by K. L. Kreig
“Are you happy?” She hated how insecure she sounded. Instead of answering, he kissed her senseless.
When he finally broke free, he looked lovingly into her face and spoke the sweetest words she’d ever heard, causing tears to sting her eyes.
“Happy? Oh, my love…words haven’t been invented yet to describe how I feel. You have stirred up emotions in me I never knew I possessed. I’ve never known true love, until you. I never knew true fear of losing something, until you. I never knew what making love was, until you.”
Tears now streamed freely down Kate’s face as her mate poured his heart out. He gently cupped her cheeks before continuing.
“I’d long dreamed of my Moira, Kate, but my vision paled in comparison to the real you. You’ve made me wish for things I never imagined possible, including a family. This baby is a miracle and I don’t care how it happened; only that it did. You are my entire life, heart and soul, and I don’t know what I did to deserve you or this gift you are giving me, but I’ll not question it. I love you so much, Katherine Marjorie Fallinsworth.”
She had no words, so she settled for something simple, but powerful. “I’m glad I surrendered my heart to you, my lord.”
She squealed as once again she was swept into his arms and he swiftly carried her to their bedroom, her back landing on the plush bedding.
“I’ve told you repeatedly not to call me my lord, love. Bad girls don’t go unpunished, you know.” He began undressing her quickly.
“Good. That’s what I was hoping for,” she taunted.
As Dev began a most pleasurable form of punishment, Kate couldn’t stop the tears of joy stinging her eyes. After trying to push away the best thing that had ever sauntered into her life, she now had everything she never knew she wanted and then some. A mate, a baby on the way, a whole new family.
Surrendering her heart to Devon Fallinsworth was the single best decision she’d ever made.
Epilogue
Three months later…
Damian
“I can’t thank you enough for doing this, Damian. I really appreciate it.”
“It’s not all on me. Rom is helping out as well. But no problem, Dev. I’m happy to be of assistance.”
While Damian tended to be more on the selfish side, he actually meant it. Dev and his new mate, Kate, were in desperate need of a vacation. He was happy to keep watch over Dev’s Regent while they took their delayed honeymoon. While there was a distinct separation of duties in their Regents, when Damian became Lord of the East Regent a century ago, the three lords agreed collaboration made them a stronger, more united front. This was the first time a need had risen for one lord to temporarily take over for another, so Damian, Dev, and Rom spent quite a bit of time strategizing to ensure Dev’s absence wouldn’t put any of their Regents in jeopardy.
“Have a great time in Europe, Dev.”
“One more favor to ask, though, if I may.”
“That sounds ominous.”
Dev’s short laugh bellowed through the phone, before he quieted, affirming the seriousness of his request.
“Leave your shit with Giselle at the door. I don’t know what happened between you two and I’m not asking, but she clearly went through something traumatic when Xavier had her and she’s just starting to make a bit of progress. I don’t need you setting her back.”
Damian was actually going to split his time between his Regent and Dev’s, staying at Dev’s new estate when he was in Milwaukee, which meant he would inevitably run into Giselle. For protection, Ren and Manny would accompany the newlyweds, along with several other men.
Thane and Giselle were staying back at the estate and Giselle wasn’t exactly the president of his fan club. She was the only female vampire he had ever fucked and maybe—just perhaps—he took it a little too far with his kink. He’d thought they were having a great time and had been looking forward to Round two when she escaped from her bonds, kicked him, hard, in the balls and took off. She would never discuss it with him, no matter how much he tried, so eventually he gave up. In retrospect, he probably should have probed her hard limits a bit further before they started, but in all fairness to him, she said she was into that shit. Lying bitch.
Okay, he could do this. He could occupy the same space as her and be civil. Or at least he would give it the old college try.
“Done.”
“Good. And you’ll call me if you need me.” Not a question. Damian had repeatedly promised to reach out to him immediately if there were any issues. Since Kate was pregnant, they were going to fly in a private jet, as they didn’t know the repercussions of flashing on her pregnancy, so it would take Dev some time to return if needed. But there wouldn’t be any need. Not under his watch.
“Just go screw your mate’s brains out, Dev. Hell, I might even make some improvements to your Regent in your absence.”
“Fuck off, Damian. You don’t have enough experience. Or gumption.”
“Ouch, that stung.” With only a hundred years as Lord of a Regent under his belt, he was the least experienced of the three and he admitted to prioritizing partying a bit more than putting his nose to the grindstone. He had an uncanny ability to play the stock market very well and had devoted much time to that, as opposed to the business side of governing, as Dev and Rom had. Dev had entrusted him with a great deal by asking for his help and he didn’t intend to fail his friend.
“Truth hurts, my friend. Truth hurts.”
“Okay, I’m ending this conversation. See you in a few weeks.”
“Thanks, D.” They both disconnected without saying goodbye.
Damian didn’t know how Rom felt about finding his mate…they didn’t sit around drinking wine and “discuss their feelings” like a bunch of chicks. And while he was truly happy for Dev, at four hundred ninety-nine years, he was still having a grand time and didn’t care to find his yet. It was clear Dev was pussy-whipped and no female was going to lead Damian around by his dick.
