by Dakota Dawn
Vamp Mates
Vampire’s Mate
Renny Woolsey’s first night at his new job of bartender’s assistant ends with him running for his life. He wouldn’t have even taken the job if his college grant money hadn’t been almost depleted.
Sprinting through the woods at night to escape two vampires wasn’t something he would have ever guessed he’d be doing. His mom had raised him to believe that humans shared the earth with other beings. The truth of her belief is now chasing him. Just when he thought he couldn’t go on, Renny comes to a cabin. An owl hoots eerily and Renny bounds up the cabin’s steps. To his horror, a huge owl flies right onto the porch. In a panic, Renny rushes into the unlocked cabin.
As Renny tries to figure out how he’s going to escape two evil vamps and one freaky owl, a light comes on. He is instantly mesmerized by Zavier Thorpe's pale green eyes.
If Renny lives through the night, his life will be changed forever.
Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), BDSM, Paranormal
Length: 22,394 words
VAMPIRE’S MATE
Vamp Mates
Dakota Dawn
EROTIC ROMANCE MANLOVE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance ManLove
VAMPIRE’S MATE
Copyright © 2012 by Dakota Dawn
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-047-7
First E-book Publication: September 2012
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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DEDICATION
To my husband and children for all their crazy support. Love you guys!
And to all the people who love a juicy vampire story—I’m with ya!
VAMPIRE’S MATE
Vamp Mates
DAKOTA DAWN
Copyright © 2012
Chapter One
Renny smoothed his fingers through his hair then blew a breath into his cupped hand. Sniffing his hand, he decided his breath wasn’t too bad. Having second thoughts, he popped a breath mint into his mouth and slid some more mints into his pocket. He needed this job.
A master’s in political science was almost his. Jake, a coworker at a used car dealership, had given him Lina Cantu’s name. To him, she was the best college counselor in the world. In no time at all, he had gone from a twenty-three-year-old starving car salesman to a starving student with a bright light at the end of a long, exciting tunnel. His honesty had killed many car deals, but it would help him one day in his new profession. Lina had taken him under her wing and gotten him more grant money than he’d thought possible. On a miserly tight budget, he’d been able to eke by while he studied his ass off. It had taken him seven years to complete a little over five years of college. He was glad those years were behind him.
All he had to do was make it through one more year. Unfortunately, this one was going to be the hardest. With his grant money almost depleted, he was going to have to work as well as study. He wasn’t naturally smart enough to work and go to school, but all he had left was one year. He took a breath and mentally chanted. I’m smart enough. I can do this, I can do this.
To get paid for studying governments, laws, and their effects on the common people was well worth the next hellish year. It was his dream to prevent others from living the life he’d led. His years of living in a run-down efficiency apartment and eating mostly cheap soup would end up being a worthwhile endeavor.
One day he hoped to be able to improve relationships between leaders, businesses, and regular everyday people. If he could get these three groups of people to work together, he could change the lives of many adults and a lot of children that were in need. It was a shame life was so short. Given time he was sure he could make some changes. Help the little man as well as the big man for the betterment of all people, especially the children.
Memories of his life in foster care flashed before his eyes. Barry, the son of his second foster parents, had been a nightmare with his swift-moving fist. Renny cringed as he remembered the pain. He’d never known when Barry was going to decide to hit him, and that had made his time with them horrible. Ben, Barry’s dad, had seen it happen many times, but had said it would make Renny tough. The pain of a new bruise had woken him many times throughout the long nights. Eventually he’d learned not to roll around in his sleep.
Then there had been Rod, the son of his fourth foster parents. Rod would beat him up every Saturday morning because he thought Renny was too girly. In Rod’s eyes any man that didn’t weigh at least one hundred and ninety pounds wasn’t a man at all. His ignorant, two-hundred-and-fifty-pound bully of a father had taught him that.
He mentally shook himself and promised to do all he could to improve the system. Being orphaned or abandoned was bad enough. The last thing a mourning child needed was to be placed in a home where the family looked at orphaned kids as a free punching bag or an easy way to get a check. He knew that happened a lot.
A loud pounding on his door jerked him from his thoughts. Grabbing his wallet, he put it in his back pocket as he opened the door.
“You ready to go?” Ellis, his job-finding friend, asked.
“Yeah.
” Renny quickly flicked the lights off and locked his door.
