Tall, Dark and Paranormal: 10 Thrilling Tales of Sexy Alpha Bad Boys

by Opal Carew

  Uncle Tobias motioned to Michael. “Where are our manners? Michael, get the young lady something to drink. And Rachael, too. She seems to need something to perk her up.”

  “Would you like a glass of wine?” Michael asked Danai.

  “No!” Rachael said.

  “Not for you.” Uncle Tobias frowned at Rachael’s outburst. “You don’t need anything alcoholic at the moment.”

  “Wine will be fine,” Danai responded.

  Could daylight vampires eat and drink real food? She had thought vampires didn’t need food in their diets. Although the topic had never come up, and she’d never read anything in books on the matter.

  She was pretty sure Adonis had said they bought blood. Maybe they only used it as a supplement. But Rachael’s skin prickled to see Michael’s interest in Danai. No way could he get tangled up with a vampire, like the way she, herself, was intrigued by one. Yet, he was twenty-nine with no hope of ever having a huntress as a mate, and this woman seemed perfectly eligible. Seemed being the key word. Rachael groaned.

  Gregory leaned over and patted her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” she snapped, irritated to high heaven that Adonis was making such a mess of her life.

  Four of Rachael’s other suitors entered the house through the front door, and one acted as the spokesman, speaking to Uncle Tobias in private. Uncle Tobias nodded, and she wondered what that was all about.

  Michael walked into the room with a glass of wine for Danai and orange juice for Rachael. Then he took a seat on the couch next to Danai.

  Seemingly satisfied Danai was no danger to Rachael, Uncle Tobias motioned to the other men. “We have some things to discuss, then we’ll all be out for dinner.”

  But before he could retire to the conference room, Mary caught his attention, leaned close and whispered something in his ear. The tips of his ears turned red.

  Mary had one of those sweet heart-shaped faces that matched her sugary disposition. But the worry in her green eyes warned Rachael of more trouble. Both Uncle Tobias and Mary turned to look at Rachael. Mary had told on her. But what had Rachael done now? No doubt said something she shouldn’t have under the influence of that drug.

  Uncle Tobias whispered something back to Mary. She nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.

  Rachael cringed deep inside at the scrutiny her uncle gave her. Now what had she said or done?

  Uncle Tobias motioned to Brent and spoke to him. Again both looked at Rachael. In fact the whole room full of hunters watched her. Whatever she’d done would be discussed next in the hunting conference room. She wanted to slip back to her apartment and bury her head. She wished tomorrow she’d wake and find it was all an unpleasant dream.

  Gregory walked over to Uncle Tobias, and she knew he was dying to know what crime she’d committed. But her uncle shook his head at his query and made all of her suitors remain outside of the room while he and the other men walked inside.

  She really must have said something bad for him not to want her suitors to know. Gregory watched her and she looked over at Danai who sipped her wine. The pretty dark-haired woman seemed to relax some.

  But Rachael’s stomach muscles tightened. She knew it was only a matter of time before Danai let Adonis inside. And then the trouble would really begin.

  When Michael opened the door to the conference room, he waved for Rachael’s suitors to join them. Gregory leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then followed the others into the room. Was he trying to show he didn’t care what was being said? He still wanted her no matter what?

  She tried to rise from the sofa too quickly, but collapsed.

  Danai hurried to her and helped her to stand. There were no others in the room, but still she whispered, “What did they do to you?”

  “Gave me a truth serum to find out who came to see me on the balcony of the ballroom.”

  Danai’s eyes widened and her skin turned like ice.

  “Can you help me into the kitchen? I have to talk to Mary.”

  “The lady who spoke to your uncle about you?”

  “Yes. I have to find out what she said.”

  “Do you think it wise?” Danai asked.

  “I have to know what to expect.”

  Danai helped her into the kitchen where Trish and Mary and five other huntresses prepared the evening meal, the aroma of the roast already permeating the air.

  “Mary, may I have a word with you?” Rachael leaned against Danai for support.

