His face wrinkled in disgust. “Yeah, but before they pair off they would have lots of sex with one another. They would be expected to test the waters with various vampire men. Humans are monogamous, we don’t hop from bed to bed. It’s just not done. Our women in general are even more opposed to the idea.”
Brant frowned. Although the male was right to a degree, none of what he was saying made any sense. “They wouldn’t be expected to do a damn thing. If they don’t want to have sex, they don’t have to. It would be strictly up to the human women and not the other way around. The human females would be in the driver’s seat. Though I certainly do hope that the interaction will result in matings and offspring. As that is the whole purpose of the program.” He felt his frown deepen as the male turned his nose up, his mouth was set in a grimace. “Tell me, Eugene. You say that humans are monogamous yet you had sex with a female just this morning. From her scent, I would say that she is much younger than you.” He sniffed in Eugene’s general direction not caring for the moment that humans disliked such gestures. “From the scent of the female, she was intimate with another male hours before you. So you’re not as monogamous as you are making out to be.”
Eugene’s mouth dropped open and he made a strangled noise.
“Last week you had sex twice and I could scent that both females were not your mate. You seem to fuck random strangers regularly, you are not monogamous. Why does the thought of this program disgust you?”
“I do not fuck around.” The male’s eyes were the size of saucers. “I would never cheat on my wife. You don’t know what you are talking about. I’ll sue you for defamation…” Eugene began to stand.
“Sit down,” Brant growled. “I sometimes forget how…private”—Fucking deceptive!—“humans can be.” His dislike for the male grew. Thing was, he’d came highly recommended as the best and in this instance, they needed to ensure that their asses were covered. They didn’t want incidences of any kind. If one of his males so much as left a scratch on one of the humans, or a female laid charges against them, it could spell disaster and not just for the program.
“I apologize.” It was hard for Brant to say the words. “I must have been mistaken.”
Like fucking hell. This male fucked a whole bevy of women. In fact, in all the time he had known Eugene, he had only scented that he had rutted with his actual mate on him once. What a complete asshole. A hypocrite in the first fucking order. If he wasn’t so far down the road with this agency he would fire him on the spot. As it stood, his hands were tied.
The male in question finally nodded, giving Brant a tight smile. “Apology accepted. It’s not wise to throw around such statements without facts to back them up.”
Brant flashed a fang at the male who cringed back in his chair. “I am a vampire, Eugene.” He had to work to keep his voice even.
Sam cleared his throat. “If you don’t mind me chiming in…”
Thank fuck, he was liking this kid more and more. Way to defuse a sticky situation. Brant nodded.
“All the focus has been on the women that you plan on bringing into this program, which is understandable.” He swallowed, licking his lips. “Know that this type of program is not the norm for human women. You explained that it is standard within vampire society to have sex with many different partners before a partnership is established. It’s normal, for example, for a vampire to have sex with more than one partner on the same day. For your men to share the same woman and for that woman to be completely onboard. What I’m trying to get at”—he took a sip of the glass of water on the table in front of him—“despite anomalies.” He cleared his throat.
Brant felt his mouth twitch. It was clear the young buck was referring to his boss who turned a bright shade of red.
“The fact of the matter is that we are very different, Brant. Women entering this program need to fully understand your ways, what the rules are and what is expected of them.”
“They will be fully briefed and will need to sign these.” Brant touched his hand to the contract.
Sam nodded. “The same needs to be true for your vampire men. They need to understand the ways of human females. There need to be rules in place that will protect the women, as well as your men from future comebacks.”
The male was right. Brant nodded his head. “We need a human to design the program. They must train my males in the ways of human females.” He had to suppress a smile. “They are certainly different to our females.”
“Your women are breathtaking.” The associate let his eyes drift shut for a half a second. “If you ever design a program in which you need men for your women…I am so onboard.”
“That’s not very professional, Ryan,” Eugene said sternly.
Brant found himself laughing at the young male. “Our females would eat you for breakfast, young one.”
The male groaned. “A guy can only wish.”
Brant laughed louder, especially since Eugene’s face turned stony. “You might wish differently when wrapped in thighs that could crush you, nails that could turn your back to ribbons.”
Ryan shook his head. “I would jump at the opportunity and die with a smile on my face.”
“Just like our males, our females know exactly how to please a partner so you are probably right.”
“You’re killing me here.” Ryan chuckled. “I’ve kind of hit a dry patch. Working too damned hard.”
Brant nodded. The male was telling the truth, he hadn’t been with a female even once in all the weeks that they had been meeting. How he managed to survive was beyond Brant. There had been one occasion when his female had withheld sex for nearly two weeks and he’d nearly gone crazy with need. The only thing that sustained him was that he had deserved his fate and in fact still felt terrible about the way he had treated Stephany to this day.
It was a wonder his friend still spoke to him at all, let alone forgave him for being such a prick. After all their years of friendship, she knew him well. Understood that the front he put up wasn’t always a true reflection for what he was feeling inside. This was something he himself had only recently become aware of.