The drive to Bloodsuckers Bar was long and nerve-wracking. His stomach churned as he followed Ellis. They weren’t able to ride together because Ellis had a hot date when he got off work. Ellis always had a hot date. Being a bartender seemed to open up a lot of opportunities for him.
Renny wasn’t looking for opportunities of that nature. He was just looking for rent and food money. Being just a bartender’s helper, he hoped he didn’t draw any attention. He didn’t like attention. Usually it led to him getting beat up. Some things in life never seemed to change. At five feet seven, one hundred thirty-five pounds, he didn’t stand a chance against the big, rough guys that seemed to always be attracted to him or irritated by him for whatever reason they dreamed up.
His body seemed to scream “masochist,” but that was the furthest thing from the truth. One round of hard, painful sex was all it had taken for him to realize that. Why couldn’t he draw a gentle, caring lover? Neither of the men he had been fucked by had cared about him.
His first lover, Slim, would kiss him for a minute or two, then he’d lube Renny’s ass up and thrust into him until he came. Then he’d get up and leave Renny to finish himself off. That relationship had lasted for one long year. It hadn’t hurt his feelings at all when Slim had left town. His second, Sam, had been a one night stand. One that he would always regret. Sam had turned mean the second he’d closed the hotel door. Sam had beaten him, then fucked him. When it was over Sam had held him close and crooned about how good it was between them. The second Sam started snoring, he had painfully slid from the bed and limped away. Since then Renny’s hand had been his only lover. It was much easier.
Michael suddenly entered his mind. He had almost forgotten about his third sex partner. He’d met Michael on a blind date two years ago. They’d hit it off well enough and gone to a hotel to have sex. Michael’s touch had been so gentle that he’d barely felt it. Extra light kisses and touches were Michael’s style. Their night together had been all right, but not memorable.
Renny was more confused than ever. He didn’t like totally painful sex any more than he liked overly gentle sex. Being used wasn’t any fun for him either. Maybe he was too picky. He sighed and decided his hand had given him all the pleasure he’d needed in the last two years, and it could continue to satisfy him for life if necessary.
His senses alerting him of trouble drew Renny from his wonderings. A feeling of dread descended on him as he pulled into the parking lot of Bloodsuckers Bar. What kind of crazy name was that? Worse yet, what kind of people went to a bar with that name? He mentally punched himself. He was being judgmental. Ellis wouldn’t work at a bad bar. Ellis was a good guy. Your gut instincts have never failed you, his mind whispered. That was true, but it was also true that Ellis had never done him any harm, and he’d never gotten bad vibes from Ellis, either.
For as long as he could remember he had always had a freakish ability to sense when people standing close to him were good or bad. Some people were harder to read, but it always worked if he touched them. He’d learned as a child not to let others know what he could feel. Renny had told a couple of bad kids and one good kid about the feeling he received from them. One of the girls had screamed “witch” and one of the boys had punched him in the nose. They had all looked at him as if he were a freak. To this day, he didn’t let people get too emotionally close to him. Books were much easier to deal with. They never hit you or called you names.
Renny took a cleansing breath and climbed out of his car. He quickly locked it and hurried over to Ellis. Outside the back door, Ellis put his hand on Renny’s shoulder. “Hey, this place is different than other bars. Don’t look into the eyes of any of the customers. Just keep the glasses washed and dried, the limes cut, and whatever prep work I ask you to do. Got it?”
Dread was steadily building in his chest, but he tamped it. Ellis wouldn’t lead him to his doom. This was probably just a tough biker bar or something similar to one. “Yeah, I got it. Don’t look at the customers and do what you need me to do.” He hoped they didn’t have a lot of homophobic customers.
It took him a full thirty minutes for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the bar. Most of the customers didn’t seem to have the same problem. More than once he’d glanced up to see a customer enter the dark bar and go smoothly to wherever they wanted to go. No adjustment necessary. Those folks must have damn good night vision. He felt a little better when he’d occasionally see a customer bump into a table or a chair. At least he wasn’t the only one affected by the darkness.
He glanced around the bar. It looked nice, with upscale tables, leather chairs and booths, top-of-the-line pool tables. The music had a good beat and a few people were dancing their asses off on the highly polished dance floor. It all looked normal, but there was something different about the place. Renny couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt it. Shrugging off the feeling, he focused on doing his job. With time all things were revealed. Having patience was a must in Renny’s world. He’d learned that a long time ago.
