Captured: A Dark Vampire Motorcycle Club Paranormal Romance (Nightborne Renegades MC Book 1)

by Imani L. Hawkins

  “Bring her here.”

  It was a command, one I knew Jon would follow, even after his questioning gaze met mine.

  “What do you plan to do?” he asked, worry creasing his brow.

  Fuck. I still had no clue what to do. I couldn’t let her go but I couldn’t kill her either. Were anyone to discover what she’d done, there would be more of them, lining up to take on the Trio and the rest of the Nightborne Renegades. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

  “Bring her here,” I repeated, and he was gone in an instant.

  I stood from my seat and made my way to the kitchen. The fridge held packets of blood, all different types, and I needed my fill. Last night’s meeting held me up for hours without sustenance and I could feel the blood rage creeping over me, even as I tried with all my might to hold it at bay. Returning to the compound to news of an intrusion hadn’t made it any better. Still, I had to get a handle on things before anything else happened.

  I pulled a bag from the fridge and sank my teeth in, not bothering to grab a cup or even twist the top from it. Cool rich blood seeped into my mouth, running down the corners of my lips as I emptied the bag. Type O. It had that sweet pure quality, like a fine wine left to age for centuries, and I found myself pulling another bag from the fridge. Like the first one, I tore into it, ignoring the blood that dripped onto my clothes and the floor beneath me, near ravenous as the lust took over.

  “I hope you plan on changing your clothes before Jon returns with the girl.”

  I finished off the bag before tossing both bags in the trashcan beneath the sink. Closing the fridge door, I turned to face Jackson who’d claimed a seat at the marbled island in the center of the kitchen.

  “Would it matter?”

  Jackson’s lips spread into a mischievous grin. “Not if you plan to kill her.”

  Something flashed in his eyes as he said that and any hope I had this would be an easy decision was crushed in an instant. Jackson wanted her dead. I could see it in his eyes and the way he studied me as if trying to gauge my feelings about the matter. But that was nothing new. Jackson wanted anyone who challenged us dead, which is why we rarely brought anything to vote anymore.

  “Then I better go change.” I said, walking past him.

  He grabbed my arm as I passed, spinning me to face him. “This needs to stop. How long do you think it’ll take for word to spread and humans to decide we’ve grown soft? It’s bad enough we even agreed to that treaty in the first place, but to allow this to go unpunished…”

  “Who said anything about this going unpunished, brother?”

  He eased his long brown waves behind his shoulder, cocking a brow at me. “You expect me to believe you’d kill the girl?”

  I didn’t expect him to believe it because I knew I wouldn’t. But it bothered me killing was all my brother could think about, considering our treaty with the humans was fragile at best. Nearly a century ago, the elders of the town brokered a deal with us to stop the bloodshed between humans and vampires. In that deal, we were granted certain rights to deal out our own brand of justice should we discover a human committing a crime against us, but that didn’t mean the humans wouldn’t retaliate should we take it too far. As time passed, the humans were quickly growing tired of our brand of justice and changes needed to be made. We needed to think practically if we were to keep the peace between us and I doubted killing a human for stealing would be practical.

  I shook my head. “We’re not going to kill her.”

  “Of course, you’re not,” Jackson retorted with a roll of his eyes.

  “We could use her skills…”

  “For what?” Jackson asked, hostility spilling from his lips. He jerked up to a stand, allowing the stool to fall to the floor. “So, the bitch can hack into bank accounts. We have enough money to last us another hundred years. She’s no use to us.”

  I shook my head again. My poor brother was so short-sighted he couldn’t see the opportunity before us. Unfortunately for him, I had no intention of explaining it to him. With him, it was better to show him than to tell him.

  “Devon will be coming back earlier than we’d expected,” I said, changing the subject.

  Jackson quirked his brow, his lips forming an O. “What brought this on?”

