by Trim, Brenda
The hurt that emanated from her cut me like a hot knife. And it is throwing me off my game. I can’t recall a time when I have been distraught by someone else’s emotions. There’s no reason I should feel bad about her being upset. Every word I said is the truth. There is no future for us.
I enjoy my life and the freedom to indulge my inner predator whenever I want. Women bring complications. I’d seen enough between Lucius and his mate, Selene to know how my sire’s world now revolves around the female. For the first time since waking up a vampire, I’ve seen my sire look to another to help him make decisions.
Relying on another is weak. Well, that was the sentiment of most of Lucius’s sired. I believed it until this very moment. Since meeting Harper, I have a new outlook on things.
The relationship with Selene doesn’t weaken Lucius, but it does leave him vulnerable. Lucius has a weakness that an enemy can exploit which is dangerous for a vampire of his status. I contemplated taking off when given the chance a while back but made a decision to remain by Lucius’s side and I refuse to go against him now.
Forget about all that. I turn to Maximus. “Do you need anything before I head to Lucius’s house?”
Maximus shakes his head. “We need answers and soon. I’m fucking tired of shit going down and us being dragged into the middle of it.”
“Agreed,” I echo his sentiment. “We’ve weeded out the traitors. I hoped we’d be free to go about our business. We aren’t killing anyone, and we have abolished the slave auctions. Besides the fact that our meals are more than willing. What they don’t know doesn’t hurt them.”
Maximus runs his hand over his jaw as he glances around the dungeon as it comes back to life with vampires bringing their playthings back to the main room. For the first time in a long time I’m not scoping the scene for a willing woman.
“There will always be trouble from the fucking shifters. Good luck with the woman tonight. I don’t think you’ll be playing with her again,” Maximus says with a chuckle.
“Fuck off, asshole. I got what I wanted from her already. Talk to you later,” I tell him before heading up the stairs. There is no reason to linger and give away the turmoil churning in my gut.
My fangs punch out of my gums and my cock hardens in my pants as I climb to the coat room. My body is acting as if I didn’t nearly drain Harper dry mere hours ago while fucking her senseless. There’s no way I can deny my body is calling me a liar for what I told Maximus. It wants more from Harper.
I doubt I will ever stop craving her and her blood.
* * *
Harper
My apartment is the same as when I left twenty-four hours ago. It’s only been one day? Holy crap. An eternity has passed in that time frame and I am no longer the same person I was when I walked out my front door.
It hardly seems possible for someone to undergo such dramatic changes in such a short period of time. I’d say it is all because I am no longer a virgin, but that wouldn’t be entirely true.
If I had sex with anyone else, I suspect I would be sore, but that’s about it. My heart got involved without my knowing and is now in pieces that I am gluing back together. I’ve always been perfectly imperfect. Now my insides match the rest. Even when I am whole again, I will never be the same. It doesn’t take my knowing for me to believe that down to my bones.
Setting my purse down, I turn to the shifter that entered behind me. “Would you like anything to drink?”
Selene puts the gnome figurine back in my tiny fairy garden and turns my way. “There’s no time for a drink. Lucius will barge into your house if we aren’t back there within ten minutes.”
“I figured as much, but I refuse to allow this messed up situation to destroy everything about who I am. Stupid as you might think it is, I care about your comfort while I gather a few things,” I explain with a shrug of my shoulders.
Selene smiles at me and waves down the hall. “You’ve got courage, Harper. It’s one of the reasons I like you.”
I don’t care if she likes me or not. I want to get through the next few days and return to my life, putting all of this behind me. I keep that to myself and focus on grabbing my toiletries from the bathroom. “Nothing’s missing or out of place. Have shifters been in here?”
“No one has been in here except you. The scent I caught in the parking lot was faint. I doubt any have been here since you left last night. If I had to guess, they assume Liam took you away and drained you.”
My hand goes to the mark Liam gave me earlier. Images of what he did to my body flash through my mind, making my body heat up. Calling up the distant look on his face when he told Lucius he wanted nothing more from me, I quell the arousal before it becomes an inferno.
“Have you ever encountered someone that smells like me before?” I ask to change the subject and hopefully get answers I need.
Selene shakes her head from side to side. “Nope. You’re unique.”
“Of course, I am. I’m fabulous. My scent gave the Kardashians inspiration for their perfume line,” I quip as I walk into my bedroom.
Selene chuckles as she follows behind me. “I wondered how those women managed to create something that smelled half decent. They didn’t get your pizazz quite right though.”
I stop stuffing underwear in my overnight bag and tilt my head her way. “Pizazz?”
Waving a hand through the air, Selene explains, “I can’t quite describe it. Your scent is earthy and rich, but not primal like that of a shifter. It almost sparkles, or bubbles or something.”
“If you met my parents you would know there is nothing special about me,” I insist. I want to be everything she describes, and more. All my life I have been ordinary and a good little girl. Now, it’s my time to be who I want, and do what I want. “My parents work and go to church, and that’s it. Moving to Tucson is the most exciting thing I have ever done.”
“Where are you from?”
