by Alexa Silver
“I’m the head of the council, Garoul. I’ve seen all the evidence against you. And this is my verdict.”
Garoul’s body began to smoke and he struggled to get out of Caden’s iron grip. Caden released him just as the vampire’s body erupted into flames. Serena shielded her eyes from the sudden flare and when she looked again, Garoul’s charred form slid down the window and out of sight to the ground below.
Leaping toward the glass, she peered frantically out. Caden was nowhere to be seen. But there was a large pile of ash on the ground under the window.
“No! Caden, no!” she cried, squeezing her eyes shut tight against the sight.
Then she heard a familiar knock at the front door that weakly beat a distinctive tattoo.
She lifted her bowed head, her tear-streaked face turning toward the front door.
“Caden!” Serena raced to the security console and waited impatiently for the green strobe to scan her eyes and ask her to repeat her name. A second later, the door unlocked. She flung it open. The Vampire Bloom that hung loosely in her fingers burst into ash the instant the first sunbeam hit it.
Caden filled the doorway, standing unsteadily in the full sunlight, disheveled and badly beaten almost beyond recognition.
“Problem solved, honey.” He gifted her with a bloody grin and collapsed in a smoking heap at her feet.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Serena waddled down the corridor to the executive suites of Chase Industries, Inc. Stopping by Vanessa’s cubicle she dropped a small box on her friend’s desk.
Vanessa peeked under the lid and glanced up excitedly. “A whole box of blood chocolates? No way!”
Serena held a finger to her lips. “Don’t rat me out. I snagged one of the prototype boxes from the culinary lab.”
“Cool! Thank you so much, Serena. I’ve been dying to try these.” Vanessa was already popping one of the dainty-looking vampire chocolates shaped like a heart into her mouth. She rolled her eyes in pleasure, her fangs coming out just a touch. By now the sight of the occasional fang or two around the office was no big surprise to Serena.
“No problem. We women have to stick together on matters of chocolate. Female solidarity.”
She glanced at Caden’s closed office door. The glass wall partition was set to opaque so she couldn’t see inside. “I’ll just pop in and say hi.”
Vanessa’s mouth was stuffed with confection so she could only nod her response. She tried to say something but whatever she was saying came out muffled.
Serena smoothed the front of her bright yellow maternity top that made her feel as though she was a bloated bumblebee. Caden loved her in that color, however, so she wore it for him often. Along with pinks, pale greens, pastel blues, any happy color one might find emblazoned on an Easter egg, in fact.
She walked through the door of her husband’s office and found herself instantly wrapped inside his protective arms in welcome. She arched against him, enjoying the feel of him and his unique cool, wintergreen scent.
“Watch it, mister,” she smiled up at him when he finally lifted his head. We’re still on the clock and we all know what a stickler you are for conducting business by the book.”
He frowned, ignoring her quips. “Should you still be on your feet? I don’t like these long hours you’ve been working with the team. They’re efficient enough. We need to cut you back to part-time now that the due date is so close. You look pale. What did you eat for lunch? Your ankles look swollen. Here, sit down.”
She smiled as much at his rapid-fire questions as at the authoritative way he solicitously lowered her into a plush chair. He rested his hand with tender possessiveness on her swollen belly that looked ready to pop any second.
“He sounds just like you did when I was in my third trimester, Claude.” An amused female voice sounded from the other end of the office.
As soon as the words hit her keen ears, Serena instinctively scented the air with her sensitive nose. She detected two strangers in Caden’s office. One was a vampire. Definitely. The other smelled superhuman, like she did now after Caden changed her into his Blood Mate a few weeks after he destroyed Garoul.
Her mind snapped backward in time to a few months ago to when Caden’s sure lips and fingers on all the most private and sensitive parts of her body had her begging for his fangs on her neck and her inner thigh. On his bed in his Malibu fortress, he’d used a weapon more powerful than mind thrall to take her as his Blood Mate. Quite simply, he’d seduced her mercilessly until the momentous occasion occurred, much to her delight.