  Mary rushed to join her and grasped her arm gently. “You should probably lay down, Rachael. You don’t seem to be very steady on your feet.”

  She helped Danai take her back to the couch. Rachael took Mary’s hand. “Tell me what you said to Uncle Tobias about me that upset him.”

  Mary looked at Danai and took a deep breath. “It’s not for me to say. Will you be all right here? Or would you like for me to have one of the men return you to your room?”

  Rachael frowned at her. “I want to know what you said to Uncle Tobias.”

  “You know how he is. He runs the family. If he wants you to know, he’ll speak to you about it. If you don’t need anything else, I have to help the other women prepare the meal.” Mary kissed her cheek, turned, and scurried back to the kitchen.

  Rachael fumed.

  “Would you like to return to your room?” Danai asked.

  “No.” How could all of her family talk behind her back like that? What had she said in front of Trish and Mary? Maybe she could wheedle it out of Trish, her cousin, Ferris’s wife.

  “Is there a bathroom I can use to wash up?” Danai asked.

  Rachael’s eyes widened. “You can eat our food?”

  “Certainly.”

  There was a lot more to Adonis and his sister than they’d revealed to her. Rachael motioned to the stairs, then leaned back into the sofa.

  She wasn’t sure how long she dozed, but when she was conscious of voices floating around and nearby her, she opened her eyes and found the living room full of people again.

  She sat up. As soon as she did, the room grew quiet.

  Gregory hurried to join her, attentive as ever.

  “Dinner’s nearly ready,” Mary said, giving an early warning.

  Rachael stood, testing her legs before she took a step.

  “Are you going to be all right?” Gregory held her arm to steady her.

  “Yes. I just want to run upstairs for a moment.”

  “I’ll go with you.” Danai crossed the floor, took Rachael’s arm, and walked with her toward the steps. “Are you still a bit shaky?”

  “A little. I need to eat, then I’ll feel better.”

  They climbed the stairs and walked into Rachael’s old bedroom, the only thing changed since she’d moved out, a new blue velvet comforter covering the bed. Pictures of seascapes still covered her walls and seashells decorated her dresser, from the last time she’d made a trip to Galveston Island. She poked her fingers into her leather purse, lying on the oak bedside table, and pulled a hairbrush out. But the sheer ice blue curtains at the window, shuddering in the breeze, caught her eye.

  “Oh, Danai you can’t have.” She collapsed on the bed, staring at the open window, finally noticing the cool night air whipping into the room. But her blood was so hot, she barely noticed the chill in the air.

  “Can’t have what, Rachael?”

  “You let him in, didn’t you?”

  “You have to help us kill Piaras. You know you do. Adonis said he’d go on the hunt with your men. He plans to prove he can be as capable as or more so than the others. He wants your uncle to accept him, and he needs to visit you freely to tell you the plan concerning Piaras.”

  “He can’t, Danai. I don’t know what I’ve said about him to my uncle after I was drugged. He’ll be in great danger if anyone catches him in the house with me.”

  “Truthfully, he’s in great danger no matter what he does. We all are. You, me, Adonis, and everyone who tries to protec
t you from Piaras.”

  Rachael hadn’t considered that, and the thought forced a shiver down her spine.

  The bell rang for dinner downstairs in the dining room, jarring her taut nerves.

  “They’ll kill him,” Rachael whispered, and rose from the bed to leave the room.

  “Not if I can help it,” Adonis’s deep voice said, as he appeared behind her next to her bed.

  She spun around too fast and caught his arms before she sank to her knees to see Adonis standing before her, this time wearing a black turtleneck and jeans like his sister. Except a sword was belted at his waist instead of a dagger. God, he looked just like a hunter. Her heart ached to think he could be hers if Piaras hadn’t turned him.

  “They drugged her, Adonis. She doesn’t know what she’s told them about you,” Danai warned. She truly sounded afraid for him.