He’d taken several long-term human lovers over the years, although that was infrequent. They were all beautiful women and great lays, but he was forced to break it off when they professed their love, even though they’d mutually agreed no strings at the beginning. His last long-term lover had been nineteen years ago now and another nineteen would be too soon for him.
He was actually looking forward to seeing what females the Midwest had to offer and planned on checking out Dev’s clubs while in town, particularly his new one, Dragonfly. Maybe he could get a few ideas for his own clubs. Between the three lords, they owned over three-dozen nightclubs, with Rom holding the bulk.
They still hadn’t found all of the missing girls, and the nine doctors and eight scientists Dev’s team recovered from Xavier’s lair were now his and Rom’s responsibility. Dev and Kate had their hands full with the shelter and the rescued women.
Xavier had done some pretty fucked up shit and Damian still couldn’t believe what they’d discovered.
Xavier was running a baby factory, that much had been verified. And they’d found a way to impregnate unbounded human females. That still boggled his mind.
No babies had been recovered, however. So where were they? None of the recovered humans proved to be helpful in that regard…they were all held against their will as well. They only knew, once delivered, the babies were separated from the mother and taken off-site. They were still sorting through the boxes of the paperwork, computers, and flash drives that had been recovered, but the gist of it was Xavier had kidnapped countless young women over the years and had only started looking for dreamwalkers within the last decade.
Their main objective these past few months had been to find the remaining missing girls and babies, so the subject Kate’s parentage hadn’t received much discussion. Quite frankly, they didn’t know if the humans they’d recovered would even know anything about it.
So what he’d found out today had floored him and he’d made the executive decision not to discuss it with Dev until his re
turn. He was sure Dev would cancel his honeymoon and Damian had every confidence he and Rom could piece together more of the puzzle in his absence. Dev and his mate needed some time away from this madness. Unfortunately, it would all be here when they returned.
Damian replayed his conversation with T this morning. Since Giselle had been so despondent lately, refusing to continue her research with the human detective, Damian offered T’s services instead. That vamp was wicked good at research. He was also very persuasive during interrogation and they spent hours a day interrogating the humans, but there were so goddamn many of them, it was an arduous task.
“My lord, I have some new information that I thought should be shared with you first. The detective does not know and I thought that best for now.”
“What is it T?”
“Dr. Marcus Shelton, Xavier’s lead physician and researcher, revealed to me that Xavier is unable to sire male offspring.”
“What? How is that possible?”
“According to the doctor, it’s a genetic anomaly. No one knew besides Xavier and himself. In his spare time, he was trying to find a cure, but he hadn’t been able to yet. And that’s not even the best part. Dr. Shelton was the one given the task of eliminating unwanted female vampires. The female babies sired by Xavier.”
“Holy shit. Vampires? As in, plural? As in…there are more?”
“Yes, my Lord. During the first ten years that Dr. Shelton was held captive, he indicated Xavier sired at least a dozen females. He hasn’t sired any for the last two decades or so because he stopped participating in the insemination process.”
“So there are over a fucking dozen of Xavier’s female offspring running loose in the world?”
“No, my lord. At first, Dr. Shelton did what he was told and disposed of the babes. He said he couldn’t bear to kill any more innocents and began hatching a plan to save them. He is also apparently quite skilled with computers, and found different families on nearby adoption registries that had been waiting many years for infants. He began showing up on their doorsteps late at night, hoping they would accept a child, no questions asked. He had successfully the first child, when he ran into issues with the second. The family was suspicious and called their adoption representative while he was still at the home. He fled, leaving the baby there. He doesn’t know what became of that baby. He placed a third successfully a couple years later. After that child, Xavier gave up the insemination duty to his other rogues. Obviously if Xavier ever found out, it would not only put the doctor’s life in danger, but that of the doctor’s family.”
“So there are possibly three females alive…well, two outside of Kate…sired by Xavier?”
“Yes, my lord. Three total.”
“Do we know where the other two are? Where he left them? Do we know if they are still alive?”
“No, my lord. He did not keep any records for obvious reasons and after all this time, doesn’t remember the addresses. He did say they were all relatively local, within one hundred miles of this area, as he didn’t have time to go too far.”
“And their mothers? Are the mothers still alive somewhere too?”
“He did not believe so, my lord. He said most females don’t make it very long.”
“I don’t understand why he returned to Xavier each time he was allowed to leave? That makes no sense.”
“Leverage, my lord. They had his family, of course.”
“Of course.” Damian was silent, letting this new information sink in. “So Kate may have two sisters, or half sisters, then.”
“It would appear that way, my lord.”
“Okay. We need to locate these two other females. Kate said her parents mentioned that they’d dropped themselves off the adoption registry. Let’s see if we can take that angle and find the other two. See if the doctor can at least narrow down a time frame of when he thinks he dropped them off. Year, time of year? Shit, anything else would help. And pull out a fucking map so he can help narrow down the locations.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“And T, this stays between us. Do not tell the detective. I’ll talk to Rom and we’ll get more resources on this. We’ll wait to tell Dev and Kate when they return.”