“A suburb about an hour or so from Salt Lake City, Utah.” Grabbing some pajamas, I add them to the bag then head over and grab slacks and a blouse for work from the closet. I realize the only shoes I have are the too big ones Liam bought me. Kicking them off, I shove my feet into some slip-ons and grab my tennis shoes.
“Ready?”
“Not really, but I know I have no choice. Will I be able to go to work tomorrow?”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Selene heads out of the apartment, leaving me to fall in behind her. “Shifters aren’t stopped by the sunlight like vampires are. And shifters are the ones you need to fear at the moment.”
“Yeah, because there’s no risk from a vampire drinking my blood,” I blurt as I lock my front door. I’m shocked no one robbed me while I was gone. My door was unlocked, making it easy for anyone to enter. I hadn’t even thought about my place being unsecured, so I’m doubly glad Lucius agreed to take me home.
“You don’t have to worry about that while staying with us. We have guards, but Lucius will make sure no one approaches you. What exactly is your relationship with Liam, anyway?”
I drop my keys in my purse and turn to the stairs. “You heard him. There is no relationship between us.”
“But there was,” she insists.
A growl nearly slips from my lips, but I bite it back and end up sighing heavily. “He saved me last night from a guy that was strangling me, then took me to his house. He, uh, fed from me twice and had sex with me. It meant nothing to him. And, it won’t be happening again. I don’t belong in this world.”
“You’re right. Liam can’t turn you into a vampire, and Lucius isn’t likely to either. Sires are at risk of being killed by their sired.”
“You mean Liam has tried to kill Lucius before?” That’s almost as shocking as discovering vampires are real. Liam has always professed loyalty to his sire.
“No. He hasn’t, but many others have. Lucius is one of the oldest vampires and he has sired many. But he has been forced to kill them when they turn on him. And they have inevit
ably turned on him. That’s actually how I met him,” she explains as we cross the parking lot to the waiting Vampire King.
“You were involved in a plot to kill Lucius?”
Selene smiles and nods her head. “I tried to kill him shortly after we met.”
“What?” I blurt and stop walking.
“Long story short, I was manipulated to believe he killed my pack and my family. The vampire that saved me raised me to kill Lucius when the time came. Lucius bought me at a shifter slave auction and took me home. Once I was in his house, I plotted and planned and fell in love with him,” she shares as we approach the car.
She opens the back door for me and finishes, “When it came down to it, I couldn’t do what I was trained for.”
“What’s that?” Lucius asks as Selene climbs into the seat in front of me.
“I was telling her our story.”
A smile spreads across the vampire king’s face and he looks over at Selene with more love and devotion than I thought possible. “Ah, yes. My favorite story.”
I want a man to regard me the same way Lucius does Selene. Neither of them has to say they would die or kill for the other. It’s obvious in the way he leans toward her and clasps her hand as he drives.
With emotion burning in the back of my throat, I remind myself that I only had a day to believe Liam might be the one for me. He didn’t manage to work his way too deep in my heart.
I can kick my ass after this is all said and done for giving him the gift of my virginity.
* * *
Liam
What the fuck is he doing here? I wonder as I park next to Garrett’s motorcycle in front of Lucius’s house. I don’t want to deal with the alpha right now.
I want to drag Harper to one of the many bedrooms and tie her to the bed. She needs to be reminded how I make her body come apart. There’s no one else that can give her the pleasure I can.
We have a few more days at least before we figure out what’s going on and what to do about it, so we might as well enjoy every second while we are together. She hates you now, asshole.
I snarl at the untimely reminder from my subconscious. She doesn’t hate me, I deny. It was good that she heard right away there is no future for us. Human women are far clingier than shifters or vampires. Female vampires are far more likely to rip my head off than want to cuddle after sex.
Cuddling is a foreign concept to me. I’ve never spent time with women after intercourse. Before turning I was young and impetuous and usually scurrying out a window before I was discovered by a father or husband.
After I turned it was centuries before a woman was alive after I fed from her. Since gaining control I have no desire to linger and talk to the woman. I erase my bite from her mind and move on. Rarely am I with the same woman twice. There’s a risk any time a vampire wipes a mind.
If we start leaving a trail of mindless women behind us, we will have more problems with the shifters, and possibly humans. No thank you.
Harper is different. I can admit that much. I wanted to take her to the bed and wrap her in my arms earlier. All the more reason to make it clear, more to myself, apparently, that things will never go further between us.
“Garrett,” I greet as I exit my Jag and shut the door.
The alpha hangs his helmet from one of his handlebars and extends his hand. “Liam. Good to see you. I hear you’re the one who encountered shifters at the human’s apartment.”
“I did. Do you have some information?” I ask as I rap my knuckles against one of the doors.
“Nothing new. I’m hoping to ask the woman some questions.”
My hackles rise, coupled with the urge to punch my fist through his pretty face. No one questions Harper, but me and my king.
Shaking my head, I rein in my temper and take a deep breath. My fucking fangs punch out, ready to rip his throat out next. I need to chill the fuck out before I cause problems for Lucius.