  I cut him a look that I’d hoped made it obvious and he shook his head. Devon needed a break after all he’d been through recently. Having lost the person he considered the love of his life a few years back, he’d been spiraling since. No longer was he interested in club politics, a problem considering he’d been one of the Trio for nearly a century. Still, we’d done all we could to stand by him, including taking on a good majority of his tasks. No matter what we did, he seemed to sink further and further into a depression we thought would never ease. And a depressed vampire, was a dangerous vampire.

  We’d watched him tumble down that road, seeking an escape from the responsibilities we’d been charged with so long ago and it was beginning to wear on us all. He became more erratic as time passed and it didn’t take long before his actions began putting the club at risk. Before Davina slid into our lives, we’d been able to convince him to take a break. Jackson and I could handle the club on our own for the next twenty to fifty years until he found what he was looking for and return a better man. Davina had crushed those plans, however. He’d called me earlier to let me know he’d be returning within a few days.

  “The girl is already proving to be a huge inconvenience. Why are we keeping her around?”

  “Do you trust me?” I asked. It was a simple enough question. I was beginning to think Jackson no longer trusted my judgement and that wouldn’t be good for either of us.

  He dipped his head. “Of course, I do. It just feels like…”

  His thoughts were cut off when his phone rang. He picked it out of his pocket, touched the screen, and placed it against his ear. A flurry of words escaped him before he ended the call.

  “I have to go.”

  I shook his hand, clapped him on the back, and let him leave, relieved I wouldn’t have to explain myself any further.

  Chapter Five

  Davina

  I’d done it. Fifty thousand to pay off Zed and it was easier than I thought it would be. Maybe too easy, thinking back on it but that no longer concerned me as I turned right on the alley between First and Second street. The alley was clear of bystanders on an early September morning, when all the children were already at school and the parents where hustling off to their day jobs. The rest of the town slept until well after eleven, even past noon on a good day, because in a small town like this, there was nothing else to do.

  I walked through dirt and rock, past a few dumpsters and adobe homes before making it to the back porch of Zed’s home. No doubt he’d be awake, considering he’d expected either a considerable amount of cash or another plea for more time from me, time he’d swiftly deny me. He hated losing money. Especially after all the work he’d put in to make himself well-known as a sort of boss in a small town that no one’s even heard of. Drug trafficking was a huge problem in this town for a long time. Being so close to the Mexican border, in a town no one knew existed, it was easy to smuggle drugs in by the truckloads and Zed made plenty of money doing just that.

  I’d often wondered why they never caught him, but over time I realized just how brilliant the man was. It was difficult to charge him for a crime when he never got his hands dirty. He had hundreds of people working for him, willing to do the dirty work for the severance packages he provided. If any of them were caught, he’d make sure their families were taken care of while they did their time in prison and provide them with enough money to secure a top-notch lawyer. Hell, he’d even put money on their books, as long as they lived by his rules. No flashy cars, homes, or anything else that could put a target on your head.

  It was the main rule he lived by which was why I was walking past a small 91 Honda Accord with chipped blue paint and dents on the front bumper. It sat behind his home o
n a dirt path that led to a three-bedroom adobe home, painted a light pink with seemingly broken windows and cracked wooden posts that held up the roof of a covered porch. Outside, the furnishings were meager and torn, covered in a sheet of dry sand that blew across the yard on the near daily basis. Tall weeds sprouted up in a yard that lacked the proper maintenance and I was certain he’d received fines for it. Not that it mattered. He’d be able to pay off those fines easily enough.

  I knocked on the door and waited. It wasn’t long before the door was opened and standing there, on the other side, was Zed with an unkempt appearance that always caught me off guard. Straight dark hair laid tasseled above a near angelic face. If it weren’t for the scowl on his lips and my prior run-ins with him, I’d think him a do-gooder type who walked little old ladies across the street in his spare time.

  Dark eyes pinned me with a dangerous look that threatened retribution should I have anything but good news to give him, but I couldn’t help but smile. Especially when I shoved a duffle bag full of hundred-dollar bills into his hands.

