MATCHING MATES
Mate’s Freedom
by
Bronwyn Heeley
MATES FREEDOM
JUNE 2017
COPYRIGHT © 2017 by Bronwyn Heeley
Proof Edited by Pinny’s Proofreading
Cover Art Copyright © 2016 by BonyDee Design
Cover content is for illustrative only and any person depicted on the cover is a model
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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MATCHING MATES 5
The rules of the game are simple. When the matchmaker matches you, you have twenty-four hours of heat, where only your mate will soothe you. What you choose to do is up to you, but the pain of not consummating those desires with your mate will most likely end in death. You are free to walk away at the end of your time together, but no one said it would be simple to head off home and forget what happened.
Robin was locked in the vampire master’s dungeon for trying to spend the night with the wrong man. However, the right one is willing to give him his freedom, but at what price?
Dedication
To Robin & Brooke, it’s their book after all
Prologue
Cameron sat on the throne at the top of the room, seated above the dance floor and tables the guests at the party enjoyed. To everyone else it was as if he put himself there to lord his position over all that attended, nodding at those who bowed and whispered a brief thanks for their attendance.
“Matchmaker.” One of the men guarding him nudged him awake. His eyes flickered to the left where the guard stood, for just a moment before he caught himself, and then he looked down upon the ladies curtsying in front of him. He wasn’t sure what they had said, what they wanted. Though if he was honest there was a fifty-fifty chance they either wanted to know if their matches were here, or if he’d bless their mating.
“Will you honour us?” one of the women repeated with hesitation, clearly thinking he wasn’t going to allow the match.
Taking a deep breath, Cameron sat up straighter and allowed his eyes to shift to what he’d been told was a deep-purple orb. The colour covering its round structure was only purple, no black, no whites. When he opened his eyes all he saw was colours. Pulses and ribbons danced on the floor, above the floor, reaching for the sky tangling with each other, sniffing one another out, tasting.
Cameron looked down at the women before him, they were a match as much as anyone else was. Maybe not true mates, but even he didn’t get to match true mates often, they were rare. But that didn’t mean a person didn’t get a match, wouldn’t have a mate for life. Things just weren’t that cut and dry. A heart had more love than that, a body held more need. And there were multiple opportunities for love to set, and for them to be truly happy until death pulled them apart.
“Matchmaker?” One of the women gasped, her colour spiking as she started to panic.
“Blessed be,” he whispered down at the women, nodding and connecting their lines that little bit more together than they already were. It would allow for them never to be separated by magical forces.
“Thank you.” The other one sobbed a joyful sob as they embraced with a quick kiss and hurried off.
Cameron felt a spark of joyous light hit his heart before it quickly died as he sat back in his chair. He wanted what he granted others, wanted it more than anything. Well, that wasn’t true. He’d much prefer not to be tethered to a chair and owned by a vampire, who just wanted him so he could hold a matchmaker over the rest of the paranormal world.
Before he could blink away the sight, the vampire in question walked up from behind him. He was a black ominous cloud which made Cameron want to run and find shelter, but instead, he stood still and allowed the darkness to take him over. He’d been here for a long time, understood the rules, and if he didn’t at least make a handful of people connect then he’d be sent to the dungeons, and no one wanted to go there. Especially those who knew they would be freed, in a way, by the end of the week.
“Now, matchmaker.” The darkness spoke, his voice deep and evil. His tone talked down, sneering the name rather than how the woman had spoken before him. There was no love. No hope of wonder. Just darkness, and the added bonus of pain if he didn’t do what was asked of him.
Taking a deep breath, Cameron looked out over the crowd, finding links and wrapping them up together. Each connection knew what was about to happen, if they were lucky enough to be chosen. They’d drop everything in front of them in order to search for the one Cameron chose for them. They could try and resist but all that would entail was a lust so painful it would drive them to their deaths.
No one would take that over a twenty-four-hour fuck feast they were all welcome to have. That’s what they truly came here for, even if they’d hoped for his blessing.
After he did the first step of what was asked of him, Cameron pulled the lust strands on everyone else in the room. It was important and what the vampire wanted more than anything else. The gratefulness of true connection Cameron gave him was an added bonus to the fact that everyone in the room would get laid and be happy, and would pay him more and more in order to get back into the party.
“Let the fun begin,” Master of the vampire’s mumbled, and the matchmaker felt his eyes grow lazy, his body sag. The power he’d used wrung him dry, and a guard had to put a hand under his elbow and carry him out of the room.
Chapter One
Robin glared at the roof. He hated the event starting up in the ballroom above him. Well, it had probably been running for a few hours now if he remembered correctly, but being as he’d been locked in the dungeons through three of these bullshit parties now, he couldn’t say for sure.