“Of course, my lord.”
So, Xavier could only squirt female swimmers? Interesting. And Kate had possibly two other half siblings roaming about. What were they like? Were they from the same mother? Were they also dreamwalkers, or had they inherited their father’s demented genes? He needed to find them and quick.
His gut burned. It always did when he got a premonition. Unfortunately they weren’t always that clear or very specific…more like a feeling instead. But over the years, he’d learned to trust it. It had never failed him before.
They all thought Xavier already knew about Kate being his child. He had to when he bit her. Another reason he wanted Dev and Kate to get away. If Xavier did know, he’d be relentless in coming for her, and his soon-to-be-born grandchild.
And if he didn’t find these other females soon, Xavier would. Yes, his gut was on fire. This could turn into the biggest clusterfuck he’d ever been involved in and right quick.
He picked up the phone and called his friend, his mentor.
“Rom, it’s Damian. We’ve got a problem.”
~ The End ~
Upcoming Releases
Book 2 in the Regent Vampire Lords series, Belonging, is scheduled to be released in January 2015 and will feature Damian’s story. Keep reading for a little sneak peak.
Book 3 in the Regent Vampire Lords series, Reawakening, is scheduled to be released in March 2015 and will feature Romaric’s story.
Also planned for 2015 is a Novella featuring Mike and Giselle’s rocky saga and possibly a fourth novel, depending on reader interest.
Please like my Facebook or my website to keep up-to-date on release dates, cover reveals, etc. I would also love to hear from you, so feel to drop me a message at either place or my email at [email protected].
An unedited snippet from
Belonging
Book 2 in the Regent Vampire Lords series
Coming January 2015
For the second time in the last several hours she awoke to a gentle touch on her cheek. She was completely disoriented and blinked her eyes open, trying to shake off her dream. She hadn’t dreamt of per past in a very long time. Staring down at her with affection—and desire—was Damian.
“Hello Kitten. How are you feeling?” His voice was silky soft, like feathers gliding over her sensitive skin.
“Is it morning yet?”
“No, it’s still the middle of the night. I just wanted to check on you. How does your head feel?”
“Ummm…I’m not sure.” A slight headache lingered, but it was mostly gone. She pulled herself into a sitting position, leaning against the soft leather headboard.
Damian’s eyes snapped to her chest. She followed his line of sight, noticing her nipples were as hard as pencil erasers. She could even faintly see the outline of her areola through her thin tank. When she lifted her eyes they connected with his. And just like that, she lit up inside. Her stomach was in a free fall, like every other time she’d looked at him tonight. She was sure the lust on his face was mirrored in hers. Holy guacamole, she wanted him. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.
He swallowed thickly and even his adam’s apple was sexy. Movement caught in her peripheral and looking down, she watched him grow hard right before her eyes.
“Kitten, you’d better stop looking at me like I’m your favorite saucer of milk or I’m not going to be responsible for what happens next. I’m barely holding it together as it is.” His voice was low and hoarse, ratcheting up his sexy status another notch to ‘so-fucking-hot-I-dare-you-not-to-touch-this.’
“I want to be inside you so bad, Analise,” he groaned.
God, she wanted that too.
How could she be so wildly attracted to a man she’d just met? This wasn’t at all like her. Was this som
e sort of vampire voodoo? She’d heard of this type of thing before. Vampires could make humans do their bidding at will. Was that what was happening here? Was that why she could barely resist the urge to climb into his lap and rub her body all over his…like a goddamned cat? Like a kitten!
She saw red. How dare he try to compel her!
“What are you doing to me?” She grabbed the blankets and covered herself completely, putting a ridiculously flimsy barrier between them.
He actually had the audacity to smirk. “You mean besides making you wet?”
She inhaled sharply, her mouth forming an O. He did not! What an asshole. Of course, he’d already admitted as much earlier.
“I want to know what you are doing to me and I want you to stop. Right now,” she spat.
“So…I guess you’re feeling better then.” Ooohhh. Fury spiked her blood pressure higher by the millisecond. He pushed every single one of her buttons. Good and bad.
“Do you really get women with that mouth of yours?”
“Ah Kitten, come now. You wound me.” He held his hand over his heart in mock hurt. “It’s not my mouth that gets women.”
“You are the most infuriating, cocky person I have ever met.” And sexy and handsome and erotic and…
“God, I love hearing the word cock come out of your mouth. I’m so fucking turned on right now, Analise. You have no idea.” Lust and desire clouded his eyes.
When had he gotten so close? Unrestrained hunger tightened his stunning face. He had no issues showing or telling her how much he wanted her. It was unsettling…and a huge turn on.
He leaned closer, bringing their mouths within a hairsbreadth of each other. She had only to lean forward an inch and his soft lips would be hers for the taking. He would let her and she wanted nothing more. He scrambled her brains.