  “Here’s your fifty grand. Are we done here?” I said, wanting the meeting to be over and hoping he’d simply take the money.

  He opened the bag and ruffled through the stacks of cash in a nonchalant manner that had my heart dropping in my chest. I knew that game all too well and should have known he wouldn’t be happy with merely getting his money back. Tossing the bag to the side, he folded his arms over an impressive bare chest and shook his head.

  “That’s fifty grand?” he asked, showing zero interest. “What? No tip? No interest?”

  He stepped back from the door and waved his hand for me to enter.

  I stood my ground. “That was the agreement, Zed. Fifty grand. Do you know what I had to go through to get that?”

  “No, but I’m impressed. So impressed, I’d like to make you an offer.” He waved his hand again, but frowned when I didn’t move. There was no way I was going into this creep’s home by myself. “Now, I’m hurt. You don’t trust me?”

  I didn’t, but I knew better than to admit to that. Instead, I settled for, “I just want this to be over with.”

  He sucked in a sharp breath before saying, “Thing is, kitten, I never accept repayment on a loan without interest. And seeing as it was easy for you to come up with fifty grand, I’m sure it’ll be just as easy for, say, fifty percent interest. Does that seem fair?”

  “You want another twenty-five grand? Are you serious? Where would I…”

  “Not my problem, kitten. Unless you have something else you’d like to offer?”

  His cool gaze slid down my body, and I shivered under his scrutiny. I’d rather die than fuck this man and I was about to make sure he knew it before a familiar gust of air hit me.

  “I don’t think she’s interested, but if you’d prefer to bat for the other team, I might take you on.”

  I jumped at the sound of his voice but I immediately knew who it was. Pretty Jon stood beside me, with a smirk. He held his head in a way that allowed the sun to glint off the highlight on his cheekbones, and his curls were pulled up into a messy bun.

  I returned my attention to Zed was looking over Jon with equal parts fascination and disdain. It didn’t take much to gather he hated vampires as much as most people did in Alamogordo.

  “Not interested, fanger,” he said, his tone hostile as he stretched himself up to his full height.

  “Your loss, cupcake.” Jon blew him a kiss before stepping in front of me. “However, there is a little matter of you holding on to something that doesn’t belong to you. Care to explain why you have a bag filled with Nightborne money? Or would you prefer to speak to Devon about it? I’m sure he’d just love to know where his money went.”

  Zed immediately thrust a finger in my direction. “This is the money this girl owes me. I have no idea where it came from.”

  “Nuh uh, honey,” Jon rolled his neck, clicking his tongue. “The only person I see in possession of that money is you and I doubt the Trio would care how you got it. Especially when I explain how you propositioned our little friend here.”

  Zed looked at me with disgust. “You’re friends with fangers? I knew something was off about you.” He reached for the duffle bag and thrust it forward. “Here, take the money, but you still owe me.”

  Jon took the bag and riffled through it, pulling out a few stacks of hundreds. “Actually, I have a better deal, one that may keep you alive.” He tucked the stacks in the pockets of his leather jacket before handing the duffle bag back to Zed. “How about you take the forty grand and buy yourself something pretty? We can call this even and the Trio doesn’t have to learn about your little…”

  “Wait one fucking minute. That bitch owes me fifty grand and I intend to…”

  His voice cut off the moment Jon flung his hand forward, grabbing the man by the throat. With ease, he lifted him off his feet and pulled him from his home.

  “I don’t think I understood your answer. Would you care to try again?” Jon cocked his head to the side, watching as Zed kicked and scratched at him, doing everything he could to get away from him.

  He tried to speak but the grip Jon had on his throat made that nearly impossible. Nothing came out but croaking sounds. Though I loved seeing him choke, especially after calling me a bitch, I didn’t want the man dead. After all, he’d been there to loan me money when I’d needed it, except this time I’d made the mistake of borrowing way more than I could afford to pay back.