She had to admit he’d played his hand well to win her complete trust and surrender in the weeks after he’d collapsed at her feet, smoking from the sunlight but able to withstand the rays longer than Garoul had thanks to the drops of her blood in his system. Even so, he’d been ready to burst into ash until she’d pulled this smoking body into the foyer and slammed the door.
Somehow, she’d half-dragged, half-carried him to a sofa in his study on the lower floor of his home. She’d had a hunch that a few drops of blood from her still oozing hand would perk him right up. It did, just as soon as she’d pressed the blood dripping from her fingers to his mouth.
He’d sucked powerfully at her cuts. She felt herself flow into his mouth, felt him grow stronger under her hand, and knew all at once that she’d done the right thing.
Within seconds, his was completely healed. He also had a raging hard on for her he couldn’t hide if he tried, not that he bothered to conceal it. When he took her in his arms for their first proper kiss, the heartfelt lust he thrust into her mind when his tongue invaded her mouth almost made her come right there.
Yet in spite of their explosive sexual chemistry, he had refused to penetrate her, much to her wild objections. He hadn’t allowed either of them full release until, writhing under him with her legs wrapped around his waist, she’d pleaded to be his for all time.
He’d made her repeat those words many times over weeks of nights before finally obliging both of their desires. Naked and poised above her nude and spread-eagled body, his fangs had tenderly teased the excited gooseflesh of her neck that she offered him without reservation. He’d accepted the gift with reverence, almost veneration, when biting and thrusting inside her in a beautiful double penetration of his fangs in her neck and his cock in her pussy.
She’d never felt so alive, or so full of love, as when she knew she belonged to him entirely from that moment on.
Now, scenting strangers in his office, Serena rose and whirled around with near preternatural speed in spite of her big belly. She saw a handsome couple standing at the opposite end of Caden’s large office.
The man was clearly a vampire. Handsome in a mesmerizing way and impeccably dressed in sporty casual attire, he appeared to be in his late thirties with eyes a little darker green than Caden’s.
The woman looked to be in her early thirties. She was beautiful but not in a perfect, stiff vampire way. She had an easy smile and a scent that was more akin to human, yet different, thanks to the Blood Change. She was clearly the male vampire’s Blood Mate.
Serena’s eyes widened in pleasure and flashed to Caden, silently full of questions.
Your parents arrived in town early?
They did. I was just about to call and tell you.
Caden broke off their mind link for the moment and drew her toward them. “Serena, I’d like to introduce you to Claude and Emily Chase.”
She came forward to greet her in-laws.
“Oh! I’ve heard so much about you both.”
“As we have about you.” Emily smiled a roguish tomboy’s grin and kissed her on both cheeks, European style. Serena liked her immediately.
Serena extended her hand to shake Claude’s hand but he lifted the back of it to touch his lips with an easy, old world charm that men of the twenty-first century could never pull off. “We’re sorry we haven’t visited sooner, my dear.” She couldn’t quite place his accent, but it defin
itely wasn’t American. Or Transylvanian, for that matter.
“Claude’s on the EU Vampire Council and I’m afraid it keeps him busier than I’d like. But we couldn’t miss the birth of our first grandchild.”
They sat and chatted amicably for a while longer with Caden and Serena before the other couple rose to take their leave.
“We’ll see you both tonight for dinner, I hope?” Emily made the invitation sound warm and hopeful, not at all pushy.
Serena grinned. “I certainly hope so. I’m eating for two now. And I do!” Indeed, her appetite had been incredible ever since her first trimester. And the cravings! Forget peanut butter and pickles. She couldn’t get enough steak tartare and popcorn, of all things.
After Caden’s parents departed, Serena turned to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I adore them. They are going to be wonderful grandparents,” she quipped. “I have tons of questions for them. Hey! I’ll finally find out how old you are.” She shot him a speculative look. “Actually, you don’t look much younger than they do.”
