Her Billionaire, Her Wolf--The Novel (A Paranormal Alpha Werewolf Romance)

by Aames, Aimélie

  Flair waited for him to continue, then when he could stand it no longer he asked, "And what thing is that?"

  Braze held his silence a moment longer before looking Flair straight in his eyes and said with an uncharacteristic grin, "The vampire did not find anyone to take him seriously...except us."

  In sudden good cheer, the alpha wolf held his arms wide and said, "Let us be off before the spectacle of the new day comes to wipe this vermin and his secrets from the earth. I so detest the stench of them when they burn."

  Without a second look back, Flair and the other wolves followed after their leader and not one of them paid attention to the whimpering creature about to perish in that courtyard.

  Disaster averted, this night's work was done.

  ~~~

  All was calm and the dim glow beyond the courtyard's walls had begun to change at last. The night's edges frayed like a worn banner in the wind, its time almost run out as the sun made its inexorable journey westward while sweeping shadow back as it came.

  The creature upon the ground whimpered despite himself. All his best laid plans had come to naught. His own existence with them.

  It was unfair.

  Then he thought of the young woman from earlier that night, of her and her tiny child. What he had done to them was also unfair. And it would seem that his just reward would not tarry before the rapidly diminishing cloak of night no longer sheltered him from bright destruction.

  Some remnants of his victim's blood remained as he had supped greedily, without restraint. Most of it had burned away as he raced before his pursuers, then sped away from them when they lost his trail.

  It had felt like victory. For that, however, he had been mistaken and now what little remained of a child and her mother's lives leaked from his eyes in red tears.

  A small sound escaped his parched throat.

  The vampire would have liked to face his doom headlong with grim determination. Instead, he lay there cringing from the flames to come like a child might from the imagined monster beneath the bed. Or, perhaps, the monster one might meet in the very streets of the city on a fine evening stroll.

  He did not want to die.

  "It does seem inevitable, though, doesn't it?"

  A smooth, elegant voice spoke from behind him. It had come from the direction of the corridor that led most directly from the entrails of the mansion to the courtyard.

  More importantly, it was a voice he recognized.

  "Murilo...come quickly," he gasped, wishing he could turn his head to see the unhoped for approach of his fellow vampire.

  "I have done, dear friend. Now before the last of the sands drain away and night turns over into day, tell me these precious secrets of yours."

  The bloody tears dripping from the blood drinker's eyes stopped as he narrowed them in sudden anger.

  "So you've come not in aid, but in search of what the Journeyman himself deemed valueless?

  "Tsk tsk...there is value and there is value. It depends on so many things, the complication and multiplication that it implies nigh boggles the mind. Suffice it to say that rather than see what you know disappear in a puff of smoke, I would prefer to preserve it as a measure against future and unpredictable difficulties. After all, one never knows."

  The vampire named Murilo Jago stepped into view and cocked his head at the creature spiked to the ground before him. He spread his hands then smiled widely while winking an eye.

  It would have seemed debonair, charming even, in any other circumstances, but all the doomed creature felt was a rancor that made his next words come upon choked breath.

  "No matter what I reveal or no, you cannot leave me to this fate. For if you do, Murilo, I say you are as damned as any vampire has ever been and I will refuse to tell you the least thing about the wolves in our midsts."

  "The wolves in our midsts? This much I knew already and while you fret and foam at the mouth you try to bait me to the very last in an effort to escape your doom.

  "I can't say that I blame you. I suppose, even, I would do the same. Lucky for me that I'm the one standing while unlucky you lie there, helpless."

  The vampire standing over him frowned. His eyes were a rich brown color and he stood taller than the other remembered.

  "You know, just now I recall something I haven't thought of in years. Perhaps it's something you yourself have not considered in some time and if ever there was a moment ripe for reflection, I think it's now."

  Murilo clasped his pale hands behind his back and paced with graceful steps before his fellow vampire while he spoke.

  "I remember the moment when I awakened forever more into the nightlands and understood that I had been made a creature of darkness. And when I ceased to revel in the visions I saw of a world illuminated in shadow by my vampiric eyes, I had time to think of one thing and rejoice in it.

  "I realized that I would never die."

  The vampire lying on the ground at Murilo's feet sighed heavily and tried to turn his head away from words that continued to fall like an unwanted, unholy rain.

  "Of course, later, I realized that I was not proof against everything. Stakes through the heart, the inferno that mundane sunlight represents for all of us...these things I learned were to be avoided. But if I could manage it, then there was no reason that I would ever meet the great and unknowable darkness that swallows up all other living things.

  "I had become immortal.

  "I remember that realization and how deeply it affected me, and I daresay, it is an effect that has ruled all that I have done since."

  The tall figure stopped pacing and pointed a rigid finger down at his hapless fellow on the ground.