  He lifted Rachael into his arms and kissed her mouth with such force she had to gasp for breath. “Only good things, I’m sure.”

  The tears came again. “I’m sorry,” Rachael whispered. “I think the medication’s made me weepy.” She was torn between being elated to see him and horrified her family would catch him with her.

  His look not in the least arrogant this time, he smiled, warming her heart. “Seeing me has unsettled you, but in a good way.”

  “I don’t want them to hurt you.”

  Danai tugged at his arm. “Adonis, someone’s coming. They’ve called for the evening meal. They’ll grow concerned if she doesn’t go downstairs soon.”

  He laid Rachael on the bed. “Tell them she’s not able to eat right now.”

  Danai shook her head and scowled at her brother. “She must eat and you have to leave, now.”

  The floorboards creaked in the hall, and Rachael cringed. Several footsteps headed toward her room. The footfalls belonged to angry males.

  Chapter 8

  “I really hate having to leave you like this all the time. Soon, I won’t ever again,” Adonis whispered, then kissed Rachael’s cheek while she lay in the bed, before her bedroom was overrun with hunters who would kill him if they found him in here with her.

  Before she could respond to his gentle touch, he vanished. Seeing him disappear, wrenched at her heart. He was like a warm blanket snatched away from her on a blustery cold day. More than anything else in the world, she wanted his arms wrapped around her while she embraced him in return.

  But when Michael, Zachary, and Gregory stormed into the room armed with swords readied, she was glad Adonis was safely away.

  “Shut that window!” Michael ordered, then searched the closet while Zachary locked the window tight.

  “What’s the matter now?” Rachael asked, irritation lacing her voice.

  “Who opened the window?”

  “I did. It was stuffy in here.” She locked gazes with Michael, not about to tell the truth. She couldn’t look at Danai to see her reaction, but she hoped Adonis’s sister wouldn’t believe she’d tell on her, even though Rachael should have—if she’d been doing what would naturally be expected of her to keep her own family safe.

  “It’s freezing in here. We’ll have to have it nailed shut.” Michael lifted her from the bed. “You’re joining us downstairs. You need to eat. And Father is anxious about your being alone at any time.”

  “Mostly because you didn’t come down when the bell rang for supper,” Zachary added, a peeved look cast in her direction.

  “Danai is here with me. Besides, I would be fine if you bullies hadn’t drugged me.”

  “If you’d told us the truth, we wouldn’t have needed to. And moreover, we only did it so that we’d know what we’re up against.” Michael jostled her down the stairs while Zachary and Danai led the way.

  Gregory brought up the rear.

  “I could have walked,” she protested after the fact. She wondered why Michael hadn’t given Gregory the honor of carrying her to the table instead. Then she noticed Michael’s interest in Danai again. He was showing off how protective, big, and strong he was.

  It would have been laughable if the whole idea hadn’t been so tragic. Danai seemed interested in Michael, too, enjoying his masculine attentions, but a sadness dulled her dark chocolate eyes.

  “You’re welcome to stay tonight with us, Danai,” Michael said, and seated Rachael at the table.

  He quickly pulled a chair out for Danai, leaving an empty seat between Rachael and her so he could sit between the two women. “The women will stay here until we’re through with the hunt. But since you live on the other side of town, we wouldn’t want you to have to drive all that way so late at night.”

  “I would like that.”

  Rachael couldn’t help but groan. Danai was just like her brother, Adonis... a troublemaker. And then she wondered what the woman had said to get into the house so easily. What kind of a story had she concocted?

  Rachael rubbed her temple and stared at her plate. How could she feel protective toward the vampire woman, but at the same time want her family to be safe? She shrank down in her chair. She was quickly becoming a total basket case under Adonis’s influence.

  Her conscience told her to expose the woman, and let the hunters take care of her as they would have to. Danai couldn’t be allowed to let any other vampire into the house. But Rachael’s heart wouldn’t allow her to expose Danai’s true identity. Instead, Rachael had to hope Danai’s huntress sensibilities and her desire for Rachael to help them kill Piaras would keep the huntress turned vampire from doing anything to hurt Rachael’s family.

