by Moore, E. M.
Christian, of course, had taken a seat on The Council. He was on the board of The Fort as well because he was interested in that, but he was most important to the clan at large, governing in the easy shadow of his father.
Instructor Nicolai only needed to take the short drive to The Fort, and Stephan to his health clinic. It was a perfect arrangement.
Stephan waited just inside the vestibule for me when I strolled in. I ran right past him, calling out, “Sorry,” as I went. I ran upstairs, pulled on other clothes and bounded right back down the steps in front of him. “I’m ready.”
He shook his head and smiled. After holding the door open for me, he led me outside. The first construction van pulled around our circular driveway. To the left of the house, we were adding on to the garage to house the many vehicles we now needed to get around. One for each of us. We waved at the head foreman, and then Stephan helped me into his car. “We’re still on for pizza for lunch, right?”
My stomach practically grumbled just thinking about it. “I can’t wait.”
We talked easily as we made the half an hour trip to the clinic. It was amazing the improvements the ‘feeders’ had made under Stephan’s guiding hands. We spent the morning floating from one room to the next. Stephan took his clinical notes and asked all the important questions while I chitchatted right beside him. These humans were some of the strongest I’d ever met. To overcome such imprisonment took a strong heart.
As the lunch hour drew nearer, I waited in Stephan’s office so he could finish up with his nurses, making sure everything was up to par. He was downright sexy doing it. I hadn’t yet convinced him of Stephan’s miracle cream becoming the next best acne medication, but I did tell all his patients to save some of it for their skin. He only rolled his eyes when I did so, never complaining about my interfering with his work. Because he’d needed a bigger supply for all his treatments and wasn’t able to provide it all himself, other vampires dropped by to give blood periodically for his cream. His nurses not only saw the patients, but also helped make the cream alongside him.
I took out my phone and texted Connor. It’s almost time!
He sent back a dazed face. I’ve been thinking about it all morning. Dad and Christian kept droning on and on and on. I thought they’d never shut up.
You’re in the car now though, right?
Oh yeah. We’re on the way. There was a pause and then Connor sent another text. If Christian asks what we were texting about, tell him I told you we were talking about very important things related to the status of the clan. VERY important things.
I chuckled and rolled my eyes. Being a moderator meant Connor had to sit through clan meetings he thought were boring. Extremely boring. If I believed the way he described them, I’d never want to go to another one again. Christian, however, always put the serious twist on it. Sometimes politics wasn’t always exciting, but it was always crucial.
The door to Stephan’s office opened, and I stood. He came forward and pulled me into his arms. He looked tired. He’d just crammed an entire day’s worth of work into a few short hours so we could all go to lunch together. He sifted his hands through my hair and kissed my head. I loved these little moments. These moments when it was just about us again.
“We better get going,” he whispered.
I nodded into him and was the first out the door. I waved bye to Trixie and practically ran to the car. In thirty minutes, I’d have my pizza, and I’d have my princes all in one place. What could be better?
I texted on and off with Connor during the ride, relaying to Stephan the gist of The Council meeting. We laughed and joked the whole way until we turned down the main street of the little town. The other two vehicles were already there. I waited until Stephan put the car in park and then I hurried out. With his hand at the small of my back, we walked inside. Sure enough, there were my other three princes, already staring at the door waiting for us to walk in. Like so many times before, a thrill shot through me. They were mine. And I was theirs.
And we were going to eat pizza.
Stephan moved around and sat on the other side of the circular booth. I walked forward to take my seat, but a crash sounded just to my left. I could barely contain myself when I turned and saw the haphazard state of the waitress who was never able to stop staring. I couldn’t blame her when she did it back then, and I couldn’t blame her now either.
She cringed. “Sorry.”
I bent down to help her pick up the empty trays. “I know how you feel,” I told her, feeling the four pairs of eyes burning into my backside.
She gulped and looked over my shoulder. “I can barely control myself around them. I’m a complete spaz. I always do something stupid.” I chuckled and put the pizza server on the dirty tray. She looked up at me. “For the record, which one are you seeing?”
Smiling, I stood and brushed off the knees of my pants. “All of them.”
Her mouth dropped. I let what I said sink in and then I winked at her.
“Whoa,” she breathed.
She could say that again.
The End
Can’t get enough of the Ravana world? Read the first in the Ravana Clan Legacy Series, A New Genesis. Click here.
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author E. M. Moore loves everything paranormal--especially witches. She's visited Salem more than a few times and can't get enough of their ghost tours and witch museums. She's written in every major genre, but fantasy is her first love. She currently has books out in Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy and Witch Cozy Mysteries.
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www.emmoorewrites.webs.com
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Summoned By Magic
Chapter One
The point was to watch them, not get sucked in. I failed. Holy fuck, this guy was hot.
I always was a sucker for tattoos and guns. Not the kind of guns that shoot things. Guns, as in thick, muscled arms I could sink my teeth into.
I blew out a breath. For heaven’s sake, I needed a cold shower. It might even do these cramps some good. How the hell did I even end up here? Well, technically, I knew how. A long ass bus ride with people who weren’t always the cleanest and some men who I could tell didn’t have the best of intentions. The more appropriate question was why I ended up here.
