Compel Me: A Reverse Harem Vampire Romance (The Last Vocari Book 1)

by Elena Lawson

  And where the fuck was Frost?

  Across the street, I found him, his silver head bobbing this way and that as he exited the gas station, a bulging black bag in one hand and a Slurpee in the other.

  His eyes met mine from across the street and he hollered. “Hey! What are you doing? We gotta move, Ward!”

  I shook my head and ambled across the highway. Once I was in the light and he was able to fully take me in, he paled, his eye widening. His mouth dropped open, speechless. I snatched the Slurpee right out of his hand, taking a long pull of Sprite flavored ice. My favorite.

  He was lucky.

  I winced, recoiling when he touched the tender spot on my head—his fingertips coming away wet with sticky blood. “The fuck…?”

  “A little help might be nice next time,” I said, “But thanks for doing the shopping, honey.” I patted him on the chest with the hand that was still full of thorny roses as I turned to hop back into the truck.

  13

  “A spoon?” he asked incredulously as he lumbered back into the Betty’s cab five minutes later. He’d zipped across the highway and behind the building, not believing me when I told him I’d had to use my heels and a spoon because I neglected to put on my stakes.

  A mistake I wouldn’t soon repeat. They were now securely strapped to my thighs and I wouldn’t be taking them off ever again. Maybe not even in the shower. Maybe not even during sex.

  “How the hell did you manage that?”

  I shrugged, polishing off the Slurpee as I started the truck, swaying a little to the left. My body worked hard to heal the wound to my head, but it throbbed now that the adrenaline had worn off and the dizziness seemed like it was only getting worse. The pain in my back was awful, too, but at least that was bearable.

  And the Slurpee had numbed the burning in my throat. Thank you, Frost!

  “I just…” I trailed off. Wait, what was I saying?

  Something about a soup? No. A spoon.

  When I blinked, the darkness tried to stick. Made my eyelids and limbs heavy. A cool sweat coated my chest and I heard a miniscule sound. Like a moan, or a whine.

  My blood rushed to my head and I gasped—the pain a searing knife of heat lancing through my skull.

  “Christ!” I heard the curse only a few seconds before the darkness latched on—holding tight and not letting go. The last thing I felt as the pressure in my skull rose to a deafening crescendo were strong arms and soft leather on my cheek.

  14

  “Are you sure she’s going to be alright?” A honeyed voice asked, the cadence succinct, if a little strained.

  “I checked her head wound,” replied another male voice—this one smoky and gruff. “She’s already started to heal. She should be alright within a few hours if she keeps healing at this rate.”

  “You don’t think we need to call a doctor, then?” This one I knew, it was Frost.

  I heard movement outside wherever I was and then the one with the smoky voice replied to Frost. “No. I don’t understand how—but she seems to be healing at ten times the rate of a normal human—maybe even a bit faster than that.”

  I stretched out carefully, feeling around myself in the dark, working out the kinks in my bones. Glad when I found none were broken. The business of resetting partially healed bones wasn’t my favorite. I was glad I wouldn’t have to ask Frost to help me out with setting them.

  But where the hell were we?

  The smooth silk under my calloused palms was warm, so I knew we’d been here a while—wherever here was. It was almost pitch dark and I had to squint into the dim to make out the shape of a chair against the far wall and the boxy outline of a nightstand and lamp next to the bed. The smells of juniper and patchouli and spice assaulted my nose and it wrinkled at the smell.

  Pot-pourri. God, I hated the smell of pot-pourri.

  A hotel then?

  Slowly, I moved to the edge of the bed where I’d been put—noticing how everything except for my panties had been removed.

  My mind whirred with worry at that for a moment before I realized Frost would have wanted to check my whole body over for injury. He was thorough. Always had been. I sat up and my head throbbed painfully. Not nearly as bad as it’d been before, but still sore.

  I sucked a breath in through my teeth.

  Fuck. And still tender to the touch.

  Ow.

