Rise to Love [Rise of the Changelings 1] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove)

by Lynn Hagen

  Rick growled. “Sex isn’t involved in comfort. Get your damn mind out of the gutter.” He was going to leave the eating part alone. One fight at a time.

  “You could have fooled me. You looked pretty damn cozy with that woman on the porch last night.” Dorian tucked his lips in, his face and neck shading a pretty color of pink. It reminded Rick of the sunset last night, but he pushed that wandering thought away.

  The man looked embarrassed that he had told Rick about what he had seen.

  So, that was the reason Dorian was sulking. He should be pissed that Dorian had jumped to conclusions, but for the life of him, he couldn’t muster the anger. In fact, it pleased him. God, he was so screwed. “You are one of three candidates, Dorian. There are two others vying for a place next to me.”

  He wasn’t sure why he told Dorian this. Silvia didn’t want the position as the alpha’s mate. He didn’t know what was going on with Omar. But seeing the green-eyed monster overtake Dorian was pleasing to him.

  “Fine,” Dorian grumbled. “But they can wait until it’s their turn.”

  “He likes you,” Miguel whispered, looking pleased. “I knew he was a perfect candidate.”

  Rick smiled down at Miguel. “I’m not so sure, Miguel. He’s pretty damn possessive.”

  “I am not,” Dorian snapped. “I just—” Dorian spun on his heel and walked back into the kitchen. “Just keep your hands to yourself,” he shouted back at them. Rick wasn’t sure if he was talking to Benito or him.

  A challenge.

  Rick smiled. It was a calculating smile. So, Dorian was developing feelings for Rick. From the way the human had acted, he would have thought the man hated him. But his outburst had proven otherwise.

  Because if truth be told, Rick was really starting to like Dorian. It was confusing as hell considering Dorian was human, but Rick wasn’t going to deny his feelings, even if he only admitted them to himself. “You guys go keep him company. I still have phone calls to make.”

  “But he doesn’t want us in there,” Miguel said.

  “So?”

  Miguel shrugged. “Come on, Benito. Let’s go get yelled at.”

  Rick chuckled as he walked back to the study.

  Chapter Ten

  “Don’t look him directly in the eyes,” Rick said as he drove. “Don’t look any of the vampires in their eyes.”

  Dorian nodded. He hadn’t wanted to come along, but Rick had insisted. Since the discovery of nonhumans three years ago, Dorian had never met a vampire, and he didn’t want to meet one. He was a little disturbed when they pulled in front of a building with no windows. They place looked like somewhere Dorian would have avoided passing by. It was eerie, unfriendly looking, and it made him shiver knowing vampires were inside.

  Dorian just prayed they didn’t walk into a room with coffins. His nerves already felt like they were exposed and a razor was sharpening across them. He wouldn’t be able to handle the sight of coffins.

  Rick shut off the car and turned his head to Dorian. “It’s a BDSM club.”

  Now Dorian knew he wanted to go back to the farmhouse. This was not his cup of tea, and he didn’t want to see what was going on inside the place. He didn’t have a very high opinion of people who craved pain. It was pretty damn perverted to him. They exited the car, Dorian following behind Rick. He noticed a man wearing what amounted to bouncer clothing standing at the door. Black jeans, black T-shirt, and black boots.

  The man was well built, pale, and creeped Dorian out. He hoped the guy didn’t ask for a drink of blood because Dorian wasn’t sure the polite way to turn him down—besides the obvious screaming and running.

  “Do you two have passes?”

  “I’m here to see Kraven,” Rick replied. “I am Alpha Enrique Marcelo of the local werewolf changeling pack in Shelton.”

  The man nodded, but eyed Dorian like he was on the menu. Dorian was really getting tired of people wanting to eat him. He didn’t look that damn tasty. “Go on in. Master Kraven is in the back, enjoying himself.”

  Dorian had a pretty good idea how Master Kraven was enjoying himself, but didn’t want to see it firsthand. He had already seen too much when the pack back at the farmhouse had shifted and when Rick stood by the car door in his werewolf form.

  He did not want to see vampires feeding.