“I’m sorry, Ryan. There are no males required at this stage.” He actually felt disappointment on behalf of the youngster.
“You’ll call me if that ever changes?” Ryan grinned.
Brant nodded. “I’ll be sure to do that. In the meanwhile, you should really get out some time. I don’t know how your balls haven’t exploded.”
Eugene made a choking noise. The male from Sweetwater chuckled. Ryan almost fell out of his chair, he laughed so hard. “I might end up with carpel tunnel syndrome.” He rubbed his wrist. “But I will survive.”
Brant shook his head, he couldn’t help but to smile. He didn’t know how humans did it, depriving themselves of a basic need for days, months, sometimes even years. Fucking insane!
Chapter 3
His personal assistant nodded once. “I will ensure that the ad is in the next edition of the local paper as well as advertised online.”
“A male candidate would be preferable.” Brant folded his arms across his chest.
Alison raised her brows.
“I take it that you don’t agree?” He raised his eyebrows, interested to hear what she had to say.
She scrunched up her nose in thought. “If you want the males briefed on the ways of human females. Maybe a human female would be better. It makes logical sense.”
Brant sighed. “I am sure that males of the species have a good enough knowledge of their females to be able give an overview, as well as, to brief our males on the rules of conduct during both the trials as well as when the actual program kicks off.”
Alison shrugged. “I hope you are right. If the males are incorrectly briefed it could put the whole program in jeopardy. It is my experience that males do not always understand the females of their species…at least…not nearly as well as they think they do.”
Brant thought this over for a few beats. “A human female
in amongst a whole group of our males? I don’t like it. She will need to brief them on the rules pertaining to sex. I wouldn’t want to put a human woman into the middle of all that testosterone.” He shook his head. “Advertise for a male. He must have the necessary credentials.”
“As discussed earlier, I agree that a psychologist is probably the best bet for these types of requirements.” The female pursed her full lips as she made a note in the book in front of her. Once she finished, she put the end of the pencil in her mouth for a second before turning her green eyes on him. “Please don’t forget that you have an eight o’clock appointment tomorrow morning with Sweetwater Security.”
The company would be assessing the rooms needing closed circuit television cameras to be installed in them. Brant nodded. “I won’t.”
His assistant put the pencil back between her lips, sucking on the tip before knocking the end against her bottom lip once or twice. “Selina will be checking on your female’s progress at ten sharp, I’m sure you’ll want to attend.” Her eyes locked with his.
Brant couldn’t help but to smile. “Make sure that you leave my schedule open from then until lunch time. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Tanya’s appointments had recently moved from biweekly to weekly. Excitement at the pending birth rose up in him. The child was his, he had never been more certain of anything in his life. It was a gut feeling and he was rarely wrong.
“It’s all so exciting. A royal baby.” Allison smiled broadly. “Am I right in saying that the queen is now entering the final stages of her pregnancy?”
Brant’s smile only grew wider as he nodded. “It won’t be long now before my heir is born.”
His PA swiveled in her chair until she faced him. Her moss green eyes were wide and twinkling. “Her final stages, my lord.” She raised her eyebrows, looking expectedly at him like that was supposed to mean something.
Brant shoved his hands into his pockets. “In just a couple of weeks I am going to be a father.” It was still sometimes difficult for him to believe. When he thought about his Cenwein, warmth rose up in him. His teeth clenched with the almost overpowering need to protect her and his unborn son. “Are we done? I don’t remember there being anything else on my itinerary for the day.” A look at his watch showed that it was already after five and the need to see his female rose up in him with such urgency that he was tempted to leave before she could reply.
Allison threw him a coy half smile as she rose to her feet. It was only then that he noticed that she wasn’t wearing her normal suit jacket. His assistant usually wore a business jacket and shirt buttoned all the way up to her neck. Her dark, shoulder length hair wasn’t in its normal bun at the base of her neck either. Today her hair was loose and tussled about her shoulders, another first.
He hoped he didn’t need to bring up business etiquette with her. Normally he wouldn’t care either way but right now they were meeting with many humans and they were strange about such things.
Brant felt his brow knit as the scent of her arousal hit his nose. Cinnamon and spice. What the fuck! She sucked her full bottom lip into her mouth. “Her final stages, my lord,” she repeated in a husky voice that had him taking a small step back.
Brant actually felt his mouth gape open and for the first time in his long life, he felt at a total loss for words. His PA was coming on to him? No fucking way.
The female took a small step forward, her scent becoming all the more pronounced by the second. “That means that you’re free to rut with me. As your personal assistant, I’m here to take care of your every need.”
Holy fucking hell!
Swallowing hard, he finally managed to pull himself out of the shocked state he found himself in. “No, thank you. That won’t be necessary.” The words sounded choked and unsure even though he had never been more sure of anything in his life. His little human was everything he needed in a female. There was no way he would ever evoke that crazy lore. It hadn’t even crossed his mind, not even for a second. In fact, he had completely forgotten about its existence.