  To Rachael’s left, Ned sat, and on the other side of him, Mary. She was surprised Gregory wasn’t seated beside her. Instead, her cousins were seated on either side. For her protection? She shook her head, annoyed.

  Roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus, and salad were served, along with homemade rolls and wine. Noticeably absent were hunter children who stayed with other hunter families before their fathers hunted. The calm was necessary for the hunters to prepare themselves mentally for the task ahead of them.

  Rachael studied the number of hunters—Ned, Ferris, Michael, Zachary, Gregory, the remaining five of her suitors, and four of Tobias’s cousins. Why the large turnout? They were going after some significant numbers of vampires to have such a crowd. And she wasn’t privy to what they were up to, as usual. She stifled a scowl as her skin prickled with irritation. She wanted to go, too, and she would, somehow.

  She reached for her glass of wine.

  Michael quickly snatched it away from her. She frowned at him, and he gave her a small smile. “Sorry, but the ladies shouldn’t have set a glass of wine at your place setting tonight. Not in the condition you’re currently in.”

  Rachael tightened her hands into fists. Her “condition” was due to their drugging her. She couldn’t quash the resentment that filled every pore, that they had given the serum to her against her will.

  Mary rose from the table. “I’m sorry, Rachael. I meant to get you water.”

  Rachael hated being treated differently at any time and her blood heated. But then again, she was different. She was the only female who had wanted to hunt beyond her teen years. The others for the most part, were happy to settle down. Plus she was the only one who’d been marked by a vampire. And the only one ever to be under a vampire’s contract.

  Steeling her back, she turned her attention to Uncle Tobias. “I want to go with you on the hunt tonight.”

  Mary handed her a glass of water, then took her seat.

  Conversation ceased. Many continued to scrape forks across plates as they dug into their food, but no further words were spoken.

  Several pairs of eyes considered her as if she was the entertainment for the evening meal. Others looked at Tobias, waiting for his response.

  He nodded. “Gregory said you wished to do this.”

  Gregory watched her, but didn’t smile. She figured her uncle had said no to him. But at least Gregory had attempted to do her bidding. And for the first time, she felt
something for him other than disinterest. Admiration, maybe for his trying so hard to please her. But Adonis had stolen her heart.

  “I have to say no.” Uncle Tobias buttered a roll.

  “But—”

  “It’s not safe for you to go out at night now.”

  She looked down at her plate of untouched food, trying to figure how to persuade him otherwise. She had no intention of being locked up in a hunter’s house every night for the rest of her life, hiding from Piaras. She faced her uncle. “If I were surrounded by hunters... “

  He shook his head.

  She tensed, unable to school her feelings. Her uncle was stubborn like the rest of the hunters. “You could use me as bait.”

  Mary choked on her wine and coughed. Ned leaned over and patted her back.

  Uncle Tobias lifted his wine glass. “We don’t use our huntresses for vampire bait.”

  “He comes for me.” Rachael stood and motioned to some of the men and women who were close to her age, one of the women in particular, Lynella, a thorn in her side from the beginning. “Some of you taunted me while I was growing up. He’d come for me. The one who marked me. That’s what you said. Only we didn’t know who he was. Piaras. Let him come to me then, and we’ll kill him.”

  Her uncle’s voice grew gruff. “I won’t use you like a lamb at the slaughter.”

  “I’m not a lamb! I’m a huntress.”

  “Sit, eat, Rachael. The medicine has made you... emotional.”

  “Unruly, you meant to say.” She threw her napkin on the table. Before she made it two steps away from her chair, Michael jumped from his seat and grabbed her arm, detaining her.

  “Sit,” her uncle reiterated. “And eat.”

  She sat in her chair and stared at her food. She could be just as stubborn as the hunters. Tonight, she’d go on a hunt. Maybe not the one the others went on, but she’d go just the same.