  He had thought changelings frightening and fascinating just a few short weeks ago. Rick had cleared his fascination up with his prickly attitude and wanting to eat Dorian. But vampires? No way. Blood was not appealing to him in the least.

  Dorian heard the low thrum of music as soon as he stepped through the door. It was something he would expect to hear in a Goth club. The music vibrated in the background, lending to the allure of the dimly lit club. That didn’t make him feel any better about being here. The front hallway was weakly lit, giving in to the perception of darkness and danger. Well, it did for him anyway.

  He saw the front room had crushed red velvet lounge chairs, a sofa as well, making it appear more like a sitting room. Dorian quickly glanced away when he saw half-naked people either sitting on pillows with collars around their neck, or walking around as if their nudity was nothing to be bothered with.

  It bothered him.

  “Stay close, and remember, don’t look anyone in the eyes.”

  Dorian didn’t plan on it. He had heard about vampires enthralling people, and it was never a pretty outcome. He wasn’t sure how true the rumors were—most coming from Cherry and Jayson—and he didn’t want to find out.

  He kept his eyes toward the floor, following behind Rick as they walked down a long corridor. He could hear noises coming from various rooms as they passed them by. Dorian wanted out of here.

  “Alpha Enrique,” someone said as they passed by in the hallway.

  Dorian looked up and then quickly glanced sideways when he remembered Rick’s warning. His eyes focused on Rick’s nicely shaped ass and then glanced down to the man’s boots. Why was he interested in Rick’s ass? Images of how Rick looked naked floated through his mind, and Dorian inwardly groaned.

  It seemed no matter how hard he fought against thinking of Rick as anything but a sexual desire, his cock jerked every time he thought of how gorgeous the man’s dick was. He was starting to fall for Rick, and that wasn’t a good thing. Not only was Rick changeling, but the life the nonhumans led was proving harder than Dorian could handle.

  There were a lot of things he didn’t understand. There was a vast difference between changelings and humans, aside from the furry thing. They lived differently, interacted differently, and had a set of rules that Dorian wasn’t sure he could live by.

  But there was no denying that he wouldn’t mind finding out just how far that ten-inch cock would go.

  Get his dick out of your ass and concentrate. You are standing in a club full of vampires.

  The door to his left opened, and Dorian caught a glimpse inside. His heart froze. For a moment in time, Dorian couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, and then his anger was full-blown as he shoved the door open, hearing it crash into the wall.

  “Dorian!” Rick shouted.

  Dorian ignored him as he rushed into the room, but was grabbed by his arms and pulled back by two strangers who he assumed were vampires. “Let me fucking go!”

  “What’s going on, Dorian?” Rick asked as he pulled Dorian free of the men, but didn’t let him go.

  Dorian stabbed a finger at the man lying on the chaise lounge, his eyes glazed over and a look of pure satiation on his face. This couldn’t be. He was going to be sick. There was no way he was seeing this. “That’s my baby brother, Ian.”

  “How old is he?”

  Dorian turned, seeing a man standing next to Rick with shoulder-length black hair and eyes so blue they were like twin gems. He quickly looked down. As livid as he was, Dorian wasn’t going to be enthralled. “Seventeen.”

  Rick gripped him tighter. The tension in the room was palatable as Dorian saw red. That was Ian in there. He was
n’t going to just walk away. Someone was going to pay for this. “A nonhuman can smell a lie, Dorian.”

  Dorian’s teeth gnashed together, fighting the tears welling up in his eyes. “Fine, he’s twenty-one.”

  “Then he is old enough to be here,” the man next to Rick stated. Dorian assumed this was Master Kraven. There was an arrogance about him that hit Dorian’s nerves the wrong way. It seemed all leaders in the nonhuman world acted like arrogant jackasses. He was starting to see it wasn’t just him who had gained the pompous behavior from Derrick and Rick.

  They were just that way.

  “Did you enthrall him?” Dorian gritted out the question, feeling the muscles in his throat tighten. He wasn’t going to cry. There was no way he was crying in front of these men. He wasn’t going to give them that pleasure. “Did you force him here?”