Unfortunately, Allison took his hesitation as an opening to try and change his mind. One of the things he really liked about this female, the main reason why he had hired her in the first place, was for her ability to get straight to the point and to get the job done no matter how difficult the task. Right now it was about to backfire on him. Big time.
Allison clasped the hem on her dress. Don’t do it! In one swift move, she removed the garment. Even more unfortunate was that his fucking eyes dropped to take in her nakedness and a groan escaped. Not because he was aroused but because he was going to have to fire the first brilliant PA he had, had since Stephanie left.
His assistant cocked a narrow hip and widened her stance so that he would get a better view of her bare pussy. She wore heels, stockings with suspenders and nothing else. There was nothing wrong with her per se except that she wasn’t his Cenwein, wasn’t Tanya. Not his human. There was no fur, no lush curves, no mischievous glint in her eye or a smile on the face he’d come to love. In short, she wasn’t his and therefore he wasn’t interested and would never be.
“Put that back on right now.” He growled, sounding much more in control. Back in the driver’s seat where he belonged. The only person with any type of control over him was his mate. Period.
Her face clouded momentarily in confusion before she pulled her shoulders back and took another step towards him. “I’m only doing my duty, my lord. You would be well within your rights to take what I’m offering.”
Brant shook his head. “I know that you can scent that I was with my female not so long ago. She is all that I need. Now please, put the dress back on. I think it would be…”
Fucking perfect! As in, this couldn’t get much worse. Allison’s hands curled around his biceps. Brant had to work hard not to shove her away from him.
“You are a male in his prime. Not just any male, but the king. You have needs a human would have a hard time meeting. Especially when said human is so heavily pregnant. Don’t deny yourself this. I am duty bound to ease and take care of you. Let me do my duty.” She pushed herself up against him. “Please, my lord.”
Brant clasped her arms, intent on peeling her off of him. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her but this had to fucking stop. Although completely out of line, she was not a bad female. Her reasoning might be flawed but she didn’t deserve to be manhandled.
“You cocksucking motherfucker!” Zane roared from behind him as the door slammed.
Allison gasped, putting a hand to her chest. Brant used the opportunity to move away from the female. “It’s not what you—”
Zane didn’t wait for him to finish, using two big strides, he closed the distance between them and punched Brant square in the mouth. He felt his head snap back, his lip split, a tooth loosen and tasted the metallic tang of blood.
The other male didn’t give him any time to recover, he head butted him together with a hard right to his abdomen. Pain blossomed in both places as he flew back, landing hard on the paper covered desk. There was a crunch, which he assumed was the laptop computer, and more pain exploded in his back. Thankfully, he hadn’t heard the telltale signs of bones cracking which meant that he was good… at least for now.
“Please stop!” Allison cried. “Don’t hurt him!” She was sobbing.
Zane towered over him. His jaw was clenched and his face was red. In short, the male was totally pissed. More pissed than Brant had ever seen him and that was saying something. A hand clamped around his throat, successfully closing off all air supply. “This will fucking kill our female if she ever finds out.” Zane’s voice was a low growl. Barely audible. “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen…” The hand around his throat tightened and if Brant had been able to, he would’ve moaned in pain. Unfortunately, the other male was using his whole weight to hold him down. If it had been any other opponent, in any other situation, it would never have gotten this far in the first place. Brant would’ve taken the fuc
ker out before he could land the first punch. Fuck, but he was getting soft…especially where Zane was concerned.
The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Zane even though the idiot deserved it. At the end of the day, the male thought that he was protecting their female. Couldn’t fault him for that.
“It looks like I managed to stop this in time,” Zane growled. His eyes lifted to where Allison was standing. “She goes and I won’t fucking tell our female. Don’t think for a second that I’m doing this for you though. I’m doing this for her and our unborn child. If I hear of anything, see anything like this again, I will kill you. Are we clear?”
Zane released him, not waiting for a reply. He picked up the dress and threw it at the female. “You have half a minute to dress and leave.”
She whimpered in response. There was a rustling noise as she dressed.
It took at least that long for Brant to get enough oxygen into his lungs, and for his voice box and throat to sufficiently heal so that he could actually talk. “It wasn’t like it looked.” It came out sounding rough and gravelly.
“It was exactly like that and don’t you dare fucking deny it.” Zane pointed a finger at Brant. The muscles on the sides of Zane’s neck corded. His face was still contorted in rage. The male was barely holding it together. “I am so fucking disappointed in you.”
“I told the female to stop, I told her I wasn’t interested.” He looked Allison’s way. His assistant had just finished dressing and was just grabbing her purse from under her desk. Her eyes were wide and her skin was pale.
“You weren’t trying very fucking hard. She was draped all over you. If I hadn’t walked in…” Zane clenched his jaw so tightly that he heard a cracking noise. He shook his head. “I thought you loved our female.”
“It wasn’t fucking like that. Listen to me.” Brant gripped one of Zane’s arms trying to get the male to pay attention, but Zane shook him off with a hard twist of the shoulder.
Mated to the Vampire Kings Page 3