Taming the Vampire: Over 25 All New Paranormal Alpha Male Tales of Contemporary, Military, Shifters, Billionaires, Werewolves, Magic, Fae, Witches, Dragons, Demons & More

by Mandy M. Roth

  It’s a myth that vampires can’t walk in sunlight, only the most allergic of us will die from it’s rays, but it’s not fun and it hurts like hell to do. Which is why we tend to become nocturnal.

  I’d have to wait to see Mercer later tonight. It was enough to know that they’d released him. He was safe.

  For now.

  But when I pulled up to my quaint, little cottage that Mercer had helped me build not to soon after becoming one of the walking undead, I saw his large, powerful body unfurl from the porch swing.

  My stomach gave a lurch. I parked and hopped out as fast as possible, rushing up the stairs and into his arms only a second later.

  He squeezed me so hard that had I been anything other than Veiler, he’d have crushed my ribs.

  When I finally pulled back, his eyes were anguished and exhausted. I knew what he wanted, even if he wouldn’t ask for it.

  Taking his hand in mine, I turned toward my door and opened it. Neither of us spoke a word as we walked toward my room.

  I’d had a witch spell the room to remain perpetually shadowed and dark. I don’t like crypts and hate the thought of being buried alive. Mercer always tells me I act far too human for my own good, but I can’t help it, and I hope to God that never changes with me.

  Only once we’d walked through the door did he let go of my hand. I kicked it shut just as I witnessed his transformation from man to something incredible and powerful.

  The large gray wolf sat back on his haunches, his emerald eyes glowing like neon in the dark of my room. A soft whimper spilled off his tongue.

  Mercer had been shaken to the core tonight.

  He’d sworn himself to be my protector, my guardian. I knew what was going through his head because after living as family for so long he was a part of me. I might be a vampire, but my soul was as wild as his.

  If he’d died, I’d be left with no one. Vampires, just like shifters, need a home. A pack if you will.

  Mercer was mine, and I was his.

  He was in pain tonight, hurting, and too ashamed to be around me in his human form. He needed me, but he needed to guard himself too. And so he came to me as his animal.

  I nodded and began to undress.

  We’d never slept together before. I think if he’d stayed with me as a male I wouldn’t have been able to do as I was, but I undressed down to a tank top and panties and padded over to the bed.

  Thankfully it was a Queen size bed fully capable of holding his weight and mine.

  I lay down, and only a second later he jumped up beside me. Curling tight into my body.

  I was cold. He was hot.

  The emotions I’d barely held in check all night now started to bubble to the surface, and I curled into him, grabbing hold of his scruff and burying my face in his thick neck.

  Mercer laid his head on my shoulder, gently licking at my ear as I cried for what I’d almost lost. For what I had lost, and for what our futures held.

  There were three things I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to tell Mercer.

  One. I couldn’t exist in a world without him in it.

  Two. I was afraid of the words Nox had said to me. That I was vampire, but not. That I was more. Was she lying? It didn’t seem to me that she was.

  She’d killed Midas, and it was obvious to me that she’d had a hand in making sure the frame job was impeccable. Without her own damning confession, I’d never have been able to prove Mercer’s innocence.

  Nox had confessed all for a reason. Because she’d wanted me to know. But know what?

  I shivered to think that there was a part of my past, my history that I still knew nothing about.

  Three. And probably worst of all, I now knew who’d betrayed us. Someone who I could never come against, not on my own. Someone who unless I had incontrovertible proof I could never even accuse. Someone who was completely untouchable.

  Clarence. Our Alpha.

  It was no coincidence that Mercer had been betrayed as he was. That the cops had moved as quickly as they had. That his fur had been found at the scene. The aging Alpha, losing his power, had nearly gotten away with the perfect crime.

  Only someone as powerful as him could have pulled this off. I wasn’t sure how he’d learned what I could do, but I doubted it was Jaime.