  The vampire swept into the room so airlessly that it was like watching a wisp of smoke pass by him. Kraven looked thin, but Dorian knew that was a lie. He could see the subtle cuts in the man’s suit, allowing extra room for chiseled muscles. “We would never force a human,” Master Kraven replied. “Ian has been a member for some time. I’m sorry you had to find out your brother’s dirty little secret this way.”

  “He’s a fucking fang addict!”

  Kraven tucked his hands behind his body, his posture stiffening. “If that is what you wish to call it. I have heard that term used before. But he seeks out pleasure only a vampire could give him.”

  It was said so matter-of-factly that Dorian wanted to scream. He thought the rumors were true. The rumors said that most vampires were against letting humans become fang addicts. But here stood the master, encouraging it, having rooms in back of his damn luxurious club for it.

  “Why is this such a problem, Dorian?” Kraven asked. The man was using his first name, trying to make Dorian more at ease. It wasn’t going to work. Nothing could extinguish the fire burning in his gut right now. “Calico feeds from Ian, and in exchange, Ian has the best orgasm of his life.”

  Dorian threw his hands up on front of him, waving them back and forth. “I don’t want to hear about my brother’s orgasms.” He looked back at Ian and felt his heart break. He knew there was nothing he could do. Even if he yanked his brother from this club, if what Kraven was saying was true, Ian would only come right back. “He isn’t beaten, is he?”

  Kraven gave a warm, soft chuckle that felt like silk running over naked flesh. The melodic sound made Dorian want to agree to anything, putting him at ease in this cesspool of perverseness. He shook his head, getting the alluring sound out of his mind.

  “Ian is just as much into pain as he is into being bitten.

  Dorian wanted to scream, rip the room apart, and go after Calico. But he was in a club full of vampires. Even if he managed to get over to Ian, the entire club would stop him. He wasn’t going to let his baby brother stay here. Dorian was not going to let Ian come back. Dorian had to save him, even from himself. He had to play this cool. A plan formed in his mind. “I’m going out to the car.”

  “It would be better,” Rick replied and then placed a hand on Dorian’s shoulder as he passed the werewolf. “I had no idea, Dorian.”

  Dorian nodded his head. He didn’t think Rick had anything to do with this. The man was standing there looking sadly at Dorian. He didn’t want Rick’s pity. Dorian walked down the corridor, ignoring the invitations to be bitten or played with as he walked out to the Mustang. He opened the passenger door…and then the glove box.

  He grabbed the gun and shoved it into the front of his pants, pulling his shirt over the cold metal to conceal the weapon.

  “Change your mind, human?” the vampire at the door asked when he saw Dorian turn and head back toward the club. “If you have, I’d be more than happy to bite you, or we could enjoy the bondage room.” There was anticipation in the guy’s voice, but Dorian didn’t look into his eyes to see if they matched the hard lust.

  He shook his head. “No, I forgot to tell the alpha something.”

  “Fine, but if you change your mind, you know where I’m at.”

  Yeah, he did. Dorian stepped back into the dimly lit club and walked toward the room his brother was in. Rick and Kraven were nowhere to be found.

  Good.

  He wasn’t sure if the living dead could die from a bullet wound, but he was about to find out. He was already wanted for three murders. What was a few more? But this time, Dorian would gladly take full credit if he got Ian out of here.

  He entered the room where his brother was laid out, seeing Ian unconscious. All Ian had on was a pair of boy shorts, and they didn’t even cover his entire ass. Dorian felt an all-consuming rage boil up inside of him, and then everything inside of his body went calm. It was an eerie feeling, knowing he was about to take a life. He hadn’t expected to feel so neutral about it.

  “I thought Kraven cleared things up with you?” the man hovering over his brother asked. “What the fuck are you doing back here?”

  Dorian pulled the gun from the front of his waistband and shot the vampire in his right arm. He was shocked that he hit the guy since he had never fired a gun before in his life. But he didn’t stop with just one bullet. He aimed for the heart, but missed and shot the vampire in his right shoulder instead.

  The vampire flew back, grabbing his shoulder and hissing at Dorian. “Those are fucking bullets dipped in holy water, you asshole.”

  Dorian hadn’t known. What was Rick doing with a gun that had holy water bullets? He wasn’t going to take the time to ask. He shot again, the bullet just missing the vampire’s head. “Get off of Ian.”