  Obviously, the vampire had done some damage. I should have been healed by now. The fucker must have cracked my skull. Not the first time it’d happened, but as I stood on shaking legs, wincing, I made myself a promise that it would be the last.

  The low hum of conversation outside the cracked open door continued, but they must have moved further away—or the throbbing in my head had procured a voice box and was drowning out the sound of them. The pulsating throbs audible with each beat of my heart.

  I saw a glass of water on the nightstand and snatched it with greedy, shaking fingers. Like a dehydrated fish, I dumped it down my throat, reveling in how it rid me of the awful dryness and putrid taste in my mouth. The throbbing spiked and then subsided after a few long breaths.

  Food.

  I needed food if I was going to be able to heal the rest of this wound. Healing took energy, just like it did for vampires. Except where they needed blood, I needed Cheetos and a few bags of the barbeque peanuts I saw in the sack of goodies Frost had procured from the gas station. And maybe a Gatorade.

  Sugar helped. So did electrolytes. I fumbled around in the dark, trying to find where he put my clothes, but having no luck. And after feeling all along the walls, I found no light switch, either.

  Ah, fuck it. I’d never been shy—I didn’t care who the people were Frost was talking to, I wanted my damned clothes back. Now. Besides, one of them said they ‘checked me’ already, so I was sure he’d gotten an eyeful.

  I reefed the door open and stepped out into the dimly lit hall, following the voices down and to the right, where light was pouring into the darkened hallway. My fists were clenched as I turned the corner.

  “Frost,” I growled. “Where the hell are my—”

  I stopped short; three sets of eyes turned at my approach. Eyes I knew well. Suddenly being almost fully naked didn’t seem like a good idea. I itched to cover myself, but that would only make it more awkward, so instead I placed my hands firmly on my hips and heaved in a breath, trying to draw some extra confidence in with it.

  “Look what the cat dragged in,” Blake said before I could formulate words. His gray eyes roamed my curves with practiced restraint, devouring me inch by inch. That burning sensation in the back of my throat had returned, warning me that tears were not far behind.

  No. I wouldn’t cry.

  I’m not going to cry.

  “Rose,” Ethan said, the tops of his ears pink, his steeped tea eyes flitting low before he managed to drag them back to my face. I thought he was staring at my breasts but realized with a jolt and a sinking feeling that he was actually looking at my scar.

  I’d never seen him with short hair, but it suited him. The honey blonde color was the same, though, and it still curled up in the front, even though it was only three inches long on the top. “How are you feeling? Do you have any dizziness? Nausea?”

  I grinned at him. He was always our mother hen. Making sure the rest of us had what we needed. He’d been the one to hold my hair back the first time I drank…and ended up hugging the porcelain goddess for hours afterward. Fireball and I still didn’t agree to this day.

  Frost nodded to me, acknowledging the emotions I was sure he could see clear as day written all over my face.

  “Come here,” I croaked. “Both of you.” But I was already going to them, almost tripping in my haste to get past the armchairs and thick carpet in the living area to where they were all standing around a narrow section of bar jutting out from the kitchen in the condo-like space.

  Blake was the first to move in, eagerly taking me into his arms, my hardened breasts pressing against
the soft material of his clean black suit jacket. He looked so different, and then yet so much the same, too. With dark brown hair that bordered on being black and those gray eyes set into a face that would make angels jealous. With those cheekbones and that dimple in his chin. The sharp line of his freshly shaven jaw. I could feel the muscle rippling beneath my embrace. Could see the start of coiling black tattoos peaking up from his collar and jutting out from his jacket cuffs.

  Damn, he looked good. Almost too good. He’d always been the prettiest of us all, but after ten years I could see that age had defined him. Turned the boyish handsomeness into a sexy manliness that had my inner lioness roaring to explore what lay beneath his clothes.

  I squeezed him tightly and buried my face into his neck. He flinched at the contact of skin on skin and I worried I’d overstepped, I loosed my hold on him and tipped my head back to gauge his reaction.