I’d been getting cramps—I know, TMI—and a yearning in my stomach for something “other”. Something that wasn’t in New Orleans where I’d lived my whole life. The pressure was like a pull, and when you grew up with my grandmother, you tended to want to follow your instincts because that’s what she hammered into you day in and day out. Don’t trust someone? Don’t. They’re probably an axe murderer. Feel like you shouldn’t go to school today? Don’t. Who knows what shitty nonsense could happen? Don’t like that guy around the corner? Neither do I, he’s a dick.
I smiled to myself remembering Granny. She hated that name, but I called her it, anyway. She was a forever young person stuck in an old woman’s body. And, she just so happened to be the local Voodoo Priestess, revered—and feared—by many. Yeah, my childhood was a smash.
The too-loud pop music in the bar where I’d been enjoying my eye candy stopped suddenly. Shoved into the present, I dropped the straw that allowed me to suck down my Amaretto Sour like it was Kool-Aid and turned. Wow. What a dive bar. The absence of Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk and the house lights exposed the thick layer of sticky grime on the bar and the off-brown checkered tile that led to the small stage at the back of the place.
The tall, lanky guy who lived with the Adonis I’d been lusting after since I got to Salem two days ago stood on the cramped stage. He tapped the microphone tentatively, sending a buzz through the air that made me cringe. “Sorry,” he muttered, while pushing his glasses back up his nose. He stood there awkwardly for a few moments, shifting his weight from foot to foot while I—and everyone else in the bar—watched. He wasn’t used to being the center of attention, that much was evident. My heart
went out to him as his face blanched. The blinding white lights all turned on him and he stood there like a surprised animal getting caught taking food.
He was adorable, actually, in a dorky kind of way. All the guys who lived at the apartment I’d been drawn to were good looking in their own way, surprising and confusing me all at the same time. Before I could get sucked back down the rabbit hole of why I was here, he finally cleared his throat and spoke. “Uh, hey.” He waved awkwardly, then put his hand above his eyes to ward off the spotlights. “Just wanted to send a happy birthday out to my friend, Randy. Um, guess I should’ve brought a drink up here with me to toast or something, but uh…”
One of the other guys from the apartment, the blond one who looked like he stepped off a sports magazine cover when he left for practice in the morning, ran a drink up to the front. “Bottom’s up,” he winked.
“Thanks, Gabe.” The lanky one bent over so his lips were almost on the microphone as he raised his borrowed glass in the air. “Happy birthday, Randy.” The microphone buzzed and squeaked as he stepped away.
The blond one—Gabe, apparently—stepped right up after. “Cheers, Mate!” He threw his own drink back, and stepped away from the mic, encouraging the lanky one to do the same with his. He did, his face immediately puckering, and then gave a quick shake of his head as he finally swallowed what was surely some strong, hard liquor.
I leaned against the bar and took a drink of my own. Following them to the bar tonight had been a good idea. I’d just learned two of their names—Gabe and Randy. I also knew that Gabe was apparently British and that it was Randy, Mr. Hot as Fuck’s, birthday.
I eyed the two as they made their way back over to the bar a few feet from where I stood. The same pull tugged in the pit of my stomach when they were all together. I moaned deep as the feeling became overwhelming. There was definitely something about these four. Was I supposed to know them? Was I supposed to fear them? Nothing seemed off. They were four regular guys. Three of them went to college at Salem State while Randy spent most of his time at the gym and a tattoo parlor.
Frustrated, I pulled the straw from my glass and downed the rest of my drink. I was just about to place it back on the bar when a deep, gruff voice said, “I hope that was in my honor.”
My eyes widened, and I almost sputtered. The guy I’d been lusting after since I got here just spoke to me. Holy bananas. Now that he was six inches away, I got to check him out up close. It was easy to get drawn in. He looked sexy as sin wherever he went. He was either dressed for the gym, showing off his sexy as fuck muscles, or sporting tight ass t-shirts on his way to the tattoo parlor he worked at. Tonight was the same tattoo parlor look, jeans that hugged his hips with a black shirt that looked like it was tailor-made just for him. What I hadn’t noticed from watching him with what was usually a street distance between us, was his dark eyes. They were deep brown, teetering on black. A shiver rocked my spine.
Suppressing my inner freak out, I blinked up at him, doing my best to appear interested. Appear? Who was I kidding? I was interested. “Of course,” I answered. “Randy, is it?”
He nodded in assent before taking his time perusing my body. My insides clenched, a more potent feeling than I’d ever had before as his eyes raked all over me. I hadn’t brought much of anything with me from New Orleans, including clothes, since I didn’t know what I would find here. Tonight, I’d just tied off one of my black shirts right above my right hip, showing a little midriff. It was about as “bar appropriate” as I got, even when I was home. Coupled with the tight pair of jeans I’d brought with me, I didn’t look half bad in the small ass motel mirror I’d checked my reflection in before making my way here. I’d followed them to the bar and then decided I had to go back to the room and do a little mini wardrobe makeover before heading in after them and seeing what I could find out. It couldn’t help to be as sexy as I could while trying to feel them out. At least, that’s what I’d thought, and it was working too. Randy was actually standing in front of me, his eyes gliding over my skin as if his only thought was what he could do to me.
