with things my own way,” Connor replied with a shrug. “We’re not all like you and Mum.”

  Connor kicked a nearby stone, sending it hurtling toward the abyss. Dalton’s belly lurched as the analogy washed over him. Connor was right. In so many ways, Dalton was like their mother. He was a more caring person, and he didn’t relish confrontation, but he’d do what he had to do when it was required. Dalton guessed that’s why their mother had done it in the end, and gone through with whatever messed up plan their father, Ethan, had concocted. She believed that Dalton would look after Connor, and in his heart, he knew that he always would. Dalton just wished he’d had the chance to speak to her in person first—to truly know what she was thinking—to feel the warmth of her embrace one more time.

  “Is that it, then?” asked Connor, his hand in his pocket as he turned to glance at Dalton. “We’ve just come here to look around, because you know I have another martial arts competition I should be training for, right?”

  Dalton pulled in a deep breath. He knew, alright. Dalton had been the one who’d introduced Connor to martial arts, and together with his friend, Saul Morrison, they’d been taking him to competitive events for most of the last year. For whatever reason, their parents never seemed that interested, but Dalton had always assumed it was just because they were so in love with each other—so happy. They certainly seemed that way. Always kissing and touching. It was bloody embarrassing in many ways. But standing, staring into the chasm where they likely took their last breaths, Dalton wasn’t so sure it was lust and affection that had consumed his parents’ attention. Now, he wondered if it was the plans for their imminent demise.

  “I just wanted to come here, okay?” Dalton barked as he stomped toward the edge of the cliff. “I needed to see where…”

  He hesitated, stumbling over the words as they tumbled through his head.

  “Where they flung themselves into oblivion?”

  Connor’s words caught on the wind, and were flung back in Dalton’s face. He blinked at the stark reality of his brother’s assessment.

  “Honestly, what were they thinking?” huffed Connor, shaking his head at his own question. “This isn’t some romance paperback, or Romeo and bloody Juliet. It’s real life.”

  “They let us down,” agreed Dalton with a fresh sigh. “Badly.”

  Connor arched a dark eyebrow at him. “That’s one way of putting
it.”

  Dalton turned back toward the cliff edge, his eyes scanning the place the earth met nothing but air. He had hoped by coming here he’d have gotten a sense of something—some unspoken message left by his mother—an explanation about their motivation, but Dalton had been wrong. There was nothing at this place except the wind and the desolate cliffs.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he remarked as he turned on his heel and headed back to the car. “Aunt Kitty will be expecting us back soon.”

  Dalton caught sight of Connor rolling his eyes. “We’re not really going to have to stay with Kitty, are we?” he muttered as he raced to keep up with Dalton.

  “Where else should we go?”

  Connor blinked at him with those intense green eyes. The ones that always reminded Dalton so much of their mother. “Why don’t we take Saul up on his offer and rent rooms with him?”

  Dalton looked at his car, the light glinting from the polished paintwork in the pathetic attempt of January sunshine. That car was one of the only decent things his father had ever given him, yet as he stared at it now, Dalton knew he’d give it up in a heartbeat to have his mother back. To have them both back.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Connor,” he responded after a moment. “Saul’s rooms won’t come for free.”

  Connor glared at him. “We have money. They might not have been the best parents, but they’ve always provided for us financially.”

  “I didn’t mean, money,” Dalton countered as he pulled the driver’s side door open and slid inside.

  “What then?” Connor slammed the passenger door closed, finally shutting out the prevailing wind of the cliff edge. “What does Saul want?”

  “Loyalty.” Dalton’s answer was immediate. He’d known Saul for years, and he understood him well enough to know what made the man tick. Plus, Dalton had the benefit of Saul’s thoughts to draw upon, and Dalton knew what he had in mind.

  “Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. What’s the problem?”

  Dalton twisted his body to face his younger brother. “I mean real loyalty, little brother. Not playground stuff. He has this group, this… organization.”

  Connor’s brow furrowed. “What organization?”

  Dalton lifted his hand to his temple and rubbed. He hadn’t planned to tell Connor about any of this today. He hadn’t intended to tell him at all, to be honest, but the action of his parents had changed everything. Now, he badly needed guidance—they both did—and his instincts told him that Morrison could provide what they needed.

  “It’s called The Syndicate.”

  Connor laughed. “The Syndicate? What are they into, Dalton—bingo?”

  Dalton shook his head. “It’s no laughing matter,” he retorted. “They’re into everything, Connor: drugs, women, fraud and I suspect, some gangland crime.”

  Connor started at that, taking a deep breath before he replied. “I didn’t see that coming,” he admitted. “Saul always seems so charming.”

  “He’s charming, alright,” Dalton agreed. “Prince fucking charming.”

  “But, he can help us?”

  Dalton’s jaw tensed. “I think so. I mean, he’s powerful. He knows people, and he can take care of us—physically and financially—if that’s what we want.”

  Connor gazed off into space for a moment. “And what does he want in return?” he asked again. “I mean, what does he really want? Hired help? Bouncers? What?”

  “All of that and more.”

  Dalton’s tone was foreboding because that’s how he felt. He knew they needed Morrison’s protection now. Kitty wasn’t going to be able to look after them for long. She had a family of her own with Uncle Shaun, and anyway, he and Connor were hardly babies anymore. Dalton turned nineteen in just over a month.