  I placed my hand on Jon’s. “He can’t really respond with you choking him like that.”

  With a tsk, Jon placed him back on his feet where Zed grabbed at his neck, gasping for air. He kneeled down to one knee, trying his damnest to replenish the oxygen he’d just been deprived of.

  “Sorry, sweetie. I forget how weak you humans can be at times. Forgive me?”

  How could I not? Especially with him flashing me those puppy dog eyes and poking out his middle lip. He looked ridiculous, and I couldn’t help the laughter that escaped my lips.

  He returned his attention to Zed. “Do we have a deal or not? I’m missing my nail appointment and it’s making me very anxious. And when I get anxious, I get hungry.”

  He flashed his fangs, dragging his tongue across the tips of them.

  “Fine. Just get that…”

  A growl erupted from somewhere in Jon’s chest and Zed raised his hands in defeat.

  “You have a deal.”

  “Oh, goodie!” Jon clapped his hands and bounced on his toes. “I love when I get my way. Now you run along back inside where it’s safe. I’ll tend to this little harlot, myself.”

  Faster than I’d ever seen him move, Zed made his way back into his house, slamming the door behind him. The moment he did, Jon grabbed my arm, more forcefully than I would have liked.

  “Hey,” I said, trying to snatch my arm from him but that only made him tighten his grip.

  “You have some explaining to do.” Unlike the carefree way in which he’d handled Zed, he was all business now. The playful lilt was gone, replaced by a voice almost too masculine for the Jon I’d come to know. “You need to come with me.”

  ~*~

  Jon dropped me off at a home that was a far cry from any I’d ever seen. Just outside of the Alamogordo city limits, we pulled into Boles Acres, past a few dilapidated homes and down a dirt road I’d never seen before. We’d sped passed a no trespassing sign and through a metal gate that seemed to lead out to nowhere, but about five miles in the dirt road gave way to pavement that led to a collection of homes large enough to be mansions.

  Smoke’s home sat in the center of them all with two other, equally impressive homes flanking his. I walked up to the home, my steps timid as I glanced back to where Jon was sitting on the hood of his purple Cadillac. He shooed me forward, but otherwise said nothing and I swallowed hard. They’d figured it out before I could go into hiding, not like they wouldn’t have been able to find me. Given the size of Devon’s bank account, they
had more than enough money to sniff me out, no matter how far I ran.

  I thought about that moment, sitting there in his room while he slumbered. I’d be terrified, so much so I’d nearly given up on it altogether, but with my life hanging in the balance I had no choice. Zed would’ve killed me. I had no doubt about that and I couldn’t be certain he wouldn’t still. After all, he never received his full sum from me and if I knew Zed the way I felt I did, I knew he wouldn’t allow the vampires to keep him getting his hands on me.

  I trudged up the steps to a large wooden door with intricately carved vines that twisted and swirled into a pattern I couldn’t place. Before I’d had a chance to knock, the door swung open with a buzzing sound.

  The door opened up into an entryway that was a lot more extravagant than I’d expected. Where I’d thought the place would be dark and Victorian, it was anything but. The entryway led to a large foyer with two intertwining staircases that led to the second floor. The decor was modern and expensive, with tall marble statues at the foot of each staircase. Beyond the stairs was wall to ceiling windows that allowed in just the right amount of natural light to fill the space, and glass doors that led to a massive pool. The walls were painted a pristine white that seemed almost sterile if it were for the wooden trim and high ceiling adorned with a brass chandelier. Just like the suite, the place boasted mahogany floors that stretched out to a large kitchen to the right of the staircase and a living area to the left.

  It was beautiful.

  “Miss. Morris,” a small man with an expensive black suit said with a bow, pulling me from my thoughts. He’d been standing a few feet from the door when it opened, with one hand pressed against his belly and his other behind his back. He gestured toward a door to the right of the entryway. “He’s waiting for you.”