He could feel the parties, though, hated them to the very bottom of his soul. The fact that getting himself locked up in this hellhole for going on nine months now was all thanks to those fucking parties didn’t help either.
In his mind he’d done nothing wrong that night, The fact that once the orgy had started that fateful evening, and he’d realised he’d not been matched and gone looking for a warm body to fill his time—which is what everyone in the fucking room did—had been his downfall. Because no, apparently everyone wasn’t up for grabs at the parties, and if you even thought of looking in the direction of the one person a high-up vampire wanted, then you were discreetly pulled out of the room by two large vampires, their fingers digging right in under your armpits. They’d dragged him to his new home—a fucking gaol in the vampire wanker’s dungeon.
Robin wanted to scream. Every time the parties started up, his angry—which honestly simmered under his skin every day as he sat in this hellhole—got to the point of him needing the vent his frustration, which wasn’t the best idea in the world. Robin wasn’t sure if the vampire king knew the matchmaker’s charms—charms, he sneered inside—reached every part of the castle, so bringing more attention to himself than being a living body in the room also wasn’t the smartest of ideas. There were a few guards who liked a certain ty
pe of body to penetrate, and generally those where ones that screamed under them, that fought and cried for mercy. The worst ones had a funny habit of not letting their victims live to see the morning.
The decent ones generally didn’t come down here on these nights, mostly too busy with their own needs, and the hundreds of willing bodies lingering throughout the castle. It wasn’t like they were needed down here anyway. They’d fed the residents of the dungeons before the party started, and what was twenty-four hours before they got to eat again. It wasn’t like they were in there to be treated nicely, was it? No, it wasn’t a normal gaol where everyone was treated with some level of respect. This was more a place where they were put, and then disappeared into a dark hole. He wasn’t sure what his family thought of his disappearance, had they even been told? He doubted it. That would mean the vampires thought they had reason not to, that they needed to hide the truth. Though worse, and something he didn’t want to think about, was the fact that they’d felt the need to defend themselves, and he reckoned with himself that would only have happened if his family had gotten nosy. He feared they would have just told them he died. Passed away because his mate hadn’t wanted him, or hadn’t noticed him in the first place. It happened. It was something his family had warned him about. Which honestly was a reason why he didn’t think they would have even asked.
The cold dread of lust trickled down his spine, dripping down from the ceiling and over him. Like a bucket of slime, thick and slow, it seeped into his skin, making his body shake as it heated up. It was a mechanical process in his mind, there was nothing to it but his body’s reaction to the magic, and the chafing that was about to become his next twenty-four hours.
A groan sounded from the darkness, another followed, all tapering off into sobs that rang against the walls in a muffled sound that seemed to sting Robin’s ears, and make his own eyes spring to life with moisture.
A loud clang entered the room, and everything went quiet. Robin’s heart started to bang against his ribs, he took in a large breath and held it as he made his way into the back corner of his cell. It wouldn’t protect him, but that didn’t matter. Just the idea of not trying wasn’t an option.
He had a hope, one he jumped up and down on because didn’t want to hope, didn’t want to have a thought that he may or may not come back. They’d been together at the last event, but that was months ago, it had to have been. They didn’t do it all that often. Unless something had changed. Had it changed? He doubted it, the vampire master was anal if nothing else, and he tended to not want people to think they ran his household. But maybe something had happened. How would he know? Days, months, years blended together in a sea of darkness, only flickers of light from the small windows spilling into the room. Stone walls and a thick iron door made up his cell, a pile of blankets and pillows all he had to sleep on and keep himself warm with. He wore nothing; his jeans had only lasted so long before becoming too stiff and gross to continue wearing.
Robin jumped when the baton of one of the more toxic guards smashed against the iron door, scraping along the wall outside his cell. Cold sweat pooled on his skin, joining the heated. It was the worst sensation to ever have to live through, and this wasn’t the first for Robin. Sadly, he would put money on it not being the last.
The heavy clunk of a key being fitted into a lock, and the scrape as it opened up. Robin crowded into his corner as the door was opened, the unmistakable sound chilling him to the bone. He bit his lip hard, making sure no sound came out. It wasn’t so the vampire wouldn’t spot him, the man had a light he hung up on the wall just inside the doorway. Robin watched as a smile crept onto his lips, and his fingers went to his belt buckle. It was thick and clearly worn to show off his power, his position—like Robin could ever forget.
He kept his heels up near his naked arse. He’d only ever encountered this particular vampire once before, and had been lucky it hadn’t been during a lust fog from the ball because he’d barely wanted to survive being fucked only once by him.
The vampire opened his mouth, but suddenly jolted, looking behind him.
“Find yourself another body, this one’s mine.” A new voice snarled at the big vampire.
“Fuck off, Brooke, you aren’t the boss of me.”