  Blake pulled away, unapologetic as he took his bottom lip between his teeth and breathed low and heavy, glaring down at the curve of my breasts. “Damn, Rose. You’re…”

  “Not a kid anymore?”

  “Definitely not.”

  “Neither are you.”

  Ethan appeared beside Blake with a fluffy white bathrobe in his hands. Always the gentleman. His ears were still pink, and his mouth was set in a way that told me he was doing his best not to show just how much my nakedness was affecting him. He helped me into the robe and the instant I was done belting it in the middle, he tugged me into a hug.

  Where Blake and Frost were practically giants compared to my small frame, I fit more snuggly in the arms of Ethan. He wasn’t short by any means, but he was close enough to my size that my face fit perfectly into the crook of his neck. I breathed in his scent, finding that he still used the same cologne he did as a teenager. The nautical scent of it mixed with his own natural musk in a way that made me sigh, wanting to drink him in.

  I could have stayed like that forever.

  And then I remembered why I was here. And why the back of my neck was prickling with unease even though I should have been more comfortable than I had in ages. They were my guys. My best friends.

  But now…they weren’t human anymore.

  I pulled away from Ethan, but held him close, searching his soft brown eyes for the him I remembered. He smiled and the dimples in his cheeks deepened. The skin around his eyes crinkled. Like Frost, I could see Ethan was still in there, too.

  Being changed hadn’t taken away their humanity—or at least, not all of it.

  The revelation left me relieved, but also with a sour taste in my mouth. I didn’t want to question all the vampire lives I’d taken. I didn’t want to think that there was a chance some of them hadn’t deserved it.

  Because then…what would that make me?

  “You gave us a pretty good scare there, Rosie,” Frost said from where he stood on the other side of the counter, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the high bar counter, a half-full glass of whisky to his left.

  “You worry too much. I wouldn’t have survived this long doing what I do if I was weak.”

  The three guys shared a look. “Rose…” Ethan trailed off. “That head injury should have killed you, or at least…left you hospitalized.”

  “When we figured out the Black Rose was you, we thought—well, we thought you’d done what we had.” Blake added in his smoky voice, the low pitch of it made my knees quake. Fuck, what were these guys doing to me?

  I bit the inside of my cheek and tucked my hands deep into the soft pockets of the robe to keep my mind on more important things. “Wait,” I said, my throbbing brain catching up to his meaning all at once. “You thought I turned myself?”

  Frost took a swallow of his whiskey and set the glass down. “What else were we supposed to think, Rose? A human couldn’t have killed the number of vampires you did?”

  “It’s impossible,” Ethan agreed, backing up to sit on one of the stools against the counter.

  I hated how they were all looking at me—waiting for an explanation I didn’t have. It was an explanation I both longed for and never ever wanted to hear. Not sure I could handle knowing the truth of why I was like this. Why I had a muted version of a vampire’s strength and heightened senses. Why I could compel and move faster than the fastest human on the planet. Why I could out-lift the boys in high school and always won first place in track—by a lot.

  “Stop looking at me like that,” I snapped, unable to handle it anymore. “I don’t know, okay,” I hissed, answering their unasked question. “I don’t know why I’m like this. I don’t know what I am. I’ve never known.” And then, deciding to give them more than I’d ever admitted to anyone else before, I added, “My mom was like this, too. It’s what got her killed.”

  When the vampire first approached us, he’d said something I wouldn’t ever forget. Don’t you remember me? And when she didn’t answer, gathering me into her arms to shove me behind her, to use her own body as a shield to protect me, he’d laughed. You, a human, made me leave. Told me to never return to Washington. I still can’t step foot over the state line, you know, and I won’t be able to until you’re dead.

  She’d made a mistake. The first lesson I ever learned about compulsion I learned that night, because since we didn’t live in Seattle anymore, he was able to find her. We no longer lived within the state line she compelled him out of.

  He could find her because she didn’t make him forget her. She told him to leave and never come back, but she left him with the memory of her face.

  And she died for it.