Within an hour he knew his way around the dimly lit area behind the bar. Ellis was easy to work with. Renny was grateful for that. His buddy was also excellent at putting on a show as he made the drinks. He tossed the shakers in the air and easily caught them behind his back. He could roll them down his arm or over his wrist with a graceful flow. Not once did he drop a shaker. No wonder women and men wanted his number. A small part of him wished he was more athletic. Strong, graceful people were admired and loved by almost everyone.
Five hours into the shift Ellis started looking ill. Like white-as-a-ghost ill. It was midnight. They still had three more hours before the bar closed. If Ellis could hang in there a little longer all would be well. His mouth started feeling dry so Renny took a mint from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. The refreshing flavor brought him a measure of calm.
Hale, the big-ass bar owner, kept coming over and checking on Ellis. Almost like a gruff mother hen.
When Ellis started sweating, Hale sent him home. He then turned to Renny and ordered, “Prep-boy, get back to work.”
Renny nodded and went back to washing the glasses.
Ellis nudged his side and when Renny looked up Ellis tried to smile. “Sorry, Renny. I feel like shit. I’d stay if I could. Just do what Hale says, and you’ll be fine.”
“No problem. I hope you get better soon.” When Ellis hesitated, Renny grinned and urged him on, “Go on. I’ll be fine. I’ll call you tomorrow to see how you’re doing. Maybe I’ll even come by and open a can of chicken soup for you.”
“Ellis, get your sick ass out of here, and go get some sleep,” Hale commanded in a gravelly tone.
Ellis nodded at Hale and gave Renny an apologetic look, then turned and left. Renny wasn’t sure why Ellis was giving him that look. Hale was rough sounding, but inside he was a good man. The bar wasn’t that bad either. He knew it had a different vibe from anything he’d felt before, but so far everyone had ignored him. Well, except for the one drunken man who’d winked at him, then fallen off his barstool. One of his friends had rushed over and guided him back to their table, thank goodness. The last thing he needed on his first night at work was a drunken man trying to get in his pants.
Hale took over the bar, and he didn’t take any shit. A couple of guys walked in and straight up to the bar. After they’d spotted Renny they had demanded that Hale make him dance on the bar. Apparently one of the other prep-boys did that. Hale glanced at him then looked back at the men and firmly told them no.
When they grumbled, Hale glared at them and mimed slicing their throats. They backed off at that.
Renny could still feel their heavy gazes an hour later. He hoped they left soon. The last thing he wanted was to get beat up and possibly raped when he got off work. Maybe Hale would walk him to his car. He wasn’t a total chicken, but he wasn’t a fool either.
A couple of rough-cut mountain men walked in and the atmosp
here went from bad to worse. Everyone in the bar quieted and a few of the customers left. Renny sensed that they didn’t want to anger the huge newcomers. Their fear was affecting him. His nerves jumped, making him jerky. He sliced his finger while cutting limes. Blood poured from his aching finger. He heard Hale gasp. Looking over at Hale, Renny blanched at the fearful look on Hale’s face.
Hale rushed to him and whispered, “Get out of here, boy, and don’t look back.”
As he backed toward the swinging doors that led to the storage room and the exit, he saw several customers sniff the air and grin with feral delight. Hale shot him a warning look. He bolted through the storage room and rushed out the back door. He heard a loud crashing sound behind him, but he didn’t look back.
Chapter Two
Fumbling with his keys, he nervously opened his car door and jumped into his vehicle. He cursed when his head hit metal. Ignoring the pain shooting through his head, he started the car and quickly pulled out of the parking lot. Renny put the pedal to the metal. His car shot forward, taking him away from the danger that had steadily escalated in the bar. He glanced at the rearview mirror and saw nothing but blackness.
Whew, that had felt like a close one, but maybe it hadn’t been that bad after all. Renny hoped Hale was all right. The crashing sound was hopefully nothing more than a chair being thrown. That was a normal occurrence in a bar, right? He wasn’t sure what had caused Hale to send him away, but he figured he’d ask his boss later today.
Headlights appeared ahead of him, and he tensed for a second and then laughed at himself. The car was coming from the way he was going, not where he was coming from. The car passed him, and within a minute its taillights disappeared. He was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw a vehicle speeding up behind him.