He kissed her neck lingeringly, letting her feel a hint of fang scraping across her tender skin. Just the way he did whenever they had sex, even this late into her pregnancy. Her toes curled recalling how he’d entered her from behind that morning, his arm draped possessively across her pregnant stomach, waking her from a delicious dream into an even more delicious reality.
“I’ll spare you digging around for family details at dinner,” he said in mock surrender. “My parents met at a society ball in New York City in 1899. My mother was an eighteen-year-old debutante. She made my father chase her for two years until she agreed finally to be his Blood Mate. I was born in 1903.”
“Hmm. Maybe I should have made you chase me for years, instead of giving in so quickly to be your Blood Mate. A woman should play hard to get. But you’re such an old timer, a nimble young thing like me might have gotten away.”
“Never.” He caught her up in his arms, caressing her rounded belly. “I’d have gone mad if you had kept me waiting any longer than you did. I still can’t believe you’re mine. Forever.”
“Well don’t forget, I did blackmail you into the whole thing to begin with. So I get all the credit.”
“As long as I’m the only vampire you ever try to blackmail, you can have anything you want from me, Mrs. Chase.”
She smiled, seeing their limitless future in his green eyes. It was full of sunlight, with no shadows in it.
About the Author
Belle Scarlett
By day, she's a mild-mannered story consultant, film producer, and award-winning screenwriter in Lost Angeles. By night, she assumes her super-secret identity as Belle Scarlett, author of futuristic and paranormal romances with a high sizzle factor. Aiding her in her quest for kick-ass, magical romance and out-of-this-world, passionate-ever-afters are her trusty sidekicks, Tall-Alpha-Blue-Eyed Boyfriend, upon whom her heroes are based, and The Evil Feral Cat, upon whom her villains are based.
If you liked Serena and Caden’s story, stay tuned for full-length Blood Mate stories coming soon from Belle’s magic quill.
Website: www.bellescarlett.com
Twitter: @scarlettwoman1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/belle.scarlett
Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1463246.Belle_Scarlett
The Loch Ness Monster, Romeo, and Julio
Berengaria Brown
Chapter 1
“You aren’t serious? Stop teasing me and be sensible.” Fraser Campbell stared at Cameron MacDonald. “What do you really plan to do on our free days between when the London conference ends and the Glasgow one begins? Isn’t there a train or something we can catch from London to Paris? We could spend a few days in the city of lovers.”
He’d hoped being sent by their company to these conferences would help them firm up a sort-of-friendship into something much stronger. But although they’d been sitting beside each other on a hellishly long flight from DC to Heathrow, that was as close as he’d managed to get to Cam so far.
Cam was determined to learn everything he could at the Cutting Edge of Technology conferences. He’d attended every session and had taken an entire notebook full of details about everything. There’d been no long, boozy lunches, and certainly no cozy nights tucked up together in bed. Surely on these three brief days between the two conferences he could wiggle his way into Cam’s bed?
But one look at Cam’s set face and determined jawline told Fraser he was serious. Dammit!
“You don’t have to hang out with me. If you want to go to Paris, go. There’s the Eurostar train, or you could fly. It’s not far. But I’m going to Loch Ness. I want to see Nessie, the Loch Ness monster.”
“It’s not real. It’s a myth, a fairytale for children and the gullible.”
“I want to see for myself.”
“Next you’ll be telling me UFOs are real.”
“Maybe they are. It doesn’t matter. I’m flying to Glasgow tomorrow morning and then renting a car and driving to Loch Ness. You can come if you want to, but I don’t mind what you do. We aren’t joined at the hip. We just both work for Zeke’s.”
It hurt Fraser when Cam spoke like that. No, they weren’t in a relationship. But Fraser wanted to be. He knew Cam was the man for him even when Cam spoke so roughly and hurtfully. Fraser wanted to explain to Cam how much he meant to him, but he knew Cam wouldn’t listen. The time wasn’t yet right.