  “So, it’s genetic?” Ethan asked, his gaze growing distant. I could see the gears and cogs turning in his mind, trying to figure it out. He was always the smartest of us. A slender finger of hope trailed over the fist of dread in my chest. If anyone could figure out what I was, he could.

  “Whatever it is…yeah. It must be.”

  “Did you ever,” Blake asked, and I wondered if he was thinking about our first and only kiss. It was the first place my mind went. “Compel us?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so,” I said honestly. “If I ever did, it wasn’t on purpose.”

  Blake pursed his lips and nodded, accepting of my reply. Lost in thought.

  It was surreal being here. In this weird condo with the blackout curtains along the far wall closed tight to seal out the light. Surrounded by the childhood friends I’d longed to see for ten years—but who I thought had no interest in seeing me. How wrong I’d been…

  It made my heart expand, straining to remain in its shriveled state. They were still together after all this time—and now we were a foursome again. I swallowed and gratefully accepted the plate Frost pulled out of the refrigerator in the kitchen opposite the counter and slid over to me. A steak salad was covered tightly with a film of plastic wrap. It looked absolutely divine. I recognized the green sauce on top to be chimichurri. Ethan’s mom used to make it all the time.

  I eyed him as I unwrapped the cling film and took Frost’s proffered fork. “Thank you,” I said to Ethan, knowing it was him who’d done the cooking.

  He nodded.

  “So, where are we exactly?”

  “Altana,” came Ethan’s gruff reply.

  “I gathered that,” I said rather sardonically. We’d been headed there, only an hour or so away—maybe even less—when we stopped at the gas station. And by the look of the knit sweater draped over the back of the sofa in the adjoining living area and the shoes by the door. A book that had to be Ethan’s on the coffee table. They’d been here a while.

  Ethan came to lean on the counter across from me, next to Frost as I took the first savory mouthful of chimichurri steak and fresh garden lettuce, moaning at how good it tasted. “It’s a rental,” Ethan said. “A temporary living space while we tried to find you.”

  “Well,” I said, mouth still half-full of steak. “You found me.”

  Ethan’s face cracked into a smile and I couldn’t help but return it.
Those dimples got me every time and it seemed it didn’t matter how long it’d been; they still had the same effect. “Where do you all live,” I asked. “You know—like, normally.”

  Blake yanked out the barstool next to me and swiveled it around until it was inches away, hopping on top and leaning into my side. “We could tell you, but then we’d have to kill you,” he joked, but there was an edge of malice to his voice, and his warm breath against the base of my neck made my stomach clench and my spine tingle.

  I was in big trouble with these three.

  Now that I’d been with one vampire—a thing I never would have dreamed of doing in my wildest fantasies—being with two others seemed only natural. Especially since they were the other two of a foursome that was almost fifteen years in the making.

  “Ethan?” I hedged, crooking my brow at him. Knowing he would be the one to give me answers.

  “Baton Rouge.”

  “Ethan!” Both Frost and Blake said at the same time.

  “What?” Ethan chided, but I didn’t miss the small recoil of his face from Frost’s clenched fists. “It’s Rose,” he said like it was the simplest thing in the world. “It’s not like we hadn’t already planned on taking her there, anyway.”

  “She hasn’t agreed yet,” Frost growled back at Ethan.

  Blake shoved him. “You pretty much just gave a professional vampire killer our home address.”

  Hardly, I thought, but remained quiet while they sorted it out, savoring every morsel of the meal in front of me.

  The three of them grimaced at one another, practically snarling. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Boys… “If I was going to kill you, I’d have done it already,” I said between mouthfuls.

  Ethan’s lips parted and his eyes widened in surprise at my words. A crease formed in his brow.

  “I was joking,” I said, trying to erase the worry tainting his handsome face. “Well, I mean, I wasn’t joking—I would have killed you already if that was my intent, but it’s not my intent. I couldn’t ever hurt you—any of you. So just relax,” I rambled off, stuffing another forkful of tender steak in my mouth.