Satisfaction

by Marie Rochelle

  Satisfaction

  By

  Marie Rochelle

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Satisfaction

  Copyright© 2012 Marie Rochelle

  ISBN: 978-1-60088-799-4

  Cover Artist: Jeff Curry

  Editor: Fiona Jayde

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  Cobblestone Press, LLC

  www.cobblestone-press.com

  Dedication

  To my grandmother; I can’t believe it has been six years since you left us.

  I miss you every single day.

  Marie

  Chapter One

  Sitting in the very back of his crowded nightclub, Jace Diamont tapped his fingers against the table watching as everyone flirted around him, hoping not to leave alone tonight. A few times during the last hour, more than six women had come up to him asking for a dance, but he wasn’t interested in holding any of them in his arms.

  Tonight, his mind was on other things besides having a willing female in his bed. He was worried about his little brother, Devin. His father contacted him over a month ago to inform him that Devin had left during the night to go in search of his mate. He didn’t bother to tell his father that he already knew about it. Why should he? It wasn’t as if he ever respected the old man.

  Of course, his domineering father ordered him to go and bring his brother back home, but he thought it was probably too late for that. Despite Devin being over a hundred years old, he was finally growing up, which meant finally standing up to their father. There was nothing he would be able to do or say to his sibling if he had already tasted his woman’s blood and turned her.

  Besides, why would he leave the side of the female he was destined to be with to live back under their father’s roof? Jace left home when he was barely a hundred and never looked back in all of these centuries. Why would he when freedom was so sweet and the women so tempting to his senses? He would be out of his mind to want to go back into that environment.

  From the corner of his eye, Jace spotted his assistant, Clark Kent, coming toward him. When he first heard Clark’s name, he instantly found it very amusing and didn’t have a problem with Clark about it.

  Almost instantly his friend confessed that his parents had been huge fans of Superman and didn’t think twice about naming their only child after the character. So, when women started taking notice of his name, Clark darkened his naturally light brown hair and bought a pair of fake glasses to further his famous name with them. Jace secretly wondered how many more women would continue to fall for the gimmick before they caught on to what his buddy was doing.

  “How are things going tonight?” Clark asked, taking a seat next to him as the DJ played an old-school TLC song.

  “Everything is running smoothly as usual,” Jace answered, looking at his friend, “but I know you didn’t come all the way here to ask me that. So, what’s really going on? You usually avoid my nightclub as much as you can.”

  His friend looked away from him and glanced around the packed house. He could tell from the stressed look on Clark’s face that whatever he was going to tell him wouldn’t be good news, and he wasn’t in any mood for bad news tonight.

  “I heard a rumor, and I know you aren’t going to be pleased about it,” Clark answered, directing his eyes back in his direction. “In fact, I can see it’s going to set you off.”

  Turning in his seat, Jace faced Clark. “What is so important that you had to come all the way to tell me instead of just calling or texting me? Wouldn’t it have been a lot easier on you?”

  “No, the news I have to tell you needs to be done face to face and not over the phone,” Clark answered, pushing up his fake glasses.

  Jace’s interest was definitely peaked now. He couldn’t wait to hear what the news was. “Don’t keep me in suspense. Tell me what it is.”

  Clark took a breath and quickly blew it out. “Your father is coming to town to see you about the Devin situation. He should be here first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “You’re wrong. There is no way my father is leaving Greece to come all of the way here to see me.”

  “I’m right,” Clark said. “His assistant called me and asked if you were in town or out of town on one of your business trips. He didn’t want to make the trip all of the way here for nothing. He’s taking the private jet to make sure he doesn’t waste time on a commercial airline.”

  “Shit!” Jace cursed.

  He reached for the Scotch in front of him and tossed it back in one swallow, savoring the taste as it burnt his throat as it went down. There was no way in hell he was going to be here when his father showed up. His life in Atlanta had been peaceful and all about him for the last hundred years or so.

  He couldn’t stay and let his father ruin it for him. Maybe it was time for him to visit his baby brother and meet his mate. Anything was better than getting a lecture from the one parent who didn’t know how to take no as an answer.

  “Thanks for telling me,” he said, standing up. “Call and tell Victor to get the plane ready. I think it’s time for me to go on vacation for a few weeks. Can you watch the club for me while I’m gone?”

  “Sure I can. I have done it before,” Clark answered, looking at him. “Where do you want me to tell Sebastian you are when he gets here? Because you know that he isn’t going to accept ‘I don’t know’ as an answer.”

  Jace thought about Clark’s question for a few minutes. There were a lot of things he wanted to tell his father, but he wouldn’t put his best friend in the middle of his family drama. Everything going on was his problem to take care of and not Clark’s.