  Because if it had been, Jaime wouldn’t still be alive. I knew that as surely as I knew the sun would rise in the morning. Clarence would have covered his tracks. Just like he’d tried to cover them tonight.

  Nox should have killed me.

  But she hadn’t. She hadn’t because she’d wanted my power more. Which begged the question; just who did she think I really was? And secondly, did Clarence know what Nox thought she knew?

  I didn’t know the answer to the first, but I knew the answer to the second.

  No.

  Clarence had no clue. The Alpha wants one thing. To retain his power. No matter the cost. Even if it meant conspiring against a beloved son. Whatever Nox thinks I am, it’s powerful.

  I’m just a vampire. Nothing all that special. Not in life, and not really in death.

  Mercer whimpered in his sleep, and I scratched at his big shaggy head. We’d been in this together since the very beginning, and no matter what, I’d always have his six.

  “I’ll take care of you, Merc, I vow to the Ever tree. I’ll always take care of you.”

  And once said, the words could never be unsaid. My life and his were bound and always would be.

  I didn’t know what Nox thought I really was, and it no longer mattered.

  We were home, and we were safe, and for tonight at least, that was good enough.

  The End

  About Selene Charles

  Selene Charles has always had a fascination with things that go bump in the night. Whiskey, Vamps, and Thieves is the first book in the new Southern Vampire Chronicles.

  www.selenecharles.blogspot.com

  Dare to Love by Caridad Pineiro

  Dare to Love by Caridad Pineiro

  The Calling is Reborn Vampire Novels

  Months earlier, Slayer Council member Benjamin hadn’t been ready to die and begged for his life from a compassionate vampire. Being turned and living as a vampire had created a new hell for him, however. He was no longer welcome in the Council, but tolerated as their ranks had been depleted. He knew that it was just a matter of time until someone staked him, but he wanted to make the most of it, especially when it came to Slayer-in-training Rhiannon.

  Rhiannon had been attracted to Ben when he had been her instructor in the ways of the Slayers. His death had caused her grief, but his return was proving to be even more difficult as she battled her growing feelings for the Slayer-turned-vampire who was shaking up her beliefs in all that she had been taught.

  Can Ben and Rhiannon dare to defy the rules of the Slayers and find love or will Fate make them enemies sworn to kill one another?

  Prologue

  New York City, Four Months Ago

  “Don’t fight. It’s easier if you don’t fight,” the vampire said as he lifted Benjamin’s bloodied body into his arms.

  Benjamin struggled to draw his next breath. Battled to open his eyes to see the face of the demon who held him in his powerful embrace. Inside his core, the chill of death was spreading, numbing his body, but his spirit stubbornly clung to life.

  He didn’t want to die. He still had so much to do.

  In the dim light of the underground chamber, the vampire’s face was blurred with dark shadows, his features muted.

  Benjamin needed to see the demon’s face, but one eye was swollen shut from a blow to his head. The other didn’t want to focus as he slowly lost control of his body, but he gathered his remaining reserves and peered at the vampire.

  “Easy,” the vampire, Diego, urged once more. Diego was a vampire elder, a formidable opponent, and yet he held him gently and with infinite compassion.

  Ironic much, Benjamin thought. His own brother, a reject from Slayer training, was the one
who’d spent the better part of the night slicing him up. Who had beaten him. Tortured him. Left him to die alone in the warren of tunnels beneath Central Park.

  With each second that passed, death inched closer, only he wasn’t ready to give up so easily.

  Drawing in a shaky breath, blood gurgled in his lungs as he drowned in it. When he spoke, the metallic taste of his lifeblood spiced his mouth.

  “Don’t. . .want . . .die.”

  Diego’s body tensed beside him. “Do you know what you’re asking, Slayer?”

  All he could manage was a weak bobble of his head and a harshly whispered, “Yes.”

  A shudder ripped across the demon and a weak heartbeat later, a neon glow brightened the vampire’s eyes warning that he had transformed from his human form.