“Maybe not, but I am more powerful, and I have no love for you at all.” The newest occupant of the room smiled, sharp teeth, and full of hate.
The big vampire snarled before his knees buckled. “Fine, have at it, he’s no fun anyway.” And just like that, off he went, leaving Robin alone with vampire Brooke. He wasn’t a guard, and Robin knew he also wasn’t a cook. Hell, Robin had no idea where the hell he came from other than that he clearly lived in the coven’s castle. All their encounters so far came from the nights of the balls. Vampire Brooke was something to hope for, even if it crushed his heart at the end, and made him spend the next few months smothering any lingering feelings from their encounters.
“Hello, Robin, how are you?” Brooke smiled softly as he came into the cell and closed the door. He quickly opened it again, pulling out the key this time before clunking it shut once more. Now he was in a room with a vampire that he actually lusted for, like he’d not since before he’d been locked in the cell.
“Been better.”
Brooke smiled larger, puffing out a soft laugh. “I bet.”
Chapter Two
Brooke had to try really hard not to drop to his knees in front of Robin and beg for forgiveness. It had taken him a good six months to get used to the idea of the emotions he was feeling towards the little dragon. He shouldn’t have been this small. Brooke had learnt a lot about dragons since he’d first seen him in the dungeons. He’d been enthralled as he researched them, and being that Master had wanted to know what he could get for a dragon, it made his own fascination with them easier to hide.
The answer was nothing. No one wanted dragons because they were such a magical rarity, their powers weren’t something others could harness—you had to be born a dragon to use dragon magic. However, their skin was worth something, although skinning a dragon wasn’t something a vampire was capable of doing, and being that the dragon in the cell hadn’t gone through a shedding, and didn’t look like he would anytime soon, maybe his Master would lose interest and eventually dismiss the idea. He might even promptly forget they even had a dragon locked in their dungeon completely. Brooke didn’t think Master would even remember what the dragon looked like, or be able to tell what he was if he saw him walking the halls these days.
One of the things Brooke had learnt was that they changed their size to fit their environment, and that when they were human no one could tell the difference. The only reason they’d find out was if he started to shift in the closed-in dungeon. Brooke would say that it was only because he was young that he was still trapped inside. Had the dragon been any older, they might not have a castle anymore.
One of the only things that had kept the place standing, now that the dragon was locked up, was the magic that lingered in the floors and walls of it, mixed into the stone as it was being constructed. Even though it did allow a certain amount of magic to be used by every magic user, it wasn’t even a fraction of what they were normally capable of. Which meant this young dragon could shift into his dragon form, but then again he was very unlikely to because he was young, and his magic was restrained inside the castle. Dragons were complicated in that way. They were merely humans up until a point in their life when they became mature enough for their body to switch, allowing the transformation. It was how he knew Robin was young. In dragon years anyway.
They’d been quiet a long time, Robin still huddling against the wall, and him crouching down near the door. They just looked at each other, magical lust filling up the room, doubling what they already felt for each other. Brooke knew what they had wasn’t magically influenced—it was deeper, like “he’d found his mate deeper”, and he’d finally accepted that fact.
He might have seen the dragon every time a ball started,
they might have even fucked the last time, but he’d managed to walk away with no problem. That was one of the reasons he’d thought Robin wasn’t his mate. But the thing was, he was obsessed, had been since he’d first seen him. He’d not thought of anyone else since that moment, not fucked anyone else, and even drinking blood from a source other than the dragon—which he hadn’t done yet—he’d picture punching his teeth through the dragon’s throat, not the human under him at the time.
“God you’re beautiful.” Brooke’s eyes wouldn’t leave his, his body rocking were he knelt, wanting sensation against his cock. Wanting Robin’s fingers on his cock, his body—anywhere.
“So are you.” Robin’s whispered words made him moan as he moved forwards, landing on his knees. Robin moved too, and as Brooke’s hands came up they landed on Robin’s cheeks, cupping them, and he touched his lips gently to Robin’s.
Pure energy shot through him, running from his lips to his fingers and slamming into his cock. This was why he’d thought it was the matchmaker’s work because that was exactly how the magic felt, made it all about the fucking. However, there was more, something deeper that lingered against his skin for days on end after their time together. Something that wanted him to bring Robin in close to his heart and not let him go. To grab him up and run, leaving everything behind, just for this one little dragon.
“Oh gods,” he gasped into Robin’s mouth, teeth scraping against that full bottom lip. He was so delicate, so in need of someone to protect him, and yet, Brooke understood that was all because of where he’d been held. He wanted to see what Robin looked like when he was fresh and clean, but even more so in his own environment, time away from these cramped quarters allowing him to became everything he was meant to be.
Mate’s Freedom (Matching Mates Book 5) Page 1