I swallowed and yelled at myself to stop it. The tug in my stomach hadn’t brought me thousands of miles away just to sleep with the guy in front of me. Voodoo didn’t do shit like that. Hell, if it did, I wouldn’t have resisted it for so long when I was younger.
His dark eyes latched onto mine. Before long though, a tinge of amusement colored his face. His lips moved, and I watched as they separated in succession, drawn to them instantly. When they cracked into a wider smile, I was thrown back into reality. He wasn’t just standing in front of me so I could ogle him, he’d been saying something. “Sorry, what?”
Instead of smiling this time, his intense eyes froze. “Your name?”
“Norah.” Inwardly, I kicked myself. I’d intended on using a fake name if we ever got to this point, but the way he looked at me made me lose all my senses.
He pulled a curl of my hair off my shoulder and fingered it. “Norah,” he said, as if he was testing the way it sounded on him, and damned if it didn’t sound amazing, panty-melting amazing.
He dropped my hair and turned toward the bar, breaking off my current train of thought where I climbed on him like a monkey and felt every inch of his chiseled body. He was hot, and he knew it. He also knew I thought he was hot. I no longer had the upper hand. Like, at all, and I had a feeling I never would with him.
He slapped the bar a few times and held his finger up in the air. The bartender walked right up and shook his hand. Randy motioned in my direction. “My new friend Norah needs a drink.”
The bartender’s lips curled up. He looked from Randy to me. “Another Amaretto Sour.”
I nodded. “Please.”
The bartender turned away and Randy once again turned his full attention toward me. “So, Norah, I haven’t seen you around here before.”
His muscles bulged underneath his t-shirt as he shifted, but I refused to look at them. “That’s not really your pickup line, is it, Birthday Boy?”
He smirked. “It’s the tamest one I got. I had several others in mind, but since I’ve already seen you blush a couple times, I wasn’t sure they were appropriate.”
I stood up taller, accepting his challenge. “I can take it. What do you got?”
Randy leaned over, his hot breath caressed my ear. I could just picture him smirking as my body flushed. He had me right where he wanted me. “I was wondering,” he said slowly, “If you kiss with that sexy as fuck accent.” Before I could tell him that he should try to find out, he pulled away as if he hadn’t just curled my toes. “Where is it from, anyway?”
“Louisiana,” I told him, still trying to keep it together and apparently totally losing the fight to keep my identity a secret. “A little bit of Creole, a little bit of South.” My body wasn’t sending me any warning signals to keep my mouth shut. In fact, it was doing the opposite. It was practically humming in Randy’s presence. I’d never been so turned on just talking to a guy before. Every move he made, my body countered with him as if I were his shadow.
His dark eyes flared. “Mixed beauty…”
I’d always loved my soft brown skin. While other girls had to work hard to tan, mine was permanently there. He trailed a finger down my wrist, and I had to clench my jaw to not moan in ecstasy. For fuck’s sake, he had me pinned already.
The adorable lanky friend put a hand on Randy’s shoulder, saving me from having to say something, which probably would’ve come out an incomprehensible mess. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “You told me not to let you stay out too late since you got the morning shift at the gym.”
Randy’s shoulders bunched at the initial intrusion, but relaxed as soon as he heard his friend’s voice. “You’re being very rude, Liam.”
Liam turned his head. Surprise riddled his features as soon as he saw that his friend stood in front of me. A heated red colored his cheeks as he took a step back. “S-sorry.” He looked away.
“It’s okay,�
� I said immediately, hating that I was the reason he felt so awkward. He turned his attention back to me and I smiled. “I’m Norah.”
I held my hand out, and he took it. A zap of static electricity passed between us and we both immediately pulled away. “Sorry,” he said again, then blushed as if he hated that he was once again apologizing, or maybe it was because he hated being so awkward. “Didn’t mean to shock you.”
“It happens.”
Randy watched our little interaction with raised eyebrows. He looked back and forth between us before settling his heated gaze back on me. Liam cleared his throat nervously. “You don’t care that you told me that earlier, do you?” he asked.
Randy shook his head. “Not one flying fuck.”
Liam turned as if he expected that as a reaction and left us alone again. As soon as he walked away, a hollow pang struck my core. I hadn’t realized until he left, but that yearning feeling had intensified while they were both in front of me, but had returned to the ache with just Randy.
He stepped closer, nudging the drink the bartender must’ve left for me out of the way. “Thank you.”
I looked up at him curiously. “For?”
“Being nice to Liam. He’s my best friend, and for some reason, women treat him like he’s the dirt on the other side of their three-inch heels.”
I peered over Randy’s shoulder and found Liam staring back at us as he stood with the two others. Gabe, the British one, and the one with the dark hair whose name I hadn’t learned yet. I swallowed down the sudden feeling of fullness as I stared at them and immediately turned back to Randy. “What can I say? Girls can be bitches.”