  “Are you sure, Benjamin?” Diego pressed, his voice tinged with the animal rumble of the beast, and Benjamin understood.

  As a Slayer, he was authorized to sanction any vampire who turned a human.

  As a vampire elder, what Diego was about to do would empower an enemy.

  He somehow managed to bring his hand up and grasped Diego’s. “Not ready to die,” he said with the last of his strength.

  “But are you ready to live like a demon?”

  “Yes,” he murmured since he could barely draw a breath as he teetered on death’s doorstep.

  Diego didn’t hesitate. He tenderly brought Benjamin closer and bent his head close to Benjamin’s neck.

  The graze of the vampire’s fangs on his skin was a shock and his natural instinct was to fight, but he subdued that almost primal urge.

  “Do it,” he hissed, literally on his final breath of life.

  “God help us,” Diego said and drove his fangs deep into Benjamin’s neck.

  Chapter 1

  Benjamin stood before the head of the Slayer Council, hands clasped behind him loosely, legs outspread in what he hoped would be seen as a casual pose so as to not incur the anger of the Slayers present in the room.

  Evangeline, the head of the Slayer Council, was a tall, battle-scarred African-American woman with an air of leadership, but also derision as she shot him a glare.

  They had never had a good relationship since she feared that Benjamin would one day replace her as the head of the Council and since Benjamin had championed the inclusion of Michaela, a half-human half-vamp dhampir, into their highly selective ranks.

  The fact that he was now a vampire and still on the Council had created immense friction between not only Evangeline and him, but also with the few remaining members of their group.

  Nearly four months ago, they’d lost not only him in a way, but also another Council member when his brother had gone psycho. Barely two months after that, Richard, another in their ranks, had been murdered, further dwindling their numbers and forcing them to accelerate the training of prospective Slayers.

  “Rhiannon needs guidance, Evangeline,” he urged. The novitiate, a mixed race young woman, had caught his eye months ago. Not only was she a stunning beauty, but she had natural grace, instincts, and power. She had been moving up the ranks quickly and had been assigned to him shortly before his own death and turning. She had been re-assigned to Richard, but with his passing, she was orphaned once again.

  Rhiannon had too much potential to be lost with improper training. From the first day he’d instructed her, something about the young woman had said she was destined to be a special addition to their group.

  He told himself it was all about that and not the flare of attraction from the moment they'd both laid eyes on each other. The attraction that hadn’t faded in the many months that he’d been charged with showing her the way of the Slayers.

  He hadn’t dared to deal with that fascination before his death.

  He couldn’t dare now, when he could offer her nothing but pain. But he didn’t want to see her hurt, or worse, because she hadn’t been taught properly.

  “That's an impossible request, Benjamin,” Evangeline said as she stalked back and forth across the room, color riding high on her cheeks with her upset.

  “It's been well over a month since Richard was killed and Rhiannon was left without a mentor. It would be best for all of us for her to resume her education.”

  Benjamin stood calmly, his body relaxed to avoid creating greater anxiety in the head Slayer and Anthony, her new squeeze and second-in-command.

  Evangeline whirled to face him. She jammed her hands on her hips and tossed her shoulders back to make herself appear more menacing. Although she was a tall and leanly-muscled warrior, he was still way bigger and more lethal, especially now that he had vampire strength to add to his former Slayer powers.

  “Rhiannon has Xander to train her,” she said, but even her sidekick Anthony realized how lame that was given his sharp snicker and the laughter he was unable to rein in. Xander was Evangeline's former lover and ex-second-in-command, but way more scholar than fighter.

  “It's always been the rule that a slayer-in-training have two slayers to instruct and test them. If not me, then what about Michaela?”

  Another barely suppressed chuckle from Anthony earned him a hard glare from Evangeline and a warning. “If you wish to serve me, you'd do well to school your emotions, Anthony.”