Instead he said, “They drive on the wrong side of the road here, you know. And the cars are different as well.”
“I know. It’s going to be fun figuring it all out. I’d like you to come with me. You’ll enjoy the scenery, won’t you?”
Fraser knew an olive branch when it was being offered.
“Okay. I’ll change my flight and go tomorrow morning as well. Take me to your mythical monster.”
*****
Cam was really glad Fraser had come with him. Finding his way out of the airport, in a car with everything in it backward, and driving on the wrong side of the road was a hair-raising experience. Without Fraser’s calm voice reminding him to get in the left lane to turn, or to use the right lane to pass, he might have given up and caught the train. But they would need the car to get around Loch Ness when they arrived, and he was confident he could get the hang of this driving on the incorrect side of the road thing soon. Well, make that soon-ish.
By the time they reached Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park he was more than ready to pull into the parking lot and get out and walk around. The roads were narrow, like two-lane narrow, yet this was an A road which was a designation meaning it was considered to be an important road. Well it wasn’t like any freeway he’d ever driven on before.
“This is very pretty. Mind you, the Eiffel Tower would have been pretty as well,” said Fraser.
Cam laughed. “It might be easier to climb these hills than the Eiffel Tower though.”
Laughing and happy, they walked along the side of the loch and then stood and watched as passengers got on and off the water bus. They went inside a small café and each ate a sandwich, and then Cam was ready to tackle the narrow, winding roads again.
By now he’d gotten the hang of driving. Instead of switching on the lights when he meant to use the turn signals, he mostly did the right thing first try. In turn, that meant he began to relax and talk to Fraser properly about the scenery they passed and Scotland in general.
“So why this ambition to go to Loch Ness, Cam? I mean, I understand that Cameron and MacDonald are old Scottish names, but I still don’t understand why Loch Ness.”
“Because it’s there?”
“So is Paris. And Paris is a whole lot closer to London as well.”
Cam shook his head as he concentrated on driving around some nasty tight curves in the narrow road. “Actually they’re both exactly the same by airplane. A seventy minute flight London to Paris or London to Glasgow.”
“Picky, picky, picky. You know
what I mean.”
Cam sighed. Yes he did know what Fraser meant. Paris was the city of lovers and Fraser wanted them to take that next step in their relationship. There was no way he could explain to this man who was his friend, and who had made it crystal clear he was ready to be a whole lot more than a friend, why they could never become lovers. Why they could never be partners no matter how much both of them wanted that.
“Loch Ness is the largest body of fresh water in Britain. There’s more water in Loch Ness than in all the other lakes in England, Scotland, and Wales added together.”
“And this matters because?”
“I’m getting there, don’t rush me. Because it’s so huge, the water temperature below one hundred feet deep never changes. It’s always forty-four degrees. So the upper level of water might warm or cool but underneath remains the same. That’s why the water steams at times. The upper level of water cools in winter and then it sinks and is replaced by the warmer water from below. Hence the steam. And that’s when people see Nessie. I guess she comes up to see what’s going on.”
“But this isn’t winter, its spring,” argued Fraser.
“It’s also when we were sent here, remember. Zeke’s paid the airfares for us, and the accommodation, and the conference fees. That’s why we’re here.”
“I’m pretty sure you haven’t answered the question,” said Fraser.
No, he hadn’t, not exactly, because the answer was just as weird as the Loch Ness monster and not half as fascinating. Ever since the Battle of Glencoe on 13 February 1692 the Campbells and the MacDonalds had been bitter enemies and nothing could change that. His family would have hysterics if he began dating a Campbell. It’d taken them years to accept that he was gay, never mind throwing their worst enemies into the mix.
“Aren’t you intrigued by the idea that a prehistoric creature might be hiding beneath the waters of the lake? Every now and then some fishermen in the oceans catch some amazing prehistoric fish but no one has ever caught more than a glimpse of Nessie. She’s too smart for that.