  “He wants our time, Connor. Our time and attention.” He threw the whole weight of his stare at his brother to ensure Connor fully understood the severity of what he was being told. “And if we move in with him in London, that’s what he’ll expect. That we will be there for the group, no matter what.”

  It was Connor’s turn to sigh. “I like Saul,” he replied. “He’s been a good friend to you, I think, and in some ways, he’s been a surrogate father to me.”

  Dalton nodded. He knew that much was true. Connor had looked up to Saul since the first time they’d met.

  “So, what do we have to lose, brother?” Connor stared at him with one of those expressions that just begged to be contradicted. “As I see it, the only thing I have left to lose now is you, so if you’re coming with me, then there is nothing else.”

  Dalton’s lips curled at Connor’s words. Perhaps there was a heart in that dark shell of his, after all?

  “So, you want to join this Syndicate then?” he probed. “Because, once you’re in, there’s no getting out.”

  Connor rolled his eyes again. “Whoa, it sounds heavy, bro.”

  Dalton snorted as he slid the key into the ignition. “If you think that’s heavy, just wait until you hear the group motto.”

  “What?” Connor replied with a chuckle. “They have a motto?”

  “They sure do.”

  “Come on then. Let’s hear it,” Connor demanded as Dalton pulled the car away from the bleak place.

  Glancing into his rear-view mirror, Dalton took one lingering look at the last view his mother would have seen. “You bleed for us; we bleed for you.”

  Chapter One

  November, 1969

  Ethan

  Ethan drove for a couple of hours in peace. There were few other cars on the road that day, although there had been an irritating tailgater who’d lingered so close to his trunk that at one point, he’d considered pulling over to discuss the matter. But then, he remembered Lily, tucked up beautifully in the back, and Ethan thought better of the idea.

  Tuning into his wife’s thoughts again, Ethan could sense nothing but darkness—actual blackness—like the shroud of dark that covered her in the trunk. For a moment, he tensed, wondering if he should be concerned, but then he recalled his last instruction to her before he’d cranked up the radio. Could it be that little Lily had finally done as she was told and fallen asleep? His lips curled at the idea, but he reasoned he should probably check on her. Just in case. Lily had led a pretty sheltered life until she’d met him, and she wasn’t used to sleeping in the trunk of a car, and anyway, he realized he just wanted to see her again. Ethan wanted to see those large, imploring eyes and that perfect little gagged mouth, his cock stirring at the mere thought.

  He was just considering where he should pull over to check on Lily when the sound of a siren caught his attention. That wasn’t unusual, especially where he lived down south, but they hadn’t seen many emergency vehicles since they’d taken their impromptu trip to Scotland. Glancing in his rear-view mirror, he saw the police car approach with speed, before it pulled into the outside lane, and the officer driving signaled for him to pull over. Ethan blinked at the older looking man for a second as his heart jumped into his throat.

  They know!

  The admission rang around his mind like the dull echo of an old church bell.

  They must know about Lily, or why would they be pulling him over?

  Calm down, his rational mind reassured him. It’s probably nothing. Most likely a tail light had burned out or something else small. Nothing to get jittery about. Don’t give yourself away.

  Ethan glanced across at the officers, clocking the younger looking guy in the passenger seat. Shit, there were two of them. That was going to be harder to negotiate than he first thought, especially if things went badly.

  The driver raised his hand for a second time, gesturing for Ethan to pull over.

  Ethan had no more time to think, and it all seemed to happen in a split second. He knew if he sped away he’d look guilty, and anyhow, they already had his registration and now they had seen his face. He had no choice. He had to concede.

  Fuck.

  Indicating left, he pulled off
the main road onto the hard shoulder, and watched as the police car came to a halt in front. Ethan scrutinized the older officer getting out of the vehicle, his heart pounding as he stepped out of his car to join him. As was usual, Ethan towered over the guy, and he used his height to its full advantage as he addressed the policeman.

  “Is there a problem, officer?”

  “Is this your vehicle, sir?”

  Standard tactics then, his mind retorted. Isn’t that always the first line the fuzz asked?

  “Yes, it is,” Ethan answered, watching as the second guy stepped out of the police car and sauntered around the other side of the vehicle. “What seems to be the problem?”

  The older man paused, his attention temporarily diverted to his colleague who was now at the back of Ethan’s car. He turned, panic blooming at the way the younger officer was scrutinizing the number plate.

  “I think you should take a look at this.” The younger guy’s voice was gravelly and serious as he beckoned his colleague over. “Bring him with you.”

  Ethan’s heart was hammering so hard he began to wonder if the police could hear it. He knew someone who would be able to, but the question was this, was she going to keep quiet for him? His belly clenched at the thought.

  Why should she, the voice in his mind taunted. You fucking locked her in there—why should she be quiet?

  Because she loves me, he concluded with a sigh as he closed the distance to where the other officer was standing. She’ll keep quiet because she loves me.

  He had just rounded the corner of the trunk when the officer beside him drew his baton from his belt.

  Ethan’s eyes widened with shock as he raised it in the air. “What is this about?” he demanded.

  “I think we’ll need to see inside the back of the car, sir,” sneered the younger of the two. “Now, please.”

  Ethan’s gaze shifted from the older guy to his left, meeting the eyes of the younger cop for a moment before his focus fell upon the trunk. What he saw there nearly made his heart stop. The tail light on his left side had been completely smashed—from the inside by the looks of it—and all he could see was part of a black boot sticking out where the light had been.