  A dull flush painted his cheeks and he brought his arm across his chest and dipped his head in acknowledgment of her command.

  “Michaela has been soiled with vampire blood for far too long, Benjamin, and quite frankly, you're not any better,” she said and raised her chin in challenge.

  He understood his vampire blood made him suspect, but with as few Slayers as were left, Evangeline's choices were limited. Rhiannon needed to be trained to fill their decimated ranks. And she needed to be trained by the best.

  He had been the best at one time.

  “You know she'll be a strong Slayer, Evangeline. She needs a seasoned warrior to help her reach her full capabilities. Xander is no fighter and Anthony has to watch your back in case whoever murdered Richard plans on taking another Slayer. That leaves me next in line,” he said and held his hands out in pleading, hoping to appease her, not that there was normally much room for compromise with a hard-ass like Evangeline.

  She stared down her nose at him as if were a bug beneath a magnifying glass, but after a long tense pause, she slowly dipped her head. “You will report on her progress to me and only to me, is that understood?”

  He saluted and lowered his head to signal his obedience. As much as it grated on his ego to do so, some sacrifices, like protecting Rhiannon, were worth it.

  “I understand, Evangeline. You will not regret this decision.”

  A stilted laugh exploded from her. “I already do, but you’re right. I have no choice. Leave us. I'll speak to Rhiannon about her new assignment immediately. I'll provide you instructions on where to meet her for further schooling.”

  “Thank you, Evangeline,” he said, pivoted on his heel, and marched out of her home.

  As part of the Slayer Council, he was one of only a few who knew where she lived. He had been surprised when she hadn't changed accommodations after discovering that he was not only alive, but a vampire. The recent deaths had seriously depleted their ranks and the possibility was very real that they were vulnerable to attack from whoever had arranged to murder Richard.

  But in the nearly two months since revealing his new undead existence, he had worked hard to show that he could be trusted.

  It occurred to him that it might be wise for Evangeline to move somewhere that was more easily guarded. It wouldn't take much to breach the townhouse through any of the various entrances and capture or kill her before she could reach the secret escape route every Council member had in place.

  Making a mental note to speak to her about it in the future, he warily stepped out onto the street, his innate vampire senses warning him that he better rush back to his new apartment before the sun had fully risen. His undead state was too new for him to tolerate much sunlight.


  Hurrying home, he wondered how Rhiannon would handle the news that he'd be taking over for Richard. Not that she had any choice about it. The punishment for a Slayer-in-training who defied orders could be brutal, namely execution if their failure jeopardized the secrets of the Slayers.

  By all of the existing Slayer rules, he should have been sanctioned for permitting himself to be turned, but when the moment for death had come, he'd been a coward.

  In large part, that was why he'd asked to train Rhiannon. He hated the thought of someone so young and beautiful and bright having to face death so soon. Of having to beg for her life as he’d begged for his.

  Or at least that's what he told himself because any kind of relationship between them was impossible.

  She was to be a Slayer and if he knew anything, probably one who would ascend to the Council at some point. Her natural powers were that strong.

  But he was now a vampire and no matter that the Council tolerated his presence for the moment, he was certain he'd find himself with a stake through his heart as soon as their ranks had stabilized.

  Ignoring that fear, he rushed home as the increasingly bright rays of the sun heated his skin and warned that he was no longer welcome in the real world.

  That he was no longer the kind of man for someone like Rhiannon.

  Chapter 2

  Rhiannon watched as Evangeline paced back and forth across the width of the underground chamber. Her steps were short and hurried, her hands jammed onto her hips as she read off her list of instructions. When she was done, she whirled and marched to stand in front of Rhiannon, arms akimbo.

  “Do you understand?” Evangeline said and raised one dark brow in emphasis.

  She had understood even before the head Slayer had begun her tirade, but she could see the other woman was beside herself with a swirl of emotions. Worry, anger, and jealousy all circled around her in the aura of life energies that Rhiannon could somehow see.