  "He who would rule us as if he has any right to is a misguided fool. This idea that vampires should organize themselves in order to combat an imaginary war with other supernatural beings...purest folly. Our sole and true objective is to continue our existence, to stay alive...not these useless efforts that finish badly and all on the behalf of a madman.

  "His supposed wisdom brushes away treasure such as you attempted to lay at his crooked feet and look where it has ended you. That is to say, you...at the end of you, if you follow me."

  The vampire on the ground trembled, as if fighting one last time to free himself, although this time one might imagine it had less to do with the coming day and everything to do with his desire to flee Murilo's words.

  "No, stop...do not tell me such things. Your arrogance and disdain for our leader are not things I want to hear."

  The tall vampire looked down then took a half step backward as if he had narrowly avoided placing his foot somewhere disagreeable.

  "Oh, but not to worry, my dear weepy friend. You fear that if I speak in such a manner, such an open and honest discourse, then that must mean I do not expect that you will ever repeat those same words to the idiot who has appointed himself in charge.

  "Especially when one considers what a penchant you have for selling secrets, I have no doubt you would not hesitate a single second to sell me out.

  "Except...."

  The doomed creature sagged against his bonds, his last effort expended in futility.

  "No, Murilo, I beg you. Don't speak this way."

  The well dressed vampire shook his head in answer and continued.

  "...except that you realize that if I say such things, it is because I truly have no intention of freeing you.

  "I'm afraid you are not mistaken about that. But, I must say it is simply wonderful to not bandy words about. Frank, direct discourse is what I like and so rarely have the opportunity to engage in."

  "Then why come at all? Why not just leave me to my misery and the flames to come?"

  Murilo's response was not long in coming.

  "Because I have a captive audience?" he smiled then his face grew serious as he went on.

  "I admit I find all this..." and he gestured with a theatric sweep of his arms, "...rather dramatic and unseemly. But sometimes one must bend to the disagreeable in
order to glean the gold from the dross. Sadly it seems that my time is wasted here if you refuse to tell me the names of the interlopers among us.

  "And so I shall return to our employer and endure the terrible sound as he dines. Apparently, he intends that I shall surveil a human and save her at some point from the clutches of feeble men in blue. Alas, such is my lot. Ignominious tasks beneath my station as dictated by the broken toothed monster in charge.

  "Antio kai kalenuchta," the vampire named Murilo said and made as if to walk away. Instead, he stopped and snickered.

  "Of course with the hour in mind, perhaps I should have said goodbye and good morning."

  He turned on his heel and strode off into a darkness that was rapidly brightening to grey, then his disembodied voice floated back to the blood drinker imprisoned in the courtyard.

  "'And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into....'"

  What was said next, if there had been anything else, was lost as Murilo turned a corner.

  The vampire upon the ground moaned, then whispered, "Where?"

  He gasped and his last tears of blood ran down his cheeks.

  "Went up where?"

  But there was no one to answer him as the dawning sun made its relentless approach.

  ✧✧✧✧

  Other Fiction by Aimélie Aames

  While the author is hard at work on her next work of fiction, you may be interested in The Divine Fornication Series, where Braze, Flair, Daniel the Nephilim, Caim the Journeyman, and Kabiel, the fallen Seraph, first made their appearances:

  Divine Fornication--The Complete Collection (An Erotic Story of Angels, Vampires and Werewolves)

  A collection of four stories wherein several characters found in the series, Her Billionaire, Her Wolf, first made their appearances:

  Episode 1--Seduced by the Angel

  Claire Sawyer's life is about to change in a way that she never could have imagined.

  Blind since a terrible childhood accident, she dies for the second time in her relatively short life only to find herself in the arms of an angeli being.

  Is he her guardian angel, or the monster responsible for the deaths of her parents so many years ago?

  Claire will search for her answers as she is swept up into events involving the divine and their relation to the vampires and werewolves that she encounters in her incredible journey to discover the truth.

  Episode 2--Taken by the Vampire

  Claire awakens in a hospital room to find a man sitting quietly, waiting for her.

  Except that he is no ordinary man, adorned as he is with dark wings and burning in black flames.

  Is it the angel of death, come to take her away at last? Or is he the lord of all vampires, come to steal the prize from his adversary, the Messenger, the being who has healed Claire's blindness?

  Flying high above the city lights in his cold arms, Claire shall find herself brought to a lonely fortress where blood drinkers await her and werewolves roam the darkness, all of them waiting for the ravishment to come..

  Episode 3--Claimed by the Wolf

  From certain death at the hands of vampires, Claire Sawyer finds herself surrounded by hundreds of wolves.

  Are they her saviors, or the culmination of the doom that follows her at every turn?

  Cursed or no, Claire must fight for her survival, even if that means becoming one of them, wolves in heat with just one thing in mind.

  Episode 4--Redeemed by the Conqueror