“Garrett. Liam,” Lucius says as he opens the door a second later. “Did I hear you say you want to ask Harper questions?”
Garrett steps over the threshold when my sire holds the panel open and extends his hand to his home. “You did. I need more information to give my trackers. They weren’t able to follow the scents from her apartment complex earlier today.”
I follow the two leaders and marvel at the calm conversation. Tension thrums between the two, making it clear their alliance is on shaky ground. We killed shifters in the club last night, but we did call and inform Garrett right away.
“I take it the bodies were a dead end then,” Lucius interjects as he heads deeper into his home.
I hear Harper gasp and hurry my footsteps, expecting there to be trouble. When I enter the living room. I see her staring at a throne with a Sybian on it and two dildos attached to the top. Her cheeks are a lovely shade of pink that make me think of how her ass turned the same color when I used my flogger on her.
My cock goes rock hard in a second, forcing me to subtly adjust my stance when my jeans pinch it uncomfortably. Within seconds Harper’s arousal floods the room. I tilt my head and notice Lucius laughing while Selene is gazing at him with heated eyes.
“I don’t want to know what you do in this house, Lucius.” Garrett pointedly looks away from the Sybian.
Selene lets out a laugh, low and sensuous.
Harper turns with her face flaming red now and wraps an arm around her waist.
I take a step forward and grab her hand then bring it to my lips and kiss the back of it. I hold her tighter when she tries to pull it out of my grasp. “Would you like to try it?” I don’t bother to whisper. Vampires and shifters have super hearing, but I don’t care. My shaft is now steel in my pants.
The image of Harper sitting on the vibrator with her head thrown back as she cries out her climax plays through my mind, making me want to strip her and put her on the thing right then and there. Forget about Garrett and his questions. I want to see her lost in rapture.
“Not going to happen, vamp. You should have stayed at Club Toxic. Then you’d have a chance to get some before turning in for the day,” she snarls at me.
“Life is never boring in your world, Lucius,” Garrett mutters. “Leaving Liam’s sex life to another day, I was hoping to ask you a few questions. Harper, right?”
Harper swallows and her body starts to shake before she lowers her hands to her sides and lifts her chin. The shaking stops and she meets Garrett head on. Not many humans look in an alpha’s eyes. They sense the danger he poses and innately submit to his power.
“Yes, it’s Harper. Who are you?” she asks with a voice that only squeaks a little bit.
“I’m Garrett. The Tucson alpha,” he replies and extends his hand to her.
When her hand clasps his, I almost rip Garrett’s arm from its socket. The male should not touch what’s mine. No, I correct the thought right away. She’s not mine. I am here to protect her then send her back to her life.
Maybe if I say it enough, I will start to believe it.
“So, you can’t tell me why these shifters are after me?”
Lucius pulls Selene in front of his body and wraps his arms around her waist, holding her to him. Harper looks their way and her expression softens, a smile gracing her lips. At that moment her light brightens the entire room. Hell, the entire planet. The urge to wrap her in my arms is almost impossible to ignore.
“I’m hoping I can get some answers. I don’t recognize any of the shifters that attacked the club last night and none of my scouts recognize the scents left behind at your apartment. They might be rogues for all I know, and if that’s the case we aren’t likely to find answers.”
“There’s no sign of an alpha nearby?” Lucius asks before I can.
Garrett shakes his head. “Not that I can find, yet.”
“We don’t want rogues in our territory,” Selene adds with a lift of her upper lip. I can see the hint of her fangs when she does that. Being a shifter-vampire hybrid, she’s unique in
our world. And very powerful.
“What’s wrong with rogues?” Harper asks.
“Rogues have no alpha to lead or control them. They can cause all sorts of problems and get out of control if left too long. A lone wolf isn’t as dangerous. It’s when they band together that shit usually hits the fan and someone gets a bright idea to take over territory. When that happens lots of humans die and the threat of exposure becomes a very real possibility,” Garrett explains.
A shudder moves through Harper, and I can’t ignore her fear anymore. The scent makes her completely irresistible for me. I blur and stand at her side and wrap an arm around her shoulders.
“Don’t worry. We will protect you and make sure nothing happens to you,” I vow then place a kiss to the top of her head.
I lift my head and notice the look Lucius and Garrett are both giving me. Flipping them off, I growl low in my throat. “Just because we’re killers doesn’t mean we have to be savages. Harper is new to our world. We can show her a little compassion.”
“I agree,” Garrett says. “I just don’t usually hear that sentiment from you leeches. Anyway, can you tell me any reason you might be a target, Harper?”
She takes a step away from me and shrugs off my arm. I want to growl at her and tug her to my side again, but I leave it for the time being. “No. I told Liam I don’t go around peeing on trees to mark my territory. My life is simple and boring. Besides, I just moved here and don’t really know anyone outside of work.”
“Is that what he told you we do?” Garrett asks with one of his eyebrows lifted to his hairline.
Shaking her head, Harper denies I gave her that information. “No. He never said that. He mentioned shifters don’t like when someone tries to take over their territory, and I, well uh…added that last part. I assumed that’s how you mark what’s yours.”