  “Honestly, I rather you tell him to get his ass back on his private plane and go back home. He doesn’t care about Devin’s well-being; furthermore, Sebastian sure in the hell isn’t caring about me. I was the first son to defy him. I left home centuries ago, and he never contacted me until Devin broke free of his tight grip.”

  Taking off his glasses, Clark pinched the bridge of his nose, then put them back on. “You know I can’t tell him that, but I will think of something to send him back on his way. Do you know how long you will be gone? This club doesn’t run the same when you aren’t here every night keeping everything under control. I can do a good job, but not as well as you.”

  “I’m not positive about how long I will be gone. I haven’t seen my brother in a while, so I might make it a family reunion of sorts,” Jace answered.

  He hoped Devin would welcome him with open arms instead of slamming the door in his face, but he wasn’t sure what kind of greeting he would receive once he got there.

  “Well, don’t worry about it. Family is the most important thing. You need to tell your brother what is going on with your father,” Clark told him. “I’ll call you in a few days to let you know what is going on here.”

  Jace would rather not hear anything about Sebastian, but it could be something important. He couldn’t chance not taking any kind of communication from Clark about home. His business was extremely important to him, so he would keep his cell phone close at all times.

  “All right, you can call me. Just make sure when you do that you don’t have anyone listening in on the conversation.” He didn’t think he needed to go into any more detail than he just did.

  Jace’s heightened eyesight saw Clark’s frown in the dimly lit nightclub. He already knew what his friend was
going to ask him before the words left his mouth. His buddy was pretty easy to read in most situations; nothing he ever said or told him came as a surprise to him.

  “Are you sure your father would listen in on a private phone call?” he questioned, surprised.

  “Yes, he would do it, because he loves to be the one in control of everything going on around him. He thinks the world is his to do whatever he wants to do with it.” He knew this was true from firsthand experience, which was one of the reasons he left home as soon as he could save up enough money from odd jobs to do it.

  All he wanted to do was get out of town away from his father as fast as he could. Nothing good would come from him and his father being inside the same room now that he was an older vampire. He couldn’t live by Sebastian’s rules then, and he sure in the hell wasn’t going to get told what to do now.

  The more distance between them, the better.

  “I need… No, I have to get out of here and head home to pack,” Jace said as patrons continued to dance around him while the DJ blasted another hit over the sound system. “However, if you need me to come back and deal with him directly, I can do that. Call me, and I’ll have Victor fly back and get me.”

  “It isn’t going to come to any of that,” Clark said as he stood up. “Get on out of here, and I’ll tell everyone who is here what is going on for a while. However, take this time with Devin to mend whatever problems the two of you have lingering from the past.”

  Admitting that he was wrong was hard for Jace to do, but if it meant getting his baby brother back, then he would have to think about doing it. However, for now he would take care of the most pressing matter, and that was making sure Sebastian stayed as far away from Devin and his mate as he could.

  “Take care while I’m gone and make sure this place doesn’t burn down while I’m out of town,” Jace teased before he turned and walked away, heading toward the exit sign at the other end of his nightclub.

  Chapter Two

  Standing in the shadows of the empty lot across the street, he watched as Devin and Krishell left the condo building holding hands and heading down the sidewalk.

  With his advanced computer skills, Clark was able to give him directions to Devin’s condo as soon as his plane landed. However, instead of coming straight over here last night and waking his brother up, he got a room and took a tour of the city.

  Not wasting a second, Jace hurried across the street, following behind his brother and his mate as they ignored the world around them and only focused on each other like a couple completely and totally in love.

  Even from this distance, he could feel the connection radiating from his brother toward Krishell. Nothing was going to break the two of them apart, especially since she was no longer human but vampire.

  Jace suspected Devin didn’t wait for satisfaction to pass before changing Krishell as his own. Older vampires than his brother didn’t have a strong enough will to fight off the drugging pull of the condition once they got within touching distance of their future mate, so why would he?

  His gaze clung to the couple in front of him, watching how lovingly Devin wrapped his arm around Krishell’s tiny waist, pulling her closer to him. Everything about his sibling seemed so relaxed and at peace, as if all he ever wanted was right at his side and nothing was ever going to separate them.

  A part of him couldn’t help but harbor some amount of jealously at Devin’s luck at finding his forever while he was still waiting for his to come into his life. Century after century had already passed for him without any hope of discovering her in sight.

  Every vampire wanted to have his mate at his side as he moved through eternity, because living forever might seem like a dream come true, but it wasn’t much or anything all that desirable without your mate to share it with.

  Getting pulled from his thoughts by the sound of a car racing past him, Jace suddenly noticed that Devin and Krishell were walking a tiny bit faster as they rounded the corner a few feet ahead of him.

  He couldn’t lose them, because he wasn’t sure if his father already had someone here to tear his brother away from Krishell. Sebastian would do anything to keep control over his children, especially Devin who worshipped him when they were growing up.