  In the stunning conclusion to the four part series, Divine Fornication, Claire Sawyer finds herself caught between vampires, werewolves and angels. Three races of beings willing to battle for the one thing they value most--Claire's eternal soul.

  Will Claire's guardian angel return at last, in her final moments? Or, will she be lost forever to eternal damnation?

  An excerpt from Divine Fornication--The Complete Collection:

  ....Claire seized the opportunity and slowly crawled away. If she could manage to put some distance between her and the fighting wolves, she might stand a chance.

  As she eased her way forward, practically crawling upon her belly through the high grasses, Claire saw the edge of the clearing not far away. She gathered her legs under her, readying herself to jump up and run for the cover of the trees when someone stepped directly into her path.

  "Going somewhere, are we?" said a young man's voice and Claire looked up to see him grinning down at her.

  He was a wolf, but younger than Clash and Braze, she surmised. He had not yet filled out his frame, appearing gangly and awkward due to his height and long muscles that had not yet taken on the heavy mass of the adult wolf shifters.

  Claire froze, not daring to move a muscle. The young wolf was in near full human form as he lifted two fingers to his mouth. A shrill whistle sounded, to be quickly followed by two wolves loping to his sides.

  They lifted up, their limbs stretching and smoothing into human form. One was dark skinned and scowling, the other blond and fair with a smile that stemmed from true humor and not the irony of the situation before them.

  The darker of the two newcomers spoke first, and said, "Rend, you have to take her back. When the leaders finish...and you know they will soon...they'll come looking for her."

  The other, the one for whom it seemed all a joke, chuckled and said, "Shard's right. Besides, she's not that special. In the city, we can get all kinds of human chicks. It's really no big deal."

  The first wolf, the one the other two had named Rend, replied, "Yeah, but out here in the wild, human bitches don't happen every day. I might never get another chance."

  Claire could feel her blood boiling as the young wolves spoke. as the young wolves spoke. She did not want to be simply an object to their adolescent desires, but she could not deny that the three young men standing above her were making her thighs part of their own volition.

  "Now wait," she said, "You...you're from the city?"

  The comic blond wolf nodded and said, "Yeah. My name's Flair. I came with Braze and the rest of our pack to help get you from the vampires."

  "Ok," she said, "Just give me a second to think."

  Claire desperately searched for a means of bargaining her way back to the city with the help of the young, blond wolf. Afterward, she was sure it would be far easier to escape from him than from the huge man called Braze.

  "No," said Rend, "I've heard about you humans and how much you love to talk. I'm not interested.

  "Shard, grab her arms."

  The dark wolf never stopped scowling but he trapped Claire's wrists in his hands. He might not have been a fully grown wolf, but his strength was far greater than her own. She pulled desperately away from him, but his hold upon her did not ease.

  "Flair, take a leg, already."

  The blond simply shrugged as he latched on to one of Claire's ankles.

  Rend eased himself then between Claire's thighs and she could feel him trembling as he knelt down to the ground, his own legs brushing against her.

  Claire said, "You've never done this."

  The wolf did not reply….

  Available Now at Amazon

  Also by Aimélie Aames

  The Marechal Chronicles: Volumes I, II and III (An Erotic Fantasy Tale)

  An erotic, fantasy adventure, this is a romantic tale of magic, emotion, and human motivation that does not turn a blind eye to the frank sexuality of its characters. Within these pages live witches, shapechangers, demons, and immortal beings. Turn the page and let them unveil their dark story in the ambiance of medieval France.

  A collection of the first three volumes—

  Volume I, The Path

  Melisse dreams of another life, one in which she is no longer the servant to a noble family, one where she can find her own destiny and make her life her own.

  On the eve of the arrival of the Marechal de Barrist
ide, an eldritch light in the forest calls out to her, giving her the hope of change to come.

  The Marechal, a man marked with a vicious scar, is a man of the law of the realm, charged with investigating a series of horrible crimes to the south. However, he has his own reasons for visiting House Perene. Reasons that drive him to search mercilessly for the truth, no matter the cost.

  His search and the fate of Melisse intertwine to form a tapestry of lust, violence, and supernatural implications. All of which resound within a potent and robust story that draws the reader in and does not let go.

  Volume 2, The Hunter

  The sun rises upon House Perene.

  Evil has struck within and without and only the Marechal de Barristide can untangle the threads of fate that wind about him in a web of intrigue and passion.

  His way is branded into the very ground before him, but the Marechal must turn his course in order to seek aid from a dreaded soul. Beings from a realm other than earth shall seek his alliance while his quarry, the servant woman, Melisse, has disappeared, leaving only ash and dust behind her. But before taking up her trail once more, the Marechal must submit to another's infernal desires and pay far more than he bargained for.

  Volume 3, The Prey

  The paths of the Marechal de Barristide and Melisse, runaway servant accused of a grisly murder, narrow to convergence in a seamy quarter of Licharre, a city bordering the Ardoise mountains to the south.