  “And if I don’t?” It was a taunt, as if the vampire didn’t believe Dorian would go for the kill shot.

  He would.

  That was his baby brother on the couch. “Try me.” He gripped the gun with both hands, in a teacup fashion, concentrating on the man’s forehead.

  “What are you doing, Dorian?” Rick asked from the doorway, but Dorian didn’t take his eyes off of the vampire near his brother. He just prayed like hell that Rick would protect him from being attacked. There was no reason for Rick to do something like that, but Dorian held out hope anyway.

  “Getting Ian out of here.”

  “Do you know what you’ve done?” Rick asked as he moved closer, speaking to Dorian like he was a man about to jump off of the ledge. Maybe he was. Coming into a kiss of vampires and trying to kill one of their own was stamped with suicide, but Dorian wasn’t leaving without Ian.

  “Do I care?” Dorian replied in a tone so cold, he frightened himself. “Get Ian from the couch, Rick.”

  “Who the fuck do you think you are talking to?” Rick snapped.

  Dorian aimed the gun lower and shot the vampire in the leg. “Get my brother, Rick.”

  Rick crossed the room, his expression murderous. “You will pay for this.”

  “I’m sure I will.” But his brother was safe. Or would be. He planned on hiding Ian someplace no one would find him and then getting his brother help. He was not going to have a depraved addict for a brother. There was no fucking way.

  “This isn’t over,” Kraven said from the doorway. “Do you think you can get out of here alive, human?”

  “We are about to find out,” Dorian said. “If anyone comes near me, I’ll shoot them in the heart.”

  He heard a hiss coming from Kraven, but the master backed away. Dorian had a feeling that Kraven wasn’t the type to give in so easily, but was giving Dorian a free pass. Maybe the guy knew what it was like to have a brother strung out. Dorian wasn’t sure and really didn’t give a rat’s ass.

  Rick carried Ian to the car as Dorian kept the gun aimed high, following behind the man. Kraven followed them at a safe distance, raising his hand when a vampire tried to come after Dorian.

  “Let him have his brother.”

  They made it outside the club, the man at the door taking a menacing stance. Dorian didn’t look him directly in the eyes, but he knew the crossed ar
ms and spread legs were a bad thing. He opened the car door for Rick, keeping his eye on the area around him.

  “You are out to get us killed, aren’t you?” Rick asked as he laid Ian in the backseat. “That was the master vampire you just threatened. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mãos da Morte come after us now.”

  “They won’t.” Dorian wasn’t sure how he knew this. Maybe it was in the tone Kraven had used. The man hadn’t sounded pissed. But then again, Dorian didn’t know squat about the undead. If Kraven sent the hands of death after them, Dorian would be back to shoot the man in the goddamn balls.

  “Why, because Kraven let us leave? You’re an idiot. The man would let you take Ian and then send the Mãos da Morte after us. I’m not afraid of Kraven, but I’m cautious. The man has just as much power as I do.”

  “Power?”

  “Get in,” Rick snarled.

  Dorian slid into the passenger seat, still watching the club.

  He heard Rick’s door close. “And give me my damn gun.” He grabbed the gun out of Dorian’s hand. “Holy water–dipped bullets, moron. The bullets could kill Calico if they don’t get them out in time. If the vampire dies, we are in a world of trouble. You better be damn lucky I didn’t have the liquid ultraviolet bullets in there or Calico would be a burnt memory right now.”

  “I thought they were already dead,” Dorian defended. “How can you kill the living dead?”

  “You have a lot to learn,” Rick snapped. “Just sit back and shut the hell up. I have to come up with a new plan now thanks to your heroics back there.”

  “Tell me you wouldn’t have done it for your brother,” Dorian replied.

  “My brother is dead.” Rick pulled away from the curb, driving in the opposite direction they had come. Dorian didn’t question the man. The adrenaline was wearing off, and he was beginning to shake too damn badly to pay attention to Rick’s ranting.

  Fuck, he had shot a guy!

  Dorian felt the inside of the car spin as warm, metallic-tasting saliva filled his mouth.