  Thoughts of his childhood continued to fill Jace’s mind as he hurried around the corner, hoping Devin was still in his sights. There was no way Jace could touch his brother’s mind to find out where they were going, since Devin would feel the invasion and know it was him instantly. Rushing around the building, Jace wasn’t prepared to get slammed against a brick wall with a muscular forearm pressed against his throat. His gaze instantly locked with a pair of familiar eyes that he hadn’t seen since Devin came to see him about help finding his mate, Krishell, and they didn’t look happy to see him at all.

  “Why in the hell are you following us?” Devin hissed, glaring at him.

  Jace grabbed his brother by the arm and shoved it away from his neck with ease. Being older and stronger than Devin did come with some advantages he liked proving when he could.

  “Hello, little brother. How are you doing?” he asked, smirking at the stunned expression on Devin’s face.

  “Jace, what in the fuck are you doing here? How in the hell did you find me? What do you want? I know it must be something to benefit your own selfish needs.”

  Moving away from the wall, Jace smoothed down his shirt and brushed the dirt off the sleeve of his thousand dollar suit. Nothing about this conversation was going to go well, so he might as well jump right on in.

  “Father sent me to look for you. He wants you to drop this nonsense about finding your mate and allow me to bring you back home,” he said.

  With his eyes flashing and fangs fully bared, Devin took a threatening step back toward him. “If you think for one damn minute I’m going back home or anywhere else without Krishell, you are out of your mind, so get the hell out of here. I can’t believe you are Father’s messenger boy after the way he treated you, but I’m done with my hero worship of him. I can see now you weren’t as strong as you pretended to be when we were growing up.”

  With lightning speed, Jace grabbed his brother by the front of his shirt and jerked him to his body until only mere inches separated them. “First, I’m not Father’s messenger boy. I have never believed any of his lies, including why Mother left us, and never will. I know he did something to run her off.

  “Now, if you’ll stop being such an asshole and let me finish. I didn’t come all the way from Atlanta to get a fucking lecture from my sibling who still isn’t strong enough to stand up to our father, but leaves him a letter and sneaks out during the middle of the night.”

  “Let go of him,” a female voice shouted as two small hands pulled on his arm.

  Turning his head, Jace glanced down into his brother’s mate’s pretty face, loving the passion he saw there to protect her mate. Krishell was more than an attractive package to turn heads, and that was what Devin needed at his age in a woman.

  “Don’t worry, Krishell. I’m not going to hurt Devin. As much as he gets on my nerves, he is still family.” Jace let go of Devin and pushed him away, watching as he eyed him as if he was ready for a fight he wouldn’t be able to win.

  “Now, are you ready to calm down and listen to me? Or do I have to still prove again why I’m still the oldest, little brother?”

  Devin’s eyes flashed once more before he moved next to Krishell. “Okay, tell me why you came all the way here from the nightclub you love so much. I mean when I came to you looking for help to find Krishell here in Ariel, you blew me off. So, why are you caring about me now?”

  “I didn’t come here to tear you away from your mate.” Jace sighed, wondering why he hadn’t stayed at home. He could be in bed with a hot woman right now instead of dealing with all of these problems his father had brought into his life.

  “I came here to warn you about our father. Despite the fact I told him I wouldn’t help him look for you here, he isn’t givi
ng up on finding you and dragging you back. Why in the hell did you leave him that fucking note in the first place? Were you out of your mind or something?”

  “Damn it!” Devin cursed, glaring at him. “I left it because he wouldn’t tell me about the woman in the photograph. I know if I hadn’t left something, he would have hired anyone and everyone to find me before now. I thought it was a good idea to keep Father off my back for a while until I claimed Krishell. I just felt if I didn’t leave when I did, I wouldn’t have found my mate.”

  “Why does your father care so much about Devin being with me?” Krishell asked, chiming in, looking at him and over at his brother.

  “You have to understand something about our father. He’s—”

  “Krishell, what is going on out here? Why are you and Devin standing out here on the sidewalk instead of inside? I have been waiting for you like for the past ten minutes.” A soft, feminine voice cut in, sending a tingling of excitement racing through Jace’s body as he spun around and his gaze landed on the beautiful woman standing about five feet from him.

  Chapter Three

  He stared wordlessly at her, his heart pounding in his chest. A new and unexpected warmth surged through Jace as their eyes met; he felt an unbelievable shock as the truth set in. He had found her! After all of these centuries of searching, she was standing within touching distance of him—his mate.

  There was both delicacy and strength in her face; her nose was straight, short, and charming. Even the corners of her pretty face turned upward more than they turned downward.

  Her skin was richer than a Hershey’s bar, making his fangs ache to take a nibble of her sweetness. What he could see of his mate’s hair, it was pulled back into a tight bun at the back of her neck with only a few loose tendrils touching her cheek.